Removal procedure - need help

I feel kind of foolish asking this question but I cannot see how to remove the airbox. I need to perform a carb cleaning and sync but I cannot get the airbox off. What is the procedure to get the airbox out? I've removed the relays, battery, battery tray, and airbox mounts. However, the airbox has nowhere to go. I cannot move it back or rotate it to remove it from the carbs and there is a frame tube on each side of the airbox so I cannot pull it out the side.

Do I need to pull the carbs at the engine intake to get the airbox off?

I know I could figure this out myself eventually, but I figured I'm missing something entirely.

Its much easier to do when the air box boots are new. You can fold the boots over each other and that will free up enough space to pull the carbs back out of their intake boots.

You do not need to remove the airbox to remove the carbs for a cleaning. You need to disengage the carb/airbox ducts, and as stated they should be replaced with new pliable ones. Old ones get hard as nails and are difficult to maneuver. You should unbolt the 2 little "L" shaped brackets that secure the rear of the airbox to the frame as this will permit you to move the airbox back a little bit while disconnecting the ducts. If you have the Kawasaki Service Manual you should take a look in it on how to remove the carbs. If you don't have it you need to get one. You will need it when working on the carbs and when re-connecting and adjusting the throttle cable. Working without the manual is like walking down a busy highway with a blindfold on. The manual is worth a thousand dollars but only costs about $30.

One other note - assuming the carb holder screws are the original cross headed screws when trying to unbolt the carb holders from the cylinder head DO NOT EVEN TRY TO USE A PHILLIPS SCREWDRIVER! Use a JIS screwdriver tip, but FIRST soak the screws with Kroil for a couple days. If you do this you will not have a problem removing the carb holder screws. If you ignore this advice you WILL have a problem. Here's is additional info (see TOOLS section and the link it provides in the link below). Ed

kzrider.com/forum/10-new-members/589649-...r-savannah-ga#594587

Run a heat gun (CAREFULLY, you can melt the airbox!) or a hair dryer on high into the top of the air box for about 5-10 minutes...this softens even old, hard carb/airbox boots somewhat. After they are softened, use a tire iron, stir stick, or something rigid and blunt and squeeze/pop them into the airbox....then you loosen the metal strap clamps holding carbs to carb mounts on engine...wiggle/rock carbs backwards (toward air box) and they will pop right off...You DO have your throttle cables disconnected, don't you! LOL! Do yourself a HUGE favor, if you don't have one, track down a factory service manual..oh yeah, buy new carb boots, a LOT easier than wrestling with old, hard ones...if you are going to replace them, you can just cut them off with a box cutter....What Ed said...he jumped in while I was typing!! Timing is life, LOL!

My carb boots are in really good shape on the airbox side. I guess I'm just used to being able to pull the airbox on a Honda CB to make the carb removal easier.

To reply to Ed, the previous owner replaced most of the JIS screws on my bike with allen screws. The carb holders all the way down to the float bowls are all allen heads. I also have the FSM for F1 lTD/Spectre but it wasn't really clear on the carb removal. It just said to remove airbox and then the carbs. To me this meant to remove the airbox from the bike.

My low rpm range from idle to 3k is full of misses and struggles for a bit before progressing . I'm going to level the floats, clean the pilot circuits, and re-sync the carbs. I'm hoping this also gets rid of the loud chatter within the engine at idle.

Chatter and low end stumbling? When was the last time you checked the valves? You're going to want to make sure your intake valve clearances are correct before you start trying to sync the carbs. You should probably also adjust the cam chain tension, just to be thorough.

The engine has less than 8k miles and was well taken care of. I guess I wouldn't expect the valves to need an adjustment at this point. I've done a compression test and everything checks out. The chatter I'm talking about sounds like more like the bottom end and that concerns me. I haven't been able to localize it using my screwdriver stethoscope as it resonates through the transmission as well. I've read other posts were the chatter was from the chains at low rpm with a bad carb sync.

When I pull the carbs, I'll have a look at the chain tensioner as well.

Be sure to consult the manual before pulling the tensioner. Most likely you will need to turn the crankshaft to a specific position before removing and re-installing the tensioner. I know that this is true for my KZ650, and i suspect it is true for your bike too.

The rattling may very well just be a carb sync issue. Also, what rpm is the idle set to? Ed

I've read the stories here about the tensioner woes. I'll be following the manual closely. As for the idle, mine is set to under 1K - probably within the 8-900 range. When I bring the idle equal to or beyond 1k, the noise disappears.

83KZ750LTD wrote: I've read the stories here about the tensioner woes. I'll be following the manual closely. As for the idle, mine is set to under 1K - probably within the 8-900 range. When I bring the idle equal to or beyond 1k, the noise disappears.

In that case you are finished and your bike is fine. The specification for the idle speed on the KZ750 is 1000-1100 rpm. Setting the idle lower than that will cause rattling and may also reduce the oil pressure too low. Ed