Looks like at least two problems.
1. Fuel running out of carb.
Frequent culprits are, a tiny bit of debris preventing the needle valve from closing - grossly misadjusted or upside down float that fails to close the needle valve before overflowing.
2. Very lean mixture at low speed .
Frequent culprits here, tiny bits of debris clogging the very tiny low speed circuit (again with debris??) - intake manifolds leak - low speed mixture screw badly out of adjustment - carbs not jetted for pod filters (and low restriction exhaust?).
Never believe a previous owner.
You probably should take the carbs off, drain them, flip them over and pull the bowls. Take a tiny wire (a bristle from a wire brush may do) and carefully run it through all of the low speed circuits. When you are reasonably sure they are clear, get a spray can of carb cleaner with the little tube attached and spray each circuit carefully noting whether or not you get good spray out of each. Be sure to wear goggles as carb cleaner will do bad things to your eyeballs. Once you are satisfied that they are clean, take note of all the jet sizes and reset the low speed screws to the base setting. That setting depends on exactly which model carbs you have. Call or email LC to see if those jets are what you need for your setup. Once you have the proper jets installed, put the carbs back together and do a bench synchronization
If your carbs are supposed to have a certain float height, that needs to be set before reinstalling the bowls. If they are an older style carb, then you will need to use the clear tube method to properly set the fuel level. Reinstall the carbs and a fuel filter.
If the bike starts and runs pretty well, do a proper vacuum synchronization, reset the idle speed and ride it like you stole it!
If it still does not idle well, adjust the low speed screws until it does. If still no love, test the intake manifold for leaks.
1982 KZ1000 LTD parts donor
1981 KZ1000 LTD awaiting resurrection
2000 ZRX1100 not ridden enough
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