87 KZ305LTD can't stay alive

Any feeler gauge set should work, but you want to find out if it goes all the way down to the size you need. I believe it's .203 mm is the one I use. All you do is take the piece of metal(the feeler gauge) and stick it under the rocker(between the valve and the rocker) and make sure it's very close to the gap of the feeler gauge.

punisher11b wrote: Any feeler gauge set should work, but you want to find out if it goes all the way down to the size you need. I believe it's .203 mm is the one I use. All you do is take the piece of metal(the feeler gauge) and stick it under the rocker(between the valve and the rocker) and make sure it's very close to the gap of the feeler gauge.

May need a photo of that, bit confused where you stick it. Heh jokes.

Figured it out, some where a bit off. Believe I did it correctly lol. I adjust till the largest inside the range barely fit and the next size up didnt fit at all.

Now onto how the hell to clean these carbs completely or figure out what jets are in them.

Perfect, sounds like that was were your clanking was coming from. That will help a ton!
The way those carbs are designed is very robust, plus they are very new looking. Shouldnt take a lot to clean them. Your best bet would be to just unscrew the bowl(the bottom of the carb) and just give it a quick spray with carb cleaner. If you want to go a step farther unscrew the jets and give them a quick look through to make sure they are clear. The jets will be labeled on the top or around the side.
Hopefully you will see some significant improvement after this.

punisher11b wrote: Perfect, sounds like that was were your clanking was coming from. That will help a ton!
The way those carbs are designed is very robust, plus they are very new looking. Shouldnt take a lot to clean them. Your best bet would be to just unscrew the bowl(the bottom of the carb) and just give it a quick spray with carb cleaner. If you want to go a step farther unscrew the jets and give them a quick look through to make sure they are clear. The jets will be labeled on the top or around the side.
Hopefully you will see some significant improvement after this.

Got it all back together and rode it a bit.

Noticed in garage that when I was in gear it was nice and smooth, but when I switched to neutral there was a hard knocking sound. Any ideas?

Does it sound like it's coming from the right side engine cover, where the clutch pack is? Locating a general area where the sound is coming from will help. Is is still coughing and dieing?

Here is a video of it running in neutral. I can make one of how it sounds between neutral and in gear if you want.

It sounds much better from this end. Does it sound better / ride better after the valves? From what I could hear it sounded like some piston slap , when you put it under load it goes away right? In other words, can you hear hard slapping while riding? A small amount of piston slap is kinda normal for these bikes when cold and in neutral. As long as it goes away when you ride and it feels normal during normal riding conditions it's not a major concern. Did you feel like you gained some power after you did the valves?
Side note:
Poorly tuned carbs could also be causing some of that slap.

punisher11b wrote: It sounds much better from this end. Does it sound better / ride better after the valves? From what I could hear it sounded like some piston slap , when you put it under load it goes away right? In other words, can you hear hard slapping while riding? A small amount of piston slap is kinda normal for these bikes when cold and in neutral. As long as it goes away when you ride and it feels normal during normal riding conditions it's not a major concern. Did you feel like you gained some power after you did the valves?
Side note:
Poorly tuned carbs could also be causing some of that slap.

It did actually feel much more responsive in the early RPM range riding it around the street. Its warmed up now and still doing it. I made two videos. Uploading now.

punisher11b wrote: Does it sound like it's coming from the right side engine cover, where the clutch pack is? Locating a general area where the sound is coming from will help. Is is still coughing and dieing?

It only coughs and dies if you rip the throttle really fast and hard.

It feels and sounds like its coming from whatever is in/under the right side engine cover. If I pull the clutch in the knocking significantly lessens as well does the sound.

I figured it might be. The right side engine cover contains your clutch disks and whatnot. Very possible you might need to replace the clutch disks (very easy) or could be a couple of other things. One problem at a time though. As long as the clutch is still working and your not planning on taking a long road trip soon, I would worry about the other issues. I'm glad to hear the valve adjustment helped. I thought that might be giving you some problems. I think the coughing from to much throttle is because the needle taper is so sharp it's causing the engine to get way to much fuel. If you feel like it's doing much better I would attempt to try adjusting the carbs agian to see if that helps. A really good place to start is to find out what size main jet you are using and do down a size or two and see what that does. At this point atleast it sounds like your on the right track.