1976 KZ900 A4 ........Where do the rubber O-Rings?

I
Hello,

I'm looking at rebuild kits for the 26mm carbs, and there are 2 small rubber O-rings in the pictures.

In the manual I see 1, O-ring in the start/choke pump, but I do not see another rubber o-ring in the schematic in the shop manual. Would someone please let me know where these little guys go?

Thanks,
Ed

Fuel tees?
Steve
jetsrus.com/individual_parts/KL_18_2453.html
jetsrus.com/carb_rebuild_kit/carb_rebuil...kawasaki_street.html

That photo reminds of those from cruzinimage. I don't know what those O-rings go to and can't find any reference in the parts manual for them. Often times aftermarket carb kits are made for a range of different bikes and they throw in different parts to fit that oddball bike or two. Sometimes those kits have jets that don't directly match yours too. Before installing you need to carefully compare the numbers on each jet to your stock jets. Or better yet, just reuse the stock jets after a good cleaning because they rarely wear out. Purchasing an O-ring kit from cycleorings.com and some bowl gaskets is typically all you need to freshen up a set of carbs. If necessary, get new float needles and seats too. Purchasing a full carb kit is not typically useful though.

I would check to see if your carburetors have an o-ring at the main jet bleeder pipe (needle jet holder). The diagrams at Partzilla don't show that o-ring in the drawing, but #52 at the drain screw is listed as the main jet cover o-ring & the part number is the same as the 650 main jet cover o-ring.

Or the o-ring could be for the drain screw or it's just a spare part as some kits cover a range of applications since the carburetors can vary from year to year.

Thanks for your reply. I intend to reuse the OEM jets and seats and metal parts. I opened up #4 and the brass was bright and clean and all passages seem open. I did not find those black rubber O-rings upon disassembly, so I checked with you folks on the list.

There is crud at the bottom of the bowl, but overall, I was surprised to see clean jets. I'm going to manually clean each carb, rather than take them all apart and dip them. I'll renew the gaskets because there is a tear on one top cap gasket.

I also will renew the cap and bowl screws because they are rusty.

Thanks, I think you're right about extra parts coming in aftermarket kits.

The drain plug has a fiber, red gasket o-ring, and not rubber.

Thanks once again for your help.

Ed

Hmmmmm.....Fuel tees, maybe so, will investigate if I need to pull the rack apart.

Thanks again.

Ed

The fuel transfer tube O-rings, those on the inlet Tee and the small tubes that move fuel out to the other carbs, are typically the ones that are the hardest and most crusty. I've rebuilt a number of racks where these O-rings literally crumbled in my hands when I flexed them to try to replace them. For this reason I strongly advise unganging the carbs and replacing the O-rings. It's not overly difficult so why not?

I'm thinking about breaking the carbs down completely to clean them in and out.

Thanks for the heads up on the transfer O-rings.

I suspect the stock carbs have two "fuel pipe joints" which is Kawasaki's part name identification for what may sometimes be more commonly referred to as a tee fitting.


Stock fuel pipe joint


Sometimes the existing joints leak when the carbs are returned to service after extended dry storage.
After a while, the leakage often abates until it stops leaking, due to slight swelling of the raised areas.

But whenever leakage persists, one el'cheapo fix is wrapping the raised areas with Teflon tape, preferably the slightly more fuel-resistant yellow color tape.


Tape fix



Optional part with o'rings



If going to the trouble of separating the carbs enough to remove the tee fittings, might want to consider going ahead with brand new parts instead of the Teflon tape wrapping method.

Good Fortune!

I suspect that Katums doesn't need these pics, but here they are for other viewers that might be interested.






The vents exit to open air. Stock configuration is through hoses routed to underneath the seat where the hoses are held in place by a clip that's located on top of the air filter cap.







The pics don't include the air filter intake silencer, which has been removed to gain additional under-seat storage space.

Good Fortune!

Thank you, sir. I will know pretty soon what leaks I have and don't have, but the machine has been sitting for over a decade. I will say, it is remarkably clean inside so far.

Thanks again.

Ed