TOPIC:

Loctite Glue, Nitrile Gloves, and a Torn Diaphragm... No its not the start of a dirty joke, its a ghetto carb repair!!!!

So before anyone gets upset, or tells me to "just spend the money to do it right", i both hear and agree with you. However, this came about after acquiring a 77 KZ400D that wasn't running and was in need of some love. The history of the bike was told to me, but not verified, so with that said, when rebuilding the carbs and discovering the holes in the diaphragm, i wasn't ready to start throwing good money after bad on a bike I wasn't sure would even run, or on carbs I wasn't sure I was going to stick with or might have other issues. With that out of the way, on to the repair, maybe this will help someone in a pinch, and I will update my results as they come!

After doing some research, I came across someone doing something similar, and piggy backed off their tests. I wish I could find the link, and if I do I will update this post with it.

Nitrile gloves are fuel resistant, pliable, and bond well with the loctite glue. Some of these glues are also fuel resistant and pliable. I couldn't find any info listing if this particular brand of glue had the polymer the original poster researched, but I have used it on just about everything else with success, so figured "meh... ill try it" (the true scientific method lol)

The original poster used disposable black mechanics nitrile gloves, I instead purchased dishwashing gloves made from Nitrile, they were a little bit thicker material and green, which is always good for 5 more hp....

The thicker material may in theory make the reaction time a little slower, but it also felt closer to the thickness of the original diaphragm. I cut two small patch holes that were maybe 1/8" larger than the worn areas. I put a dot of the loctite glue on the diaphragm, then squeezed the patch panel ontop of the hole and held it in place for a minute or two. The glue squeezed through the hole a tad, after a few stretches everything seemed to remain pliable. I reassembled everything, let it sit over night, then threw it on the bike.

After working out some other issues on the bike, It worked, everything feels good! I have taken the carbs off after about 10 miles and a week of use and everything still looks fine. I'll log more miles and update again to let anyone know if this has turned into an epic fail while I decide what route to go with these carbs. Might help someone in a pinch, so thought I would share.

The pics: (the carbs have since been pulled back off and cleaned up since this time, i promise lol)

Wanted to come back with an update:

After another month+ and about 200 miles more logged riding, nothing has changed in drive ability, throttle response, cold starts, or warm starts, etc

Still feels to be doing everything right. This winter I plan on making some bigger changes to the bike, so I will likely use that as an opportunity to physically inspect the repair once again. If and when I do, I will report what I find, good, or bad. However, all seems good thus far *knocks on wood*

Which Locktite adhesive did you use?

TexasKZ wrote: Which Locktite adhesive did you use?

I'll try to double check the bottle

That is, after I remember where I put it haha, however I believe it was this one (you can see it pictured on the left side of the first picture of the first post)



I think its: loctite 1752196 (different searches pull up different cap and sticker shapes for the same number, so maybe there was a packaging change at some point)