82 KZ750 fuel bowl vent rod

Finally got around to figuring out why the bike I bought last fall was dumping fuel everytime it ran. For some reason it looks like the previous owner soldered around 2 of the vent rods and one was missing entirely. So the question is - where can I get the missing piece and what is it's official name? Only carb service I've done in the past involved putting in the standard kit. Not used to finding missing parts

Looking around on ebay it appears that many similar carb bowls have no vent tube. Is it ok to just seal it up?

kzrider.com/forum/3-carburetor/605636-ke...v34-float-bowl-leaks

Ok, so from that it seems that just plugging them would be fine.

Ripped out the remaining tubes and drilled the hole with a centering bit to get a nice conical hole. Filled with steel stik and they work great. Only snag was pinching one of the gaskets whixh resulted in fuel pouring out. Took it all back apart, and now it runs well and is leak free.

Those are the overflow tubes (not rods). I wouldn't plug them. If your carburetors flood for whatever reason, the excess fuel may get dumped into the engine.



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martin_csr wrote: Those are the overflow tubes (not rods). I wouldn't plug them. If your carburetors flood for whatever reason, the excess fuel may get dumped into the engine.

Exactly! For example, without those overflow tubes being functional a very simple problem such as a stuck float could turn into a huge problem since the gasoline will have no place to go except into the cylinder. That could even create a hydrolock problem that breaks the engine. Plugging those overflows is not a good idea at all. The folks who designed the carbs did not put them there as decorative items. Ed


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The later models dont have them. The excess fuel dumps to the airbox, not the cylinders.

Maybe. But when the intake valve opens and the piston moves downward the resulting vacuum in the cylinder would suck the fuel into the cylinder - wouldn't it? Ed

I suppose, but at the point the bike is running then what does it matter? It'll run rich on the cylinder, but it isn't going to hydrolock on a bowl full of fuel. The tank has a vac switch, so the carbs can't be spilling when engine is off.

Where you careful to make sure not to block the drain plug screw?

Drain plugs all still work. Steelstik is really thick and hard to jam that far down into a little hole. I checked them all before putting back on bike.