TOPIC:

Thank you for this post. I learned quite a bit, not the least of which was that Ethanol gas and regular gas will measure out at different float heights, and, hence, the float height must be set with a specific gas type, then, stick with that type.

With multiple carb bikes, especially four, I can see the value of pulling the carb.

For my little KZ200 it is very simple to test the float height without pulling the carb.

I just drain the carb from the little screw on the bottom side, then, using a 3/32" bit of clear, rubber tubing, with one end wrapped with teflon tape, I "screw" the teflon tape into the threaded drain plug hole, then, raise the tube and open the petcock. See below.



Then, to measure:

msanch08 wrote:

Thank you for this post. I learned quite a bit, not the least of which was that Ethanol gas and regular gas will measure out at different float heights, and, hence, the float height must be set with a specific gas type, then, stick with that type.

With multiple carb bikes, especially four, I can see the value of pulling the carb.

For my little KZ200 it is very simple to test the float height without pulling the carb.

I just drain the carb from the little screw on the bottom side, then, using a 3/32" bit of clear, rubber tubing, with one end wrapped with teflon tape, I "screw" the teflon tape into the threaded drain plug hole, then, raise the tube and open the petcock. See below.

Then, to measure:

That's exactly how we do the late '74 and '75 Z1 carbs that have the small drain screws, but we do them off the bike, unracked.

Good Ridin'
slmjim & Z1BEBE

Hi do you have any idea what the fuel level (in mm from the carb body using the wet/clear tube method) should be on the kz200?

TIA
Ben

benjamingray44 wrote:

Hi do you have any idea what the fuel level (in mm from the carb body using the wet/clear tube method) should be on the kz200?

TIA
Ben

We don't. We focus on Z1's almost exclusively. If it's not in the factory service manual, don't know where it would be.

Good Ridin'
slmjim & Z1BEBE

I had to do a head gasket change on one of my Z1B's.  During reassembly I decided to check my carb floats while the carbs were off the bike.  I used the Slmjim method, which I have found to be much faster and cleaner than using a cleartube.  I think Slmjim's method is a significant innovation for checking fuel level for carbs off the bike and would recommend we pin this thread to make it easy to find.

Rather than do one carb at a time I decided to do two.  I would have done all four but couldn't persuade my wife to give up more than two glasses to this project, so....two at a time was the best I could do.  For a fuel supply I used my Motion-Pro temporary tank that I hooked to the carbs.

First I pulled the bowls off the outer two carbs, #1 and #4.  You can see the setup below.  My goal was to measure the gap from the top of the fuel to the top of the glass and hopefully get it set at 3.5 mm, plus or minus 1.0 mm.  The second photo shows how I measured the gap....with a micrometer.  I measured to the bottom of the miniscus.  The third photo shows the middle two carbs after they had filled.  All of my carbs measured 4.5 mm, which is a bit low but within range.