Free Bike Givin To Me

How do I get rid of the condensation then,an what can I do about the fouled plug?

I'd check the input voltage to the coils at the primary(small wires). With a fully charged battery it should almost be the same. If down around 7-10 volts, go to www.wgcarbs.com and read up on doing a bypass using a 12 volt relay.

New sparkplug wires and caps will help too.

Before you go trying to start things you need to begin with basic mantenence. Replace the spark plugs and wires, change the oil and filter, get a new air filter, and clean out the carbs. Total cost: about $50 and a days work. The big one is cleaning out the carbs.

If the bike has been sitting a while all of the old gas has gummed up the inner workings of the carbs, so take them off the bike, take the float bowls off, take out the needles and jets, and spray some carb cleaner though everything.

Gas coming out the bottom of your carb means that either the check screws at the bottom aren't tightened, that the float level is too high, or that the seal around the float bowl has gone bad.

I've never heard a "Chirp" from my starter on my KZ550, so make sure you've torqued down the bolts correctly and that your not stripping a gear.

Also, speaking from experience, i'd recommend cleaning out the master cylinder and replacing the brake fluid before you go for a ride. The return hole gets plugged up pretty easily and it's no fun when your front locks up randomly on you.

Hope this helps! I speak only from my own experience.

Well wont be going for a ride anytime soon,but thanks u for all the info will do everthing an get back to ya'll on my progress

Does anyone know were I can get a carburetor rebuild kit from the internet?

z1 enterprises.

www.z1enterprises.com/detail.aspx?ID=475

How do I know what size screws to use when buying from Z1enterprises for my carburetor?

Nothing against Z1E as I buy most of my stuff there, but I just took the screws from my carbs to the local hardware store and bought them there. No shipping costs and I could be certain they were the right size. When I tore down my carbs I had quite a few that were extremely soft and stripped/had to be drilled out.

Otherwise, get familiar with the Kawasaki parts page. You'll find it on the Kawasaki site under Owners Info/Parts Diagrams. This should have all the part numbers you need to cross reference, etc. Also, as previously suggested, please get a shop manual. Clymer is ok, Kawasaki Shop Manual much recommended.

If you do want to buy the screws from Z1E, just send them an email/give them a call. Extremely helpful folks with a lot of knowledge about these bikes.

I took my carb apart today,an I discovered that my bowls(the rubber boot or what ever)3 out of 4 of them were ripped an looked to be no good.My question is were can I get a set,I looked on Babbits an holy crap for 4 were over a hundred bucks is this what they run or can I find some somewhere cheaper?

ndfez wrote:

I took my carb apart today,an I discovered that my bowls(the rubber boot or what ever)3 out of 4 of them were ripped an looked to be no good.My question is were can I get a set,I looked on Babbits an holy crap for 4 were over a hundred bucks is this what they run or can I find some somewhere cheaper?

are you talkin bowl gaskets or the rubber diaphrams that run up inside the carbs.....? bowl gaskets are cheap..those rubber diaphrams are not....post some pics....lotsa help that way....

The rubber diaphrams

If the diaphrams are not too badly torn, this might work:

I found this the other day concerning carb diaphragm problems.

Carburetor diaphragm repair that works.

Ok so your old bike's carb diaphragm has a little pinhole in it, or you've got a little tear like mine does from being old and maybe a backfire or something. So you go to the dealership or check online and you can't find a replacement anywhere. You may stumble upon services that will re-diaphragm any old carb slide, but the wait time is a month and you can't afford the 170 bucks a piece. Never fear, I have found a solution.

Carb diaphragms are made of nitrile rubber and so are nitrile gloves (big surprise right) so I experimented on several gloves with various adhesives that I thought might work and eventually I found one.

First up was liquid electrical tape. The liquid electrical tape bonded the glove together really quick and held pretty damn strong. Much stronger than needed for a diaphragm. I then tested its resistance to Gum-out (which you should NEVER use on CV diaphragm carbs btw!) and the gumout dissolved it quick. Gumout also slackened and ate through the gloves after several minutes. Well scratch that one, I wanted something that would stand up to gasoline and the occaisional capful of cleaner.

Next up, weather stripping adhesive. This was a good candidate because it seems to hold soft rubber very well for nearly forever. Same problem as the liquid electrical tape. They both smell similar as well which might indicate the solvent being usedm which is easily cut with gumout. I would imagine that xylene and lacquer thinners would have the same effect. I know after painting with nitrile gloves (urethanes, lacquers, clear coats) that the gloves are resistant but will eventually break down anyway. This reinforces the NEVER USE CARB CLEANER SPRAY IN A CV CARB advice.

On the third try, and after reading some industrial adhesives literature, I came across a family of adhesives that include regular super glue, and polyurethane adhesives. You may know the polyurethane adhesives under "Gorilla Glue" or Elmer's "Probond". These guys have di-isocyanates in them and can be particularly nasty, but cyanoacrylates and di-isocyanates are one of the only suitable bonding materials for nitrile rubber, or even hydrogenated n butyl rubbers (the green o rings used in r134 ac systems). And speaking of HNBR (the green rubber), I wish people would push keihn and mikuni and the like to use that stuff in carbs. When you look at what they resist and the temps and pressures they resist, they are CLEARLY the choice for using in a nasty gasoline / solvent environment especially where there is heat involved.... But I digress. So gorilla glue is your best bet. Superglue cures too stiff, and will degrade over time with humidity (crazy huh?). The gorilla glue, being a polyurethane and using the chemicals it does to react with the bonded surfaces, won't let go even when covered with gasoline or carb cleaner. It remains somewhat flexible, but of course is much stiffer than your diaphragm which is just a nitrile rubber coated cloth. You can apply it thinly over tears and cracks and holes and it's not going to let go.

Alternately, some people say that the spray tool dip available from napa auto parts works like a charm. The only problem here is you are increasing the thickness of the diaphragm and that will decrease the response rate of the slide. It's not that big of a deal to get by but still... The main concern is keeping the hole closed #1, and keeping it airtight #2. You could always use a small bead of gorilla glue to hold a tear closed and spray rubber over it for added protection. You could even gorilla glue some nitrile rubber glove over a larger tear. But as I said, response rate will be affected. If you think about it though, there are big springs which hold the slide down, and the suction is really what makes them rise, so as long as they still slide up and down relatively well, and are sealed you should be fine.

The bottom line is, this fix will cost you under 10 bucks and get you going in 24 hours. While you ride on it, look for a new diaphragm, or better yet, save up some money for a set of VMs or something that doesn't use those ?!!&# diaphragms!

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