Who has 1977 Red KZ650B1. I DO, any recalls?probl.

Just curious if there were any problems with This bike that are normal/abnormal,Any recalls in the day, Tricks to keep it Happy.

I had a B1 20+ years ago. Main characteristic that I recall was low RPM stuttering, and sometimes impossible to run engine under 4k rpm. Both symptoms were helped enormously by linking the carb vacuum take offs. Linking 1-4 and 2-3 with petrol pipe made it run a whole lot better. I think Kawasaki modified the carbs on later models to cure these problems. Certainly my present C2 runs a whole lot better at low RPM than the B1 did.

Hope this helps.

Paul

I haven't heard of any problems specific with the first year 650s. Some did come with VM22SS carbs, then later models switched to the VM24SS carbs, but no real issues with either.

Check out the 650 link in my signature. It'll send you to a kz650 site with members who have more experience with 650s, some who are members here as well.

Were you refering to the vaccuum connections under the carbs where you would sync them, Hooking a hose between 1 and 4 carb and a hose between 2 and 3 ???

A couple things. According to Kawasaki, some were hard to shift from first to second. They came out with a revised shift drum disc for this problem. Another was noise in the top end. They added the pillow shaped rubber on the cam idler shafts and replaced the top idler rubber mounts with better quality part for this problem. I've never heard of anyone that actually had these problems under warranty, but none the less they were there. Another problem was the cam end plugs with the bulge shape caused problems. In 78 they went to the flat shape.

Were you refering to the vaccuum connections under the carbs where you would sync them, Hooking a hose between 1 and 4 carb and a hose between 2 and 3 ???

Yes. Correct. Made a really big difference on my bike.

B1 engine is the same as my C1 engine. I have kept it stock and have had no serious problems in 32 years. As RonKZ650 pointed out, the top idler damper rubber composition changed back in '77 or '78, but the dampers probably have been replaced by now, if not they should be.

Hooking hoses between vacuum fittings sounds like a bandaid for carbs that are not synched properly.

650ed wrote:

Hooking hoses between vacuum fittings sounds like a bandaid for carbs that are not synched properly.

You could be right. But back then I did not have vac gauges and got the carbs synched by a dealer. It was always a bit stuttery at low revs (below 2500rpm) but after dealer sync it would not pull away at under 4k rpm without stalling. Took it back to the dealer and he said carbs were spot on and told me to link the vacuum stubs 1-4 & 2-3. I did that and it cured the problem. So... maybe the dealer did a bad job synching the carbs? But no way to tell now. I did another 50,000 miles on that bike without another carb sync. and it always ran well with the hoses on, and ran badly whenever I took them off.

Well I hooked them up 1-4 2-3 with clear tubing. It didnt seem to run any different. I got to watch the vapor in the tubes moving back and forth at an Idle. When you sped it up for the moment due to vaccuum drop the vapor would stop moving. Bike still runs good either way so back off the tubes came. Fun trying anyway.