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Hahaha, nice. For 40 bucks I skipped it and did the tubing trick for now but good to know for future. I'd definitely have to have it hanging off all funky due to those crap cone filters which are falling apart and about to be replaced. I sure did download the manual, I have 2 now depending on what I'm researching.

You should find an OEM air box that will fit your bike. It has a port for the crankcase breather for filtered air.
There is a rubber 90* for the breather connection at the bottom not pictured.


17 year old greta would not approve of anything with a carbon footprint. Fossil fuels, cars, motorcycles, airplanes, cow farts, non-renewable energy, petroleum products, etc. I hope nobody tells her where her I-phone plastic / rubber compounds ,electric cars and batteries come from.. What the heck, the world is going to end in 12 years anyway.. What do I know?

Did your coils test out in the factory service manual acceptable range.

I'm halfway glad the site wasn't working for me past couple days cuz I had some trying times at the garage. I was able to get a primary reading on both coils which was 4.3/4.6 but I couldn't get a secondary reading at all. First day I was super frustrated trying to test cuz I didn't know what I was doing. Left side coil I put my meter on 200 and leads on both primary, 4.3, easy. Right side coil I was lost until I tested the yellow/green coming off the coil body, 4.6...the coils aren't the same design. Tried meter leads in both plug caps for a secondary reading and got no nothing for either coil. Switched my setting on meter and also took caps off/made sure I had fresh cut ends. I must be doing something wrong cuz I got no reading but have good spark on all 4 testing plugs against motor. On my first day all frustrated I had a random thought to touch the header and noticed 3 cyl wasn't running. Gave up pissed and went home. Had a better day next day but still couldn't get a secondary reading. Cyl 3 came back to life, my pod filter mesh was completely torn from the body and 1 other is not in the best shape either. Sprayed a bit of starter fluid in 3 it revved and gave it throttle all 4 cyl fine as of now. I notice plug 1/4 pretty black and 2/3 greyish white. I haven't cleaned carbs as I have no clue where to start for removal, still intimidating. Bike starts okay with good fuel flow to carbs, revvs like a raped ape on choke. That's where I'm at.

Glad to hear you making progress and learning some along the way. My guess is your extremely lean on 2&3 carbs. When you add choke you are actually allowing in additional fuel, this would also then explain why 1&4 are rich. With these choke systems your opening additional fuel passage. Most engine chokes restrict air effectively richening up the mixture . Without knowing that all pilot passages are clear and that the Sync is correct I really cant help you correct the issue. While your waiting on the gaskets you should read the FSM and get a feel for what needs to be done for a good running bike. You need good valve clearance, timing correct along with advancer plate working, Float level correct and carbs properly sync'd. Plug gaps correct. One thing you can try is to check the air idle screws. Turn them in while counting how many turns they take to lightly bottom out. 2&3 might be out farther then 1&4. Set them all to about 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 out. Its worth a try. Keep plugging away at it. Sometimes walking away and learning to fight another day is good advise.

Mikaw you're still the man and your ENCOURAGING feedback is awesome. Forgot to share a couple pics. Also what am I doing wrong with the secondary reading? Isn't it just 1 lead in each plug cap per coil on 20k setting? I'm confused as the way the manual reads continuity vs. the spec k ohm reading. Happy to see the great primary reading. Again, I know the coils work, I wanna get the test right. Frame badge attached. It was 52 degrees in MT today I wanted to ride but not without a 3 carb air filter. I'll look in the manual about carb cleaning, any resources on removal of my mikunis would be great but I'll do some research.

You have a 1978 LTD1000 frame. Yes the secondary test is done by testing resistance across the two plug wires. If they are removable from the coil you get just the coils resistance. The plug wires should aslo be tested.

This is great that you are getting somewhere. I'd like to ENCOURAGE you to continue on your efforts sorting out the bugs. Also intermittent wiring and switches cause all kinds of stupid stuff to happen. You should not have to "finagle" anything to make it function. Mikaw posted some good info on the starting, and ignition circuits. I ENCOURAGE you to make yourself familiar with the info he posted. No pain, no gain.

You should get 20K ohms continuity between the two plug caps.

Each cap should ohm ~5K, ( have found several of these resistor caps bad in the past).


The wires are solid copper core with -0- ohms per foot, which would leave the coils with approximately 10K ohms each.

It would be 20K total between the two plug caps and the the coil resistance combined.

The spark plugs are also supposed to be non-resistor plugs.

If the PO decided to re-engineer the ignition system it could cause the coils to fail and short / arc internally, as I pointed out previously.

There is nothing to be gained by modifying an ignition system that was designed by some extremely smart and talented Japanese engineers in the back yard. The same can be said for most of the other aspects too.

My bike pulls like a freight train, and zings all the way to redline with no spitting, popping sputtering. NADA. I would put it up against almost any bike of the same vintage on the planet. These bikes are extremely well engineered, and set many records back in the day.

Thanks for the ENCOURAGEMENT man haha. That video is awesome, I love stuff like that. I swear I was born in the wrong generation. Definitely getting things sorted out. My goal is just to get the bike in safe good mechanical shape and ride it like that for summer until fall and then when the weather gets bad get more intense with rebuilding and learning. Right now I need to get replacement pods or at least one as I have no air filter on carb 3 right now. Junk pods, gonna get some from Dime City for now as the bike is used to pods. I couldn't get a reading at all on my caps but shortly after the lead fell off my meter completely so I barely got my 7 dollars worth from Harbor Freight. Gonna check that again after I get a new meter cuz' I won't rest until I get a proper reading. I know 1 and 4 are ngk and 2 and 3 look stock but i'm not sure what type wires/caps they are exactly. I've got spark on all 4 but I do feel like it could be stronger. Gonna look into Mikaws advice on rich/lean also, just gotta be sure of the screw(s) I'm working with. Carbs need cleaned too, is there some cleaning I can do with the carbs on the rack that may suffice for now? I got shipped the wrong float bowl gaskets all together, someone elses order so that's still pending. Cut those shit fork boots off, new grips/throttle tube, fixed taillight, topped dot 3 fluids, tire pressure, gonna do a full oil change/filter but I have to drop the whole header, check gaskets. Gapping plugs to spec as I lazily just put em in when I was diagnosing no spark. Time is limited at my off-site garage as I'm now stay at home Dad due to this virus stuff. Plenty of time to read the manual and be on the forum!

You wouldn't have like being born in my generation. We had to go to libraries, buy service manuals mail order, and had to actually take out loans and attend a trade school to learn. After graduation we had student loans to repay. Printed service manuals, magazine subscriptions and catalogs were the only other sources of info on the "latest' stuff. None of this point and click, YouTube crap! nope.. Researching anything was actually WORK.

Well, if you have flimsy meter leads, you aren't checking anything very good. If the leads are frayed and broken.. may be the FIRST place to start. HF has a half way decent test light for unter 5 bucks. Other than resistance testing, a test light helps immensely. I use mine frequently. I have one in my truck too so that I can check for power on my truck if it screws up. (very seldom does it let me down, starts every time) Good troubleshooting skills / habbits is not a one time thing, it is a way of life and transfers onto everything you do.

I have had several Kz1000's,, and I have rescued and sold many other bikes in the past. It takes years in some cases to get your bike to the point my "keeper" is in. I totally disassembled this bike, cleaned up every freakin part, then reassembled it piece by piece. In the mean time I still had my other Kz1000M1, so I got my 100 hp therapy from that, while building this bike. Take your time, and restore it to stock is my recommendation if you want a fast and >dependable< Kz1000. Those smart jap engineers are a tough act to follow. It's tough doing anything offsite. There are some guys on here that have done some awesome restorations in a second floor apartment. I bet management loved the paint work and the greasy stuff. Dishwashers work great to clean some things. I use mineral spirits and a part brush, then hose things off with a garden hose, and finally, blow dry with compressed air.



10' X 10' shed workshop.


BTW, instead of wasting more money on new pods, have you even considered looking for a OEM air box to fit that bike? There are reasons the air box was used. HS speed air flow being one of them. Some people leave them off, because they aren't smart enough to put a simple fkin air box back on. There is no performance improvement to be gained using those funky pods, and the air turbulence in the outside carbs screws up the fuel mixtures at speed.

There's some stock air boxes floating around eBay for 90-120, just gonna replace the one pod for now or I may even have to use some pantyhose for today cuz' it's 55 degrees again in MT. Nothing better than social distancing on a KZ. I've never had a test light or know how to use one so one more thing to learn. I'm gonna make a run to my garage on my ladies lunch and grab a new meter. Maybe grab a couple pics while I'm there to ask some further ?'s Anything you'd like to see or curious about? I know I'll upset the purest in you but I'm not gonna go back to stock. I would've been better off buying a stock KZ at that in fact I almost paid 1500 for a bone stock 79 kz750 before I got this Frankenstein. I got a call from a buddy that restores cars and he's giving me a 78 xs650 for free so I'll have yet another project on my hands!

Purists? LOL.. I like the corbin seat look. It's hard to beat stock performance. I love lining up on loud and slow and >improved< bikes at the street light. See ya! lol

Learn how to use a test light? Just point and click.