Looking for advice - very hard starting cold 79 KZ650 SR

I've been restoring a 79 Kz650 SR that I purchased a month or so ago. It was not running when I bought it and I couldn't get it to fire when I got it home. I determined that it wasn't getting any gas. Had been sitting for 3 years. 16,000 miles on it. I had the carbs rebuilt by a qualified tech. Put the carbs back on and got it started after quite a bit of cranking with a new battery. Sounds fine when it's running and it idles fine. If I shut it down after idling it starts right up instantly. But when I try it again the next morning it takes at least a minute of cranking to get it started again. Compression is good and it's getting a strong spark at all cylinders. I've read that these are cold starting beasts but even so it seems like it's taking way too long to get it started. I have yet to run it down the road because it's been in various states of dssassembly at this point. Is it possible that just actually driving it could clear things up ? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Gary

If you haven't already tried this - next morning before trying to start the bike try setting the petcock to the "PRI" position then try to start it. Ed

What Ed said and if that doesn't work put in 17.5 pilot jets. Also ditch those cheap pods filters and get a quality set.

As Ed said, you need to prime the bowls first but if you are doing that it sounds like a choke issue to me. When the carbs were cleaned did your man ensure the choke pick ups were clear? Did he put new o rings on each choke lifter and ensure there are no air leaks? Do the choke lifters lift completely with no play?

It could also be those pod rubbers are closing off the pilot circuit air intake.

They are not hard to start from cold if everything is correct. Admittedly they do occasionally only start on three cylinders for a few secs before the fourth cuts in.

Did you adjust the valves and rejet for the pods? Sounds like the choke pickup tubes and/or the passage in the float bowl is blocked.

650ed wrote: If you haven't already tried this - next morning before trying to start the bike try setting the petcock to the "PRI" position then try to start it. Ed

Thanks very much for the reply Ed. I'm pretty sure I had it set to the PR position when cold starting but I'll try again.

baldy110 wrote: What Ed said and if that doesn't work put in 17.5 pilot jets. Also ditch those cheap pods filters and get a quality set.

The guy that rebuilt the carbs rejetted for the pods but I'm not sure what size jets he put in. I'll have to check with him. Regarding the cheap pods, and I'm not being a wise guy here, is that just a personal thing or does the quality of the pods make a difference. It's about a $150 difference in price. Ouch

Warren3200gt wrote: As Ed said, you need to prime the bowls first but if you are doing that it sounds like a choke issue to me. When the carbs were cleaned did your man ensure the choke pick ups were clear? Did he put new o rings on each choke lifter and ensure there are no air leaks? Do the choke lifters lift completely with no play?

It could also be those pod rubbers are closing off the pilot circuit air intake.

Sounds like I may need to bite the bullet and get the K&N pods. I'll also check out the choke to see if that's proper. Thanks very much for the reply
They are not hard to start from cold if everything is correct. Admittedly they do occasionally only start on three cylinders for a few secs before the fourth cuts in.

Nessism wrote: Did you adjust the valves and rejet for the pods? Sounds like the choke pickup tubes and/or the passage in the float bowl is blocked.

The mechanic did rejet for the pods. I haven't done anything with the valves. When I was researching this issue before I reached out here it seemed like a valve adjustment might be in order. Appreciate the help

Some of the cheap pods like Emgo are poorly designed and can block some of the air jets on the intake side of the carbs. You might want to check APE and Uni.

I recently bout a set of APE filters for my ZRX, and they are every bit as good as K&N, and fit better to boot. The whole set was less than $70. I see that they have some to fit the KZ700 and GPz 750' so they may also have a size for you.

kzzone.com/carbs.html

Nessism wrote: Sounds like the choke pickup tubes and/or the passage in the float bowl is blocked.

This is solid advice and easy to check. it's also often overlooked when someone does a "carb rebuild".