1981 KZ1000J CARB ISSUES NEED ADVICE

Hey Steve, The baffle is not removable. It may very well be baffle material. I do have a video of the exhaust outlet during initial start and the fireworks were quite impressive lol. The bike has been sitting for 10 years without the exhaust on so it is entirely possible that a critter got in there and made a home. I did get quite a bit of rust out when I shook it to get the rust out before installing. I did a cold start yesterday and it fired right up. I need to let it run for a bit tomorrow as it tends to stumble a bit on #4 and hopefully by letting it run, the carbs passages will get cleaned out a bit more and I can get it color tuned. Have a good one and thanks for your reply. Jon

The pilots are very small. You can use a strand from a wire brush or guitar string to clear them. Without the pilots being clear it won't run for SHT.
Steve

Nessism wrote:

The pilot screws should be set to 2.5 turns for a start. Be sure to remove the screws entirely before soaking in carb dip.

Nessism, I was wondering why 2,5 turns for a start. I believe the manual states 1,1/4 turn to start with. I have to say I trust you more than the manual; but would like to understand the reasoning.

I am now at 1,1/4, and my bike seems to be very rich. Would going to 2,5 make it leaner or richer?

Thank you!

Carlos are you using the jetting and needles from your original carbs or the replacements, you posted that your mains are 127.5 which according to the info Daveo posted is for a "J"
"J2 jetting and needles are different because the "J" uses bigger cams to produce the additional horsepower over your "K" model (CMNSL's data also suggests the adjustable needles you have are possibly not right for your model ?)
It's also possible your choke plungers are leaking (Zed1015 reconditions those)

cartal wrote:

Nessism wrote:

The pilot screws should be set to 2.5 turns for a start. Be sure to remove the screws entirely before soaking in carb dip.

Nessism, I was wondering why 2,5 turns for a start. I believe the manual states 1,1/4 turn to start with. I have to say I trust you more than the manual; but would like to understand the reasoning.

I am now at 1,1/4, and my bike seems to be very rich. Would going to 2,5 make it leaner or richer?

Thank you!

The pilot screws control how much fuel emulsion is allowed in at idle and just off.  More open = richer.  Kawasaki set the carbs very lean, for emissions purposes.  In my experience. 2.5 turns open is a good starting point.  After you get the bike up and running properly, carbs synced, then tune the screws at idle until you achieve the highest idle speed.  It's very possible that the idle speeds up with turning in the screws, but you won't know this until you start the process.  For most, rich runs better than lean.  If your carbs are running rich with all factory jetting, and the airbox, that suggests something is wrong.  Fuel level too high and/or leaking float needles, leaking choke plungers, stuff like that.