You are here

Home » Forums » MotoBikes & MotoAnything » Wrenching » 1979 KZ1300 A1 Kawasaki

2024-12-29 Kz1300 Carbs - Cleaning using the Scotch Tool

dcarver's picture
published by dcarver on Sun, 12/29/2024 - 17:49
Forums: 
1979 KZ1300 A1 Kawasaki

 

Finally getting back to working on KZ 1300 carburetors. I am hoping to learn as much as possible this time around about how these carburetors work. I have several very good resources from past posts on kZ1300.com.

These carbs have been worked on by wiredgeorge and they certainly did not come back as nice as the ones from Jack Wagner @old school carbs, who rebuilt my Honda CBX carbs.

After bench synchronization, I put them on the bike and it ran, but not good. If my memory serves me correct the center bank didn't have any fire at all. Even manually raising the slides had no result.

I checked for spark and all was good.  So, I removed the carburetors and that was almost 9 months ago.

Colder winter weather makes me want to ride this water heater so now is that time to start working on these carburetors.

First office is a careful disassembly and inspection. Armed with a Scotch Cleaning Tool, FSM and time.. away we go.

Here is a summary of the work I have already done on these carburetors.

A picture to remind me of what they look like fully assembled.

Opening up. This time I was very careful to not lose any parts from the synchronization rods. Last time one of the little springs came out and got lost in the shop on the floor.  It took me forever to find it.  I finally did find it. It was right next to the 10 mm socket. smiley

Diaphrams look 'crinkly.. Not sure if ok or not.. I have another rack. I'm going to see which of the two have the better diaphragms and use them. I am also going to order some diaphragms from Helmut from Germany.

These carburetors should be spotless internally as they just came back from a professional rebuild.

Come to think of it, this is the only motorcycle in my collection that has diaphragm CV carbs. So I have nothing to compare to. It just seems like the diaphragms should not be crinkled, but rather soft, smooth, and supple.
ll
Tomorrow, I will disassemble all the slides and make sure the needle is in the correct position according to the factory service manual.

Pic to show orentation. Gracias.

Proper orientation of the carburetor support plate.

One of my drain screws is booger up. I need to find a new one.
t

First wonderment.. How come this 'fresh rebuild' has 'gook' to make o-rings seal? I am hoping that Helmut offers these for sale.

Fetching the spring..


Supposedly this is new brass. I'm thinking about getting slightly longer springs as the needles are loose would adjust it out 1 1/2 to 2 turns.... no


Float bowl removed. Scotch made brass floats.

I don't really think there is anything clogging passageways, but it won't hurt to flush using Scotch's tool.

Interesting. The needle jet is made of metal unlike most I have seen on Japanese bikes.

A little bit of crap to the left of the brass.

Removing main jets and emulsifier tubes.

I need to consult the factory service manual. I believe these are fixed idle jets.

Emulsifier tubes have signs of being 'worked on' to fit? WTFO?

Removing fuel enrichner.

Scotch's flush tool... part one.

More to come.

Submitted by dcarver on Sun, 12/29/2024 - 17:57.

Submitted by dcarver on Tue, 12/31/2024 - 10:46.

 

2024-12-30 More Scotch BlowJob

 

I found it hard to remove the Scotch tool. I thought it would be nice to have something to grab onto and they're already was a threaded hole, but I cannot find any thread that would fit a female. I tried M6x1 and M6x1.25.  Also SAE. The M6x1 would engage 2, maybe 3 threads then get tight. Nothing worked so I tapped it with an M6x1.

Went to the hardware store by a nice little knob, what makes it a bit easier to remove the tool even with arthritic fingers.


Someday, I'll have a real shop. But not today. For today, I'm grateful for nice weather.

I think I got one of the last remaining scotch tools available. I don't ever recall seeing The stop plug in picture. So I went to the hardware store and figured it out. It's a M 5 x 50 mm wall with standard plumbing washers to make the seal.

55 mm would have been better, but this is the biggest M5 my hardware store I had.

Here she is all sealed up.

 

Inside view.

I use a little grease to facilitate an easier removal.

Ready to start the flushing process for scotches document.

I use the recommended salt, or thinner, with about 40 cc per flush.

I do have a couple of enhancements for scotches document. When checking for clear passage ways of the four little passageways by the butterfly, the idle air screw must be turned about four terms out to allow the fluid to reach the four holes. I had flushed and flushed and flushed and flushed and flushed and flushed and still didn't have any flow through the three smaller holes. Only the larger hole had flow. Got to look at the passageways and saw that this needle would have to be open.


The top hole is for the idle circuit. Note that in this picture, the carburetor is upside down.
 

Conversely, the bottom bowl is for the high speed circuit, meaning the emulsifier tube and main jet.

x 

Submitted by dcarver on Tue, 12/31/2024 - 20:00.

 

 

2024-12-31 Scotch Blow Job OH SHIT

Sometimes, well, sometimes.

Things go don't as planned.

As in 'Oh fucking Shit' wish I hadn't done that.

Started off working on carb #2, using the Scotch Blow Job tool.  But first, I had noticed that at the recommended 3.5 to 4 turns out on idle mixture adjustment screw,
that the needle jet was loosey goosey. So went to anothe hardware store to find a longer spring.

Thought I had it.. but no.

Only a 3mm will fit into the recess the 5 mm OD spring I found.. won't work.
Should have taken this as a sign and stopped. but NOOOO..

Pulled the needle jet to see settings and make measurements.. Little did I know this was soon to be the last I've seen of it.. sigh.

Circlip at 4th position.. with a shim washer to raise it slightly higher than a 'groove' setting.

Shim washer thickness.

Needle jet stamping.

All brass is new after 'WiredGeorge' rebuild. Not sure what 'kit' he uses.
But the taper looks good.

Thought I'd take a measurement of one.. then compare the other 5 to determine if length was the same.. To save time from pulling the slide circlip on
each and slide.. So far so good.

Off we go.. pics out of sequence..

Noticed some metallic debri on the de-cell diphragm. WTFO?

Like the carb body I worked earlier (this is the middle carb) some crap in this location. Must be a 'drop' point with little to no fuel flow during use..

Noticed the emulsifer has a larger diameter passageway than the ones below it..

Then discovered this hole.. Where does it go? What does it do?
 

x 

It simply goes through from top to bottom chambers..no idea why.

Carb casting flashing..the #1 carb had the same issue. Might clean it up, if nothing else to prevent vibration breakage and potential internal debri..

Now for the Oh Shit part..
Sigh. When attempting to reassemble the needle into the slide..my arthritic fingers gave way to the spring pressure, and the needle, spring, top cap spacer..

Are somewhere here..

I looked for over an hour, could not find. 

Will have to remove contents from drawers on right hand, pull it out, and look behind.

Well, just Fuck Me.


What went airborn...

x 

Well, fuck 2024. I'll find it next year? 

Submitted by dcarver on Thu, 01/02/2025 - 11:02.

 

2025-01-01  Scotch Tool Cleaning Day 3

Hitting the homestretch now.

Another 3 1/2 to 4 hours and all three carbs have been cleaned using the scotch tool, given a blow job with the air compressor at 40 psi.
I still have the problem of the missing needle, spring, and top hat that went for a cruise into space somewhere in in the shop.

I am hoping that the carb kit has these parts, otherwise I will be searching for hours.

My little work area. Old-school stereo upper left-hand corner various old drivers licenses on the wall. Someday he'll become more organized.
As you can see, I have scotches instructions in the bar, right hand corner, and then following it verbatim. Well, actually, it's more like a procedure underneath a revision.

I disassembled one of these to see where the needle position was clipped. Upon reassembly, the spring loaded needle took like a rocket into space. I did, however, take measurements so I could measure the remaining needles without disassembling them. I have to find a better way to reassemble safely.

Here is the next one.

Speaking of diaphragms, I decided to try a little RuGlide to moisturize. I remembered working in a print shop with all set presses where we would treat the blanket with a rubber rejuvenator that extending blanket life, increasing print quality. Much to my surprise the root glides work fantastic on these diaphragms. How long it will last once exposed to gas and vapor I do not know but I will say there was a 80 to 90% improvement in the suppleness, flexibility after the treatment.

Of carbon silica. The last carpet that I worked on had evidence of carbon silica in the fuel coast enrichment diaphragm. Not good. Very disappointed with my so-called professional carburetor rebuilders, and it gets worse from here.

Look at this intake throat. It was so bad that the butterfly would not close fully on the spring alone.
This is unexcused. How much silicone did that cylinder just when I try to run these carbs?

This picture is under four times magnification from the iPhone. To the naked eye, it was barely visible.
But I did notice a hitch in the get along when the butterfly was trying to close underneath the spring pressure, which got me to looking.

Then there is this on the emulsifier tube. All six had shown signs of heavy material removed to fit into the carburetor body. But this one was especially bad. I actually had to drive it out using a small hammer and drift punch. Once again, unexcuseable! Really shitty work.

I have new brass on the order and will install before putting the carbs back on the bike. Use my lathe and a scotch pad to remove the burrs.

The last two needles get measured.

My measurement technique is crude, and when the new brass arrives, I will ensure they are identical in length.

This is the first diaphragm I applied RuGlide to. This was a substantial improvement.

The clock says 5:47 PM, it's dark and I am done for the day.

At this point, I have a much better understanding of how these carburetors work. I understand the idle circuit and passage ways, as well as the high-speed circuit and passage ways. The scotch tool is really a wonderful invention, well thought out and well made. I have already spent the time to learn how to synchronize on the bench so hopefully that process will go more quickly this time around.

Next up, install the new brass when it arrives, check the fuel level in each bowl and adjust as needed. I also would like to find new fuel transfer tubes that connect fuel delivery to each carburetor.

That's it for now, goodbye.

Theme by Danetsoft and Danang Probo Sayekti inspired by Maksimer