Topic: 80 KZ1000 named Kaw Pie.

[Don R]

 I got the spare rack of Mikuni's freed up, man are they filthy. I see why they got abandoned. I think I'll buy two more of the fuel tees while they're apart and change these out. I got the choke tubes open by chamfering the end of the tube with a pin drill and working a guitar string down inside. I'm still working on the wells and transfer holes in the float bowls.
 The ebay seller also has a replacement tee for the 29 smoothbores on my 836 hot rod.  He said it's different than the center feed tees I bought by accident.

[Don R]

 I'm going to make a parts run to Menards, I saw an ad for cheap carb/efi cleaner and starting fluid. My pressure washer likes a dose of sleepy gas before it starts. 

[Terry in Australia]

You need to buy an ultrasonic cleaner if you're gonna clean up those carbs Don, that 30 litre cheapie that I bought is great, it's amazing how clean you can get them when you just dump a whole bank of carbs in and crank the heat up. I was gonna buy some new RS40's for my KZ1000/1428 engine, but when I measured the inlet tracts on the GPZ1100 head they're only 34mm so I'll have to rethink them. Interestingly Mikuni recommends 38mm carbs for the GPZ1100 head, so I'm guessing that they also supply tapered manifolds to port match the bigger carb venturis to the smaller inlet tracts.

[Don R]

 I can ultrasonically wash a rack of 4 if it's apart and these are close enough to apart to finish the job. I might also cook up a batch of carb to airbox rubbers.
 I'm glad for the opportunity to clean these old Mikuni junkers so I'll know more about them when I work on the 29 smoothbores. They will get choke plungers and gaskets. I have a left float bowl on the way from an ebay seller.
 One has a sleeved vent tube and epoxy on the bottom around the drain.

[Terry in Australia]

I can ultrasonically wash a rack of 4 if it's apart and these are close enough to apart to finish the job. I might also cook up a batch of carb to airbox rubbers.
 I'm glad for the opportunity to clean these old Mikuni junkers so I'll know more about them when I work on the 29 smoothbores. They will get choke plungers and gaskets. I have a left float bowl on the way from an ebay seller.
 One has a sleeved vent tube and epoxy on the bottom around the drain.

Jeff Saunders (also a member here) from Z1 Enterprises is a good source for used Z parts, years ago I had some 29's that I wanted to put on a Suzuki but were missing a couple of float bowl plugs, and he sent me some for the price of postage. Spotty used to make his own ultrasonic cleaners by fixing an electric sander to a drink cooler. The particular brand of sanders had an "Easy Exchange" policy, so once one blew up he'd just take it back to the big box hardware store and swap it for a fresh one.

[Don R]

  I remember the diy ultrasonic story. It probably works better than my store bought one.
  The Mikuni former pumper carbs are cleaned and back together, ready for a fuel level test before going back on the bike.
  I had to do the books for the car club today and make a report for the post car show meeting. My back thinks I was standing on concrete long enough anyway.

[Terry in Australia]

You and I have similar backs Don. I'm getting sick of all of the pain pills that I'm currently taking, so tomorrow I'm having a consultation with a doctor to see if I can be prescribed medical cannabis. Not the good kind that you can smoke, but regardless, I've heard good stories about it, from a couple of army veterans with similar injuries, and from a female army friend who got her dad on to medicinal cannabis when he was dying from cancer, apparently it was the only thing that he could take without being sick, and even though he was anti-weed, he thought it was a really good pain medicine. I'm not sure whether the army will kick me out if I'm taking it, it is legal here in Victoria, but the army does what they feel like, so I guess we'll see.

I fired up my Z1-B when I came home after work, the combination of the Dyna 2000 ignition and Mikuni RS34's is almost like EFI in that I pull the choke, hit the button and it immediately fires up, as soon as it does I push the choke in, and it happily idles at 1500 RPM. I'm going to install the new (ridiculously expensive) RK 630 chain tomorrow if the weather is still nice, and hopefully I'll take it over to Ace Motorcycles on Saturday morning to get the Roadworthy certificate, finally. I rode it around the block (too many cops around for a decent, illegal ride) and looked at the odometer, with all of my rides since I put it together, I've done a grand total of 50 Km. (30 miles) The crappy Ebay chain that I originally bought for it already needs adjustment, so I'm glad I ponied up the pesos for the RK.

[Don R]

  The city built a public restroom building near a parking area/public gathering area downtown. At the beginning of our car cruise, I went to check it out. Someone had been smoking weed in there and by the time I got my business done I was already feeling it. Must be some potent stuff, I did hold the door open for a while to ventilate it for a while in case any kids needed to go in. It's legal now but obviously not in public restrooms. I'm glad I have no pee tests for a job to worry about. 
  We have a two day drag race at the end of the month, I'm taking a bike or two along in case anyone feels the need to relieve me of them.

[Terry in Australia]

Yep I’m not allowed to smoke weed Don, it’s only a little bit illegal here and I reckon it’ll be legalised soon, but  it’s a big no-no for anyone in the military, and I’d lose my security clearance (and my job) if I got busted. I haven’t smoked weed since the 70’s and back then it was just weed with none of the “additives” that are used nowadays to make it so potent, so when it is legal, I’ll find some seeds and grow my own.

Good idea to take a couple of bikes to sell, now that I have a little truck I’ll load it up with bikes and parts that I no longer need and take it to some swap meets, swap meet season is coming up shortly, so I’ll hopefully make hay while the sun shines.

[Kelly E]

Yep I’m not allowed to smoke weed Don, it’s only a little bit illegal here and I reckon it’ll be legalised soon, but  it’s a big no-no for anyone in the military, and I’d lose my security clearance (and my job) if I got busted. I haven’t smoked weed since the 70’s and back then it was just weed with none of the “additives” that are used nowadays to make it so potent, so when it is legal, I’ll find some seeds and grow my own.

Good idea to take a couple of bikes to sell, now that I have a little truck I’ll load it up with bikes and parts that I no longer need and take it to some swap meets, swap meet season is coming up shortly, so I’ll hopefully make hay while the sun shines.

It's not additives but selective breeding for desired traits. That's why CBD's exist, they have been bred to bring out the medicinal traits and get rid of the unwanted traits.

[RAFster122s]

Federal govt here still views marijuana as an illegal drug despite states making it legal. CBD is in same boat. You won't be exempt from violations even if doctor gives you medical prescription here... Still face losing your clearance and job. Transporting either can be problematic if traveling across state lines if feds want to get picky too...

[Terry in Australia]

Well I had my tele-consultation with the nurse today, and am having another with the doctor on Tuesday. Apparently with all of my accepted conditions I'm entitled to be prescribed both liquid cannabis for pain, and medical weed (to smoke) for sleep, so woohoo! Over here medicinal cannabis is legal in all states, so none of that stupid federal vs state crap that you guys have, and while the VA here may or may not fund it for me, just having a VA "Gold Card" gives me an entitlement to a discount.

I have no idea what this stuff costs, but while I'm working I'm not worried, and when I retire, I'll grow my own. She did say that driving/riding with THC in my system is still illegal, so I'll have to be careful about that, but I'll work it out.

[Kelly E]

I use it to supplement my pain meds so I don't have to take stronger drugs.

[Terry in Australia]

I use it to supplement my pain meds so I don't have to take stronger drugs.

How are you using it Kelly, in liquid form, or smoking it, and how good is it? I’m on pretty much the strongest pain killers that the back specialist was comfortable in prescribing for me long term, I was on oxy c for a little while but that stuff is bad long term, but as I can’t have anti-inflammatory drugs, I have to have stronger pain meds.

I think my wife will freak if she sees me smoking it, so I’ll use the liquid and hide the weed for when she’s not home. Sorry for the thread jack Don, but to add some Kawasaki content, all going well, I’m taking my Z1-B over for its roadworthy inspection tomorrow.

[Kelly E]

Terry, I'm smoking bud, smoking with oil cartridges and sometimes liquid. It is strong and helps me a lot. With it I can use small dose oxycodone and the combination takes the edge off so I can function without too much pain and don't feel woozy. Here in NW Washington people have been growing really potent weed indoors for at least four decades so powerful weed has been common and easy to get.

[Don R]

 I got back on the Kaw today, the float valves got flushed again and I put on a new used float bowl. So far, they seem to be holding fuel on the bench.
  I used a caliper to check and adjust the float tabs to make all floats the same as the two that didn't leak. Seemed legit.

[Don R]

 I spent the afternoon putting the carbs back on. If they leak now I'll consider repairing them on the bike. OMG.

[Kelly E]

Sounds like I'm lucky that my KZ 1000 didn't come with the factory airbox.

[Don R]

Sounds like I'm lucky that my KZ 1000 didn't come with the factory airbox.

On the advice of a local drag bike guy/Kawasaki mechanic, I put stock parts back on mine. The unipods on it crumbled away on the trip home.  Even after he re-jetted and put on a set of pods that he could supply, it ran awful.
  Now I can't help but wonder if a Z1900 airbox would fit and be easier to work with, I also considered trying one on my 750 that has 29mm smoothbore kawasaki spaced mikuni's on it. It might be worth the $100 to get the reproduction to try.  Then more $$ for the bracket, filter and lid.

[Kelly E]

There's a guy on kzrider.com that sells airjet correctors that makes it easy to tune with quality pods like K&N. He also refurbishes choke plungers.

[seanbarney41]

Yup...I used those airjet correctors on a big bored and cammed kz650 and they were a treat.  That little 710 was huntin' down cbr600's all over town and spankin 'em.

[Don R]

 I did read on here that unipods have more restriction than Paper/cloth/mesh filters. That's probably why it ran awful after removing them.
 I read about the air jet correctors when putting the 29 smoothbores back on my 836 Hot Rod but the 29's apparently already have that covered.  I do need to spend some time on KZrider again.
 
 I did find choke plungers and bought a set that are purported to be genuine Mikuni but also noticed a lot of folks using the Mikuni name selling Chinese carbs. They are still in the bag with my Canadian made Mikuni gasket sets and used replacement float bowl.
 It's running strangely but I remembered it needs fuel and wasn't set on reserve. I'm taking it to the drag strip this weekend to use as a pit bike. If it suddenly runs better I may try a 1/4 mile pass.

[Don R]

 I took the Kaw to the drag strip with us. Story of my Kawasaki life, it refused to start then pissed gas in the trailer when I left the fuel on. The side stand has way too much lean, I need to correct that a bit.
 I had a looker at it, guy has a ZX14 and was running laps. He left the key on and killed the battery, they got a little charge in it and pushed it down a hill to get it running. Didn't turn it off for the next hour.

[Don R]

  The KZ was still not running, a shot of starting fluid in the air box did nothing, A GS850 I had once needed a new fuse panel, low voltage was causing it to not start, maybe this thing is the same. After the battery charged up it did finally fire up. I rode it through the neighborhood with a little popping and banging, later I noticed a squad car parked across the street. Hmmmm. I need to burn off or replace the plugs.
 I'd still really like to put a 4-4 Z1 exhaust, flat seat, paint it brown and orange and make a Z1 clone. 

[Kelly E]

I bought a new barely stepped seat and once it's a solid runner I am buying a new 77' KZ 1000 body set for my 77' KZ 1000 LTD from Z1 Parts.