Author Topic: Kawasaki 550 - More carb questions... (Read 9324 times)

tsflstb · « **on:** January 09, 2007, 11:30:42 AM »

What do you guys think for $500? It's got a clean title. Anything I should know about this model? Any potential problems? It's been sitting for a while - the first owner was transferred overseas. The guy who has it now has done some carb work and has it running.

Here's the ad copy...

Well boys and girls here it is. A great little bike for $500. It runs rough, but runs. It needs the carbs sinc'd. It has a fresh set of front pads(EBC HH) & fresh brake bleed. I just put a carb rebuild kit in and they just need to be sinc'd back up. It ran before, just a little hard to start & idled rough.
5,237 miles.
Small damage to tank, on the bottom of the tank & not real noticable(left side) It been repaired, but not a real good job. I bought it that way.

kta · « **Reply #1 on:** January 09, 2007, 07:52:59 PM »

For $500 looks pretty good to me. Sounds like with a little carb tinkering it would be good as new. It certainly looks clean. Mine didn't have an oil cooler so that may not be stock. With only 5,700 I don't see how you could go wrong. If worse comes to worse you can just resell it for a little more than what you paid.

I'm doing a frame up resto on my kz550.

Before

After

I spent a tremendous amount of time rebuilding the carbs. Cleaned and polished every surface inside and out. Painted the caps and support bars. This thing is going to run nice!

tsflstb · « **Reply #2 on:** January 10, 2007, 05:02:16 AM »

I went ahead and picked it up last night. Figured it was too cheap to pass up.

I'll get it running good and see how I like it. I think there may be some left over Kreem tank treatment floating in the gas that's gumming up the carbs now. That patch repair on the tank is leaking some gas also, so I'm going to give it the POR-15 treatment, install a fuel filter and sort out the carbs. The only other issue I can see is the rear brake is dragging a little.

Your KZ is going to be nice when it's done. That's pretty much the same engine and carbs in this Zephyr, right? I may have some more questions for you when I get there.

KB02 · « **Reply #3 on:** January 10, 2007, 07:01:35 AM »

yeah. Good pick up. That bike is worth $500 easy if it runs. What year and model is it?

I'm currently working on 80 KZ550 for my wife. I'm down to the fine tuning and body work now. Should be a good little bike.

tsflstb · « **Reply #4 on:** January 10, 2007, 10:35:25 AM »

It's a 1990 -- I think it was called the "Zephyr". It's all complete and unmolested, it's just been sitting too much. I need to fix a few things give it some exercise. Hopefully I'll get a lot of trouble-free miles from it.

crazypj · « **Reply #5 on:** January 15, 2007, 05:19:16 PM »

I forgot I have a Kawasaki service manual for the 1979/81 models. (just picked it up when I was looking for the CB360 manual)
I think only detail changes until it was dropped from line up (carb jetting, ign system) Engine, transmission and chassis looks the same as the early one. Tank and seat slight detail changes, got a bit 'rounder'.
PJ

tsflstb · « **Reply #6 on:** January 15, 2007, 08:42:11 PM »

Thanks. I've got a manual on the way. I got the carbs loose this weekend and have them sitting on the bench. They don't look too bad inside, but I'll give them a good cleaning anyway. #1 cylinder wasn't firing at idle, and it just generally ran rough. I might have to invest in some carb sticks. Need to synch the 400 anyway.

I really appreciate the simplicity of my old 400. This Kawasaki is only a 1990 model, but it seems like I'm working on the space shuttle. Vaccum lines everywhere, electric gizmos running around, and I still think I'll have to saw the frame in half to remove the airbox. Better wait on that manual before I go any farther.

tsflstb · « **Reply #7 on:** January 19, 2007, 06:05:12 PM »

Messing with the carbs tonight and have run across something that's got me stumped. This might be a stupid question, but here goes:

My manual says I should have per carb:
ONE PILOT or SLOW jet (check)
ONE MAIN JET (check)
ONE MAIN JET HOLDER or EMULSION TUBE (check)
ONE CARB NEEDLE (check)
and this gets me...
ONE NEEDLE JET (ITEM 3 below)-- looks like it should press into the bottom of the main jet holder/emulsion tube (NO check)

Am I missing that part or is it already pressed into the bottom and I don't know it? The needle will just fall all the way into the tube. Is that how it should be? Or did the last guy leave these parts out?

Here's the assembly in question:

Again

Here's the rest of the stuff (slow jet and air screw already re-installed):

And the carb body if that helps:

This bike would not run well at all without some starting fluid sprayed continuously into the intake. Everything looked reasonably clean inside when I opened them up. Is my manual wrong, or am I missing this part - or am I just loopy on carb cleaner?

tsflstb · « **Reply #8 on:** January 19, 2007, 06:21:09 PM »

Just so I'm clear it's shown here in the parts diagram PN16017. Should I be able to pull it out from the needle jet holder? Sorry for the dumb question again...never had to think about this stuff before, I've just had to clean 'em and slap 'em back together. I'm surprised the bike would run at all if this part was missing.

kta · « **Reply #9 on:** January 20, 2007, 12:45:08 AM »

If this part exists it will be pressed into the center of the carb. If you look down from the top of the carb and look where the needle passes through you should be able to see the gold ring (jet) pressed in. If it isn't there than I wouldn't worry about, chances are extremely unlikely that someone opened up the carbs, pulled 4 pressed jets and put it all back together. If it ran well before it was parked it will run well again without any new parts.

tsflstb · « **Reply #10 on:** January 20, 2007, 01:13:06 PM »

They were pressed into the carb body. I was thinking I'd find them pressed into the main jet holder, so I got worried.

Anyway, everything is there and was reasonably clean. I cleaned everything again and I'll see what happens when I get a chance to start it. It ran very poorly before. Float heights were good and the air screws were set to factory specs, so I'm not sure what the problem could be.

There are supposed to be 108 main jets in cylinders 1 and 4 and 110's in 2 and 3. They were mixed up in the wrong places, but I don't think that would have kept the bike from idling like it should. Not sure what else to do at this point besides re--install them and cross my fingers.

medic09 · « **Reply #11 on:** January 20, 2007, 08:19:40 PM »

I don't know anything about these bikes, but I find it interesting that they have different size mains by design. Can anyone explain this, just for general edification?

crazypj · « **Reply #12 on:** January 21, 2007, 11:03:25 PM »

They are jetted pretty lean.
The middle cylinders run hotter as they don have same airflow as ouside so they have bigger main jets to cool them by fuel evaporation.
The needle jet should press out towards the bottom, from the top. Use a ball point pen or similar. Dont use anything steel, it will damage the jet.
PJ

BobbyR · « **Reply #13 on:** January 24, 2007, 04:36:46 PM »

I have a KZ 440 I think you will like it once it is running. Look for air leaks on the rubber parts.

tsflstb · « **Reply #14 on:** January 28, 2007, 07:25:42 PM »

Got everything re-installed and it does start without Ether and move under it's own power.

Cylinder #4 is not firing at idle and probably not at all. I cleaned and re-cleaned the pilot jet and idle circuit. Figured out the float height was low, so I have the carbs off again to set the float height for the 3rd time. Not sure what changed when I checked them on the bench, but on the bike it was 1/4" too low.

Anyway, while I've got it apart once again, what do you think of this needle in carb #4? It seems to be losing whatever coating is applied at the factory. It's very, very, minor and you can barely feel the area with a fingernail. Is this something that needs to be replaced, or can I get it running and get a decent carb synch with it as is? I'm trying some polishing compound to smooth it out more, but not getting much accomplished there.

I did ride the bike a couple miles and it's got good power when it revs. Then it stalled on me a mile from home and the battery died before I could re-start it. Why did they get rid of kick starters? At least I got my exercise yesterday. Lesson learned...take test rides UPHILL away from the house. Makes it easier to push home.

KB02 · « **Reply #15 on:** January 29, 2007, 05:16:58 AM »

I would say that if you want to clean up that needle, take some 400 grit wet/dry sand paper, pull it through your polishing compound first, then pollish off the needle with that. Or just replace it. I wouldn't think that it would cause a huge issue, but then again, I fough all summer with the carbs on my 550 before I finally got things figured out.

tsflstb · « **Reply #16 on:** February 04, 2007, 08:33:44 PM »

So I've got it firing on all cylinders now, starts right up and idles nice.

Then I give it some throttle up to say 3-4,000 RPM, and it will just stay there. If I blip it quickly, it will still sometimes climb up to that speed on its own. It seems like it's getting extra vacuum acting on the carbs from somewhere. I've had to shut it off a few times because the revs just keep climbing.

This is my first foray into modern vaccum actuated carbs, so I'm a little lost as to what to do now. First thought was an air leak somewhere, but I've sprayed all the boots on both sides of the carbs while running, and nothing changes.

Carbs 1 and 4 are connected with a "T" and go into a vaccuum switch that gets crankcase pressure on one side. I've sprayed WD40 in there and tapped it on the bench to make sure it's not stuck. Not sure what that piece is supposed to do. Carb #2's vaccuum port goes into the petcock. The petcock leaks a little in the "ON" position, but I don't think that could be a big problem. Carb #3's port is capped off - it goes to the emissions cannister on California models.

I think I understand it that the vaccuum lifts the needles. How do the carbs see equal pressure? The diaphragms are all in good shape. What could be causing these problems? Does it just need a carb synch?

Sorry I haven't found a more knowlegeable forum anywhere, so I'm going to have to bug all of y'all with this.

TomC · « **Reply #17 on:** February 05, 2007, 07:38:35 AM »

Hi tsflstb
"Does it just need a carb synch?" Based on thirty year old experience with a CB450 twin the answer is yes!
TomC

Dave L · « **Reply #18 on:** February 05, 2007, 03:16:31 PM »

Hi
i have with interest the work you have done on this bike and it looks a nice machine ,
i would check the vacuum diaphrams at the top of the carb have they split or are they allowing air past, i think you can get replacements .
second have you set the air screws to the setting in the manual the reason i ask this is because
on my honda 550f2 this was the main problem with my tick over problem the air screw or mixture screw seem to control only the idle and not the main mixture when running under power the main running is controlled by the float height and the main needle position IE the clip on the needle .
like yours my tick over would rise out of control and would only drop when the throttle was snapped open the sudden enrichment would then quench the plugs until they overcome the fuel and the cycle would continue . i also found out thanks to this club site that the way you set the float height was important IE the float tang only just touches the valve tip not resting on it was the correct way to
measure the hight .

tsflstb · « **Reply #19 on:** February 09, 2007, 01:02:27 PM »

I have Morgan Carbtune somewhere over the Atlantic headed for my door, but in the meantime...

This thing runs great until it gets up to operating temp. I can start it in the driveway, let it idle and it runs fine. I just went for a 2 mile ride and towards the end, it wants to die if you're not giving it throttle. It will not restart until it's cooled off. It's been sitting for half an hour now and still won't start with choke, without choke, throttle open or closed. If I go out in a couple of hours it will start right up.

Will a carb synch help this or do I have another carb problem that needs fixing before I attempt to tune them? This bike is in great shape, but I can see why previous owners have given up on it.

And thanks Dave, I have checked and re-checked the diaphragms for leaks. They look solid. Float heights are set to specs. I have set the air screws to factory specs, and have just richened them up by 1/4 turn to help the bike start. The symptoms are the same either way.

Dave L · « **Reply #20 on:** February 10, 2007, 07:50:21 AM »

Hi
Given all that you have checked and i assume you are getting a spark under all conditions
there are only two things i can think of ,one is its possable the valve clearance is closing up
and you may need to do a shim check this would cause all sorts of problems and would explain
why its stopped when hot ,the other simple thing might be a blocked fuel cap vent will it start
with the cap open .
still looks a nice motor compact and solid looking ,please let me know how you get on .

dave

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Author Topic: Kawasaki 550 - More carb questions... (Read 9324 times)

kta

kta

Dave L

Dave L