1978 kz650 carburetor removal

[bellison]

Hey guys new to the site...but not to motorcycles. I just got this yesterday for free!! It has spark and compression I want to take the carbs off and give them a once over...Doesn't seem like much room to get them out with the way the air box assembly is. Any suggestions?

[rstnick]

Welcome.

Just saw a similar question over at KZ650.INFO, in the forum area, carb section.


"heres a few tips. make it easy on yourself and take the airbox to carb boots off and push them into the airbox, use a smallish pc of hard wood to get them pushed in.. dont use a screw driver youll make holes in them!! take the springs off when theyre halfway into the airbox. you can reach your hand down in there to help them off the carbs. let them soak in armor all or something like that. remove your throttle cables one at a time 10mm wrench here. loosen the carb clamps and wiggle the carbs back and out. i bet you 100 bucks your gonna have clogged choke wells. youll need a very fine pc of copper wire to snake these out ( just strip a pc of wire from some old wire you may have and use that ) now use the carb cleaner on every little passage there is. take out you air screw but count the number of turns out at the same time. mine were about 1 1/2 turns out from fully closed. DO NOT TIGHTEN THEM OR THE TIPS WILL BREAK OFF. make sure the tips are intact when you do take em out. they should be pin sharp. any more questions we will go from there. take you time on this. ill agree with jones on the seat...you have my offer for one what are you waiting for? the bike is gonna run without a doubt...steve"

[herk]

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[Ericthejet]

Clamps that hold carbs to rubber intake boots have two clamps.
Loosen the ones closest to the carb, and then push it forward out of the way.
Grab carbs together and push forward, this will disconnetc from airbox side.
Pivot downward and they will pop out of place.

[aronj]

I had just taken off the carbs on my 81 kawi kz1000 k1 ltd, and i believe that they are the same but i am not sure. hope it helps.

Take the springs off of the boots, and move them back, unscrew the clamps at the front of the carbs that connect to the engine. now that you have that all done un bolt the air box. it will be a 10mm wrench on the bolts and then two screws on the top by the battery. i would also take off the chrome plates.

now that that is done you can push the boots back into the air box and push the whole thing back. be sure its not going to hurt the boots tho. and the carbs wiggle right out.

[antiq]

If you haven't damaged the boots on removal. Soak them in hot water with fabric softener. This will make them pliable and easier to reinstall. Wipe them down with vaseline before installation and they may stay pliable. It works on vinyl I know but haven't yet tried it on the boots.

[bellison]

Thanks for all the feed back! I got them off cleaned, the copper wire tip was handy. Well within 2-3 hours I had it running and running good. I got it all put back together boots and all and have already ridden about 50 miles on it. Now I just have to change fluids, new tires in the spring, and I am on the lookout for a bench seat, the one on it is ripped and not the style I prefer. Any suggestions on where to find one? Corbin makes one for the 900 not sure if it transfers. I am also going to put lower bars on it.....going for the cafe look. Other than that once I clean it up, chrome and all it should be a good looking bike especially for free!

[rstnick]

Love the Cafe styled bikes.

Check out DO THE TON - Index for ideas. There are even some kz650s there.

[Nate]

Originally Posted by Ericthejet

Clamps that hold carbs to rubber intake boots have two clamps.
Loosen the ones closest to the carb, and then push it forward out of the way.
Grab carbs together and push forward, this will disconnetc from airbox side.
Pivot downward and they will pop out of place.

That doesn't work on the 650s I own. The carbs are already as far forward on the intake boots as they will go when they are properly in place. The only way to have enough space to remove the rack is to push the inlet boots back into the airbox.

Good to hear you're back on the road, Bellison.