1978 (k)Z650 carburetta overflow problem

My bike ran for the first time in a number of years today much to my relief.
All sounded good but i had petrol pouring out of one of the four carburetta
overflows. Can someone tell me why this is happening and what i should do to
stop it?

 

Sticking float in the offending carb.

Certain means of stopping it: remove entire carburettor bank, upend,
remove screws on float bowl, remove float bowl, jiggle sticking float
and/or remove pivot pin, clear crud on it, replace everything.

Short way (which often works): give offending carb float bowl, in situ,
a sharp tap with a hammer knocking on the end of a piece of hardwood, to
jog the sticking float free.

 

'it it wiv an 'ammer.

--
FZS600 - silver/black
GS125 - black/rust
'81 Bobtail - vaguely green (FOR SALE £800)
CAAD7 - black
LTS2 - blue, not black
OE6 + Quotefix

 

Add to that, remove the needle valve, and clean its seat with a cotton bud,
and check the crown for dirt.

--

Stu
XJ900
YTC#11 OSOS#23
pull my plonker when replying

 

Cheers for the advice. I went for option A, the removal of the carb bank. I
love the way the manual says 'loosen the four cross-head screws and lift the
bank of carburettas away'. It took me the best part of two hours, stood out
in the December drizzle, trying to find a big enough gap between the engine
and air filter box to jiggle the carbs out. I must have looked pretty
strange doing my lap of honour round the garden with carbs held aloft like
the Olympic flame. It was worth the pain though because it offered me the
first opportunity to really inspect the carbs from a worms eye view and
reveal its dark secrets. It soon became apparent that if i'd have banged the
float chamber from now until the new millenium it would not have fixed the
problem. The needle jet in the offending carburetta was well and truly
siezed, preventing the correct movement of the float. Abit of WD40 and a
gentle twist with a pair of pliers soon got it loose again. I also took the
chance to thoroughly clean the entire unit and give it a well overdue
lubrication on all the obvious moving parts.
In a bid to avoid a repeat of the previous two hours of misery I've decided
to fit independent air filters (K&N stylee, but not your actual K&N's) and
lose the air filter box completly. I've always thought they look cooler
anyway. And who knows, at this rate of progress I might even have the
machine running inside a month or so. Happy New Year fellas.

 

<snip>

That's nice for you, dear.

Now, if you would like to have a look here:
http://www.ukrm.net/faq/ukrmnetiquette.html

You will find, described succinctly, the posting conventions
applicable here - and why everybody follows them.

It's good that you have sorted your carburettORs, but be aware that if
you junk the airbox and its filter then the chances are that you will
effectively weaken the mixture due to making so much more air
available. You may wish to look into a Dynojet kit or similar to
avoid unpleasant results.

 

I wouldn't. If you do this, you will almost certainly need to remove the
carbs again to revise the jetting.

And whatever you do, if you do decide to go the K&N route, don't junk
the old air filter box but keep it somewhere safe.

 

AOL.

Don't replace the standard airbox with K&N types. The Z650 carbs are
designed to be mounted back and front. You will end up with knackered
inlet rubbers after a while. The engine will make more power with the
standard air filter box on anyway...

--
SimonB - South Wales. BOF#32
email simonb@zapikdotcodotuk
Triumph Sprint ST,
ZXR750L2 Wazimbaki.
Kawasaki Z1R For Sale

 

You know, i wish id read these replies this morning. I'm now the proud owner
of a set of clamp on independent air filters that i bid on through ebay and
will be winging their way to me from the good ol' US of A any day now. Any
suggestions how these apparently redundant beasts might be better utillised?
Handlebar mounted ash trays perhaps? Natty wheel trims? Might start a whole
new fashion. Ho hum, it looks like i have two hours of misery ahead of me
after all then. Can someone suggest an easier way of getting the friggin
carb bank attached without my having to resort to hari kari in the process?

 

Depending on what bike it is...

If you have a frame tube running directly front to back above the carbs,
you could easily fabricate a small clamp-on bracket which will take the
weight of the carb bank.

By the way, please put your replies at the bottom.

--

Dave

GS 850 x2 / SE 6a
SbS#6 DIAABTCOD#16 APOSTLE#16? FUB#3
FUB KotL OSOS#12? UKRMMA#19