New Member with few questions on my 1980 KZ1000 B4

What is up gents. Am new to the site here and thankful a forum like this exists that can help me get my ’80 KZ1000 LTD back on the road. Its my first and only bike, purchased over 30yrs ago. It hasn’t been on the road for over 5+yrs so I’m trying to work through a few things that I am going to need your help with. It’s a bone stock 1980 KZ1000 – B4 LTD, equipped with the stock Mikuni VM28SS carbs (w/airbox). I’ve changed all the fluids (brake, fork, engine oil and filter), gone through the ignition system (ie checked voltage and connections through the system, new plugs, checked coils, pick-up coils, plug caps, resistor), and pulled, cleaned, and relubed the drive chain. Am now down to the carbs which I have pulled and sonic cleaned and am now reassembling and have a few questions.    So the carbs are stock Mikuni VM28SS with the idle mixing screw found on the side of carb (was factory capped) and with an accelerator pump on carb #2. The carb slides themselves have a small notch on the bottom (notch is facing towards the engine, see photo). So here are my questions:
(1)   I drilled out / removed the factory installed plugs covering the idle mixing screws. All four of the idle mixing screws bottomed out at 1 1/8 to 1 ¼ turns. For reinstall, does this setting still sound correct to you?
(2)   I need to manually set the slides. My Clymer book (which doesn’t cover the B4 LTD) says to set the slide (from the engine side) so that there is .5mm to .7mm of clearance between the bottom of the slide and the bore. My slides all have a small notch in bottom of them SO is this .5mm to .7mm measurement made within the slide notch OR is it made immediately to the right or left of the notch? Have a look at the photo.(3)   Manual setting of floats: the Clymer book says prelim settings should be done as follows: turn carbs upside-down and check the float level. The float level should be 25-26mm above the carb body.
(4)   I have a gravity petcock (2 outlets) and my carbs have 2 inlet T’s (1 each between carbs 1 &2 and 3&4). The primary setting on the petcock fed into the T between carbs 1&2 and the reserve setting on the petcock fed the T between carbs 3&4. Assume these connections are correct?That’s it for now. Am sure will be back with another 100 questions. Thanks in advance for your help.      

Welcome to the forum!  That's a great story about keeping your bike all these years.

First off, Clymer's manuals are pretty iffy.  Better than nothing, but I'd get a factory manual for better info.  You can check the Filebase here to see if there is a free download.

1.5 turns open on the pilot air screw is a good starting point.  After you get the bike up and running, tweak this setting until you achieve the highest idle speed for each carb.

The slide height setting is just to get the engine started.  Just make sure each slide is roughly equally set, and once you get the engine running, perform a vacuum sync and set the idle speed where you like.

 

Welcome from the UK, love to see some pics of your ride.

Some additional stuff to help Lewis. Make sure to check that accel pump diaphragm membrane! If it's original and been sitting in dried-up fuel for some time a good chance it's going to be stiff/crunchy like a cornflake. This renders the accel pump feature either completely non-operative or spotty fuel delivery at best. These pumper style HAVE to have that working or you'll have a big-o flat spot off idle. Double check that #2 bowl that holds the pump! There's a singular ball bearing and spring underneath that brass flat plug you see at the bottom. Even the best attempt at sonic cleaning doesn't get the crud out, has no where to go? Even if you did rattle it loose, if not purged before assembly, debris will flow up and clog one or more of those fuel nozzles. It's a check valve and keeps fuel pressure going to the nozzles and not back to the bowl. And those two fuel hose tees, do they swivel freely or takes a bit of pressure to move them? If they freely move, then most likely you'll get weeping in one or both sides. Just want to address all these issues before you have to do it twice..or more. Might ask Nessism about his bounty of rubber bits, he has kits!! Have fun!        

   Welcome to The aZylum, a little air-cooled corner of interwebs Motorcycle Madness.

   1) In a perfect world, the air screws will go into the same carbs they were removed from when cleaning.  Mama Kaw likely set them on the lean side when capped to keep EPA happy.  Nessim's advice is spot on for final adjustment.

   2) That 0.5 ~ 0.7mm procedure is called a 'bench sync'.  It's only to get the initial adjustment in the infield, so to speak, prior to final sync using vacuum gauges.  Measurement is done in the notch.  We use a piece of piano wire, but a straightened, small paper clip will serve too.  Feel for approx, equal, tiny amount of resistance when moving the wire in the notch as adjustment is made.  Another method is to orient the rack vertically, so the notch in the slide is facing down, and carefully adjust to where the wire just barely drops out under its own weight.

   3) That 25 ~ 26mm should be reasonably close.  We don't have a 1980 KZ1000 – B4 LTD FSM.  Older carbs are done using a cleat tube method by which true fuel level +/- 1mm in the float bowl can be observed.  If a clear tube is recommended in the FSM, that's one way to go.  We wrote extensively about an alternative to a clear tube in an ongoing post not long ago.  The linked post below is addressing float setting on Z1 carbs, but yours may be same or very similar depending on what is spec'd in the FSM.  Link below:
www.kzrider.com/forum/3-carburetor/61368...n-setting-fuel-level

   4) We've never seen a dual-outlet petcock that doesn't share a common outlet supply from the petcock sediment bowl.   We don't have a 1980 KZ1000 – B4 LTD FSM or bike to observe, so we'll have to defer to other members who have same or similar.

Good Ridin'
slmjim & Z1BEBE

Hey Jim! They had a lot of variations of the 1980 model year 1000 VM28 pumpers depending on model (LTD, Shaft, Z1R Mark2 and Police) and country destination. Singular or dual feed, fixed jet needle, smaller (capped) air screw, slide design, etc etc. The ultimate EPA driven carb. A couple examples of the 1980 B4 and E2 shown, more in the tupperware containers. Soo humid here the camera fogged up from the air conditioning to outside ha.