On or off the rack?

Ok, have a 77 kz650 B1 which hasn't been fired up since 92. Pulled the carbs in an attempt to clean them properly. I have the service manual and I've read as much as possible on cleaning carbs. According to the manual I have the VM24ss.

Couple of questions.

Should I separate the carbs? O keep them on the rack. I've read about pros and cons for both.


I have a can of carb cleaner, but i would like to soak them. I can't find anything other then a spray can carb cleaner. Would an automotive parts cleaner work?

Depends on how much crud is involved.
You do not have to seperate them,you can soak them in plain old gas.

I assume there is a “T” between two of the carbs if that’s true there is a good chance that it will leak there if you take it apart. Check with Jeff @ z1 enterprise and see if he has a replacement. I like to take them off the rack, one at a time and disassemble completely and boil in a mixture of lemon juice (1 part) and water ( 10 parts) I hear carb cleaner can ruin o rings
If you need it I have an article I can post

I would love the article yes. Any help is appreciated.

Also, I'm not sure what you mean by "T" between 2 of the carbs? I'm not seeing anything on the diagrams or the carbs. Going to try and post a pic.

Here is one

Here is all I have on carbs. They are all pretty close in function but some get to it in a slightly different way. Most of the stuff I posted I got here. Do a search on carb cleaning and such and you may find even more info. Good luck!

I don't ride my Z1 as much as I did because of this one but I would never get rid of it.

Any idea how the bike was stored when put away? Full tank? Empty tank? Fuel stabilizer?

My guess is that you can find out all you need to know by pulling the float bowls off. If it's varnished in there, then you will most likely need to pull the rack apart. I just did this to a bike that was stored with 1.5 gal of fuel with no stabilizer for 3 years. Every passage is plugged full of sticky varnish. Any amount of that stuff will cause you problems.

Just my .02 here, go ahead and plan on rebuilding them the right way. The carbs are actually pretty simple if you are mechanically inclined. Just keep everything organized. Take pictures with your camera as you go, so you can remember how everthing goes together. I would suggest that you get 4 boxes and keep all the parts from one carburetor in one box to keep from mixing up your assemblies.

The fuel tee that was previously discussed is in your photo. It's the part between the second and third carb where the fuel line is attached. There are also crossover pipes with o-rings between 1-2 and 3-4. 99% chance that one or all are going to leak.

Link to your carb kits: www.z1enterprises.com/detail.aspx?ID=42

I dont' see the fuel tee or crossover pipes listed, but that doesn't necessarily mean that Z1E doesn't have them. Give them a call if you wind up needing anything. They are great to deal with.

Wile wrote:

I assume there is a “T” between two of the carbs if that’s true there is a good chance that it will leak there if you take it apart. Check with Jeff @ z1 enterprise and see if he has a replacement. I like to take them off the rack, one at a time and disassemble completely and boil in a mixture of lemon juice (1 part) and water ( 10 parts) I hear carb cleaner can ruin o rings
If you need it I have an article I can post

The concern about the Tees would be the only reason I can think of for not separating the carbs. The rubber is old. And since it is, they may leak sometime anyway, so new would be good. Z1 might have suitable fittings. I've seen some on ebbaayy listed for the KZ650.

As for the lemon juice boil, a lot of folks seems to do it, but someone mentioned to me in a private message that it was too acidic and kinda pitted his carbs and ate into some threads. I used Berryman's carb & parts cleaner (the nasty stuff; not the newer California compliant formula). The newer CA-compl product is now what comes in the gallon can with the basket. The nasty formula comes in a rectangular gallon can w a small pour spout.

When I first was told of using lemon juice that's what I thought so I cut it with water and only boiled for five min or so. No erosion on the zinc (or whaterver they are made of) bodies.

Earlier thead here showed a guy using a homemade sandblaster and baking soda. Sounds pretty cool.
kzrider.com/index.php?option=com_kunena&...w&catid=21&id=318083

Think I'm going to pull them apart, but not until I can confirm that I can order the parts that might leak when I put them back together. I've emailed Z1 to check.

I can't find any place in town that sells a carb cleaner dip. How different are automotive solvents as opposed to carb cleaner? Is carb cleaner harsher?

The bike was stored in a heated garage since 92. No gas in the tank, I'm fairly sure it's going to be ugly when I take a look. I'm going to take the bowls off in a bit and post some pictures..

In place of the good ole Berryman's Chemtool, you could always use mineral spirits. Should be able to get that for about $10/gal at the home improvement store of your choice. Go ahead and pull them apart. Those carbs are common, and if Z1E doesn't have the parts, then I have seen some replacements on eBay. Even some nice machined ones with replace-able o-rings.

One other trick that I do with unfamiliar carbs is to only break down and clean one at a time. It takes longer, but if you forget something, then you have three assembled carbs right there that you can refer to. Make sure that you don't confuse the order of the carbs.