Carbs

I have a 79 KZ400LTD. I love this bike. But its running a little rough. Hard to start sometimes, especeally in the cold. Being only a few years older than the bike I sympathize. I was told that taking the carbs apart and cleaning them would probably help it allot. I am mechanically inclined by nature and have a strong background in electrical. But I have never actually taken apart a carborator before and all I have to go on is the book.
I am confident that I can get it back together and in running order, I was wondering if any old hats here on the forum might have some advice. Things to look for, things to avoid doing. I appreciate anyones experiences they want to share.

Thx

Take your time, write down all settings (like how many turns on a jet seats it),keep each carb's parts separate, clean thoroughly and put in a new in-line filter. Be careful of rubber and plastic parts around carb cleaner(they melt) and use a lot of compressed air. There are good articles here about carb cleaning in the filebase under non specific models. Should you get in trouble there are a bunch of people running around here with capes on looking for trouble.

Howdie, Here on the "WET" coast, that green glow on your engine would be mold here.:laugh: I'm located in Oregon and have a 1979 KZ400 H1 LTD with a 440 engine. Mine doesn't suffer from cold starts but smells a little fuelie while Idle'ing. I think with a good cleaning and readjustment both our carbs will give us the best performace to expect for 30 year old parts. Wouldn't hurt to put New Kits in them. Plenty of help on these sites and a few more. Take care

Ok so update on the carb project. Its done, I figured it out. Bike runs better than ever. But in order to get here I learned something. On the back of the petcock, yea i know....but thats what its called...quit giggling....on the back of the petcock is a place hoses go into. The larger one is the fuel line. The smaller does not go to the overflow valve at the bottom. If you do run it to anywhere on the bottom of the carb it will run like ground up dog excrement. Turns out it should run to the vacume intake.

Other than that it was pretty easy. Once I set the throttle to where I thought it should be i let it run for a while, then shut it down and checked the plugs. They were brand new so if it was too rich it should have shown on the plugs. But it diddnt, clean as a whistle.

Taking the carb apart meant that I had to pull off the throttle cable, when I put it back on I did it right. So now the throttle has much better response. Also it no longer has that gas smell when I park it. Took the bike out for a spin. Its running great now.

Oh and one more thing.....The book was not helpful...if your going to work on your bike I would suggest one of three options. Option one, buy beer and invite people over who know about carburated engines. Or have google standing by somewhere easy to get to. I took option three, buy beer, invite people over, and have google. Honestly I dont think the beer helped the quality of our troubleshooting but it made it a hell of alot of fun. I recommend it highly.