TOPIC:

First I am new to this site. What I have seen is simply super. I have a very nice KZ1300, original, with approx 9000 original miles. I want to go through the carbs. I read about cleaning the carbs with diesel fuel and blowing through the micro passages. Do I need to disassemble the top part of the carb where the rather large diaphragm is located?

Another problem is that I cannot remove the piece of angle that hold all 3 carbs together. All 6 screws are VERY TIGHT. I am afraid that they will break off if I continue with trying to remove the screws. I suppose I can clean all three carbs successfully while bolted together. Any suggestions.

Actually, I think it best to leave the carbs on the rails as the sync is better preserved that way.

I suggest that you remove the diaphragms before you start blowing out any passages.

Have you had an opportunity to peruse the FAQ section of this site?

Welcome to KZ1300.COM

Bill

The way I did mine, I had to pull all three tops together- if done right, the slop in the carb linkages allows all three to be lifted off at once and the top of the carbs accessed. It's much better if you do- it lets you get the emulsion tubes out and access more of the carb passages. It also gets the expensive, hard-to-find diaphragms away from the carb cleaner that likes to eat it.

As far as jets so, get them all out. The idle jets are the trickiest, but it is possible to remove them. Your best bet is to sacrifice a small screwdriver and grind it to shape so it fits in the slot of the jet perfectly- the brass deforms VERY easily.

The air cutoff valves CAN be disassembled without splitting the carbs. The middle ones are tough, and I used a 90 degree screwdriver to do it, but it IS possible, and worth doing- found a bunch of crud in there on mine.

The only thing I didn't take apart were all the choke needles- the seemed to work fine, I wasn't 100% sure how to get at them, and didn't want to break something. So far I seem to have done okay.

Good luck. These carbs have their quirks, but they are FAR from the hardest ones to work on.

Personally, I found the diaphragms on the sides are difficult to get to without disassembling that portion. Also, when you take off the top and bottom covers, there's brackets linking the carbs together on those covers and I've also found that sometimes when I've removed those the sync isn't quite right anymore.

Regarding the screws: Try taking a large pair of vice grips, gripping the sides of the screw head tightly in them and turning. I've freed some of the most stubborn screws this way.

Even if you do break them off, replacements can be procured from any hardware store. As long as you get the threading and depth right, you don't even have to use screws if you find bolts that fit . If you can't find the correct depth, go long and dremel the excess off or use washers. The key is to look for metric stuff.

One more thing:

Keep those diaphragms far away from any carb cleaner sprays/solvents if you can. Sometimes the rubber can become deteriorated from contact with them.

Thanks so far for the responses. I have decided to leave the three carbs connected, at least for now. I have removed all components except for the idling jets. I'll tackle that tomorrow. I plan to soak the carbs for 2 weeks or so and blowing everything out every 2 or 3 days. Hopefully this will be enough time to unclog the micro passages.