First off, they were classically beautiful and still are. Second, they were the undisputed king of speed from late 1972-1977. Mad Max helped solidify their reputation as did years of drag strip success. Cheers!
Thanks for the update Jon. Still can't get over how beautiful that bike looks with that Kerker 4 into 1. The sound is amazing and brings back fond memories. Ride safe. Cheers
That bike is SO nice….. I also had a KZ1000 with 29mm smoothbores years ago. I wound up doing the same thing as you and put the stock carbs back on. I relocated to North Texas last year from upstate NY so my riding season is now “year round” ….but winter is still a good time for maintenance and projects. 😊
Nice video Jon, I love those inline air cooled 4s, they run great in cool weather...in the city in the summer with a lot of stop and go, driving they do get a little hot and I always thought a stock oil cooler would have been a good idea.
Good place to start for base setup with 26mm oem carbs on the kz1000 with pipe is go from stock 15 to 17 (or is it 17.5?) pilot jets,needle clips in the 2nd from top of needle clip slot position,go from stock 107.5 main jets to 112(or is it 112.5) mains,idle mixture screws 1.5-2 turns out from being lightly seated & stock float lvl setting too. Btw,I found over many yrs adj float lvl’s per oem spec meas off float bowl gasket surface per Srv’c manual often results in too high of a fuel lvl in the float bowl making that cyl run over rich reducing mpg & making stock heat range plug look pitch black or very dark brown to almost blk color when a very light to med tan is a good place to be. To correct that I simply use the float lvl tool/gauge that screws into the float bowl drain screw threads to more precisely:accurately measure the fuel lvl in the float bowls. The float lvl gauge is simply a sml brass fitting with hole in it that screws into float bowl drain threads that has a clear plastic hose hooked to it so you can see actual float lvl in the carb. After setting up carbs & re-installing on the motor make sure to have clean plugs in the motor, then warm up the motor ,then syc the carbs & adjust idle mixture screws & idle speed too. The above initial setup may seem a bit lean at 1st but that’s ok as long as after running approx 3-4 mins in cool temps & or 2.5-3mins in warmer temps it idles well & takes throttle movement well with crisp acceleration your hood to go. That’s how I had my 77 & 78 kz1000’s setup 1 with a kerker & other with a delkavic 4into ones & syock air boxes with cleanable k&n filter in them & not the separate 4 k&n airfilter pod setup. Good luck! Scott in Ny state just over the boarder from you in Pa.
