New rider, first bike, 1982 KZ1100

swest wrote: "She use to be so nice." :woohoo:
Steve

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: , used to be, now she's my EX !!, :woohoo: :woohoo:
Pete

How come I knew that? :lol: :lol:
I'm in the habit of turning off the fuel before the kick stand goes down. Don't always remember to turn it on though. :whistle: Starts to gurgle then I turn it on. Embarrassing if people are watching. :blush:
Steve

I've gotten in the habit of turning the fuel off a couple of blocks before I get home & letting it Idle when I get there , & as soon as I hear the 1rst sputtering , I turn the bike off;
Pete

So to make sure I'm on the same page with this petcock business, I was unsure if the picture below was in the "ON" position or the "RES" position until I ran it out of gas and had to use it. Wasn't sure if the turn handle was "pointing" to the "RES",


My further question is...what is the "PRI" for? what does it stand for? when is the setting used?

In other news my clutch cable kept getting snagged and torn up by the mounting/clamping bolt head every time I turned to the right. I tried to solve it by moving the clutch lever up the handlebars an inch and it did help, but the cable was still being damaged by the bolt head. So since the guide was already screwed up pretty badly (see pic of gages earlier) I bent and extended the guide out and away from the bolt head. The aftermarket handlebars just extended the clutch lever just a bit too far, but now it should work well with no worries.

This is what wiredgeorge answered about petcocks on another website, he's in the business of rebuilding carbs for many decades

A manual petcock will generally have an ON, OFF and RES (reserve) position. The vacuum petcock will have a RUN, PRI (prime) and RES (reserve). In case this hasn't been covered, prime is for opening the petcock to flow gas without the engine running to fill the carbs in the event they are dry before starting. This position is usually not necessary if the bike has been operated within the past few weeks.

and this is how my cables are routed to give you a better idea of how you should bend the loop so your cable isn't getting kinked or the sheathing getting mangled up


Pete

pete greek1 wrote: This is what wiredgeorge answered about petcocks on another website, he's in the business of rebuilding carbs for many decades

A manual petcock will generally have an ON, OFF and RES (reserve) position. The vacuum petcock will have a RUN, PRI (prime) and RES (reserve). In case this hasn't been covered, prime is for opening the petcock to flow gas without the engine running to fill the carbs in the event they are dry before starting. This position is usually not necessary if the bike has been operated within the past few weeks.

Pete

Interesting. How long would somebody leave the valve in PRI for to refill the carbs typically? I'm guessing like 5-10 seconds??? I'd imagine this would be used after bringing the bike out of storage or after working on/cleaning the carbs or further engine work.

SmokyOwl wrote:

pete greek1 wrote: This is what wiredgeorge answered about petcocks on another website, he's in the business of rebuilding carbs for many decades

A manual petcock will generally have an ON, OFF and RES (reserve) position. The vacuum petcock will have a RUN, PRI (prime) and RES (reserve). In case this hasn't been covered, prime is for opening the petcock to flow gas without the engine running to fill the carbs in the event they are dry before starting. This position is usually not necessary if the bike has been operated within the past few weeks.

Pete

Interesting. How long would somebody leave the valve in PRI for to refill the carbs typically? I'm guessing like 5-10 seconds??? I'd imagine this would be used after bringing the bike out of storage or after working on/cleaning the carbs or further engine work.

Exactly.

It will hold almost a third of a tank as reserve.

Mine is .7 gallon.
Steve

Yours is not a KZ1100A is it Steve? My tank holds 21.4 litres of fuel dry and will need to go to reserve once I've burnt around 14 litres, that gets me to about 250Km range. Sorry for the metric, Canada here.

I have a Z1. 3.7 gallons. I use to get 130 miles before reserve. No more with my 33's. I'll get 100.
Steve

Alright guys it's time to do some serious wrenching, going to replace the valve cover gasket. Reading through the Service Manual last night, it doesn't look all that complicated. I'm going to run out just now to get some high-temperature gasket maker for those large end plugs. I was concerned about having to remove the air suction valve gaskets on top of the valve cover but the manual cleared that up for me....I just loosen those bolts and don't have to remove them. The gasket leak has been getting much worse, I can't go for more than 100 miles without the engine having oil on it. I may start a thread on this if it gets heavy but right now I kinda doubt it.

I was surprised to discover that although the bolts have a torque rating, there is no tightening sequence to the valve cover bolts.