New member with Kawasaki KV75 Question

[TEM]

Hello. Just joined site and this is my first post. I have recently washed the dust off my 1980 Kawasaki KV75 that I've had since new. It was driven for about 4 years and then parked. Except for a missing tail light, it's fairly complete. I am not sure if I am going to keep or sell it, but I'd like to get it running for starters. I know the carb will need to rebuilt for sure, but I was hoping to get some advice from the collective KV75 "brain trust" on other things I might want to do to get it running after all these years. Thanks

- TEM

 

[Charles S]

Hello and welcome! Nice bike!

@Gatecrasher is the MT1/KV75 guy. This mention will alert him the next time he's on here, or you could send him a private message (use "Start conversation").

Keep it!

 

[ZR9B]

Very cool. Keep it!!

 

[mustangfrank]

Clean machine, welcome and keep us posted

 

[SCooke123]

Super clean for a 40 year old bike!

 

[Brooklyn Bob]

Welcome to the minibike madness. Nice looking machine.

 

[Lizardking]

Clean bike and welcome!

 

[TEM]

So, I went old school today. I bought a new spark plug and sprayed a little gas/oil mixture down the spark plug hold. Re-installed the spark plug, kick it over and then bang-bang-bang! That was the first time it fired up in 36 years. Truly Christmas miracle. Now that I know it runs, time to rebuild the carb.

 

[TEM]

Baffled.......Well, I finished cleaning out the oil tank & lines, rebuilt the carb per factory specs, air filter assembly, and fuel line. Just added some premix fuel an fired up on the second kick. I adjusted the carb screw and was able hold an idle. No problem. Too easy.... I did not have the baffle installed at the time. So then I installed the baffle. That`s when the problems started. The engine was hard to start, bogged down, and stalled. I could barely keep the engine running. It was running very rich. Tried playing with the choke and idle adjustment but nothing changed. Still ran rich..I could also see fuel dripping from the air filter canister screw. Does anyone have ideas on what might be the issue.

 

[colt 1911]

Baffled.......Well, I finished cleaning out the oil tank & lines, rebuilt the carb per factory specs, air filter assembly, and fuel line. Just added some premix fuel an fired up on the second kick. I adjusted the carb screw and was able hold an idle. No problem. Too easy.... I did not have the baffle installed at the time. So then I installed the baffle. That`s when the problems started. The engine was hard to start, bogged down, and stalled. I could barely keep the engine running. It was running very rich. Tried playing with the choke and idle adjustment but nothing changed. Still ran rich..I could also see fuel dripping from the air filter canister screw. Does anyone have ideas on what might be the issue.

just for shits and giggles take the exhaust off and make sure you don't have a mouse nest in it

 

[TEM]

just for shits and giggles take the exhaust off and make sure you don't have a mouse nest in it

No mouse nests....exhaust flows fine. Did some runs without the baffle. Sounded like a bunch of angry bees chasing me but ran great.

 

[TEM]

I think I may have incorrectly set the carb bowl float height. Spec called for 20.6 mm for a MT1, MT1 A, MT1 B and 23mm for a MT1 C. I set at 20.6mm. My engine stamp says MTE. Should I have set it at 23mm? I am thinking that this would explain the excess fuel. Can anyone confirm the proper bowl float height for a 1980 KV75 A9 "MTE" engine?

 

[Gatecrasher]

If you set the float too high the fuel will come out of the overflow. The engine will still run though. Check the needle & seat for debris. It sounds to me like your pilot jet might be clogged (all the small holes in the side) and can be fairly difficult to clean because the holes are so small. A lot of times I give up and throw one in the garbage and slap an NOS one in. They are still available on Partzilla for $14.47. You should also make sure your needle & seat are working properly (another part I routinely change during a rebuild).

One thing I recently started to offer were reproduction "Ejector" seals for MT1/KV75 carburetors. An important part for KV75 carb rebuild and one that had never previously been made available separately.

 

[TEM]

If you set the float too high the fuel will come out of the overflow. The engine will still run though. Check the needle & seat for debris. It sounds to me like your pilot jet might be clogged (all the small holes in the side) and can be fairly difficult to clean because the holes are so small. A lot of times I give up and throw one in the garbage and slap an NOS one in. They are still available on Partzilla for $14.47. You should also make sure your needle & seat are working properly (another part I routinely change during a rebuild).

One thing I recently started to offer were reproduction "Ejector" seals for MT1/KV75 carburetors. An important part for KV75 carb rebuild and one that had never previously been made available separately.

Hello Gatecrasher,
I went through the carb last night and cleaned every hole I could find on the carb body and pilot jet using cleaner and one of those carb cleaning tools. I then sonically cleaned the parts too. Also, I did replace the ejector seal as you advised. I'll go ahead and order a new needle & seat. Thanks for the advise.

I took a closer look at the baffle tube this morning and it looks like it might be heavily impacted with carbon build up. I am trying to clean it out now. The engine ran without any issue when I had the baffle out. What do you think?

 

[TEM]

Problem solved...The internal passageways in the baffle were completely clogged. Took a while to clear out but now bike runs great.

 

[Gatecrasher]

Problem solved...The internal passageways in the baffle were completely clogged. Took a while to clear out but now bike runs great.

Awesome. Now that you have it running does that mean you're not going to get the ZX-12R Ninja Bevis was telling you about?

 

[Godfried]

If you set the float too high the fuel will come out of the overflow. The engine will still run though. Check the needle & seat for debris. It sounds to me like your pilot jet might be clogged (all the small holes in the side) and can be fairly difficult to clean because the holes are so small. A lot of times I give up and throw one in the garbage and slap an NOS one in. They are still available on Partzilla for $14.47. You should also make sure your needle & seat are working properly (another part I routinely change during a rebuild).

One thing I recently started to offer were reproduction "Ejector" seals for MT1/KV75 carburetors. An important part for KV75 carb rebuild and one that had never previously been made available separately.

That's exactly what I need! Do you still make/have them?
I've sent you a personal message...