Well the Vacuum Valves in my 82 KZ440 LTD are cracked and dry rotting. I am pretty sure that is what is causing my significant lack of power. The replacement parts I have been able to find are 149 bucks each and I need two of them. Does anyone else have suggestions for a solution that doesn't break the bank, as in are there other carb's that fit on this bike that I could look into installing or am I just going to have to suck it up and spend 300 bucks(unless someone can suggest a place I can find them for cheaper)?



All suggestions would be appreciated.

 

Welcome AV, When you say Vacuum valve, what is it you are refering too? Dry rotting would mean rubber. Is it the Diaphram?

 

Yes its the rubber pieces at the top of the valve. I'm pretty sure the valve itself is ok, but I have not been able to find just replacement diaphrams, only the whole Valve.

 

so this is a CV carb. Diaphram and slide are built together. Number 4?

 

Yup, #4.

 

$149.83 so far for each it seems at babbits. Shop around with that part number though and see if you can hook them up for less. Like you said, $300 is alot.

edit: Hit up Sudco and see if they are offering those.

 

I had this problem with an old Honda CJ250. Before spending a lot of money I pushed the slide through a piece of clingfilm so that it covered the underside of the diaphragm, and made sure that it was trapped under the top of the carb when I bolted it back together.

I was hoping that the cling film would patch the diaphragam and last long enough for a test ride to let me prove whether it was the problem. It was still there three years later and the bike still ran perfectly.

Try it. You've got nothing to lose.

Rob

 

I will keep the cling film in mind, some of my buddies that are a lot more experienced at bikes and mechanics in general than I am put gasket sealant all over the rubber pieces and it is apparently working. I'm going to be testing it out today if the weather holds up.





Thanks for all of the good advice.

 

Rode the bike today, and it was a completely different beast than what it was before. Before it was topping out at around 68-72mph depending on the grade of the highway and it took forever to get up there. I was over 60 before the end of the on ramp, couldn't get it much faster because of traffic, then it started raining so I brought it back.


I'm just wondering how long the gasket sealant is going to hold up, and if it doesn't hold very long I'm going to try the clingfilm and hopefully solve that problem until I upgrade to a better bike.

 

Thats good to hear. Have fun with that thing