This all sounds very familiar..... My ZX-4 had been sat for 4 or 5 years without starting. Bought it from a salvage yard as a repairable project - advertised as mot failure due to rear shock (hence the name Zebedee for it!). Very low mileage for it's age. Even the salvage yard had it's identity wrong, advertising it as a ZXR400. He mentioned the fuel tap had seized.... When we got it home, realised the parts and where they were didn't match the zxr400, similar, but enough to realise it was a different bike! Yes, the fuel tap had seized, there was also something that may once have been petrol in the tank, but was orange, lumpy and smelled like paintstripper! Over last winter, stripped down completely, everything was blocked - carbs, fuel filter... new fuel filter, oil changed, reassembled... still wouldn't start, realised we forgot to check the fuel pump (Simon's GPZ doesn't have one so just forgot it was there!) That was frustrating as it had to be re-stripped and carbs cleaned again! Eventually we did get it started, luckily the rear shock was the easy bit as it does share alot of parts with the zxr400, took it in for it's mot and sailed through! The only advice the tester could offer as the bike had been sat for so long was just to keep going, yes, it would (and still does) have teething problems,but these will eventually settle down. the revs run high sometimes, we most recently had problems with the choke mechanism sticking open, but on the whole, it runs very well!
My advice?? Def strip the carbs and give a really good clean, fuel filter and pump.. and stick with it!!
