Project Kawasaki Z550F part 4: Carb conundrum!

How on earth is John going to lever that bank of carbs back into his Kawasaki Z550F? Well, let’s ask him…

- JOHN VASSALLO

Hello again readers. Hope you’re enjoying my attempt at re-commissioning my big, bad Z1000 (well, ok, my 550!). I don’t have the expertise of this magazine’s Ralph Ferrand, but luckily I do have friends who are happy to help. Bet you thought I’d call Ralph a guru? No, because I hate it when people say that and it’s over-used anyway. Do people know the true definition? It’s a Hindu word meaning spiritual teacher. Ralph doesn’t look like a Hindu to me.

Now, let’s see where we are. I think I’ve told you I’ve ordered a secondhand master cylinder for the front brakes. The original had a seized piston, which I gave up on. The replacement came from eBay and was £23 posted. It looks identical apart from the Kawasaki lettering looks sprayed on, rather than engraved like the original.

Would you believe the cap screws came undone straight away? Not the usual two-man battle I’ve had before. The piston moves freely, so I’ll leave it alone. One thing I did notice was that one of the connections on the switch had broken: something to fix then.