Kawasaki Z550F part 5: Back-end blues!

During lock down, our John had to tackle a few back-end issues with his on-the-cheap Z550F restoration…

-  JOHN VASSALLO

You may remember my last part ended in successfully fitting the carbs and its original air-box: some achievement for me, I’m telling you!

I was now hoping to be telling you about balancing them, but thanks to lockdown (you’re probably on catch-up with my articles) I couldn’t. This would have meant helper Dave coming over, which, of course, was not permitted back then.

This meant only doing jobs I could tackle alone. Firstly, prior to balancing the carbs, the engine oil and filter needed changing. Using my Lidl socket set I removed the sump plug (17mm), catching the oil in a plastic bowl I bought from Tesco – told you I’m a cheapskate! The oil was very black, but what else can you expect from a bike last used in 2003? The new stuff I’m using is Halfords 10w/40 motorcycle oil. I’m told car oil isn’t suitable and makes the clutch slip. To complement the fresh oil was a new filter from Z-Power (thanks Phil!).

Also from Z-Power came a replacement cover for that torn seat. I’ve never re-covered a seat before and really could have done with an extra pair of hands for this. Being in lockdown at the time, it was either do it alone or not just yet! Not wanting to wait, I went for it.

Carefully pulling out the old staples from the plastic base, the torn cover came off. The foam looked good enough to re-use. I then offered up the new cover, seeing how much extra material there was once centralised.

1/ Cheap brush cost a fiver at a bike show and has worked wonders!