Hello from New England - GPZ550D1

From one 550 owner to another, welcome, and nice bike!

While you’re in there tinkering, instead of worrying about Philips versus JIS, you might consider replacing any of those screws with stainless Allen head bolts. Much more reliable, and they look cool. 

And I agree with those suggesting a full front brake rebuild. I used Brakemasters for my calipers, HEL Performance for SS brake lines, and All Balls for the master cylinder.

To follow up on the others' brake suggestions, it is entirely possible you will not be able to find any parts for the rear master cylinder. That particular item was used by Kawasaki for about 10 minutes and as a result there is no aftermarket support for it. I got lucky by consistently searching ebay and eventually found a working MC and a[n] NOS piston, but it took ages.

Bodywork is going to be an issue, too. Pieces that are in nice shape are rare and quite expensive: a nice-looking side cover will probably be $100 or so (if available).

And bookmarking the Partzilla page will save you a lot of time.

 

Un-molested, orriginal D1's are pretty rare now, so consider trying to preserve her... 
 

Welcome from a Z500 owner in the UK. LoudVx has all the infor you need here
s3.amazonaws.com/gpzweb/index.html#home

I had to re-spray the bikini fairing... could not find a color-code for "Firecracker Red"
The best match I found was: Volkswagen MONZA red. (2K)
To my un-trained eye, it is a pretty good match, given the 40 years of exposure to the elements!

H.




 
 

Got told Ford cardinal red is a v good match
Kawasaki code is  601 : firecracker red

wrote:

Got told Ford cardinal red is a v good match
Kawasaki code is  601 : firecracker red
 

Can confirm. Cardinal Red was readily available in spray cans from Dupli-Color five years or so ago, which was nice, but it looks like that color has been discontinued.

wrote:

Can confirm. Cardinal Red was readily available in spray cans from Dupli-Color five years or so ago, which was nice, but it looks like that color has been discontinued.

Looks like it's still on stock on many sites...
www.amazon.com/Dupli-Color-BFM0306-Cardi...motive/dp/B00407TTJM
www.summitracing.com/parts/shw-bfm0306
www.jegs.com/i/Duplicolor/318/BFM0306/10002/-1

wrote:

wrote:

Can confirm. Cardinal Red was readily available in spray cans from Dupli-Color five years or so ago, which was nice, but it looks like that color has been discontinued.

Looks like it's still on stock on many sites...
 

Yes, I know - now try to find it on the Dupli-Color site. They appear to be no longer making it or selling it, hence "discontinued" and not "disappeared".

The Jegs price is higher than normal - $8-something a can - but the others range from $18 - $37 a can.

To be sure... gas tank paint must be gas-proof, or at least a coat of clear "gas proof" paint.

Also, remember to "feather" (down to bare metal)  the area at the gas filler opening, particularly where the cap seal contacts the tank opening.
What I mean by "feather" is to sand down the paint so that there is no perceivable "edge", as would be the case if the gas filler hole masking was simply removed.
The reason for this is to prevent gas from "creeping" under the paint edge, where the painted surface ends and the "inside" of the tank begins.

I have seen beautiful paint jobs ruined by what looks like "mole" tunnels from the gas cap area.



H.