Petcock questions?

Hello, this is my first post
and as I'm sure you guess from my handle
I ride an 82 KZ550 H1, now I'm having leaking issues
which I'm thinking the petcock is to blame,
and a leaking from the front left of the tank possibly
I have used the search button, (no luck)
but I've decided against rebuilding a 26 year old part
and replacing it with aftermaket parts from Z1
here's a link to the part
www.z1enterprises.com/detail.aspx?ID=2718
I was hoping this plate would allow me to use
this petcock
www.z1enterprises.com/detail.aspx?ID=1744
since i haven't removed the tank yet
I haven't completely found the front leak,
but i figure replacing the petcock will let me know
if I have a issue with my carbs,
and a leaky tank if I do find a leak and not from a gasket
how could repairs be done? epoxy?
anyways, any help would be great
I was refered here by a KZ1000 owner
hope to fix this sometime
tired of losing expensive gas

The plate will allow you to use that petcock, But make sure you measure the distance between the bolts that are holding the existing one onto the tank now. The mylomar, i think that is what it called it comes with the plate. Its awsome stuff, I just changed mine out, very simple except for rounding out the oval hole in the tank to make room for the new petcock. No big deal though really.

yeah I'm sure I could dremel that out, yeah I've had the bike for over a year and never had an issue till recently.
I'm gonna replace the fuel sender gasket as well.
hopefully it's not a carb issue,
I'm not trying to restore the bike or anything.
just want to get all the little kinks out
so I can get back to riding it to work

I wouldnt be using a Dremel tool unless you get the tank boiled out. A kit from Kawasaki runs about $35 last time I rebuilt my GPZ750s a few years ago

I used a dremel on mine. But I was extremely careful to catch Everything with tape, and rags. And I left a couple gallons of gas in the tank and just shook it up and drained it out. No problems. Dremels will create sparks. Be EXTREMLY careful

When I bought my beast several years ago I had a really irritating leak in the petcock area that took me months to figure out. To make a long story short my tank had been painted and of course the petcock was removed for the paint job. Once the job was done the petcock was put back on over the new paint and gradually over the next couple of years the gas in the tank slowly dissolved the thin layer of paint between the petcock gasket/O ting and the metal in the tank. Once I figured it out I drained the tank, removed the petcock, sanded the paint down to metal and reinstalled the petcock.
It honestly drove me nuts. I would only ever notice it in the area where the tank met the seat after a ride when the drop of gas had been blown back .

Just a little titbit in addition to the excellent advice above

Oh, and I've used JB Weld to plug a gas leak in a carb. Should work in a tank but you have to make sure the area is dry and let it cure for 24 hours.

WOOHOO, I figured some kind of epoxy would work for that.
I really didn't mean a dremel to alter the hole in the tank
but one of those cone type drill bits with the cutting wedge in the side. I'm also planning on new fuel lines and a new inline filter, since the pricing for all this seems to be all i can afford at the moment, and I can do all the work myself

I just put new o-rings in mine and it works great! I think the three o-rings were less than 10 buck from Kaw.

I thought about just that, but I really do not want to ever have to worry about it again, my bike looks like it's been a few of the POs first bike. I was reading petcocks could have damage from particles grinding around in it that would still potentially leak even after a rebuild, I figured a new manual petcock would serve me best and hopefully never give me a problem again

also would a tank cap like this fit our' older KZs, looks identical to the one on my tank now?

whoops would help if you had a link
www.oldbikebarn.com/Motorcycle_Parts/Gas-Caps/Gas-Tank-Cap_8#5

del

yeah I'm just worried about it sealing well,
I guess I'll just add one more thing to my parts list,
(gas cap gasket)