carb ID and help

Background info:
Carb came off my 1983 kz550. I paid a local shop almost 500 to rebuild this thing and it leaks everywhere. Look at the drain screw locations, wrong order! And they were left open! ( I should have checked that) Once I turned on the gas it went right through the carb and leaked gas all over the place. I couldn't close them fast enough, lucky I had a flex bit close by- that's how I got to the drain screws. As you can see they did not replace all the gaskets, even though I told them that I want all new gaskets, even if it looks good. The gas was actually leaking out of all these joints in the pictures.

Kinda hard to get to the screws and I think it may have affected the spacing too:


Q's.
Where is a good place to get these gaskets in all the pictures?


In the picture that shows the choke needle, gas leaked out of one of these and they all feel gritty. Is there a technique that I should use when putting this back together.


Is this the correct gasket? Maybe it grew somehow? Can I use gasket maker instead of another gasket?


With all the leaking the bike did run so I am almost done, just need to fix the carb. Any other help would be appreciated too.
Thanks

That sucks man. I'd be PISSED! Who was the rebuilder? Best post up their name here so others can avoid them.

Kawasaki still sells the fuel tube O-rings so you can get them from a dealership source like Partzilla. I've got quite a few O-rings too so if you provide some dimensions, such as the diameter of the groove and the diameter of the hole it's going into, I may have something to help you out. You gotta measure carefully using calipers.

The float bowl O-ring has likely swelled up since gas soaked in. I'd wash them off and then throw them in the oven at low temp - 170F or something like this. As the fuel is driven off they will shrink back down to size. You can use CA (super glue) to hold them in the groove. Just don't get glue on the sealing surface.

Good luck

Wow, that is horrible! Glad to hear you were able to stop everything before something bad happened.

I've seen good results for finding o-rings from those multi-size metric o-ring kits. They are fairly inexpensive at Harbor Freight or online/ebay - in the neighborhood of $10. They come in metric and standard - get the metric. If nothing else it could help you figure out the size that you need and then you could order something more fuel resistant. And you'd still have a box of spare o-rings.

As for the carb bowl gaskets, yes they will swell a little once they get wet. If you let them dry out for a day or so they should shrink back to original size.

Nessism wrote: You can use CA (super glue) to hold them in the groove. Just don't get glue on the sealing surface.

Good tip! I've done that but completely forgotten about it.

Thanks for the tips guys, Last question for now is should the needles for the choke get some kind of lubricant on them when you put them in the carb? Or put them in dry?
Dave