Need some good brands for parts!

Howdy everyone, its your friendly neighborhood Kawasaki newbie. Below is a list of things ill be doing to my bike over the winter, and i would love if you guys had some advice on good quality parts brands. Preferably ones that wont break the bank.
this is for a 1982 Kz550 C
-Full carb clean/rebuild (I have k&n pod filters, and will be getting a stock or close to stock exhaust) (( I heard Dynojet has good kits))
-Full front brake service (rotors, pads, possibly rebuilding caliper if it needs work)
-New clutch
-Fork seals
-Speedometer (if simple analog ones are out there)
-Misc gaskets
-inline fuel filter

You might not need a jet kit if the exhaust is relatively mild.

Go to Loud's pages for tips on the carbs (nos o rings, gaskets and clean and keep the stock jets to save cash) and I'd hunt for and use Kawasaki nos gaskets , clutch plates and springs, caliber parts, fork seals engine gaskets etc for best quality ...... go to partzilla and look up the part numbers then look on ebay...... many times zilla has the best price but check around. A fuel filter at the local bike dealer for a dirt bike should be decent quality and a good price 6 or 7 bucks or you can go crazy and get a Golan like I did for 46 bucks.

I don’t think the jets he has installed are stock, should have put that in the first post my bad. I think stock is 32 pilot 92 main jet and I believe he put in 35/95. I know he said he put bigger jets in because of the cold air, but from what I’ve read on other threads, If the only thing you’re doing is pod filters you wouldn’t need jets that big to compensate. Is there any carb kit companies that are better than others? I know on loud’s site he had Keyster listed, as well as Dynojet

Keysters are rebuild kits.
Dynojet is for re-jetting.
Be aware of counterfeit versions of both.

Dynojet kits are somewhere around $120 to $150 nowadays.

If you have 35 pilots and 95 mains, you might not need anything else to run pods, assuming the 35 pilots are the correct type. (Photos would tell, or you can look at the photos on my website.)

There is more than one combination of jets and needle settings to get a good running motor. You can compensate in one area for another area. The re-jetting for pods using stock jets and needles, and simply shimming the needle is not perfectly ideal. It works with relatively quiet/restrictive exhausts, but does not have a really great fuel economy.

With larger jets, you might be able to leave the stock needle in the stock position.

My website has a copy of the Dynojet jetting procedure that one would use back in the old days. It takes a lot of time to get it right.

alright, when i pull the carbs ill show you what i have in a separate thread and go from there.

Calvin9819 wrote: Howdy everyone, its your friendly neighborhood Kawasaki newbie. Below is a list of things ill be doing to my bike over the winter, and i would love if you guys had some advice on good quality parts brands. Preferably ones that wont break the bank.
this is for a 1982 Kz550 C
-Full carb clean/rebuild (I have k&n pod filters, and will be getting a stock or close to stock exhaust) (( I heard Dynojet has good kits))
-Full front brake service (rotors, pads, possibly rebuilding caliper if it needs work)
-New clutch
-Fork seals
-Speedometer (if simple analog ones are out there)
-Misc gaskets
-inline fuel filter

A few comments...

- Carb rebuild. I've read about 1000 posts from guys saying they cleaned their carbs only to later find out they took short cuts To avoid being person 1001, it's better to bite the bullet and do a full carb teardown when cleaning the carbs. And yes, this includes unganging the carbs which seems to intimidate a lot of people. If you are concerned just take lots of photos during the teardown process and reverse order during assembly. Contrary to what some say the only parts that are critical to keep together during the teardown are the float needle and seat. Just about everything else can go into whatever carb body randomly. Only cariot to this is maybe keep the slide with it's original body if the carbs have a bunch of miles on them. After everything is apart soak in carb dip to clean all the internal passages. After this is done reassemble using all new O-rings. Don't buy aftermarket carb kits, other than maybe some Dynojet kit parts, reuse the original parts. The original parts are high quality and reused unless damaged. As far as finding new O-rings is concerned, you can order from a place like Z1 or an OEM source. I wouldn't buy some random O-ring kit from Harbor Freight and expect to have the proper sizes needed. If you get stuck do some measuringing and PM me and I'll help you figure out what sizes you need, so you can then order from and O-ring store.

- Brakes - plan to tear down the master and calipers and clean out all the sludge. If the master bore is free of corrosion pitting you can put it back into service. A new piston and seal won't hurt. Caliper wise it's critical to clean the internals and inspect the piston for pitting and replace as needed. Use OEM Kawasaki parts exclusively unless they are not available for your bike. K&L brake system parts are very iffy and I've had several bad experiences with them. Also plan to replace the brake lines. This is critical since the originals will be fulled with scale. Teflon/stainless lines are superior anyway and well worth the investment.

-Clutch - typically the clutch plates last the life of the bike. Sometimes people assume because they get a little slippage that they need a new clutch but most of the time some new OEM springs will fix the bike up straight away. Replacing the clutch cable is also recommended since there is nothing better than a brand new silky smooth clutch cable to put a smile on your face. If you insist on a new clutch regardless, EBC and the like are fine but I'd get OEM parts unless they are a ton more money.

-Gaskets - OEM is better than aftermarket in most cases. Find the part number of the gasket you need on Partzilla or similar then go hunting on ebay for a cheaper price.

- Fuel filter - you shouldn't need one if your tank is clean. Focus on that first and only add a filter if you can't fix your tank. If you get a filter make sure it's the type for a gravity fed fuel system. Automotive type filters require too much pressure to push the fuel through (they filter better than a gravity fed fuel filter though).

Good luck and hope this helps.

For your brake rotors you may want to consider having them resurfaced by Truedisk. See link below. Ed

truedisk.net/

Carbs- I do plan on doing a full tear down and clean. I'm taking as many notes and pictures as i can so i don't miss a single step. As far as jets, i'm worried the PO used a cheap kit during his rebuild so ill probably be looking at OEM and dynojet kits for that to be safe.
The unganging is a bit intimidating but i think ill be able to do with with little problem. is there a good quality carb dip you'd recommend?

Brakes- Good idea with the master cylinder, i hadn't even thought of that. I will be upgrading brake lines, i'm thinking braided stainless. Brake caliper looks rough as ill be looking into either a new caliper if its that bad, or just a piston and seals. I just hope its not as annoying as rebuilding a car caliper, that was a pain. I would have the rotor resurfaced but its nearly at the service limit, so to save some trouble ill just replace it.

Clutch- i was thinking about just new springs, but the PO almost never changed the oil. when i got it, the engine oil was in the worst condition id ever seen, and i've done some naaaaasty oil changes at the shop. I figured to be safe, rather than sorry ill just replace the pack. Maybe get new springs for good measure. And i just got a new cable cuz mine snapped while i was riding (whoops!) i'm loving the feeling though.

Gaskets- ill do just that!

Filter- I'm doing a tank clean and lining over the winter as well, the fuel filter would be for catching any pieces that flake off in case something were to happen it wouldn't mess up everything else.

on a side note, in the future ill be doing a complete tear down and rebuild of the whole bike to make er' shine and purr. Nessim, would i be able to contact you with questions and advice during that?

Since the oil was so nasty, taking the clutch apart is a good idea. Rather than just tossing it in the trash bucket, I recommend a good cleaning and inspection. I bet it won't be nearly as bad as you think. As mentioned above, the stock clutch is well designed and overbuilt. It will take a great deal of abuse and neglect.

Calvin9819 wrote: on a side note, in the future ill be doing a complete tear down and rebuild of the whole bike to make er' shine and purr. Nessim, would i be able to contact you with questions and advice during that?

Feel free to PM me anytime. My rebuild thread may give you some ideas too.

Good luck

Oh, and tank lining. I'd say no, unless you find serious rust inside or pinholes bubbling up the paint. Otherwise, you can use a good rust remover, then fog the inside with WD40 to prevent flash rust. Put the tank back on the bike, fill with your favorite flavor of gasoline and ride. Be prepared for a lot of contradicting opinions on this. About the only topic more controversial is which engine oil touse.
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