1981 Kawasaki GPz550: Restoration

[blowerbike]

no extra charge for the goooo...
how does the bore look?
i could see dark fluid through the sight glass.
when i installed my later model mc i bled the system till it was clean coming out the bleeders.

[srsupertrap]

I received Terry's GPz master cylinder on Thursday but didn't have a chance to have looksee till tonight. The Master came with a good brake lever & hardware



A bit gooey looking

[blowerbike]

got it and will ship tomorrow.
hopefully it has a nice bore...for both of us

[srsupertrap]

i'm back....
pm sent..

Payment sent . . . cannot beat your fellow GS Forum members stepping up to the plate & helping out in a pinch. There is no place like the GS Resource Forum even when your project is not a GS

I will post pics of the master innards.
Thanks Terry!

[blowerbike]

i'm back....
pm sent..

[blowerbike]

i'll pm you later today.
if you pay for shipping only then we can go from there depending on how it looks inside.
brake fluid is in my top 5 nasty things i hate to mess with in my older years

[srsupertrap]

so a working/non leaking mc can still be junk?
i only sell junk when i represent it as such.
well i don't want to sell a member here junk thinking it's not.
what should i do?

The piston comes out pretty easy, the piston is not secured by a snap ring ala GS but rather the white plastic part (14008) which has two tabs that engage the master cylinder housing. Press those two tabs in and everything sort of follows

[Nessism]

so a working/non leaking mc can still be junk?
i only sell junk when i represent it as such.
well i don't want to sell a member here junk thinking it's not.
what should i do?

Take out the piston and inspect for pitting. A good bit of work for a seller, but I don't know any other way to assure the bore is good.

Repeating this story but...sent some guy on ebay as message asking if they would be willing to pull the piston and inspect, and a short time later Joe Whelan wrote me back and provided photos too! Small world, and great service by Joe!

[blowerbike]

I bought two used masters off ebay that turned out to be junk. It's hard to find units that are not corroded inside. In the end I bought a master from an EX650 Ninja. Nice unit. Reservoir angles down a little which looks a little funny with the bars I selected, but think it's okay. Came off a late model bike so no corrosion too.

so a working/non leaking mc can still be junk?
i only sell junk when i represent it as such.
well i don't want to sell a member here junk thinking it's not.
what should i do?

[Nessism]

I bought two used masters off ebay that turned out to be junk. It's hard to find units that are not corroded inside. In the end I bought a master from an EX650 Ninja. Nice unit. Reservoir angles down a little which looks a little funny with the bars I selected, but think it's okay. Came off a late model bike so no corrosion too.

[blowerbike]

and the last one..

[blowerbike]

and another..

[blowerbike]

my mc window looks like glass..not fogged up or hazed/cracked.
no road rash or leaks...just bad paint plus after i bought my bike it got the super gunk and pressure wash treatment with all the body work removed.
the high pressure removed a lot of the bubbled up mc paint.
three pics coming.

[blowerbike]

mine was working fine but the banjo attached to the end of the mc and caused fairing/fork cap clearance issues..
for my 82 the banjo should have attached in the front.
the one i removed looks like the one on the fiche above.

[srsupertrap]

i have a functioning 81 GPZ1100 5/8 master...just ugly from fluid damage.
not sure if it's the same.
my 82 took a different master so i changed it out.

Thanks! I wonder if the master bore has the same issue as mine?

I just checked the Kawasaki fische and the 81 GPz550 does share the same master with the KZ1100-B1 GPz (1981) p/n 43015-1081. BUT Kawi also lists a KZ1100-B2 GPz (1981) which uses p/n 43015-1085. Looks like the difference is were the brake line attaches to the Master. The one I have on the GPz550 looks like this