Carb Drain
Z1300 Carburettor Drain Modification
The Background:
I was having a great deal of trouble with power loss and everyone counselled checking out
the fuel system. This of course led eventually to stripping, cleaning and setting up the carburettors.
Every time I had to remove the carbs or check the float level, I had to drain the float
chambers; this entailed a lot of messing about and fuel spillage. So I decided to make a tap which fits
into the drain plug boss and can be opened at any time for the purpose of draining the carbs or
checking the float height.
Update to carburetor bowl tap modification
The previous design of the carburetor bowl tap was a little naïve in that the seal using the ball
bearing was subject to leakage if grit from the carburetor bowl gets trapped when closing the
tap, also when the tap was open, the fuel tended to leak past the threads above the outlet, so
that it continiously dripped when performing carburetor float level checks or emptying the
carb bowl.
So I have redesigned the tap to address these problems and have come up with a
modified design that works really well.
It is a simple thing to make for anyone with a modelmakers lathe, the only materials
required are some brass bar, three small instrument springs (I imagine the spring from a
ballpoint pen would do) and a few o rings.
The drawing below gives all the dimensions to make a set yourself.
I am willing to make a set for anyone but it will cost around 50 euros a set since I will
have to buy the brass and each set takes around 3 to 4 hours work.
Pen
Many Thanks to Penn for this excellent article.
