1978 GS550 VM Carb Fuel Tee

[TopherBarnett]

I've searched and so far cannot come up with a concrete answer. I'm looking for a replacement fuel tee for my VM carbs. The existing one is in bad shape and I don't want to deal with trying to repair it and worry about a potential leak.

From what I can tell:
Z1 sells replacement tees for the GS750 and up which use a longer tube. The GS550 tee is only around 45-46mm long. I've contacted them about this but haven't received a reply yet.

MotorcycleCarbs apparently manufactures a replacement but charges $70 for it. This is a huge ripoff and I do not support price gouging like that. I would gladly pay a fair price, but it probably costs them 20 cents to make that part. I call shenanigans on them.

I've seen it mentioned that the fuel tee for a '77 Kawasaki KZ1000 may work but have no confirmation. Can anyone corroborate this claim?

I do not have access to a machine shop to manufacture my own.

Thanks in advance,
-Topher-

[TopherBarnett]

Just got a response back from Z1:



Topher,
Thank you for your inquiry.

That's a good question. In fact, so good that I'm reluctant to answer.
That's why we list the dimensions on our website, so you can make the
comparison and determine that, with a little ingenuity and something
abrasive, you can / can't make it fit.

To complicate matters our website is down so I can't even look up the part!

I wish I had a better answer for you.

Kindest regards,
Christopher B. Baker <>< ("Bakes")

[TopherBarnett]

This just in from MotorcycleCarbs:

Sir:
The GS750 fuel tee is 47.6mm in length.
The KZ1000 fuel tee is 39mm in length.


It appears that their GS750 fuel tee should work for the GS550, although Z1 listed their GS750 tee as somewhere around 54mm. Can't check right now because their site is down. Either way, $70 still seems like a gyp.

[hampshirehog]

The boys on here will have a spare. I'm in the UK so the postage will probably cost more than you would get selling a kidney but if you stick an ad in the wanted section somebody in the US will be able to help you out for sure.

Oh - and welcome to the GSR.

[TopherBarnett]

Well, nobody had one and to get a single tee manufactured by a machinist in my area would have been just as expensive, so I ended up having to buy from MotorcycleCarbs.com.

Just for future reference, I got this from them:
We have one last in stock before its discontinued. We don’t plan of making this anymore as the demand in the market doesn’t meet the minimum requirement to have it made again.

Looks like this might be a custom job from now on...pitty.