As recounted previously (here actually) the fuel cock on the T500 had been played with. Although I had got it to the point it worked well enough, I had noticed that the diaphragm was on its way out and actually leaking slightly as there was fuel seepage evident on the vacuum side of the rubber membrane. This was a problem as these haven’t been available from Suzuki since shortly before the stone age and despite checking with local gasket and materials supply places servicing the oil patch I had yet to locate something similar enough that I would be able to take a run at a repair.
And then I happened across a web site in Germany that seemed to have the solution to my (and many other’s) problems. A fellow by the name of Volker Schultz in Frankfurt, Germany is making replacement diaphragms and repair kits for a wide range of these older Suzuki fuel cocks – and they look really, really good !
In the photo above, the new diaphragm can be seen together with some of the parts included in one of Volker’s rebuild kits which you can order via his web site at this link: www.hard-to-find-parts.de . The site is in German, but most modern browsers will offer to translate the site into your preferred language, and do a passable enough job that you should have no problem figuring out what it is you are looking at. He also sells on the German eBay site – the prices are the same.
Diaphragms are sold on an exchange basis – while the membrane and pintle are new, some other components from the old assembly are recycled and so he needs the complete old diaphragm back. Before installing the new diaphragm it pays to first polish the seating area of the new o-ring a little bit as otherwise you may find that you do not get a perfect seal immediately, although any very small drips should seal up within a few miles of running.
The other thing to note is that the pintles are slightly different, one model or model year to the next. In the photo below, the 1968 MK1 version pintle is to the left and notice it has a shoulder that the MK2 does not have. The valve casting also appears to be a slightly different shape and so the new style MK2 pintle will not seat properly on the older MK1 style valve casting. Just another thing to check and be aware of.
To sum up – I’m really pleased with the fit and the quality of the parts – some obvious thought and care has been put into recreating these, and they do fit perfectly. If you want to retain the original look of the old style vacuum fuel cock, then this is a great service and well worth the effort and the cost.
Recommended ! 