DR-Z 400S: How to restore plastics and fuel tank removal

Craig Hawkings
May 7, 2015
2 min read

Now that the DR-Z400S is back in the safety of a covered and locked garage and the repairs are underway. I spent the past week just really cleaning her up and treating the plastics on it with UV protection. This shine factor has really brought the bike back to life and is going to allow me to have a much easier time when I want to wrench on the rest of the machine. So I thought I would write a quick article that will walk you through some very simple maintenance tips.

To begin with I just took my time and washed it down real well, I try to take care not to pressure wash the chain as this will just blow the o-rings away. Then I start to take off the plastics and wash them off quickly, I even dried them off one at a time and set them aside. Be very careful not to lose track of which bolt goes where as a couple of them are different from the others. Once the bike is all stripped down you might want to wash it even more, this means removing the fuel tank. There are two bolts located at the tail of the DR-Z400 fuel tank, remove these and turn the fuel to off on the petcock which is on the left side of the fuel tank. Then wiggle the fuel line free from the petcock and pull up on the tank. It can be a real pain sometimes but as long as you are confident that the tank is not snagged on anything then give it a pull and the tank is yours. Once you set the fuel tank aside, you will want to close off the air box and the petcock, probably with some tape or whatever works. After a good wipe down you are ready to treat your plastics.

I wasn't too sure what to do at this point to be completely honest. I am very curious as to what works best and I am currently in the middle of an experiment so to speak, so I just grabbed what I trusted the most. Mothers Protectant has always been great on my vehicles and it has great UV protection. It recommends that it can be used on plastic surfaces so this is what I started with. I just used a rag and applied a good amount to the plastic surface and it made a huge difference! The surface of the DR-Z was so smooth and shined like new, I don't know how long that will last but it looks great for now.

So all in all the factory shine was almost brought back to life, scratches still slightly visible but it's smooth as. I will continue to try different protectants to see what works best but my main goal was to get something on there that had some sort of UV protection. Please leave a comment if you have any other suggestions as to what works best to protect your bike. Thanks again and ride safe!

-Craig