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The one thing that turned me off was the 80 MPH speedo.
Steve

I do believe it has potential, but when I look at some of the stuff some of the guys are doing on here it makes all my stuff look like junk Wait until you see the one I picked up tonight. Kerker, all the panels/tail, tank looks really nice, good tires. He says that 1 and 4 weren't firing right... He was taking it to the shop for all the repairs, which must have gotten spendy. I think I'll have it straight tomorrow.
Those tires are super cheap (~50 bucks each-new), which is all I was willing to invest in the first bike... I'm gonna mainly use it for around town, maybe some light camping... My 82 1000 LTD will be my highway machine.

Couldn't wait. Took these out in my van as it sits.

Everything was squared in the 80's. Looks all there though.
Steve

Some daytime pics. Drained the gas and carbs, cleaned a bunch of electrical connections, new fuel lines and filter, new battery. Started, revs, runs like shit, but PO said it was only running on two. Tomorrow I'll dig deeper and probably rob more parts off of the other GPZ550 that I started with. Can't beat the Tron dash.

Today I drained the carbs, and a thick blue liquid came out, like dish soap.
Pulled the carbs off of the first project, now parts 550 that I had rebuilt, and threw them on. Fires nicely, runs on all four. Still working out petcock, may need to rebuild it. The thing seems to have guts, but falls on it's face. Acts starved for fuel, but it is running pods and a kerker. The pods are real K&N, so I soaked them with fiter oil and the bike seems to have woken up a little, hopefully thanks to the restriction of the oiled pods. Thinking of building an airbox. Will be trying to tune the carbs this week, as well as new wires/plugs, check timing, advance function, etc. Having a parts bike has really paid off already. Looking forward to scooting around on this guy when the weather gets better.

There are a couple of recent threads here on ignition troubleshooting.

...apart from the above and possible carb issues, clean and lube your ATU mechanical ignition avdancer, under the right hand engine cover. Check it with a strobe whilst running if you have one. If they seize the engine won't advance when accelerating, which could be mistaken for either of the above.

Yes. The timing cover is cracked, and I was thinking about hooking up the timing light to check timing & advance function while I'm replacing that. Thanks for the suggestion. Pretty excited to get this thing going. Inspection and tags are next....

Got my inspection and tags, been scooting around my area a little on it. Changed the oil, which was surprisingly clean considering it was probably four years old....

Bike still needs some tuning, but man it loves to go. Brakes work really well. Will flush the brakes this weekend and check the pads. Getting my new tires mounted to the spare wheels. Plugs and wires, general torque checking...

Also got a fork clamp set (upper / lower triple trees, steering stem) from another KZ550 that has conventional bar clamps. Thinking superbike bars. Also have been considering adapting clip ons dto the forks above the top triple. Also, the 80's disco gauge cluster works, but sometimes doesn't. Probably gonna get a cheap compact digital setup.

Then I'm breaking the parts bike down for better storage and inventory the bits I want to keep around for the new bike. Overall, I feel really lucky to have gotten such a sweet deal on a pretty sweet little bike. So much easier to run quick errands compared to the 1000.

Oh, I'm thinking about calling it "Lil Half Zed".

Nice to have options. I like the red wheels on the black bike.
Steve

So, I am loving this little bike. I've never driven a Hemi 'Cuda or a Mazda Miata, but this bike feels like the Miata to my KZ 1000 Hemi 'Cuda. I can rip through the gears in the city and not be double the speed limit. And it's really nimble by comparison...
It's falling on it's face a bit in the mid range, so I started researching Dyna Jet kits, then I checked the jets in the "spare" carbs, and it looks like I'll be swapping some jets and needle spacers tonight.
The machine shop is moving pretty slowly on my 1000's head, but I'm not missing it t as much with the GPZ in my life, which was sorta the plan. Weird when that works out.

Here, you can see the new tires, the general cleanliness of the bike, and my first attempt at reupholstering a motorcycle seat (or any seat, I guess.) That's a piece of leather from Tandy, and I hacked some of the foam from the passenger area of the seat. Went a little deep, and put some back. I thought the leather would hide more of my sins... Next time will be better, and at least I can't see seat foam peeking out of split material.