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Hiya Steell
The engine was a stock Zephyr 750 motor (apart from GPz Cams). Its best compared to a KZ750 engine really.
I didn't need an offset sprocket as the splines on the 550 output trans matched those on my 750 (less the thread for the nut). I could have just used my original Zeph 15T sprocket drilled for the wacky washer fixing but I went to a 16T instead. Sprocket is flat and needs to be to allow the washer type fixing.
Thinking back now I recall also trying a large circlip in the groove to hold the sprocket on but I remember abandoning it as I was concerned about it coming off and causing an accident.

I too did look into just putting the gears onto 750 shafts but found the spines were too short to contain all 6 gears.

I should add that this was before I put the turbo motor in the bike. I did look into doing the conversion on that but the GPz turbo uses different gear shafts and bearings to normal 550/650/750 engines.

Just wanted to say how great this site is!!! could i do this to my 700? and what do i need?

the 700 uses the same bottom end as a kz650/gpz750 so yes.

Just in case anyone needs a little more info, here is the front sprocket type


This is from JT sprockets and they are available from 13T all the way up to 18T. The 2 bolt holes on the sprocket are for mounting the washer.

The washer is available from any Kawasaki dealer.

So, I see this KZ750 for sale on ebay: cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...ME:X:RTQ:MOTORS:1123

The ad says it's a 6-speed, so i email the guy asking if that's a mistake.

He emails me back and says no, that he'd seen on the internet that you could swap in a KZ550 6-speed, so he tried it and it worked!

I wrote back telling him about this site and gave him a link to this thread, asking if he could detail the swap and his experiences with the bike after the swap here.

He just wrote back saying that this was where he'd read about it! He said he had "a lot of info" and was going to send it to me.

How cool is that?

i did the 6 speed swap and i will do a write up on what to do email me and answer questions

vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vi...36&release=105243179
vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vi...d=&release=105257222

Welcome to the board and thank you so much for being willing to take the time to help us out.

Well, I got a KZ650 with a zephyr 750 engine.. finished buidling and modifying it about 3 months ago.





I'm driving it a lot and it runs reaaaally great. Except I would like a sixth gear. A lot of times when I'm accelerating or on the freeway I shift to the next gear in 5th but it ain't there lol. Also the bike has more then enough power left for an extra gear..
Already upped the front sprocket to 17th and doing about 5000rpm at 100-110km/hr. I would like to be able to cruise the freeway at 130-140km/hr a little lower in revs...

I just happen to have a kz550 engine lying around. Somehow I bought that from someone about 5 years ago, but didn't really use it for anything. Had it for sale for over a year but nobody wanted it lol.

So I was just wondering when reading this, I know the front sprocket of the zephyr 750 is about 10mm more to the outside then the kz650. Does the front sprocket on the transshaft of the kz550 sit on the same distance from the case as the zephyr750 shaft?

I'll check on it tommorrow.

THIS SWAP IS A MUST! all i have to say is DO IT! NOW I WANT ONE IN MY 82 GPZ1100!

We're all still anxiously waiting for the pics and write up of the swap you did.

I got a complete kz550 trans ready for the mod...

However, I looked into the part diagrams on www.kawasaki.com a bit more and found out that the collar behind the front sprocket (between front sprocket and bearing) of the kz550 trans is 23,5mm and the same collar on the zephyr trans is 37mm which means the front sprocket on the kz550 is more inward towards the engine cases then the front sprocket on the zephyr... So I guess the swap messes with the chainline... when doing it on a zephyr750.

I know that the front sprocket of the kz650 is more inwards to the cases then the zephyr 750 (about 10-15mm), so you won't have that problem when doing the mod on the kz650 I guess..