81 550a

Hi, Introduced myself in the newmember section so I figure I'll get right to it.

here is my 81 550a,I need to finish the pipe get airfilters and clean up the wiring + sort other small stuff,the pipe is KZ750 flanges grafted to a 750 ninja header and will continue out with 2" pipe and be capped with a removable reducer that houses an RD 350 baffle..no great feat of engineering but should perform well,my question is... they sell a power jet kit for the same era GPZ's, with my pipe and uni filters will this work?? are the carbs different? I was told they were the same and the only difference beetween the GPZ and KZ was the air box,jetting and exhaust,is this info correct or am I being bullshitted..cant seem to find it myself I maybe should search more.

Well thanks in advance and comments/questions are definatley appreciated.

Cool rideB)
Yea, I am pretty sure the carbs are the same as the GPZ's of that year. Might want to check the manual to make sure.
Slap in some Pod filters and and some bigger jets and see what she will do.:woohoo:

The GPZ also had different cams.

On my 550 i put on a 4-1 pipe and pod filter, i had to up the mains two sizes and raised the needle.

To be honest, your exhaust...er...'creation' ...sounds like it might be about as restrictive as stock. Did you say an RD350 baffle???:huh: ...and a 2" pipe with a removable reducer? Sounds very different...but heck man, throw it together and kick-the-tires and light-the-fires and see what happens! :woohoo:

-KR

PS> Keep us posted...and do you have photos of the exhaust system???

this is the best pic I have of the "creation" I am sure it wont be as restricted as stock, if you have a better idea I"m interested its hack job I know.The rd baffle is not that restrictive and will be modded..... besides this mother is really freaking loud,as it is now,I dont see how it could possibly be as restrictive as stock.

Yeah, the RD baffle was what I was mostly wondering about; that and you said a 'removable reducer' and I know what that is in my mind, but I'm wondering what that is and the function. If it works to maximize a venturi-effect that might be a cool idea. I'm NOT hammering your idea, I'm just really interested...and if you say it's "loud" that's usually the first indicator of increased flow so who knows how it's going to work...sounds like you might have a good thing going, I'd like to see more photos and left side pics...cool bike!!!

-KR

Hey I'm not too thin skinned I should clarify,the collecter is 2" so I was going to continue out with that and cap it with a 2" to 1 1/2" reducer with the baffle welded into that..riveting the cap into place on the end of the pipe so it will be removable.not a very good description A pic would do better once I get it done.


I thought of buying one but with 5 running projects and 5 non running projects, I just threw together what I had...if it dont sort out I will have to go that route.thanks guys and keep your fingers crossed,

`

You have the same carbs as an 81 gpz550 (KZ 550 D1). Those are Teikei 22 (TK22) carbs. The only difference is the color and the gpz used 94 main jets while yours had 92 mains. All other internals were the same.

The engine on the gpz had higher comp pistons, different cams, and supposedly ported heads.

The gpz compression was 10:1, yours is 9.5:1 .
GPZ cams have 270 deg duration, yours has 248 deg.
By the way, your valves are the same as the D1 gpz.


The K&L carb rebuild kit 18-2462 comes with an adjustable version of your stock needle. It also comes with main (92) and pilot (32) jets almost identical to stock TK parts. So you caould get the rebuild kit and drill the mains to 94 or 96 to get a performance upgrade with the pods and exhaust.

Or you can get the Dynojet kit 2305 which comes with adjustable needles with a longer taper and a few main jet sizes (98, 102, 108), but you won't get the gaskets, orings, fuel valves, etc. that you get in the rebuild kit.

This drawing shows the difference in the needles.
.

Still, the exhaust sounds very interesting; just might work, and work well. Take some 'before and after' pics of the header assembly, that'd make it clear to bone-heads like me!
Oh, and I've got you beat in the non-running projects frontier!
-KR

Hey thanks all,some great input/info here,really appreciate it,....if the kids would stop whining about food, clothes and shelter I could turn this into a nice little rod in no time,but I guess I will have to take things on one at a time,are aftermarket cams available for the 550? cam,headwork,ignition over the winter perhaps.

thanks and pics when I do something worth showing.

There are aftermarket cams out there, but are very rare. I think one brand was Moriwaki, but I could be mistaken.

GPZ cams come up all the time on ebay, though. I would recommend 81 KZ550 D1 GPZ cams or 82-83 KZ550H GPZ cams. They are the same except the 82-83 cams don't have a tach drive. They use electronic tachs. By the way, the intake and exhaust cams have the same grind.

I'm not sure the 84-86 ZX550 gpz cams would work, but they should as long as you stick to KZ pistons. The ZX pistons have deeper cutaways for the valves due to extra duration and possibly lift, but I'm not super familiar with the ZX details. If Corey Clough chimes in, he'd probably know, or at least is in the process of finding out. He's working on a few ZX550 motors right now.

2 stroker wrote:

Hey thanks all,some great input/info here,really appreciate it,....if the kids would stop whining about food, clothes and shelter I could turn this into a nice little rod in no time...

:lol: Welcome to my world! :lol: