1981 KZ550 Cafe Racer - New to Motorcycles

This is a fun game! The three parts you have in a red oval. Short hose? Tough one maybe some kind of over flow. The middle one might be a bracket to hold the capacitor thingy, actually I don’t think I saw that on your table. The cable holder bolts to the left fork leg with the front fender and is a holder /guide for the brake line.

Do you have a manual? If not, get one.
Steve

Great progress here. Free Kawasaki KZ/GPz550 Base and Supplement Manuals in my signature. Save the links to your computer.

Kawasaki has reloaded the early models back on their website:
www.kawasaki.com/Parts/PartsDiagrams/1981/KZ550-A2

www.cmsnl.com/kawasaki-1981-kz550-a2_model15478/partslist/

You guys are awesome. The knowledge just keeps flowing on in. Here's today's news.

I FINALLY understand the purpose of that last part - the rear axle adjuster. I have a manual, but having direct access to all the diagrams is priceless. Thanks again, all!

The new front fork I bought of eBay earlier this week arrived today - almost a week ahead of when I expected it. My analysis of the front fork is here:
www.kzrider.com/forum/5-chassis/597659-1...a-1981-kz550a#667585

In short, the fork isn't quite the same geometry, but all the mounts line up great, so I think I'm just going to use the new fork rather than trying to cobble the two together. The front end might sit a touch higher, but hopefully it will be negligible. I can always trade out later to something else.

Second item of note from the day, I bought a cheap sandblaster and moisture separator from Harbor Freight. After weighing my options, I like this route more than chemical stripper. I live on 3 acres and have the space to cover everything in a thin layer of sand without making neighbors angry. My wife might be another deal entirely... we'll see.

Lastly, I was feeling a little sitr crazy from not having time to get anything done on the bike, since it's spring planting season here for the garden, which consumed my Saturday, so tonight I decided to fully commit...



There's no going back now...

Well, I guess you could go back, if you had access to a welder, but whatever THERE'S NO GOING BACK NOW. The hacksaw has spoken. Time to stat cutting and grinding off all those tabs that don't belong either.

Speaking of access to a welder, you need it because you should weld in a section of frame between the 2 ends that you cut. Otherwise you will have independent rear suspension - good on car / bad on bike. Ed

Yup,You definately need to weld some sort of cross-brace in there for stability.
Other than that,nice thread.Im enjoying the 'What the hell is this thing and where does it go??' aspect. Good luck with
the build and thanks for sharing .

If you dont have access to a welder, open the yeller pages and find one! Ask them to cut and fab the part out of DOM tubing and burn it in for you; shouldn't be more than $20-$30, well worth the safety investment

Also, unless something was WRONG in that motor the 'mechanics' who decided to just tear in didnt do you much of a service. Kz550s arent known for having crappy engines or transmissions to me theyre nigh bulletproof. Make sure you ask why the motor was torn down. Might have been for nothing

650ed wrote: Speaking of access to a welder, you need it because you should weld in a section of frame between the 2 ends that you cut. Otherwise you will have independent rear suspension - good on car / bad on bike. Ed

+1

And make sure it's welded air-tight, or the frame tubes will fill with water, even if it's never wet, condensation will get in and collect. The insides of the tubes are bare steel.

Kz550 motors, as mentioned, almost never need to be rebuilt due to normal wear, usually only from neglect or mechanic error. And once rebuilt, they don't seem to hold up as well as a factory build. ..Not saying there aren't good rebuilds out there, but as a rule, you want one that has never had the head off.

Only the valve cover and maybe the clutch cover ever need to be off in most cases.