Another new guy

So I've been lurking here for about a year and have finally decided to take the plunge and sign up. My name is Scott and I have a KZ550-LTD that I got off Ebay for $100 a few years back as a project. I started riding when I was 8 on a KD100 back in the 70s and have always been a Kawasaki fan, even the few times I wandered off to other brands here and there. We also have a 83 440LTD that was my dad's before he passed a few years back, that is my son's. It is waiting restoration after being pinned and dragged under a drunk idiot in a parking lot. I haven't decided completely yet where I'm going to go with my LTD. My first thought was ratting it, but after sitting on it mocked up with flat bars, I realized that at the great height of 5'4", I just don't have the reach to comfortably handle it in that configuration. I've had ratted bikes in the past but they were 400cc or less and the frames were smaller than this bike. I think I'll go mild resto-custom...after I get it running. It had been sitting outside for a while on the seashore and all the wiring is pretty crappy. I've started stripping it down and will hopefully get to work on it over the winter. My summer projects are of the 4 wheeled variety, a '68 Volksrod and '85 MustangGT. Hmm. I guess I've rambled enough, I hope not to get in the way too much.

Welcome to KZR! Sounds like you love a good project:) Post some pics for us!

welcome, and pictures please.

Thanks for the welcome:)

Here she is when I dragged her down the bulkhead and into my basement. I have the headlight assembly, it came in a box of other parts, but I'm thinking of going with something different. Dunno. I try not to plan out TOO much stuff when working on a project and just let it talk to me instead.



After I stripped off some stuff.



She has sat since then due to working on the Mustang all summer. Last night I started stripping back the harness and putting new ends on all the connectors. I have an old oven just off camera that I'm thinking of trying my hand at a baked finish for some of the small parts. I hope to get it stripped down to bare frame over the next few weekends and see where I'm at. Fortunately, the motor is within 2psi on a leakdown test, so I'll probably just clean it up and replace gaskets, etc. I've been looking at many of the projects here and have gotten some great inspiration from them. Thanks for the support!

Welcome to the forum........keep the pics coming

It must be a holiday thing, because the last time I worked on her was Easter. I did some work on it the other night as we get ready for turkey day...hmmm. The rest of the family will be working/shopping Black Friday so I hope to get some progress made on it. The other night I started tearing back in it again.
I'm not a tall man, a whopping 5'4". Our 440 is perfect size for me but 1) it is my son's and 2) I WANT MORE POOOOOOWWWWER, so I got this 550. Now, the challenge is to get it so I can be comfortable at a stoplight and not worry about dropping it. I'm planning on approaching this in a few ways, first by lowering the bike with shorter shocks and probably slide the forks up a bit in the triple clamps, second by narrowing it where my legs would normally go at a stop, ie: eliminate the side covers and relocate the elect components underneath them and the third area will be the seat. The stock seat is ok in comfort but is too wide and too high for my tastes. I stripped it down to the pan and at that point, it got a bit ugly.



Too much time outside at the New England seashore has done a number on it. Some of the worst spots are right at the hinge and latch areas.



I figure if I create a new pan of similar shape (because I like the shape of the pan) but narrower and then remove the sidecovers and relocate the other stuff, it should narrow down the bike considerable, as you can see from this angle.





Now, a couple of questions. Unless I'm missing something, there is no way to pull this airbox without pulling the motor? I'm planning on installing stacks on the carbs so the box is going to go. Now, I really hadn't planned on pulling the motor, so unless there is another way, I'm probably going to have to take the airbox out in pieces. Ideas?



Second question, there are some hoses that come off the rocker covers to a central spot under the spine and then back to the airbox. I'm assuming this is some sort of PVC setup, correct?




Ok, enough for now. More disassembly to follow this weekend, then hopefully some cleaning and detailing, then the fun stuff begins!!

Post edited by: NightScreams, at: 2007/11/21 11:59

Post edited by: NightScreams, at: 2007/11/26 18:03

You should be able to remove the carbs to get the airbox out. No need to remove the engine.
The hoses on the covers are emssions crap, you should be able to block them off.


Nice bike.

mariozappa wrote:

You should be able to remove the carbs to get the airbox out. No need to remove the engine.
The hoses on the covers are emssions crap, you should be able to block them off.


Nice bike.

DUH! THANKS! Talk about not seeing the forest because of the trees, I knew there had to be an easier way to pull that airbox out! I want to go through the carbs anyway so that works right in my plan.

Thanks!

So another holiday came and I got some time to work on the bike...if only for a day. I'm pretty happy with the progress I made. The wheels were pretty crappy, I cleaned them up and shot them flat black. I never really liked the brushed-rib look of them, I like this solid look much better.



I cleaned up all the bolt-on stuff like fender, peg mounts, etc, as well as the forks and painted them a nice charcoal metallic. I really like the way it looks against the black. I also cleaned up the frame and painted where needed gloss black, as well as removed all the "extra crap" like helmet locks and other various tabs I'll never use.



I also lowered the rear by 2.5" so I can actually sit on it comfortably now as well as redid the seat with a very thin piece of ultra-high density foam under a reformed original cover. I still need to narrow the seat by about 1" on either side to make it perfect. The nice thing about doing it this way is I can keep the sidecovers and hide all the electronics behind them. I still need to sand and paint the tank and side covers the graphite metallic, mount the rear lights (I'm eliminating the rear fender)and figure out what I want for a headlight. I'm thinking maybe duals stacked one above the other, dunno. I also need to get new bars, comparing the two, I like it better with drag bars (mocked up wiht my jack handle for right now).




The goal is to be on the road by the time the snow is gone. The way the weather has been this year, I think I'll have plenty of time.

Wow, I got work done and it isn't even a holiday!! WOOT!! Paint is done, I'm liking the combination, understated but I think it'll stand out just because you don't see many bikes in this combination. No matter either way cuz I like the way it looks:) Painted the engine a satin black along with the exhaust (hi temp of course) and the body pieces are a medium graphite metallic. All that is left is to get my handlebar (hoping this week), figure out something for a headlight and mount the rest of the lights. Wow, I might even be done before the snow is gone!