Hey hey hey

Hello everybody
Black Rob here from the great white north
Im curently trying to awaken my moms ol 1980 kz550a1 from 26 years of slumber.
I've rebuilt the carbs and petcock with kits from z1, new pulgs,changed the oil, gapped the points and cleaned em with emery cloth, both are fine and firing with a good white/blue spark, plugs are wet so its getting fuel, after cranking for about thirty seconds wit the petcock on prime and the choke full she will fire once with a woof and puff smoke out of the airbox.
It makes me feel stoopid that i cant figure it out and its probly somthing simple.
but im not a quitter so im not gonna give up. that and the fact that gas is $4.50 a gallon here in Alaska necessitates me riding a scoot
Any help is appreciated
Black Rob akhc138

it may need to have the timing messed with some...are you getting the right point set opening for the right spark plug...do you have a manual...

the good news is there are some heavy duty 550 guys here that will chime in im sure,it is something simple...those are really strong and fun bikes....

Hi Black Rob,

Welcome to KZR!

I have that bike as well. Is it possible that the coils are wired up backwards? The right side coil fires 1 & 4. The left coil fires 2 & 3. The power wires are yellow/red with a green wire triggering the right coil (1&4) and a black wire triggering the left coil (2&3).

Good Luck

Bill

Yeah, I was gonna say... sounds like you have the coils wired in reverse, or the crank sensor pickups backwards, or the advance rotor 180 degrees out... you see where I'm going here :whistle:

Just move the plug wires and see what happens - swap 1 and 2 cylinder, then swap 3 and 4 cyliner, and try to fire her up again.

Also good to check the voltage the coils are getting, and make sure the air/fuel screws on the carbs are out to stock setting (1.5 turns approx), also check to see that you didnt drop a rag in the air intake :laugh:

Good luck.

Thanks Patton! I called the power connections the grounds. I fixed it.

Bill

kzcsi hit the nail on the head with the firing order coil/ lead swap.
as soon as i got that right she fired.
since ive last posted
ive put 5756 miles on her, burned through a set of conti tires,three oil changes, one set of chain and sprockets, got a ticket for a 70 in a 40 and had the bacon pull a gun on me cause he " Thought I was gonna run." i call it generating revinue @ gunpoint.....ie armed robbery. last week laid er down accelerating through the apex of a right hander @ an intersection the other day, crossing the stripe, due to that same korean made conti that was resembleing Yule brenner or Kojack. A little road rash and hurt pride, i picked up the still running mighty kz that now laid curbside and continued my mourning commute to work. that bike is tough as nails to have slammed @ 20 mph and be able to pick her up and ride away. That little mishap roughed up my pipe a little, but i dont mind cause i just recived my nos kerker 4 into 1. the crash bar took the brunt of the impact, no biggie. now to fit my 1/4 fairing and led turn signals, nos seat covers and new fork seals. Ill get around to cyl and head gaskets this winter so as to not take my only running bike out of commish.
this bike rips hard. Soooooo much fun. wheelies for days, sips fuel, looks cool, dependable......the list goes on.
So the other day my mom points to the shoks and tells me i might want to get a new set..... I askher why and she procedes to tell me that i was conceived on this bike........... thanks mom
Theres a pretty good chance thats true, but i do know for a fact that i was in the womb on this same 550, most likely where my love of two wheels came from.
Any one know about swapping 80 or 81 gpz550 heads and cams onto the 80 kz550a1, any gains?
what about if i run just the kerker header, no can. is there any detriment to my motor. Why becase it sounds like its gonna eat you, all that coming from such a little bike, giving it a ton of personality
anyways thanks alot you guys.
keep on riding

lets see if the vintage magazine articles we posted have that exact piece....but for sure they cover the 550 with era mags and spreads

there are other areas of this thread with 550 stuff to..pages and pages....

www.kzrider.com/forum/13-bike-related/35...=20&start=200#431794