Greetings from southeastern VA

Hey everyone. Just became the owner of a 1981 GPz550. Here's what she looks like: i.imgur.com/DLOpL.jpg

She needs a little bit of work and I hope y'all can help out. Thanks!

welcome...fun bike...

Bike looks nice. What are you doing for air filtration? Ed

I'm trying to find a stock air box for it. Just posted a question in the engine forums. I want to put it back to stock.

Good idea. According to Kawasaki.com the following bikes use the same airbox:

KZ550-A1 (1980)
KZ550-A2 (1981)
KZ550-A3 (1982)
KZ550-C1 (LTD) (1980)
KZ550-C2 (LTD) (1981)
KZ550-C3 (LTD) (1982)
KZ550-C4 (LTD) (1983)
KZ550-D1 (GPz) (1981)

That will really help my search. I tried kawasaki.com, entered my bike, and got nothing. I have found the parts fiche from another website though. Where exactly did you find this info? Thanks.

Go to Kawasaki.com
Come down the list on left to “Owners Info” then at dropdown at right click on “Parts Diagrams”
Next to “Search by Model Information” select “Motorcycle” and click on “continue”
Under “Model Year” select 1981 and under “CC” select 550, then click on “Continue”
Under the menu that comes up select “550 GP”
On the new page that appears under “Vehicle Information” click on “Parts Diagrams”

That should get you to a list of diagrams. At the top you’ll see your model “KZ550-D1”
To look at other models just change that to whatever you want to see, or for example you can just key in KZ550 there and it will bring up a list of all KZ550 models so you can compare stuff.
Once you start looking at actual parts numbers in the list that comes up with specific diagrams, you can see other stuff. i.e. if you click on a part number you’ll get a window that show if the part is “Active” meaning it’s still available from Ma Kaw, or canceled, which means it’s not available. Also in that window you’ll see a yellow highlighted “?” Click on that and it will show which models share that part.

Thats a nice looking bike. Glad to hear your keeping it stock.

I'm going to try my hardest to keep it stock. If I'm successful finding the air box, it's only an oil leak and broken gas gauge away from being perfect.

650ed, thanks a ton. I've only been a member of this site for a few hours and you've helped immensely.

Glad to help (especially since you're keeping it stock ) Keep the questions coming; there are lots of folks on this site who are good sources of information. Ed

Sweet! There's a VJMC chapter in Eastern VA you should check out. I'm trying to start a Vintage Jap bike group here in Central VA. What part of Sout East VA are you in?

650ed: Great, because I know I'm going to have a ton of them. Does Kawasaki still make "new old parts" for these bikes? I think my only chance of getting a complete air box is to buy from Kawasaki, or get lucky on craigslist or ebay.

Topper: I live in Chesapeake. I'd be interested in joining an old jap bike group.