Greetings! new here, couple questions!

I just joined not only the KZ club, but also the motorcycle club with my first motorcycle purchase of a 1983 KZ550 LTD. I'm very excited and plan to do a bobber type build with it. Right now it does not have a seat. and the back part of the frame where the back part of the seat would sit has been cut off. This doesn't bother me as I would rather have a different seat anyway. But I am a total noob to a lot of this. I have tried to do some research but what do I need to do as far as getting an after market seat? do I need to get a custom seat pan made or is there a simpler route?

Also I'm having a few issues getting it to run. It has compression and it has spark. Do these bike have to run the factory airbox? right now there is nothing on it. I've read that you can run pods but have to rejet the carb, but will it flat-out not run without it? Thanks in advance!

I'm new to this forum as well, but let me say this: In this order... Get the manual (Haynes, shop, whatever...), get the bike running (I'm sorry, I can't answer your airbox question but my guess is it will run without, just not well), get the bike road worthy (I'm talking tires, brakes, lights, etc., etc....), ride the thing for a while (at least a season or 2) to get a feel for what it wants to be when it grows up, then make a plan for how you want to proceed cosmetically. My experience is, most guys who talk 'bobber' have no idea how to go about it, where to start, or even what it will require. I'm not trying to tell you NOT to do it... I'm trying to tell you to get some real experience so you know what to do. BTW, anytime before "ride the thing"... I highly recommend taking the Basic Rider Course. It is time and money well spent!

You may be new to this forum but your advice is spot on Wosmo. Find out how to make a bike run right and how to ride it before you start customizing. An airbox would be your friend I'd find one.

I totally understand what you mean. Im working a lot on getting it running. Thats my main priority. Im cleaned out the carbs, new plugs, oil, all that jazz, the reason I ask about the seat is that it doesnt have a seat at all so if I need to get a seat for it anyway, id rather just get something I want rather than changing it later. Not the mention the guy who had it before me cut the back part of the frame so I cant put the stock seat on it anyway. I have no plans on changing anything until I know the bike. Bobber is just my long term plan, which may very well change. My plan now is to somewhat restore it and go from there. But right now it will turn over and sometimes idle but if it goes above 2k, it dies. So thats already my main priority. And I have already signed up for the satefy course

Welcome to z-jungle!
It will run without an airbox,youll need something on there when it comes time for tuning though.

Here's some general info that may prove helpful. Ed

kzrider.com/forum/10-new-members/589649-...r-savannah-ga#594587