TOPIC:

Hey y'all!
Longtime owner of a 82 GPz 550. I've actually had it nearly 20 years but it was in need of some attention so it was put away until my retirement. Well...i finally made it to retirement and will be rebuilding it over the winter. Looking forward to sharing and gathering info.

Cheers!
UB

Welcome aboard!
We are looking forward to watching and commenting on you rebuild.

There are several members here with lots of 550 experience. Look for posts from member Loudhvx, in his signature line are links to a bunch of really good info specific to the 550.

Welcome . We need pics .

Welcome. I'm a big fan of the GPz550. My first bike was an '82 (I think) while at SDSU.
Congrats on retirement. It will be 3 years for me come February. Every day is Saturday!

Well here's a few pics from when i first got the bike a while ago. You can see that it's the hideous gold/lime color. I've read that this was a Canada only version.



I'm certainly not going to restore it to original. I might have done if it was red originally. Just after i bought this bike, i picked up a 2002 ZRX 1200 which i loved but it killed my wrists. I had thought of painting the 550 to match but that seemed a little contrived. I think i'm going to try and take a little of one and a little of the other to make a homage to both. I'm going to attempt a candy red with stripes reminiscent of the 1200 with black wheels. I'm going to retain the polished portion of the wheels. I still am not sure if i want to put a big bore kit in it or just leave it stock. The engine has about 60k on the clock and still is in fair shape with no damage to the cylinders. I could probably just get by with throwing a set of rings in it. If anyone wants to chime in on their experience with the 615 kit or any other, please do.

Cheers!
UB

You might consider measuring the bore you have at present. I thought all GPZ model had black cylinder block & cylinder head. I noticed in the pics both are not painted. Just a thought. Will you have to sleeve the cylinders to go that large? I have built many,many. motors & used Weisco pistons, rings, & wrist pins. Never had a problem.
I always set up my piston/cylinder wall clearance @ (1.5) thousandths & this always worked well for me.
I am at present restoring a 1982 GPZ 750. Getting close to reassembling everything. Pick up my powder coated parts tomorrow & then it begins.
I am like a kid at Christmas with anticipation. Good luck on your project. If I can help in any way, just let me know.

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll have to go through everything again to ensure it's not just my wonky memory playing tricks on me. The engine is badly discolored from being improperly stored. What you see is a white residue on the cylinders and head. The bike had been exposed to a lot of moisture. The bike had previously lived on a farm and i think it was treated like one of the livestock...maybe worse. The engine lacked power when i got it. I only drove it a few hundred yards before putting it away. Upon disassembly, i found the mechanical advance rusted solid. I soaked it in Metal Rescue and it came out quite well. At some point in time it was tossed in a ditch and one side bore the brunt of that. There is cracked plastic and other damage. The instrument pod is cracked but was still working. Originally the bike was from somewhere out west. Alberta i believe. It made it's way to the east coast where i rescued it.