kz550 project, almost done!

Hey KZriders,

I'm almost done with my bike, so I figured I'd post up a little build thread for you guys. It's an '83 KZ550 LTD I bought off my buddy. He had bought it to build up with his little brother, but his bro lost interest. It sat for a year or so and I finally snagged it off him and we built it up together. This is my first bike and first build, so it's been a great learning experience. Luckily I tons of great help from my buddy that I bought it from (Thanks Jeff!). I've gotten some great help from this site along the way, so thanks to all yall too!

Here's the day I brought it home:



First off, we added clip ons and new headlight. removed guages and shit. lowered front end. also installed some case breathers instead of having all that tubing in there:



Then we chopped off the ass end and added new shocks:



Looks sweet already with a mocked up fender and sparto taillight!



Made some new headlight brackets from exhaust clamps for the new headlight:



Sanded the tank and mounted headlight (added in oil and neutral light):

Primered and painted with a white base coat. I was definitely sweating the idea of a white tank, but something told me to go for it. I love the way it turned out:



tank taped up ready for more paint:



tank finished! I was always into hot rods and such, so I liked the idea of a racing stripe-esque paint job:



We pulled the airbox, added pods and rejetted the carbs. This thing had been sitting for a while but the carbs were in pretty good shape. We cleaned them up as best we could without a rebuild kit.



With the white tank, I need to blacken things up a bit! I got after the wheels with some wheel paint:



While waiting for the wheels to dry between coats, I cleaned up the fork legs. They looked like crap before, but now they look halfway decent!:



Here's the results. I also pay tribute to all the fuck ups on the bike caused by lonestar with a nice sticker I found in a drawer in my house:



Next I cleaned up the rat's nest of wiring that was hiding in the stock headlight up front, installed new switches, painted the side covers and installed the new mufflers. I had to get a muffler shop to make up some adapters so they fit properly, but it only cost me $20... So far it's the only work I've had outsource! I also got a nice and short brake line and relocated the passenger pegs.

Next we had to get to work on the rear part of the frame where we chopped it off. Luckily we were able to reuse tubing from the part we chopped off! Here my buddy Jeff cleans up the rear loop:



Perfect!:



We also cut up the old exhaust hanger for me so that it still supports the brake pedal, but isn't so ugly:



Next I cleaned up the seat area by removing all the tabs and cutting off the old battery box mounts.



This way we can mount the seat pan flush with the frame for a real low profile look. Here's the seat pan coming along:



Cut it and bend the crap outta it!:



Then I made a seat pad out of this high density foam stuff from acadamy:



Wrap it in black duct tape and velcro it to the seat pan for a cheap ass low profile seat:



Me and Jeff went in 50/50 on a welder so we could finish up the rear part of the frame. Being that this was the first experience I had with welding, I let Jeff handle the important work while I just crappily welded scrap metal together. However, Jeff did a fine job!

Action shot!:



The rear loop welded in with caps for the open rectangular part of the frame. We also welded up the rear fender mount. We just reused the original fender mounts and it worked out perfectly with a little cutting and welding.



We cut up another fender mount and reused it for the forward fender mount. Worked out pretty good!



With the fender mounted and the tail light mocked and the seat in place... shit yeah!:



I went back and painted the rear part of the frame. It doesn't match perfectly, but it's good enough for me.



Rear fender drying:



Got some grips for it and zip-tied the ignition for a temporary solution.

Dropped a registration tube under the seat!



Also made up this mudguard from some scrap aluminum:



And here it is all together:






Here's a vid of the maiden voyage.

I was loving it!

So the big bummer is after I took it around the block a couple times, I went to tune the carbs. I was drilling out the caps that cover the air screw and managed to strip out the screw and the threaded hole in the carb body... huge bummer...

So I'm headed over to the carb form to dig up a solution that hopefully doesn't include buying a new set of carbs.

Sorry for the marathon post, hope yall dig it!

Cheers!

Beautiful, nice work. Love the paint on the tank. I was contemplating painting mine similar this winter. My car is white and black as was going to do the same. Came out real nice.

Nice job! i like it!

Is it a pretty nice riding position?

Thanks guys!

Herr - The paint came out better than I expected for rattlecan. While I'm waiting to sort out this carb mess, I might hit it again with some more clearcoat. I was really light handed with the clear and I think it could take another couple coats... Good luck on painting yours this winter.

Harm - The riding position is pretty good for me. I'm on the shorter side, but I'm kinda gangly with long arms. Here's a pic of me in riding position making motor sounds with my mouth! I gotta lean forward alittle, but it feels good when riding... of course, I've only ridden it around the block twice, so I don't know how it'll feel on long rides!

Hey, So I am doing a kz550 build this summer, and im curious as to what springs you used for the rear to lower it? as well as how did you lower the front? Thanks for the help the bike looks awesome!