81 GPz550 / ELR

Motor back in. Looks a lot better in person ! case covers have yet to be done, they just have overspray on them.

Dang!! You are going to town on that thing. Lookin' great!!!

Thanks Lou,
Just trying to stay ahead of the weather and get the major paint work done before winter. I won't be able to hang my frame from the tree and paint it next month ! Now I have about 6 months til spring to handle all the small details.

I'll be looking for the loudhvx electrical advice when I try to make the ZR electrics fit into the GPz spaces.

mjg15 wrote:

I'll be looking for the loudhvx electrical advice when I try to make the ZR electrics fit into the GPz spaces.

Grind, cut, cram. :laugh: :woohoo: :laugh:

makin some good progress there man.keep us posted,

leon

Looking good man.

Didn't do much productive tonight, but I got anxious to see what it would look like with the bodywork and wheels on. I ordered some new tires, which I should have by Mon-Tues, it will be nice to have it mobile for moving around the garage:

I also got most of the small parts, that I need to get stripped for painting, together to drop off tomorrow at the media blast shop. I hope to get them all painted this weekend. going to try Gun Kote for the first time;

Looks great!!!

One question... with the shocks giving more height on the suspension, how will you stop the chain from rubbing the swingarm pivot?

That's one issue I'm having on one of my 81 D's. Right now it clears but if I press down on it, it'll rub. I'm thinking of lowering the back end a bit or raising the front end a bit to get the swingarm pivot a little closer to the line between the two sprockets.

I might have to eventually get one of those nylon chain rubbing blocks from a dirt bike.

Damn, son, your cranking on that thing. Nice work. The paint looks good on there. Once you get the tires mounted, it'll look like a real bike.

loudhvx wrote:

Looks great!!!

One question... with the shocks giving more height on the suspension, how will you stop the chain from rubbing the swingarm pivot?

That's one issue I'm having on one of my 81 D's. Right now it clears but if I press down on it, it'll rub. I'm thinking of lowering the back end a bit or raising the front end a bit to get the swingarm pivot a little closer to the line between the two sprockets.

I might have to eventually get one of those nylon chain rubbing blocks from a dirt bike.

Not sure about that yet Lou. I raised the ride height about 14mm when I remounted the shocks. I will run a 120/80-18 instead of the 120-90's that come mounted on every bike that I buy, so my effective ride height will be very similar to what I'm used to. That answer obviously doesnt address the chain rub issue that you ask about. One of my KZ550's came with 17/45 gearing instead of 16/40 (38 on a GPz), that combo may give you the clearance that you need. The Calfab arm that I have came with a rub block, but it was broken, I was also considering retro fitting a rub block from something else.

For springs, I know that I need .95's in the front and probably 80/120's or so on the rear, but I really have no idea what I'm starting with. I'm not sure what's in the forks (KZ1000P) and changing the shock geometry may affect what I need on the rear. The shocks in the pics came with very light springs, which I replaced with GS1000 springs ($10 ebay !!), I'm hoping that they are in the ball park. Once I get the tires mounted I can get some sag numbers and see what I have. I'll get a chance to look at the fork springs this weekend when I replace the seals. They seem stiff. When I reassemble them I'll check how much they are preloaded.

mjg15 wrote:

...and I got the frame back from blasting...

So I painted that too. i decided to skip the P/C and use the same 2 stage black that I use on the bottom end of the motor. Tomorrow I'll wet sand it if it needs it and put a finish coat on it

Great Christmas Tree Ornament Mike!!! :woohoo: