Taking a dive! 82 KZ550 LTD Build

loudhvx wrote: On your motor, you should not have turned it over until the tensioner was in place so it could take up the slack before any jumping could happen.

But before you put the cover on, you should rotate the crank at least 3 full rotations (with tensioner full installed and you pressing on the middle section of chain) and verify the timing each time. That makes sure there is no walking.

sorry, left that out. I did put the tensioner on before i turned it over. And I left the cross wedge off, i believe that was the correct thing to do... Maybe i am not verifying the timing right, but i did turn it while adding pressure by hand in between the sprockets and it did remain correct. It went screwy when i installed the valve cover. This seems kind of bizarre to me but i don't really see a point where i am doing something wrong. Somebody please prove me otherwise.

The cross wedge has to be in place for the tensioner to work properly. If you rotate the engine without the cross wedge, the tensioner will give back the slack it takes up, thus allowing the chain to jump.

Before installing the valve cover, the cross wedge must NOT be in place. But after installing the valve cover, the cross wedge must be in place before turning the motor.

DUH!:silly:

Alright. got it all setup! Gonna grab some new plugs soon.



Thank you guys for your help! Seriously!

NOW

I took a look at my wiring harness



...looked some more...did a little more looking... then went inside. I am WAY over my head when it comes to electronics. and that's where i was hoping some of you generous fellows could come in. I would like to greatly simplify the wiring but don't really know where to start. I don't know what to keep, what to throw away, or honestly what everything is. Obviously i know a little, but when i look at the wiring diagram and how everything is connected to everything it just seems impossible to figure out! Anyways, looking to keep headlight, & brake light. I bought a marine grade starter with momentary and "push-to-choke" possible horn integration. Thought it would be a cool piece to integrate.

cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Marine-Grade-Ign...ssories#ht_700wt_928

Can anyone explain some of basics to me? I know thats a very, very, vague question. But anywhere is a good place to start for me. Thanks in advance. Oh yeah, i took a few pictures (at random) that i thought might help. I believe the points are transistorized, which i don't hear about often so a little explanation of that would be helpful.

A wiring diagram is the only thing that saved my ass. Seems that they are all pretty similar on the KZ. I used a 650 for my 750.

I love the wrench monkey stuff too. They put out some awesome bikes. I am in the middle of redoing my seat and backend. Going for a similar look.

Keep posting updates man.

You're doing good work mate, keep it up. The wiring diagram looked like a foreign language to me too. Thank God I have an older brother who can help me out, otherwise I'd be up a creek too. The wiring diagram is paramount. If you don't have one in your manual, look at the signature of loudhvx, he has a diagram for someone else that is bare bones what you need to run the bike. After that, any add on is up to you. (just as a last resort if you don't have one yourself)

Oh, and wrenchmonkeys bikes are pretty cool. Have you checked out Sanctuary's? Their site is in Japanese, but Google does an ok job of translating it. But no translations are needed for the pictures of their bikes. They're awesome!
translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&ie=...p/factory/index.html

Soo, its been a while since i have posted. here's an update. I haven't done too much, but slow progress is progress nonetheless.

Here's where she sits now



Just put the engine in the frame and "polished" the tank up a bit. Built my first fiberglass seat. It took 3 tries. Apparently i was using too much hardener (even though i followed the instructions). I decided to relocate the ignition to the seat to give the front end a little more space. I bought a marine-grade starter that works like a car ignition with the momentary on the far right. I think after leather, it will look pretty sick.


I started working on a battery box from sheet metal. I am not a welder and have only welded one other thing in my life, so i threw this together and found it not too bad. Unfortunately after grinding the welds down with a flap disc i see a bunch of spots i missed and will need to go back and fill.


I was originally going to mount the entire thing to the seat, but i had some spacing issues so i let the back tab rest over the frame crossbar and mounted the front tab to the seat, like so:


Hopefully it works out well. It seems strong enough to hold the battery and take a beating.

I know a bunch of people are going to give me flak for this, but i painted my wheels with black epoxy last weekend. I think after a little sanding and a second coat, they will look very nice.



I also ground, sanded, and polished the right side cover smooth. I think i eventually will paint some sort of design on it, to give it a more personal touch.




More to come soon.

I started tearing up the electronics using a couple diagrams i found from loudvhx.



found a little bit of this



little bit of that. I guess someone put a relay before the coils. From what i've gathered, this is to get a better spark. Is this correct?



I came across this fine piece of japanese technology. Can anyone tell me what this is and if I can scrap it?



I started relocating electrical components to inside the right side cover using a piece of galvanized sheet metal i had laying around. I think it's turning out rather nice.


rectifier

starter solenoid

cover


What do you guys think? Any advice?

Thanks
M

The project looks like it's coming along good.

That relay looks like an add-on to band-aid the voltage at the coils (as you figured). With a rewire, it's not necessary, as long as you are replacing the igntion switch and fuse holders.

That Japanese technology you are referring to is the brake light failure unit. It flashes the brake indicator to let you know the bulb is burned out. If you don't want that feature, or you are getting rid of the gauges, then you can leave it off the bike. I wouldn't trash it, though. Someone may want it and it doesn't take up much space.

Unless... you are referring to this piece of Japanese technology. Strange, I was testing my home-made macro attachment and shot this photo. I never noiced the "DC" before.

cte.matt wrote: I came across this fine piece of japanese technology. Can anyone tell me what this is and if I can scrap it?

Attachment IMG_6267.JPG not found

That part is called the warning light self checker. From what I have read, it flashes all indicator/warning lights to show that they are functioning when power is initially turned on. It may serve other purposes(heard rumors it may indicate burned out indicator bulbs somehow), but it is scrap-able. (I actually just rewired my 750-4 and scrapped that little bugar myself :woohoo:) Looks like you are getting things under control, keep up the good work.

~Clutch

BTW, I agree that those Enkei's look pretty sweet on your bike as they were in the first pic. Any idea what was used to clean them up that nice?

Oops. Yeah Clutch is right. On the 82-83 KZ550C it's the self checker (for fuel level sender).

On the earlier models, it's the brake light failure unit. It seems, judging by the diagrams, that they eliminated the brake light failure sender on the bikes that use two tail/brake bulbs. The earlier 550's (A,C,D) used a single tail/brake bulb, and they have the brake failure warning. The later 550's (C), with two bulbs, have a fuel warning, self checker (3-wire). Other models (M, F) got a 5-wire checker, that included oil warning. The H model had the fuel warning device integrated into the gauge cluster.

loudhvx wrote: Oops. Yeah Clutch is right. On the 82-83 KZ550C it's the self checker (for fuel level sender).

On the earlier models, it's the brake light failure unit. It seems, judging by the diagrams, that they eliminated the brake light failure sender on the bikes that use two tail/brake bulbs. The earlier 550's (A,C,D) used a single tail/brake bulb, and they have the brake failure warning. The later 550's (C), with two bulbs, have a fuel warning, self checker (3-wire). Other models (M, F) got a 5-wire checker, that included oil warning. The H model had the fuel warning device integrated into the gauge cluster.

LOL! I was about to post that I stuck my foot in my mouth again, but I got lucky this time. Good thing I saw your edit before I posted that LOL! Thanks for double checking me though...it's good to make sure we're giving out the right info :woohoo:

Sweet. Thanks guys. I will more than likely just scrap that piece. Loudhvx, i forgot to ask you a question. I swiped two of your diagrams from a couple posts and tried putting them together. I wanted to get your opinion on whether or not this will work. Thus far, its how i am wiring the bike.




I merged the diagrams from toolboy and chanman. I wanted an automotive style momentary starter switch.

See any problems? Thanks.