Newbie - Rebuild 1983 kz550?

Edit: If this is the wrong section of the forum, please let me know and I will move/delete.

Hi everyone, thanks in advance for any advice you can give.

I am new to motorcycling, got my licence, and I am looking for a first bike. An idea wormed into my brain, and now I can't get it out. The idea is to take an older bike and restore it, possibly with some mods if need be.

I found this bike, and now I need to know if I have gone off the deep end.

Basically, I have 1000 questions.

Is a complete strip down and rebuild an unreasonable task for someone with all the basic mechanical skills, but no motorcycle (or carb) experience?

Will this take 3 years to finish?

Is it impossible to find parts for that bike? (NB, it looks like an 81-82 to me, since it appears the rear brake is a drum brake, but it's hard for me to tell from that picture).

Is that price unreasonable? (I see that there is a big dent in the tank, and I assume I will, at minimum, need to replace/change the oil, tires, battery, headlight, spark plugs, as well as clean the carbs, tank, and chain. I would like to pay him something more like 800-1000, depending on what else I see in person).

Any other general advice?

Once again, thanks for the advice.

That is a 1983 KZ550A4. That motor is not as common as the 1980 A1 to 1982 A3. The motor uses TK 26 CV carbs where the earlier bikes used TK 22 slide carbs. The motor castings are similar to the 82-83 KZ550H1/H2 model GPZ motors or the KZ550M and KZ550F model motors (but these two were shaft-drive).

That is a very desirable factory paint design, but it doesn't look to be in great shape.

$1200 seems steep to me, since it is not a Gpz. It has milder compression and cams.

For $1200 it should look nicer than that.

I wouldn't recommend that bike, or any inline four as the first motor you want to rebuild. I'd start with a simpler single or twin.


If it runs good, there may be no reason to rebuild the motor... just a valve-lash adjustment, so it would still make a good first bike, but maybe for $900.

If the carbs need diaphragms, they are hard to get and expensive. There may be aftermarket diaphragms available now, though.

Thanks, that's the exact kind of info I need to know!

According to the add, it runs... but that is something I need to see for myself. I found this website, which doesn't even list the model, so I assume they don't stock parts for it. Maybe it's best if I got a more common bike, just so I don't need to spend months looking for rare parts.

One question, what about the bike made it obvious it was the '83?

The standard bike geometry made it a KZ550A1 to A4(Standard) or KZ550D1(GPZ).
(A cruiser style would have made it a KZ550C1 to C4(Chain LTD), or KZ550M1(Shaft LTD), or KZ550F1 to F2(Spectre / ShaftLTD).)
The single front disk and rear drum make it a KZ550A1-4(Standard).
(Triple disks would have made it a KZ550D1 Gpz.)
Since we know it's a KZ550A1 to A4, the motor castings and the cv carbs make it an 83 KZ550A4.

The motors break down into two categories:
The 80-83 KZ550C1-C4, 80-81 KZ550A1-A3, 81KZ550D1 use the older style motor with more rounded castings and TK22 mechanical-slide carbs.

The 82-83 KZ550H1-H2 (GPZ), KZ550M1, KZ550F1-F2 use the newer style motor with more angular castings and TK26 CV type carbs.

The motors all share most internal parts, cranks, conrods, trans, clutch, valve train etc.

The D1, H1-H2 (all 3 are Gpz's) share high compression pistons and high lift-duration cams.

The A1-A4, C1-C4, M1, F1-F2 share lower compression pistons and milder cams.

The D1 is a twin-shock rear while the H1 and H2 are monoshock rear.

The 1980 KZ550A1 and KZ550C1 are also slightly different in that they use a 1-phase charge system and different brake calipers.

If you see the motors close up and the carbs close up, it's easy to tell them apart.

Then there are also the KZ400J's, KZ500's, and ZX550's which also use the same motor castings and many of the same parts, but that's several cans of worms.

I would not be afraid of getting that bike for parts availability. I successfully converted a later style motor to use the older style carbs, so other than that, everything else is pretty compatible.

Wow, that seems like a pretty complete breakdown of the entire early 80's kawasaki standards.


I assume that the A2-A4 share things like frame/brakes/shocks/batteries/headlights etc. since it seems the main mechanical difference are the carbs (and associated castings).

In that case, I think I might have to get the money together and give this guy a call.


Thanks for the help, I really appreciate it!