1980 kz550ltd first timer

Oh Boy, the great air filter debate... next well be talking about oil again...

How about what kind of oil to use on the filters :laugh:

I used some pods from 4into1...seem good enough....i don't log many miles though.

I will start and do baseline run with the airbox for the sake of eliminating variables. I am going to try and get away with not replacing the boots just yet, a heat gun will have to work for now.

Finished cleaning the carbs,it was missing one screw for one of the bottom bowls so I am just going to pick up 16 allen head screws and replace all of them. only two of the carbs had some old gas in them. They seem to be pretty well synced except one of them is a bit off so I will adjust that. All jets were stock.

in terms of sprockets it Looks like I will have to go up one size in the front and down 2 in the back to make a stock chain length work (104 links). Might be a good idea to do wheel bearings while i'm in there for sprockets and chain?

I've seen some pictures of people welding two tubes to fix the "broken back" on these bikes....Saved the pictures for future reference if I ever want to do it.

next project is fixing broken wires and rewrapping the harness.

You can treat hardened rubber if it's not too far gone to make if soft and plyable again.

Wintergreen oil can restore plasticizers to the rubber that have been lost. A mixture of 4 parts alcohol and one part wintergreen oil will work. I have also hear the rapeseed oil ( Canola) can work as well.

Wintergreen Oil

Some silicone sprays contain compounds that will soften the rubber again, spraying hard rubber with Silikroil and letting it sit in a bag overnight can do the trick as well.

Silikroil

I would also add the Silikroil may be a bit expensive but it is a very useful product to have around the garage. We use it where I work, it's like wd-40 on steroids and it wont burn, it will just smoke but it doesn't start a flame on a hot surface.

Up one tooth in front and down two in back will dramatically change gearing. It's been a while since I've ridden a 550 but I think that combo will make the bike quite slow off the line. Simply moving up one tooth in the front is typically plenty for most people, other than those that ride almost exclusively on the freeway.

Getting the bike running with stock airbox and exhaust is a good starting point. Be sure to adjust valves before getting too far down the line. This is one of the most overlooked and most damaging maintenance tasks if ignored.

Nessism wrote: Up one tooth in front and down two in back will dramatically change gearing. It's been a while since I've ridden a 550 but I think that combo will make the bike quite slow off the line. Simply moving up one tooth in the front is typically plenty for most people, other than those that ride almost exclusively on the freeway.

Getting the bike running with stock airbox and exhaust is a good starting point. Be sure to adjust valves before getting too far down the line. This is one of the most overlooked and most damaging maintenance tasks if ignored.

Yeah I was worried it would make the gearing too long, I asked K1 about it the other day but haven't gotten a response regarding drivability, wouldn't blame them for not knowing. I will go with a stock rear sprocket unless I hear otherwise.

Valve adjustment is on the list, need to find my feeler gauge set.

Read the valve warning page (if you haven't already) before doing the valve adjustment.
The link is in my signature.

Anyone have a side picture of a kz550ltd with the covers off? Forgot to take a pic of what went where in terms of starter relay, blinker stuff, fuse box, etc.

Some progress:

Got my superbike bars installed. I will definitely be getting a different master cylinder, the stock one doesn't quite fit. Taking suggestions if anyone has any experience with aftermarket ones.

I have a parts list of everything I think I will need, next on the order list is sprockets and a chain. Shorter throttle cables and clutch cable, fork seals, fork spring, and battery are on the list for future orders.

I will need to decide between a kz1000 clutch cable and a kz550a cable. Don't want To end up too short. Pretty sure I will be going with kz1000d throttle cables.

No eBay APP ID and/or Cert ID defined in Kunena configurationHow about cables from a 1981 GPz550? Those bikes used the came carbs as yours and had low bars.

I used one of these masters on my KZ and it fits well...

Be sure to get new brake lines too.

looks like the gpz550 cable is 39" and the kz1000D cable is 40" long. stock LTD push cable is 44.5".

Is that MC smaller than the stock one?

Which gpz550 clutch cable are you looking at? The ones I have are a little over 42" long (housing length).

Here are some notes I have on cables, and how to shorten them:

s3.amazonaws.com/gpzweb/Kz550ClutchCable...tchCableShorten.html

Mustangftw wrote: Is that MC smaller than the stock one?

That master is from an EX650 with dual discs in front. If your bike has a single disc that one may not be the best since it's 5/8" bore. For single disc bikes a 14mm bore master is quite common. When in doubt consult your manual.