Blown Engine......So depressed!

Well, the 1981 KZ550 A2 black cafe beauty has blown her engine Found brass in oil and filter :dry:

Looking on ebay.... Question now is what motors(GPZ550? LTD550?, ETc...) and years (80-83?) will fit/work with this bike?

if ya'll see anything on ebay, feel free to post the link.

Thanks!

Rae :S

That sucks. Does it still run or did you shut her down when you discovered the metal? Is it fixable?

If I am not mistaking, I believe that all the 550 engines are interchangeable. I also believe that some people have put 650 engines in 550 frames. But someone else will have to chime in on that. I would still pull the engine apart and see what is wrong. It may not be as bad as you think.

I was wondering about the 650 in the 550 frame as well....

She still fires right up every time, but our mechanic seems to think it definately needs a rebuild, or new motor :dry:

Brass? H-m-m.Just trying to think where in the internals brass could come from.Head gasket?Valve guide?Something from a carb sucked in?Spun bearing?All those sound fixable unless u have cracked a head or holed the block.bj

Our mechanic says it came from a rod bearing.... and that the engine will need to be rebuilt, or maybe we could find another motor.... :dry:

Does it knock from the bottom end? If she runs ride it like you stole it. I am assuming the mechanic that made the diagnosis will be doing the work. Is he a friend or just your local mechanic?

She sounds like ALL HELL when she's running, definately knocking! She blew while he was riding on a local four-lane at about 75mph, he said he pulled back on the throttle and she just wouldn't accelerate/no power, then she just stalled out. So he coasted off to the right shoulder and tried to fire her up, but nothing....then when she cooled down a bit, she fired and he rode her about another mile in a half or so before she stalled out again. So I had to go pick them up with the truck. Got her back home and she fired up, like I said she fires up everytime, but just sounds awful! :blink:

Our mechanic is the best around IMO, found him by luck, and VERY reasonable. He is the head hauncho of training for another brand of motorcycle (starts with an S) over all of North America. He also taught at MIT for many years. He works on bikes out of his garage (everything except for bikes that start with S due to the conflict of interest of his current position). He only does it for mad money to support his dirt track racing habit.

He rebuilt the rearend on my LTD (axle & bearings,etc), did my breaks, installed my new shocks, installed my new chain and sprockets and only charged me $140!!!

All the other "shops" around charge $65+ an hour for labor, and 2 of them when I called told me they charge 2.5 hours labor to replace chain and sprockets :ohmy: ! When we took it over to his house, he lifted it right up and said I can have this done in about 20 minutes if you want to wait and was only going to charge us like $35......then we ran into a few other problems with her ass end so we just let him get her right.....Now she runs like a damn top and my husbands black beauty is on the disabled list. Grrrrrrrr! Now I am seeing why it's IMPORTANT to have more than one! baha! So when one goes down for work, you have a spare to ride! :laugh:

Now "supposedly" the black beauty only had 8k miles on a "rebuilt" engine when I bought it in December 09, and he only put about 2k on it from Jan - now......
So I am thinking the dumbass that "supposedly" rebuilt the engine uhhh......left something out/off/or did somethin wrong...... :S

I agree, If you don't hear any strange and undesirable noises, I wouldn't worry about it at this point. I also can't think of where brass would come from in the oil. I can't think of a single brass component exposed to the crank case. I would also say ride it until you hear noises which you are not comfortable with and than worry about it.

i like your idea of finding a cheap 550 local and robbing the motor..or getting a used motor...they are around...also post what your looking for in our classifieds...i did this and had people that cruise this site just to check the wanted adds and sell stuff to posted adds calling me...kind of a turn off cause i got p.m's from folks i'd never even seen on the site...but i did get some good offers on the stuff i needed....
A friend an i once found a ltd 750 for 250 behind a shop(unpaid bill) and dropped the motor in a sr650 we had that was clean and motor in a box quick sale thingy....
worked great..cheap and ran fine...we took a chance and got a strong runner that'd pop wheelies:lol: ..you WILL find one ... also ask around at shops in a 100-200 mile radius through the phone book for who has old kawis or bone yards.......
that is how i found my 900 3 yrs back and a few phone calls later a deal was struck......good luck...sorry about the motor......
there were so many 550-650's built and parked that it is cheaper to try and find a barn bike than to start paying folks to rebuild a motor...then if you want switch the good parts or have a backup ,,rebuild project...ect....imho

Sounds like the rebuild was screwed up. Most 550 motors can be hammered on mercilessly, but when someone gets inside the motor, that's when things go wrong. Usually the first mistake is putting the valve cover on without removing the cam chain tesion. Then it's a downward spiral after that, with camchain damage or guide damage etc.

It's not worth the price of the gasket set to rebuild it. You can usually get a decent 550 motor for $50 to $150. But it's buyer beware. You really have to know what to look for. If you see the wrong head gasket, or the base gasket looks like it's been changed, then someone's been in the motor. You can tell by the color on the edge of the gaskets or if there is any blue or red RTV oozing. Probably want to stay away from those. If the valve cover gasket has visible sealer, ask why. Hopefully it was only off for a lash adjustment, and not a rebuild. If you get that motor, release the camchain tension then reset it. It's dirt simple and might prevent further damage. Try to look at the oil when you buy a used motor. And of course, get a warranty of some sort if you can't hear it run before you buy it.

Your bike can take any of the 550C ltd motors or the 81 550D gpz motor, but will need to install an oil cooler for that.

The 550 motors will all interchange for the most part, but later ones may require different motor mount hardware from later frames. Later 550's with the squared off valve covers will take different carbs from yours. The airbox for those carbs won't fit your frame so you'll have to go to pods or modify an airbox somehow.

The 650/750 motors are much larger and would require a lot of cutting and welding.

Yeah, I agree with you Craig. Just gonna be patient and find what we want. Now that we bought the Honda 750 on Saturday he'll at least have a ride, but it's not KZ :dry: ! I know he definately wants to bring the black beauty back to life!

It's our first motorcycle, plus I bought it for him for Christmas so it's kinda got some sentimental value. :laugh: baha! Not to mention it's cool as hell, and we always get looks on it and people are always asking us about it.....

The problem we'll run into with a new motor is getting it black like the one that's on it now??? I don't think the stock A2 came with a black engine so I am not sure how we'll go about that? :huh:

I'd love to put a 650 in it if it'd work...... :woohoo:

We have one of the biggest cycle salvage yards in the southeast here in Georgia, so we'll probably check there too.

Again ALL tips, advice or otherwise greatly appreciated!!

Rae