'83 GPz 550 head gasket Issue

I also repainted the emblems...some of them were in rough shape - I got some extras from the parts bike and didn't want to repaint the decent ones I already had that I have on the parts bike tank. I figured I could try to fix these and if they turned out like crap, then I could fall back on the decent ones. It took a lot of time and patience, but I think they turned out nicely.

The plastic ignition bezel on my good bike was missing, but the parts bike had a bezel...but it was in baddddd shape and super chalky. I sanded it down and cleaned it up as best I could, but didn't want to go too crazy and end up making it too thin. The emblem wasn't really as hard as I though it would be after I found the right technique (tip, don't use the brush end of the paint brush...dip the brush handle tip and let the paint flow itself up into the crevices. Gold spray paint base coat first, of course).


One of the two "bad" emblems I started with - I used JB weld as the filler and moderate sanding. Several base coats of gold helped further level out imperfections.


Side emblems were a pain and you can see I had to go back later and do some touch ups on the gold. For whatever reason, the paint wanted to wick up and out of the channels in some places, especially in the corners of the G and the P where it came to sharp angles...I suppose the molds maybe didn't leave as deep of indentations and the paint could just "climb" out.

But you all are probably tired of my little updates...so you'll probably be glad to hear that SHE'S DONE! I did my final "pre-start" checklist 3x and after not being able to find anything, I put some fuel in turned on the choke, and pushed the starter. After about 4-5 revolutions to prime she started ride up and runs beautifully. I've not taken her out on a shakedown run just yet, but plan to do so later today. No leaks from the brief running that I did. No blue smoke though and no leaks yet though. Fingers crossed.

Gents, thank you all very much for your help with this project!

Nice!
Keep us updated as you put miles on it. I for one am curious to see how a "home" resleeve lasts in the long term.
Not that I expect trouble, but I would like to see empirical evidence that you can resleeve a block using only common sense and tools avalible to the home mechanic.

Beautiful job on the bike! Will keep my fingers crossed for a successful shakedown!

Daftrusty wrote: Nice!
Keep us updated as you put miles on it. I for one am curious to see how a "home" resleeve lasts in the long term.
Not that I expect trouble, but I would like to see empirical evidence that you can resleeve a block using only common sense and tools avalible to the home mechanic.

Thanks! I was honestly surprised how easy it was to remove the sleeve. I mean I just spent a few minutes rotating a heat gun around it until it came loose.

So I just played a little game of "Do I have enough gas in the Kawasaki to get to the gas station?"

Care to wager how I faired?

That's right! The answer was a resounding, no...no I do not. After about a 1/2 mile push I got rescued by my pregnant wife (about 200m from the gas station :side: ) I wisely used some of the gas provided...

Anyway, after getting to the station and *actually* filling up, I did a brief 10-15 min shakedown ride. She rides wonderfully and has all the power and more that was missing. Couldn't be more pleased. Only one hiccup and I think it's my fault, but the lights/gas gauge in the center cluster aren't working, so I'll have to chase that gremlin down.

Going to do another brief ride tomorrow before going back over the cylinder head nuts and re-torquing them down.

loudhvx wrote: Beautiful job on the bike! Will keep my fingers crossed for a successful shakedown!

Thanks so much! I'm really happy to have finally finished it. Really love the bike. I was considering listing it for sale to help prepare for the baby, etc...but now I'm waffling on that.

That said...if I do end up listing this bike for sale, what do you all think would be a good/fair price to list it at and/or what would you accept? As I'm mentioned before, I'm not out to screw anyone and much prefer both parties get a fair shake in the deal.

My buddy and I just bought an 83 gpz550 for $500. But the seller needed it gone that day, and it barely ran. I did ride it the 4 blocks to my buddy's garage, but the carbs are messed up, with an idle issue. The motor has great compression and sounds good when you get off-idle on the carbs. The bike is pretty much all there, but cosmetically nowhere near as nice as yours. I think we could have flipped it easily for $1000. After we get it running nicely, we'd probably ask between $1500 and $2000 in the spring., depending on how much cosmetic work we do.

loudhvx wrote: My buddy and I just bought an 83 gpz550 for $500. But the seller needed it gone that day, and it barely ran. I did ride it the 4 blocks to my buddy's garage, but the carbs are messed up, with an idle issue. The motor has great compression and sounds good when you get off-idle on the carbs. The bike is pretty much all there, but cosmetically nowhere near as nice as yours. I think we could have flipped it easily for $1000. After we get it running nicely, we'd probably ask between $1500 and $2000 in the spring., depending on how much cosmetic work we do.

Hey thanks Lou!

I had looked on the online pricing guide and it ranged highly based on condition, with $4k being the high side in "excellent" condition. I don't know that mine would rate as excellent, but it's pretty darn clean I'd say. Who knows though...I can always list it and see what the market tells me it's worth!

**edit** I should say *if* I list it...she's pretty fun to ride