Picked up a project 550.

[Stereordinary]

I have been keen on getting a project bike for a while now, for a couple of reasons. Mostly because eventually I want to have two bikes so that when I need to do work on one bike, I can still ride the other one. But also because I enjoy projects. Wrenching, and modding, and painting are all enjoyable activities that I find meditative.

I’ve considered many bikes, but always thought it would be great to have another Zephyr. So when I caught wind of someone in Seattle selling a project 550 for only $100 I jumped at the opportunity. Fortunately for me, I had a friend in Seattle for work the next day, so he was able to pick it up, and now I have it.

It’s seen better days, but it’s almost all there (lots of parts in bins). I’m very excited and can’t hardly wait to get it up and running again.

[Swampy]

Best of luck with the resto, looks as if you have plenty to do

[Stereordinary]

Thought I'd give everyone an update.

So the bike came with some good and bad, including:

- The tank is rusty and bondo’d on the outside, but looks to be pretty clean inside. I already have a spare tank I can use on the bike while I clean and repaint the tank it came with.
- The engine has been painted black, which looks decent, but the edges of the fins are red, which looks weird. I’ll see if I can just scrape/sand the red off the fins.
- The carbs came off the bike in a bin, and fitted with pod filters. Thankfully the original air box was in another bin, so I’ll be putting that all back on.
- The handlebars are bent. Included in the bins was two clutch levers, one of which was also bent, so presumably the bike was dropped at some point. No other signs of damage so far.
- Many bolts have been replaced with black anodized alloy bolts. I’m dubious about this as I worry about corrosion, and seizing. There was additional black and red alloy fasteners in the bins. Open to opinions on this.
- Front turn signals are goners. Rear turn signals are in better shape than the ones on my other Zephyr.
- Tires are old, but show very little signs of wear or cracking.
- Paint on the plastic bodywork parts is not too bad, but not good enough for me. I’ll definitely be repainting everything.
- Exhaust is wrapped and painted black, and looks like the black is flaking off the chrome. Not worrying about that right now.
- Probably gonna need a new battery.

Additionally, I found that I did not have a key. Eventually I found the key code on the seat lock, so I now have a replacement on the way.

While I was spending money I don't have I picked up a Euro-spec cam cover, and NOS cam cover gasket. Being a US-spec bike it has the PAIR valve emissions equipment on it, so just like my other bike I want to get rid of that. I could just remove it and block it off, but I like the cleaner look of the valve cover that never had it in the first place. Worked great on my other bike. This time though, I got a KZ/GPZ 550 cover that has the "DOHC" letters on it, because I think it looks cool. I might even paint it gold, lol.

I should probably mention that I wouldn't have taken that plunge just yet if I didn't also sort of need to. The bike came with it's cam cover loose, as in not bolted in place, and no gasket anywhere to be found. So likely that part of the job was never done and I'll need to check valve clearances and the cam chain timing before I button it up.

Here's a photo!

[ZoneAdmin]

The general condition of the bike looks pretty good and a great basis for your project. Will be interesting to see the results. Good luck.

[Stereordinary]

Project update!

Overall we're in pretty good shape here, and I'm still optimistic about it. It's taking every bit of my patience as an endless tinkerer not to tear it all down, clean it up, and repaint everything before putting it back together, but I want to follow the tried and true method of "see if it runs first" before I do any of that. With that as my ethos, I've now got the throttle and clutch cables reinstalled, did some cleaning, and I'm currently trying to cram the carbs back in. The rubbers on the engine side are stiff as all hell, and giving me a hard time. I might grab my girlfriend's hair dryer tomorrow while she's at work to soften them.

Anyway, here's a photo.

[Stereordinary]

I should really update here more often.

I painted it!

[Richard]

Now that makes a BIG difference, looking great!
BUT... Does the engine run?

Anyway looks like a great project bike, have fun restoring it!

[Stereordinary]

I was pretty determined to not do anything with the aesthetics of the bike until I got it running, but then the artist in me couldn’t help himself. So no, I still have not heard the engine fire up. But the paint is done, so that’s my only focus. I have a battery on order, and I’ll get some gas, and that’s all I need before trying to start her up for the first time.

[Stereordinary]

Fired it up for the first time yesterday, and I’m happy to report that it runs! It sounds good anywhere from 2500rpm and up, but below that there’s a rattle. My guess is the cam chain tensioner, so I ordered up a manual one.

[Stereordinary]

More evidence that the cam chain tensioner is the source of the rattle, I started it up again yesterday, and after a good warm up and 1-mile around the neighborhood test ride, the noise was gone. What I do need to adjust though, is the throttle free play, and relative cables tension. The throttle response right now is just weird.