Kawasaki Sportsbike Riders Club - Australia - Online Forum

.....but it takes real skill to pull em apart, or is it the other way around?


OH SHIT!!!!




This is the GPZ550 with the knackered frame. It's pretty much a spare parts bike. I have spent a few hours the last couple of days stripping it down. Once it's all done the bits can all be cataloged and filed (stuffed in a drawer). That way there is enough room in the shed to fit the dear wife's car, and room to start fixing the other one.

Funny you should say that OH SHIT !!!,I just started stripping my 82 gpz and the same words were my thoughs aswell and along your lines i also have the same filing system for my bits

Research and google.

great bikes these when they were new, were good for a genuine 200kmh flatout - with a 75kg pilot lying flat on the tank.....

200km/h! GT is only good for 160 on a good day. My donk is stuffed though. Shaft must bugger things. 132kg pilot here too.

Gosling1 wrote:great bikes these when they were new, were good for a genuine 200kmh flatout - with a 75kg pilot lying flat on the tank.....

I wonder how an old one will go with a 90kg pilot riding it like a trained bear on a tricycle.

should still be good for the ton mate

when they were new, were good for a genuine 200kmh flatout - with a 75kg pilot lying flat on the tank.....

Dave, 75kg days are gone mate for most of us who ride these bikes nowadays, including you old fella!

First bike striped down and scattered around the shed. Started on the second one today. This one will be the bike that actually gets fixed up.




It's already proving to be a little more temperamental than the spare parts bike. Lots of the nuts/bolts are well rusted. One of the ankle gaurds/footrest mounts had a bolt that simply refused to budge. In the end it got drilled out

The battery box was a bit brittle. The rear brake res was attached to it but with a bolt that attached to an inset nut. Because of the rust on the bolt/nut and the weak plastic I couldn't undo it. The nut just tore itself out of the mount in the battery box and they both just spun together aimlessly. I figured no worries, i'll pull out the battery box and work the nut/bolt on the bench. Unfortunately the bolt holding the battery box in was also too rusted and appeared to be in between sizes (i'm guessing due to a prior encounter with a previous owner.

Although not in one piece it all came out eventually. Thankful I have spares

Pulling them apart is fun and all but when it comes to fixing them up everything will come to a grinding halt. Too busy spending money on baby things in preparation of the new arrival.

dutchy wrote: Too busy spending money on baby things in preparation of the new arrival.

Best get your priorities sorted dutchy....

Shiny downpipes! Nice!

At least its got newish rotors. enjoy the tear down, Dutchy, and remember the kodak. Has it run since you got it and im happy to see that youre using your child induced insomnia for a good reason? Im sure bubs will enjoy you reading the correct camshaft timing procedure aloud at bedtime.

Hoges wrote:when they were new, were good for a genuine 200kmh flatout - with a 75kg pilot lying flat on the tank.....

Dave, 75kg days are gone mate for most of us who ride these bikes nowadays, including you old fella!

OI !!!! who left the gate open and let you in ????

aaah the days of 75kegs and unlimited skinny bitches. I loved those days......

Knocked some more off the bike today. Found some areas of crappyness and a hit a couple of minor speed bumps.

First off, I was removing all the electrical. I've found bits cut, not connected, re-routed and replaced. Very interesting. On of the most interesting was the main lume on the right hand side. There is a mount attached to the coils, and this mount is busted up. Not only that but one of the original 9 pin connector seems to have been replaced with heaps of single connectors. This isn't a real big deal and should be easily fixed when the time comes.




Once I got the headlight and the dash off I found that one of the mounts to the ignition has been busted off. More evidence of unknown shenanigans.








The next pinch came when I started looking at taking the handle bar mounts off. Straight away I noticed the large nuts on the top that thread into the forks. They seemed a little chewed out and the RHS one had obviously been greatly frigged with. It had several marks cutr into the top of it as f someone had ground down or cut the top to bring the size down. I tried my 27mm socket on the LHS and it fit with a little bit of play but nothing major. I put the same socket on the RHS and she spun like it was two mm too big......SHIT. Both nuts were proving to be well tight......DOUBLE SHIT!!



Here's the knackered RHS......







Here's the LHS. Not too farked, but not too flash either.....







In the end I came to grips that the RHS was stuffed and decided to grind it down to fit a 22mm spanner.....success!! I got the farker out. I ended up being able to to loosen the LHS by putting the handlebar back in and swinging off both the handlebar and the socket at the same time. She came loose. Here's a pic of what they look like after I butchered them







I'll have to ask the boss if there is any way I can have the forum automatically post "Glad i've got spares" at the end of every post I put in this thread. I'll get sick of typing it fairly soon.

Its amazing what you find once stripping down,things are broken or been patched up but i guess thats part of a resto job,but at least you have plenty of spares