'79 gs550 cafe budget build

[gotgixers]

Thanks guy, I'm going to pop the valve cover off and go through the valves while it's easy to get to. Carbs have been soaking in Pine Sol for a few days now too. About time to get them out and blow em out and reassemble them. Header should be here this week also, along with the Dyna S, oil filter and head stock bearings.

[gotgixers]

Man I can't believe you got that for $350, it looks in such good shape! I'm jealous , and its coming along nicely.

The guy I got it from has owned it since '89. He said he had hundreds of emails and calls on the bike. He basically "interviewed" me for about an hour on the phone before he would even come let me look at it. Then when I got there, did the same thing for about 45 min or so, before he told me he would "let" me buy it from him. He was a good guy, just wanted his old bike to have a good home. He actually called me up a week after i bought it and told me he would buy it back if i decided i didn't want it any longer. I told him there was no chance of that happening, and thanked him for selling it to me again. He asked me to please send him pics when i was done with it.

He only sold it because he can no longer ride. has no balance any longer. He dropped this bike one time back in '05, then parked it in his garage, and that's where it's been since. He had drained the gas and kept it fairly clean all these years. It only took about 15 min to get it running again when i got it home.

[gotgixers]

Got the crash bars off and pulled the cover waiting for the Dyna S to get here.So far this one is cleaning up pretty nice ....





Got the forks rebuilt today as well, the fork gaitors came in too ...



This is what was waiting for me when I got the side cover off today ...



This 550 had the 2pc progressive springs in it factory too ...haven't seen too many of these myself....I guess it's fairly common on these....

[bottobot]

I have the two piece progressives in my '79 750. Don't know how common they are.

Where did you get your gaiters from?

[gotgixers]

got them on Amazon . com from Powersport Superstore. They are Daystar D83's. They fit the forks and legs perfect, are a tad on the long side, but will work just fine.
They also come in others colors if thats your thing ....

[gotgixers]

Haven't posted anything as of late, but I am working on a carb upgrade. My VM 22's ended up having a fuel pilot screw tip broke off in the #2 carb body. SO, my buddy had an old set of KZ 650 carbs sitting around. Turns out they are VM 24's, but wrong spacing. SO, i am dissassembling them and reracking them on my GS 550 rack, with my GS throttle shaft and carb links. I am interested to see how this runs when complete. Should run good with the PODs and 4 into 1 exhaust. Any of you do this already? If so, how did it work for you?? I am going to go with the 17.5 pilot jets, and a 92.5 main to start with. Raising the needle 1 slot also....

[IanC]

Looking good bud.

[gotgixers]

Hey Ian, thanks... I'm going to have a bunch of nice gs 550 parts for sale here soon ......