1978 GS550 - My first restoration

[Guest]

Hello!

I thought I’d post about my very first, in progress restoration. I did some basic maintenance on a Kawasaki I had in college but nothing beyond that. This forum has been indispensable in helping me figure out what all I need to do. I was given a 1978 GS550 from a work friend. Odometer is at about 13k and it’s sat in a storage trailer for about 8 years. It would start with the choke open, idle high then die. Tachometer didn’t work, instrument panel lights, brake light, and right turn signal also didn’t work. Their son was going to restore it a couple years ago so it has practically brand new brakes and tires which is awesome!


JHOFXBP.jpg

Here is a gallery of my progress so far:

https://imgur.com/gallery/LhOWNeF

So far I have:
-Got the faring off, new battery, fixed the wiring, replaced bulbs. All the lights and turn signals now work

-Did a little test cleaning of surface rust with aluminum foil and water. I can’t believe how well this works. The signals in the gallery both looked the same.

- Tach cable didn’t spin when the engine was running so I got it off and turning the base does not turn the other end, figure something must be broken in there. A replacement is on the way.

-FINALLY got the carbs out, holy moly. The manuals and instructions I found were all basically like ‘remove carbs’ but wow this was a pain. I guess on the 550 you can’t remove the air box? It seemed to be a single piece whereas the videos of the bigger models they could slide it out to give you more clearance. Not to mention the clutch cable in the way. I need to grow a third hand. I finally managed to get them out after getting the metal bands off the air box boots to allow for more squish and taking a lot of ‘cool down’ breaks.

-Ordered parts from cycleorings and replacement top and bowl gaskets. Also got new intake boots, they are super dry and literally crumbling apart.

Next I’m going to try the valve adjustment then the carb cleaning. I found a great guide on the bikecliff website. Any other tips y’all have would be great! I’m not looking forward to getting them back in there. Since I’m replacing the boots I wonder if I could attach them to the carbs first, then to the intake? 🤔

Anyway this is my first real mechanical project but I’m having a lot of fun and learning a lot. Y’all are awesome for newbies! I’m gonna post here as things progress. Wish me luck friends.

[steve murdoch]

Excellent intro, Joshua.
Welcome to the site. The bike looks to be in great shape cosmetically.
"cool down" breaks and creating new swear words are all part of vintage bike repair.

Before you get around to checking the shims you should contact Steve and get a copy of his spreadsheet. It will make things easier.
Might look into acquiring your shims from the "shim club" if you need any.

https://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showthread.php?122394-GS-Valve-Shim-Club/page6&highlight=shim+club

[joshua484]

Thank you! I’ll check that out. Yes, I can’t believe the shape it’s in for the age. The seat looks like it could have been bought yesterday. He even had the original owners manual and tools under the seat.

[sam000lee]

Hey Josh, my house went a little nuts with the GS550's this summer, they're fun little bikes. There are currently four in the driveway and at one point we had seven...


For the airbox, I found it to be hugely helpful to unclip the rear fender and push it towards the rear wheel. It gives you a couple extra cm of play to push the airbox back which is enough to make getting the carbs out less of a chore.

[joshua484]

Ok! I got the carbs clean and back on the bike, I popped the fender and that helped a lot. Everything is hooked up and ready to sync but my question is, is it safe to sync the carbs with the petcock set to prime? The manual says it should not be running in ‘prime mode’. I have a long fuel hose so the tank can sit off to the side. The video I watched showed him just capping off that vacuum port on the #3 carb. I assume he must have left it to run on prime so fuel would flow without vacuum to the petcock. If I understand correctly, the float should prevent fuel from constantly flowing and overfilling the carbs yes?

If that’s the case, I guess I don’t fully understand the purpose of on vs. prime. Is it just so the carbs don’t overflow if there is a float malfunction?

[Nessism]

The bike will run perfectly fine on prime or on. The reason you don't want to leave the petcock on prime all the time is because it puts your float valves under pressure at all times, including when the bike is parked.

[allojohn]

Typically the "ribbed" carbs are Kawasaki and it's looks like you have two #1 carbs and two #2 carbs... sorry to be a sourpuss but there may be trouble ahead. Then again I might be wrong, others will add their $0.02

[roeme]

Typically the "ribbed" carbs are Kawasaki and it's looks like you have two #1 carbs and two #2 carbs... sorry to be a sourpuss but there may be trouble ahead. Then again I might be wrong, others will add their $0.02

Yep you're wrong. These look exactly like mine, on both of my 550's. The ribs are on the parts fiches, even.

[allojohn]

Yep you're wrong. These look exactly like mine, on both of my 550's. The ribs are on the parts fiches, even.

10-4 mate!

[joshua484]

Ok update: I went to sync the carbs and a couple of things happened. It idled fine at first, but after I turned it off and tried to start it again I noticed a lot of fuel leaking from the #2 carb. It would periodically drain through the overflow hose, but a most of it just seemed to be coming from the bottom of the carb. I assume either the float needle is still dirty or it’s bad? Also all 4 sync gauges were bouncing all over the place, that could be bum gauges. Before I reassembled them I made sure the float action was smooth and it seemed to be, I was pretty thorough with the dip/cleaning. I also find it odd that so much fuel was just coming out of the carb bottom and not through the drain hose. I did replace the gaskets.

[dorkburger]

Hey Josh. Great looking project you have there.

Something to keep in mind.,

You said it has sat for 8 years. Do yourself a favor and check the date code on the tires. Tread depth isn't the only indicator of a good tire, as they harden with age and lose grip easier. I'd hate to see that beauty tossed down the road from bum tires. I think 5 years is pushing it, but someone more knowledgeable then me will surely check in.