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1981 Kawasaki GPz550: Restoration

I just noticed you said you used a Barnett clutch.
I have had 2 ( out of 2) bad experiences with those...
when the bike sits for a few weeks / months.... or maybe just 1 week (?) ... the plates swell from sitting in oil, and the clutch does not want to disengage.
Solution? #1. Point Dad's 1975 CB 750 downhill, push starter button while rolling in 2nd, get it warm, and feather clutch / drag rear brake at high revs until it un-locks. Good for a week.
My buddy's solution #2 was to beat the living shnizzle out of his FJ1100 at nearby Wawa, and blame me. ( not my friend any more, many and various reasons )

I hope you have better results. ( mine were from early 90s)

EDIT: if you race, I'm sure Barnett makes a quality product that helps you to victory :rolleyes:
 
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exdirtbiker said:
I just noticed you said you used a Barnett clutch.
I have had 2 ( out of 2) bad experiences with those...
when the bike sits for a few weeks / months.... or maybe just 1 week (?) ... the plates swell from sitting in oil, and the clutch does not want to disengage.
Solution? #1. Point Dad's 1975 CB 750 downhill, push starter button while rolling in 2nd, get it warm, and feather clutch / drag rear brake at high revs until it un-locks. Good for a week.
My buddy's solution #2 was to beat the living shnizzle out of his FJ1100 at nearby Wawa, and blame me. ( not my friend any more, many and various reasons )

I hope you have better results. ( mine were from early 90s)

EDIT: if you race, I'm sure Barnett makes a quality product that helps you to victory :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

I am not familiar with that specific bike, but aren't the fiber plates are supposed to be wet from oil? I use Barnett on my daily commuter, and have not had any of the issues you speak of. My thoughts on this would be to look at what is upstream from the clutch. The mechanism, cable(adjustment, routing, and no tight bends), and the lever perch assy. If you are using the whole clutch kit, and it is correct for that bike, the operation of the clutch should be the same whether you used Barnet, EBC, Vesrah, or Kawasaki. My experience has been from not allowing the clutch to release, is a clutch cable that never got lubricated with cable lube, and/or the barrel end at the lever binds from lack of lubrication.

Read this:
​
https://www.motionpro.com/motorcycle/articles/view/340/cable_maintenance_101/

7 years working for Motion Pro, and I saw a lot of customer-supplied cables that were broken and very worn. Most failed due to lack of lubrication.
Other than Motion Pro, I have never worked for Barnett or any other Motorcycle Manufacture. Not that I am right, jut giving my experience, and thoughts here.

Looking at the weather for Steve's Area, 13*F is a little too cold for anyone to be out on a bike. ​
 
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I believe the problem was that the special "high performance" material Barnett was using had a tendency to absorb and swell if they sat too long.
So after you dis-engage clutch... cold engine... it was still stuck. After you got 'em hot, they worked better than stock.
It appears that these issues were resolved years ago, I have not heard of anyone else complaining in a decade.
I hope srsupertrap was not using a NVOS item. ( New VERY Old Stock )
 
The GPz came with a extra clutch plate kit installed so its used. I suspect the Barnett kit was installed in the 1980s? If it turns out to be a problem I still have the 83 KZ550 clutch plates and fiber plates. I can only add I have been running a Barnett extra clutch plate kit in my GS1000 since the 1980s and so far so good. Clutch springs go soft but no dragging so far.

Colorado weather is up & down in February, yesterday was 3 inches of snow, a high of 22F with a low near zero. Today the snow is melting. Going to work on reinserting images from PB.com

GmtBOhK.jpg
 
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Start Up Vid

Start Up Vid

Spent Friday charging & installing the MotoBatt battery, turning the crank over by hand for 15 minutes, adjusting pilot air screws and idle speed, checking the charging voltage, adding oil, tightening valve cover bolts and cutting a relief radius into the inboard side of the chain guard (bowed) to prevent it from contacting the rear wheel.

That brings me to 31-Mar-2018, here we go . . .

 
Couldn't be happier for you! It sounds great and looks like it just came off the show room floor. Pat yourself on the back for your perseverance and total dedication to seeing it through to completion. Nicely done.
 
Sounds great Steve, just a bit better than the last try! Congrats on a job well done.
 
Awesome Steve! Looks like it is not only a runner, but a show winner too.

On the exhast, just remember, loud pipes saves lives.
 
Congratulations Steve! Hope it rides as good as it looks!
 
Thanks Roger, Larry, Ray, Steve, Corey & Ed for the support and help over the years! I took the day off and unfortunately a ran/snow mix today here in Colorado. The weekend will be nicer weather.

This might be a Corey or Ed-K750 question. What size spark plug wrench do you use for the NGK D8EA spark plug? The only tool which fits is the spark plug wrench from the OEM tool kit. I would like to torque the spark plugs correctly.
 
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What a beautiful bike! Thanks for posting the video...nice clean garage too!


Ed
 
Steve - at last! Can't wait to see some pics from the road.

And, thanks again for that nut. You wouldn't have believed the look on The Collectors face when I returned the other one to him. i don't think anyone's ever borrowed any hardware from him and returned it.
 
srsupertrap said:
..... What size spark plug wrench do you use for the NGK D8EA spark plug? The only tool which fits is the spark plug wrench from the OEM tool kit. I would like to torque the spark plugs correctly.
Click to expand...

The GS650G I am working on at the moment also uses NGK D8EA sparkplugs. I had to buy a deep ("long") 18 mm socket (11/16) for the sparkplugs.

Well done! Fantastic job on your GPz!
 
srsupertrap said:
This might be a Corey or Ed-K750 question. What size spark plug wrench do you use for the NGK D8EA spark plug? The only tool which fits is the spark plug wrench from the OEM tool kit. I would like to torque the spark plugs correctly.
Click to expand...

Sorry Steve, can't help you with that question. My bike takes regular B8ES plugs and a normal plug wrench fits.
 
I purchased a Craftsman 18mm spark plug socket to remove the NGK D8EA spark plug which works nicely. I have ridden the GPz about 10 miles around town. Everything seems to be working well enough transmission shifts through the gears, no engine noise, charging system charges and handles nimbly. Like so many 4 cylinder bikes the carbs need adjustment because it does not idle. When I initially disassembled the GPz in 2013 the plug were fouled, not much changed in 2018 when I started it up. Perhaps worse @ 5100 Ft. I initially thought carb synchronization but checking with my TwinMax Electronic Carb synchronizer the drill bit settings was pretty close. The Mikuni Flatslides had 32.5 pilots which might have been the factory jets but those jets are too rich even with fuel screws 2 full turns out as evident below

BIIqUL7.jpg


Pulled the Mikunis and swapped out the 32.5 pilot jets and installed a set of size 30 pilot jets.

DfdpRwd.jpg


I will start with fuel air screws 1.5 turns which hopefully will make the GPz idle which sounds about right?

pQm2uQk.jpg
 
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As happy as I am to see the bike finally assembled and running I'm even more excited to get your report once you dial things in and get a chance to thrash it about a bit. I guess the good news with jetting is the pods should make pulling and reinstalling the carbs much easier.
 
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