Coyote's NEW GT550

[Coyote]

A 74. Just bought it an hour ago. Will be delivered tomorrow evening. Seller upped his price from $600 to $650. Bought it anyway.
Thr good:
freshly professionally painted tank a side covers. Metallic black with sort of oem style stripes. Reminds me of a 75.
newly professionally recovered seat. Looks really nice but lacks a strap
Shiny brand new gas cap
Pair of S mirrors (I don't think he knows what they are worth)
Exhaust looks good and all baffles in place. No visible rust BUT I was looking at in a van.Only saw one small dent. Didn't see any acid stains
chrome on wheels looks good. only light surface rust. rear fender looks OK with one small dent

The Bad:
Some idiot painted the motor black. The whole damn thing - cases and all. Highlighted the fins with yellow. Looks terrible and I don't have a clue how to deal with it.
front fender off a different bike. Looks OK chrome and dent wise but only has a single stay and is a little too wide.
MC is shot. totally
upside down clubman bars. Yuk
headlight ears and shell have rust.
Tires shot

Everything else is dirty and crusty. Needs lots of TLC but it's all there. All the electrics and wiring appear intact. I couldn't see really well but it looked like 33,000 on the clock. Turned over with my hand and compression seemed good.

Of course I will be posting pics when the bike is here. He said it ran when he bought it but not well. I hope I misread the speedo. 33K is a lot. Need to get it running first off and see if the crank seals are shot. I hope not as I don't intend to do a major on this bike.

[jabcb]

Looks like you got a lot for $650.
Paul Miller sells tank / side cover sets for around that.

The motor might look good if you get rid of the yellow & use polished crankcase covers (all black but no black on covers).

That's what a PO did for my T500, which looks like this:


Have fun with your new project.

[Coyote]

Great news! The bike is here and it's not a 74. Build date 11/75, frame number 64916. That makes it a 76A model. I went over the exhausts with a fine tooth comb They are perfect except for one small rash on the underside of the right lower pipe. Might have been caused by a high speed bump or driving off a curb. Can't see it at all. This baby has the better starter clutch from the factory!
Also I DID misread the speedo. Mileage is 3,241. If that is right, it's just a pup! Both gauges have busted out lenses. Probably got too cloudy to see. But I thought the 76 had glass lenses. Can anyone verify? These are definitely plastic.

[tz375]

Congrats on the new baby. Sounds like a keeper.

[bill in okc]

Congratulations on the score! Looking forward to the pics.

[pearljam724]

I knew you would be back. Congrats, bud.

[yeadon_m]

Yep, if they are 76A gauges, they should have glass lenses. Easiest fix for the back cylinders is to get them blasted appropriately. Only takes ~3h to get the top end in your hands. At least you'll have iron liners in your motor. Pesky euro nikasil plating is a complete PITA on my 550B. More anon.
Enjoy your bargain!
Mike

[Coyote]

Yep, if they are 76A gauges, they should have glass lenses.

Maybe - maybe not. If you look at some of the fiches, they show both. L,M and A are listed together and another fiche for A and B.This indicates that the early 76's had left over 75 parts. What I can't find is what frame number the change was made to the gauges exclusive to the A and B. The 76 frame numbers range form 61315 to 70364. mine is 64961. That doesn't seem that early in production that it would have left over parts - but who knows? I hope someone has that info because this bike looks totally unmolested. I can see no reason for changing out the gauges - especially a change to earlier ones. Alpha Sports indicates a part number change for the speedo and tach in mid 76. it just doesn't say when.

Starting a new thread for pics.

[jabcb]

I have the printed parts manual that is available from the New Zealand eBay seller.

It lists the A/B speedo & tach as starting with frame 68177.

[Coyote]

Thanks jabcb! That's exactly the info I needed. That means the plastic gauges that are on my bike are OEM. That also means the low mileage may be correct.

[pearljam724]

How about we cut the BS and post some pictures ?

[Coyote]

Pleas put all further comments in this thread viewtopic.php?f=2&t=10397" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Let this one die out.

[husky99]

Looks like a great deal.