GT550 Cafe project

[Coyote]

Is the bike going home with you?
I'm not sure how much room you need from the pics, but there was lad on here (fang) that used one fourth of a football for his tail piece mold. I agree the one you have is not real neat.
I also suggest you use the rear plastic inner fender or you'll be slinging dirt and rocks at your oil tank and filters. Worse yet, water and mud. I'm thinking the inner fender is probably metal on the 72. The 74 should be plastic and a lot lighter.

[NY500]

Great job to u and your students!!!!!!!!!!!!what brand shocks are those and were did u get them?

[imquattro]

Thanks!
Here's a similar pair:
Look at this on eBay: 310mm 12 1/5" AI ... urn false;

[imquattro]

Picture's kinda fuzzy, but after a half dozen dust coats and 2 wet coats the highlighter red survived.


I promised some pictures of the seats.
I grabbed the leftover foam & a snip of the leather and the adhesive in this shot so you could see what I used.


Remember, that was over two layers of this foam.


Here's how they turned out:




Tank and tail finally ready to paint. I've kinda tossed in the towel on this guys, going with the same hammered black that's on the frame. I needed something to hide my lack of body work skills. The next guy can deal with them.


After a couple dust coats and 3 wet coats:






There will be 3" wide stripe running down the top of the tank & tail, with a 1/4" stripe on either side. Color is yet to be determined but I'm leaning toward silver, white, or reflective silver. Done by our local vinyl shop.

[imquattro]

Last day today.
Just a quick walk around for yall. I needz steadycam!
https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/d ... directlink

And some closer shots. Here you'll see all the newbie flaws.








Oil tank access:






It's come a LONG way from this:


Thanks everyone!!
Still needs:

Fork seal(s) and the tail light mounted (arrived today while at work -go figure, could've dropped it off for inspection if I'd had it yesterday!).

[imquattro]

Just want to report back in and say the the bike passed inspection and is plated for the road!
(Required a rear fender & chain guard for to pass).

What an enjoyable ride home!
Sounds great, nice torque, smooth gauges (no bouncing like my old Honda).

Quite a head turner and conversation starter, gets lots of compliments.

Just wanted to say thanks to you all for your help, corrective criticism, a encouragement.

[r3tro74]

Quite an accomplishment, bringing it back from the dead, making all your own parts and all. I like the looks of those pod filters. What carb settings did you end up with (jet sizes, needle height, etc)?

[Suzukidave]

, corrective criticism, .

[Alan H]

Excellent.
Just one thing;

If you would like to do another now you know how to do it all, I have a 550 that needs a lot more work than your original.

I would be prepared to 'look after' the current one at no cost to you while you fettle mine.............


Of course doing the swap might cause problems as I am in the UK.
I reckon the UPS man would end up with a hernia!

Do you have a youtube of the bike on a run out yet? That would be interesting.

[imquattro]

Hahahhhahaha

My iphone's rear facing camera (the HD one) didn't enjoy the latest swimming lesson so no recent vids.
I will get one on as soon as that's fixed though.

[Alan H]

Cheers. Good man for that.
But just remember who suggested to look after your baby first!!

[imquattro]

Question: Does the starter work in any gear as long as the clutch lever's squeezed in? or is it like the kick start which requires neutral and no clutch lever depressed.
I've been using the kick start solely and it's worked flawlessly with one caveat: you must be in neutral w/ the clutch level out. This can be quite frustrating when you stall it at a light and you're in 1st gear in traffic and finding neutral is, well not tricky, but not as easy as finding 1st or 2nd -especially with full sun on your gauges which washes out seeing the green neutral light.
Just wondering if I should hook up the starter solenoid and up the battery CCAs if it'll work in any gear as long at the clutch is in.

[imquattro]

AWESOME!!! Sounds like the one over pilots are perfect ...... You guys did a fantastic on those chambers. They sound great and the motor seems to be very happy with them. Congrats!!!!

So about them chambers......
During some riding the other day I found the bike REALLY starts to pickup power around 4.5K. I didn't go past 6K as I was in 3rd gear already but WOW, felt like my turbo car when it spools up, felt like I could lift the front at lower gears if I wanted to???
So I was wondering, you other guys with Jemco and similar chambers, where's it start to pull on your setups? 5K sound about right? it was a bit higher than I was anticipating but maybe I'm just running the motor on the lower end of the RPM spectrum and need to hang in the gears longer.
?

[bill in okc]

I've got an old set of Ocelot chambers, stock engine - it's like a light switch at about 4500-5000 rpm. I feels like it would pull the front up in 1st but I don't think it has - very light though

[imquattro]

Just another update...
Really enjoy riding this bike! Smooth down the road, plenty of power, not nearly as twitchy as my old CM400t on the highway in vehicular wind wake.
Whether cruising or commuting, it's a pleasure.
Here's how she's looking currently (still haven't made it out to the decal shop).