A bigger issue for Cragdog is the fact that he mentioned something rattling around inside. That is likely to be the baffle plates
+1 TZ. The 550's were notorious for this. Cragdog, get a flashlight and have look in the pipes. Down inside about 10 - 12" thre is (or should be) a second plate that supports the forward end of the baffle. Time, condensation and rust make those plates disintegrate. There is no fix without cutting the pipe apart, ruining the chrome while you're at it. This plates were just tack welded in place.
The GT550 I bought, some cone headed PO had welded the baffles in at the end of the pipe. It seemed to work OK, but it looked terrible. I shucked them immediately. Went through 2 or 3 garbage sets from ebay before I found my chambers.
I was born with nothing and still have most of it left.
Considering the loose baffle plate in the right pipe, I think I've shucked the idea of going back to baffles and will just wait it out with the stock pipes until I save enough for some decent chambers. Once I got my idle nice and consistent the noise isn't all that terrible anymore and I actually really enjoy it. It would just take too much time, effort and money to open up the pipe and fix the broken baffle plate.
I also got around to painting my swingarm last time I had my wheel off. I am no painter, but I'm happy with how it turned out.
The bike has been running really great lately. There are still a number of things I want to do that would make me consider it "complete" however, but they will come in time and I'm happy with my solidly running albeit "rough 'round the edges" looking machine.
That to me looks like lubrication failure. The con rod should be dripping with oil and it looks bone dry? Maybe you washed and dried it but I guess not else you wouldn't have left the shrapnel in there....
Sorry to see that. Good luck!
Mike
I'll be combing through this thread over the next few weeks and will be watching for updates. Great project and progress, hate to hear about the failure though.
Looking forwards to seeing this one back up and road worthy! Best of luck mang
steezin_and_wheezin wrote:I'll be combing through this thread over the next few weeks and will be watching for updates. Great project and progress, hate to hear about the failure though.
Looking forwards to seeing this one back up and road worthy! Best of luck mang
Hey thanks for the encouragement.
I am even more thankful for the great people on this site who advertise parts for sale for our beloved triples! To my delight, I should be receiving a '75 motor today or tomorrow which should be a drop-in transplant, but I am going to go over it in detail beforehand.
Next on my list is to visit the Fab Farm for some custom expansion chambers!
I am anxious to see what (if any) effect the chambers will have on the powerband.
The power from my '74 motor with stock unbaffled pipes and unipod filters was very broad and usable, but I'd like to feel more of a "hit" maybe around 5-6K rpm. We will see what happens. Now that I have a motor for parts I could theoretically do some experimenting
Food is overrated anyway and you can't ride rent, so sounds like the right call.
The only nagging question I have is are the seals OK on the replacement engine? It might be a good idea to do a compression test and leakdown test before you slot it in.
Get the head and barrels off and fill the cases with diesel.
Let it soak the seals and soften them and make sure it's all out before you rebuild.
I did this a couple of times, turning the engine every day by hand - make sure the conrods don't bang against the cases - for a couple of weeks.
I did that with the K, then over oiled the bearings before starting and it's running fine after nearly 1500 miles.
I did need easy start to get it running, but well worth the trouble.
Think of how stupid the average person is, then realise that half of them are more stupid than that.
I spent a bunch of time cleaning the outside of the motor and with the amount of muddy/filth in the sprocket case I decided I needed to see what's going on inside as well.
Glad I did because the crank wasn't pretty
If the seals were OK they surely wouldn't have been after running the motor for any amount of time, there was a fair bit of rust down there.
Coyote wrote:I doubt you can pay your rent with a trash motor. Do you have any repercussions or are you just ripped off?
Certainly not.
The seller seemed honest enough though, but I knew I was taking a gamble buying sight unseen from out of state anyway. He did his best to send me photos and a video of it turning over with the head off, everything looked OK from there so I pulled the trigger.
The only upside is I went back earlier in this thread and looked at pictures of the crank from my '74 motor and it looked very similar before I cleaned/flushed the bottom end for a few days. That engine ran great until the center pot went dry. I am trying to stay positive, but I have a feeling this one's toast. I think I might split this one down the middle and really get in there, worst case scenario I can part the whole thing out and hopefully make back what I paid for it.
It's a shame, I was hoping to be riding this weekend!
I have a pair of 750 triple motors... It's probably unlikely, but what're the chances the mounts line up with the 550 frame?
Regarding Alternator brushes: ....And I've never actually done this, but I don't see why it wouldn't work.....
Brushes are used on many vacuum cleaner motors (& lots of other stuff like electric drills, electric scooters & wheel chairs, etc). If you take your worn brush to dealer of such stuff & he feels like cooperating (yeah....RIGHT!), maybe you could find something that is about the right dimensions or somewhat larger & wire leader size. The carbon brush material is not very hard & can be filed or carved down to size.
I know this is being a bit "creative", but it could be a LOT cheaper (or should I put a positive slant to that..... LESS COSTLY) than the OEM brushes.
Also, I just read you entry regarding you need for a center cylinder. I happen to have a good cylinder & matched piston with rings, wrist-pin, clips & top bearing. I know it's good cause it dragged me & my otherwise dead engine home for over 30 miles all by it self! If interested, drop me a PM.
It would just take too much time, effort and money to open up the pipe and fix the broken baffle plate. 
