Jaybob's 1975 550 Cafe Build

jaybob · Post by **jaybob** » Thu Feb 19, 2009 11:43 am

Hey Gang

Just thought I would make up a home to document the changes I make in the process of making this 1975 GT550 into my own Cafe custom.

The theme is Vintage Style Restomod. I don't want to go too crazy on making the machine an engineering marvel. I want it to have that vintage flavor with modern reliability and improved all around performance, not to mention the classic simplified Cafe styling.

I'll start off with a few "In the beginning" pictures and add as I go along.

Hopefully all of you lurkers would feel free to offer up any suggestions or comments. I confess I am a good "big picture" kind of guy but sometimes my attention to details gets a little fuzzy. So I'll need a little help from the audience.

jaybob · Post by **jaybob** » Thu Feb 19, 2009 11:46 am

Here is the box of guage spares and the set I reconditioned. I had a NOS early Tachometer and three junky sets of guages. I combined all of the good parts. I even had to rebuild the tripmeter, man those little c-clips are buggers.

jaybob · Post by **jaybob** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 12:09 am

Here is some disc work and hopefully a set opf pads that will work well.

jaybob · Post by **jaybob** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 12:10 am

Also Straight from the Netherlands, my new ignition and custom key fob.

jaybob · Post by **jaybob** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 3:23 pm

Steering stem upgrade in progress...

jaybob · Post by **jaybob** » Fri Feb 27, 2009 3:22 pm

Polished stainless on these nice Hagons. Can't wait to go for a ride with these on.

Headlight brackets from Mikes XS

H2RICK · Post by **H2RICK** » Mon Mar 09, 2009 4:46 pm

Looking REALLY great, Jaybob !!! Are you going to add a second disk later on ??? Whose ignition system is that ???
Hopefully she'll be on the road this spring.....

deadmeat · Post by **deadmeat** » Mon Mar 09, 2009 7:03 pm

Looks great Jaybob! Pardon my ignorance, but are those pipes ceramic coated?
Pete

jaybob · Post by **jaybob** » Mon Mar 09, 2009 10:03 pm

Thanks for the words of encouragement!!!

The ignition is from www.suzukitandgtparts.nl as recommmended to me by those that know more about that sort of thing than I do.

I am going to keep the single disc for now. Want to see how it works and keep the unsprung weight down on the front wheel.

Yes that is ceramic coat on the pipes. Most likely will not make too much of a performance difference with the mild state of tune the motor is in, but they do look nice and the guy who does the coating lives pretty close to me so....no brainer.

It will be on the road I am hoping by mid-summer. I am trying to go slow and build it up into a really quality bike. Everytime I go a little bit on it something else seems to pop up. But I am plodding away.

tz375 · Post by **tz375** » Mon Mar 30, 2009 4:36 pm

Any pics of recent progress you'd like to share?

jaybob · Post by **jaybob** » Mon Mar 30, 2009 9:24 pm

Yep Pics are coming again. Incidentally I just ordered those Torrington B1412 needle rollers to try out in the swinger.

In fact When I get home I am going to try to make some progress on the front end and I will take some pics.

Gordon · Post by **Gordon** » Tue Mar 31, 2009 12:45 am

Deleted

CJF · Post by **CJF** » Tue Mar 31, 2009 6:08 am

jaybob wrote:Yep Pics are coming again. Incidentally I just ordered those Torrington B1412 needle rollers to try out in the swinger.

In fact When I get home I am going to try to make some progress on the front end and I will take some pics.

Do you have any additional details on these swing arm bearings in terms of how they install and other parts needed (thrust washers, etc...)? This is the first I have seen that there is a needle roller that will work. Also, not sure if the GT500 and GT550 share the same swing arm parts. I have a GT500.

jaybob · Post by **jaybob** » Tue Mar 31, 2009 10:47 am

CJF
Hopefully some one can chime in about whether your GT500 swingarm pivot is the same as the GT 750,380,550 I don't know.

The bearings I bought are an experiment not a common upgrade. I am trying them after a desire to check them out after reading Teasers post here:

http://kawasakitriplesworldwide.com/php ... hp?t=44014

and here:

http://www.motorcycleracer.net/phpBB2/v ... .php?t=332

Stand by....

jaybob · Post by **jaybob** » Tue Mar 31, 2009 11:07 am

Ok I got my petcock done with a full kit of rubber from HVC cycle. Not too sure about the small round o-ring that fits onto the post in the middle of the diaphragm. It was a loose fit in the groove compared to the old one. I will try it out and see if it is OK. I saved the old one just in case.

Not sure why but I really wanted to lower the headlight and guage cluster. I made these spacers for the guage bracket.

And here is the cluster installed

I know you can't really tell but I did the Damper Rod Modification on the forks and put in 10wt fork oil as well as all new seals, o-rings, and those little plastic spacers on the damper rod. Sorry forgot internal pictures but here are some pics of the bike as she sits now. I also rubbed on all of the aluminum with some polish. The aluminum is much shinier than you can see in these pictures and when I get a little closer to being done I will take some high res. photos with my wifes pro camera.

I also installed the Tarozzi fork brace

Next up is the front fender, grips, bar end mirrors, maybe bars, and then onto the swingarm.

Jaybob's 1975 550 Cafe Build

Jaybob's 1975 550 Cafe Build

somebody stop me

Update 03/31/09