My '82 GS550MZ Refit

I haven't changed it 100%. The way I count it is about $250 in parts (4 carb kits, a petcock kit, air and oil filters, carb dip and carb spray cleaner).

Between the fact that I will probably not be able to recoup the money I have invested already and I really do like the bike, may force me to do the repair work.

Just got really down yesterday when I hooked up the new battery and wasn't able to ride.

I'm going to leave the ad up for now and forge ahead on the repairs and just see what happens.

[Big T]

What changed your mind?

You're probably less than $50 from having it running

think I'm going to try to get out from under this while I can... I've posted an ad on craigslist to see if I can recoup the money I have into this so far...

Scorpion AGM battery arrived today. I hit it with a voltmeter as per the directions, it hit a 12.9 so I installed.

The bike came right back to life, kind of. I started with the choke half way. It purred. I let it get run for a bit since it has been sitting for a week without being started.

I sat on the bike and tried to blip the throttle a little, it stalled right out. I restarted it and let it run a couple more minutes, slipped it into gear to try the throttle again with the same result-stalled.

I felt the pipes, one was not as hot as the other 3. I will put the new plugs in tomorrow and hope that that is why that one is not firing. If the carbs need to be taken out and cleaned I am going to be in way over my head.

What should it cost for a professional to do it?

I'm starting a thread here to chronicle the refitting of my new "82 GS550M. The bike was near complete when I bought it, so I don't want to call it a restore, but I do want to keep track of what I'm doing and the condition of the bike.

First, the things that needed to be done to make the bike road worthy (the bike runs, I drove it over an hour to get home... but that probably wasn't the safest thing to do). So this first bit is just the steps I'm taking to get the bike to pass inspection in PA.

item 1: Ordered Tires ($130) - Like usual, I went off half cocked and with bad info (this site didn't have the correct tire size) and I ordered Dunlop vintage tires. I have now returned these tires.


item 2: I ordered break and clutch levers ($12) ( Part # 4498791-001 and 4498781-001 from bike bandit).


These are not the levers that show up when you use the fiche, do a little digging because these are half the price.

The break lever had the end broken off when I bought the bike. When I dropped the bike trying to bump start it, I figured I'd replace both. I also broke the right, front turn signal lens.

item 3: The instrument cluster ($63). The most obvious thing wrong with the bike when I bought it was that the speedometer and tachometer did not work.

I would have been fine just removing them completely, but it appears PA inspection requires you to have a working speedometer. So I decided to replace the cluster. I bought a replacement from ebay (seller name: madmanmotorcycles) for $50. plus $13 shipping. The piece is not in great condition, the seller left out the fact that is was missing several screws and wasn't completely together.


I hope that between the two I can frankenstein one whole one together.

item 4: I bought a new maintenance free battery ($54) from battery stuff.

item 5: Ordered Tires Redux ($84 for tires, $10 for lens). Now know that I know the proper size of the tires for this bike are:
Front - 100/90 - 19
Rear - 110/90 - 18
I bought Shinko 712 for front and rear. I also included the lens that I broke earlier in this order.

item 6: Spark plugs ($10). I actually bought these from Pep Boys around the corner. It's good to know that I can get something local. I bought the NGK plugs the manual suggested.

I have a some writing to finish today, but work on the bike will begin for real on wednesday. Thursday I go the the mechanic, Bike Works in Glenside, PA to get the tires put on ($90 for both), assuming they arrive by then. He is also going to give the bike a real once over ($80) and we will start a list of what needs to be done.

Total investment so far: $1,206.00

(includes tax, title, registration, insurance, helmet, everything associated with and including the bike.)