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1977 GS550 that I got cheap!

  • Thread starter Thread starter Mermalion
  • Start date Start date
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Mermalion

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Hello everyone! I have been looking for a cheap motorcycle project the past couple months. I didn't have a lot of money to start with so I started looking on Craigslist. I finally came across a 1977 GS550 that was about 1.5hrs from me and only $200! I sent the guy a text asking for pictures and he sent me a few. The bike had the tank, seat, battery, turn signals, and plastics all removed. The tank and plastics had a horrible paint job on it.... Flat black with white checkers down the middle of the tank. It was a very bad rattle can job. The bike was complete though and came with a title. Everything looked solid and everything was tight and clean. So I decided this was a steal and we picked it up on fathers day. I got it home and as the buyer stated it didn't run. Turns out that after looking it over thoroughly both coils were cracked, leaking, and tested bad. I bought a set from a guy on these forums for $25 and the bike fired up. It would only run fully choked so there was a fuel delivery issue most likely. I tore the carbs apart and cleaned them good. Now the bike runs without the choke and revs a bit but then backfires through the exhaust. So that's where I'm at with the engine.. I did also begin stripping off all the paint from the tank and sanded the plastics. The original color of the bike was black so it's going back to that eventually.

I'm glad I've found this forum. There's a lot of useful information here. Glad to be a member!
 
Welcome! Sounds like a cool project. I bought my 1980 GS550 for $400. It's in pretty good condition. I've been putting some money into fixing it up even more.
 
78550GS said:
By the way, where did you find that 77?
Click to expand...

Found it on Craigslist. A guy up in Cleveland Heights had it. I'll post before pics later on when I get home from work. Photos need resized to be uploaded.
 
Here are a few before photos.... Hope this works. I had a bad day today while working on the Gs. I didn't realize not having the coils tightened up would cause them to fry.. Was adjusting the air mixture screw when the bike hissed, died, and began smoking.... One of the coils died and I think it's my fault for not having them tightened up. Now I have to find another.

20140609_200428.jpg


 
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Cool bike. I'm a little jealous of the fact that my 80 450 has more rust :( lol.
 
That's a very nice bike. I hope to do something cool with mine some day. Right now I just want to get it running good and get it looking decent.
 
Here is an update on the progress of this project.

Here is a pic of the tank after most of the paint has been removed.

I filled the small dent and dings with bondo and was in the process of smoothing them out during this pic.

Here the tank and body parts are hanging after being primed and painted black (original color)

Sorry I didn't take more pictures... I'm really bad at that. I think that so far this is going well. I still need to wet sand the parts and shoot 2 more coats of black then repeat with clear. I have ordered another coil to replace the one that went up in smoke. I am still looking for a voltage regulator as I think that could be the cause of death for the 3 coils that have died on this bike.
 
wow this thread is starting to look strangely like deja-vu ;) I need to update my project thread though since my intro thread got purged.

you did a way better job on your tank though, I need to colorsand mine and clear it before I put it away again this year.
 
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