I picked up this pair of 1982 XZ550 off Facebook. I am going to riding the red one and parting out the other.
Other than the normal safety items, and charging system. Anything model specific I need to look at on the rider?
What I have done so far
- Replace Petcock
- Found Red tank was leaking from seam and has old liner in it (Sigh)
- Clean Rust out of parts bike tank (No existing liner or leaks)
- Clean Carbs \ Install Fuel Filter
- Clear Coat tank with Rustoleum Automotive clear (Keeping rust\rat look for now)
- Seal Tank with POR-15
- New Tires
- Replace front brake master
- Check\Grease all the things
- Replace All fluids including fork oil
- Check head bearing
- Attempt to cleanup windshield with what I have on hand
- Install LED lights in dash to replace burnt out bulbs
- Replace battery
- New headlight bulb
- Swap rear brakes from parts bike
Note: If you are in the XZ550 Facebook group this is not new news to you.
Photos attached of Progress on rider and teardown of parts bike.
Hey Jared-
Nice to see you using this site.
If you look for Tiger's posts on what to do with these bikes there is a lot of info about the weak spots. My recollection of these are:
-check the connecting bolts on the rear brake rod, replacing them if they are corroded to avoid them failing while riding and sending you to the ground
-replace the steering stem bearings with tapered
-replace the connectors on the wires from the stator with higher capacity versions or get rid of them altogether
-fork brace--add one
-cut the black yellow wire coming out of the TCI to disable the failure prone rev limiter which cuts spark to the front (I think) cylinder
-figure out how to fix the handles on the air vents in the fairing lowers (if you figure this out let me know!)
Something I found necessary was to replace the rear brake shoes, as the linings tend to separate from the shoes (mine had this when I got it, found out the good way, by taking it apart to replace the tire; the linings just fell off).
I just replaced my TCI unit with a new one from Ignitech, and can report that it seems to have solved an ignition problem I was having, and one that I read others were having on old posts here.
Good luck with your Vision!
Hope that helps!
Brian, what configuration IGNITECH ignition did you get?
My XZ is getting closer, but not ready to buy a battery yet. It is a long and strange trip.