first fire up

[The Prophet of Doom]

I'm rather glad it's a 550.  At 600cc motorcycles suddenly become death machines and the accident levies here go up enormously.

[fret not]

My perspective was formed around road racing in the 60s and early 70s.  Racing classes were decided by the FIM and determined by engine displacement: 50cc, 125cc, 175cc, 250cc, 350cc, 500cc, and in the USA we had 750cc and  the open class.  If you chose to race a 550 it would have to run against the 750cc class.  That is until there were enough odd ball sizes to form a class for racing. 

So they made the XZ as a 400cc and a 550cc, why not as a 350cc and a 500cc?  There is not that much displacement and power difference between a 350 and a 400, or a 500 and a 550, UNLESS the manufacturer was just trying to discourage any track competition.  Here in the USA several builders made 650cc and 750cc versions of the XZ for dirt track racing in spite of the difficulty.

It's all screwed up now, MotoGP is 1000cc and more than 250 HP.  No more 50cc or 125cc.  No more 350cc or 500cc.  500cc was plenty fast when it was the "senior" class, but for some reason it has gone to 1000cc and monster power, and the tire manufacturers are having difficulty making tires that can last for a race of 30 minutes.

[Rikugun]

I don't get the correlation between FIM racing classes of the 1960's and street bikes of the 1980's. If your point is things changed and that sucks I hear you but that's the way of the world.

By the 1980's there were no 175's and 350's as it they were by then archaic engine sizes. As popular as 550's were on the grid when I raced in 1984, the writing was on the wall and 600's would soon be replacing that engine displacement.

As far as a 750 goes, I am intrigued. I believe it would have been a totally different bike but I'm curious what that would have looked like.

[QBS]

I wonder how 750cc power would have worked with shaft drive on the track.

[fret not]

Shaft drive on the track works for BMW.

[Rikugun]

Thanks QBS its always good to get some positive feed back if scott follows my procedure i am sure he will get
the right result, NOW can anyone tell me why i have 6 inch flames shooting out the top of my carbs i will be a
happy bunny, my thoughts are spark at the wrong time or valve timing incorrect. ANY THOUGHTS, Dave.

It would help to know which of the things suggested thus far have been checked so we can eliminate those from the process. Did you check ignition and valve timing yet for instance? What did you find?

Regarding ignition, is the coil with the long lead (rear cylinder) plugged into the harness connector with the red/white and grey or red/white and orange wires?