[AUS]: '82 XZ550 Rebuild Thread.

[vadasz1]

pretty good job.  Have you thought about filling in the bottom of the tank, where the seam area is, with body filler?  It will smooth out the tank very nicely.

[chrisw]

how do you mean? as in filling over where the little strip of metal joins at the base? kinda like someone crimped it?

[vadasz1]

EXACTLY.  Take body filler and make a few coats until it's flush.  Then it will look REAL SMOOTH.

[chrisw]

Progress, completed a full engine removal and semi-strip in a total of 1 hour. All in all it was a simple procedure that cleared up alot of doubts I had previously. And dont worry!!! I am labelling and organising my parts as you read this. And yes... I am cleaning up my garage and front yard.

lovely and very ill-thought out engine stand, i need to redo-it to allow access tothe lower parts of the motor.

[QBS]

You might want to consider stuffing some rags down your carb throats.  Stuff happens.

[chrisw]

i tend to go overboard and stuff oil soaked rags in the exhaust ports and intakes of my engines when I pull em. but at the moment, its just wrapped in plastic.

[Night Vision]

noticed you cut a coolant tube... don't cut those upper ones because they are NLA

[chrisw]

noticed you cut a coolant tube... don't cut those upper ones because they are NLA

uppers are semi corroded too... doesn't matter, same as when I did my 1981 Toyota Corona, it will be custom coolant piping, sucks ass to do, but its the only option.

[Brian Moffet]

noticed you cut a coolant tube... don't cut those upper ones because they are NLA

You can replace them with a couple of odds and ends.

part number GoodYear 63244.
a 3/4 to 3/4 coupler
3/4 heater hose about 16 inches (it will be cut down)

is what I used to replace my hose that ran along the right side.  It now looks like this:

[chrisw]

thanks brian! thats a good help for when I get to that stage. got ALOT more to go before I reach that time yet though.

Update from today, got busy with some chemical stripper to remove the 30 odd years of paint and grime. As expected the frame is covered in a decent amount of surface rust and horrid stuff.

I removed the brakes and attempted dismembering them, however they are seized shut, so Ive soaked them in some WD40 overnight, will get the compressor running tomorrow for that.

I'm very anal, and this bike is going to be a LARGE labor of love by the looks of it. I'm going to have to strip the frame to its component pieces and get it blasted or manually remove all the surface rust and fix it all up. Day by day this is becoming close to a total rebuild.

just for inquiry, I know someone mentioned different parts for brake pistons and seals, does anyone have them on quick reference?

[vadasz1]

I recall that the kits from an RD350 or RZ350 can be used for the calipers.

[The Prophet of Doom]

RZ350

http://www.hvccycle.com/hvcpartscatalog_files/yamahabrakes.htm

[chrisw]

more of the frame stripped. Went to test some rust stripper. worked decently, lots of elbow grease to do here unless I get it blasted.

[vadasz1]

Hey, what ya know.  The Vision stripped down bare naked kinda resembles a Shwinn chopper pedal bike.

[QBS]

Bet goes on center stand real easy.

[chrisw]

Bet goes on center stand real easy.

daaaamn easy :P I was even able to flip it upside down with my bare hands.

[akvision]

yeah, I had white walls on my Schwinn Corvette!   It was cool in 1956.

[chrisw]

Progress, I decided to go with the chemical route over sandblasting for the frame. Lots of paint stripper, wire brushes and rags. Its proceeding quite well, frame is coming up as a nice shiny brushed metal look. after the rust is dealt with and the rest of the paint stripped I'm not quite sure what I will do! the frame looks quite good as a shiny brushed, possibly polished metal look.

[chrisw]

Well, my 100 dollar venture with paint stripper, rust removers and all myriad of chemical "SURE FIXs" was a waste, my brain snapped and I realised... wait.. why didn't I use a wirebrush and a drill before.
EDIT: thread name amended

The finished product at the moment is not finished, theres still more work to be completed on that swingarm, and I will probably finish off with some 1200 grit hand sanding and Autosol. mmmm polished.

So I did.. and wow... this is 1.5 hours work.
more stripping.



before


after

[akvision]

looks good to me...  the undercoat is as important as the top coat.
use a good primer and make sure it drys and do several coats.