[AUS]: '82 XZ550 Rebuild Thread.

[lexx790]

This all looks soooo familiar to me, I went with the "send it to someone else for gritblasting and priming".

[chrisw]

true, that is the smart thing to do... but what is a labor of love without some hard labor (besides, its an excuse to drink beer at 10am)

[sunburnedaz]

Looking good. How hard was it to get the engine out and onto the stand? Did you need any help to do that or could you man handle it.

[YellowJacket!]

LOL... those pictures all look very familiar and bring back memories.  Some scary, some good.

David

[chrisw]

I've been suffering a bit of fatigue for a month and a half... so I'm hoping its not in a bad way, bloodtest results and my next followup with the GP should hopefully sort it out, so I haven't managed to work on the bike for more than an hour without having to give up and just relax.

The engine itself wasn't too bad, still need a trolley jack, a plank of wood and at least 2 people though.

and I know the feeling of horror when I see random parts on the bike, so close, yet so so so very far. I had a chat with my local yammy dealer (since they are the ones that I bought the Hyosung off... and its being repaired again). there is ONE set of piston rings available on the other side of Australia... there is also a set of exhaust headers. they also said "I'm truly shocked... I thought I have seen every Yamaha before"

[QBS]

What is your opinion of the Hyosung?  How long have you had it?  How many miles on it ? 

[chrisw]

My hyosung was bought new (2009 mod) and its fantastic for the price AS LONG as you stay ontop of your maintainance, and ensure that all bolts are tight. also a 100 dollar racestand is handy to have to make sure that you can do work at home on it. I have the carbie model and it is fine, however I've test ridden the new fuel injected version and its 1000000x better!

I've owned it for 2000 miles with 2 breakdowns covered under warranty, the fuel tap was dodgy, and a 50c oil seal on the sidecover of the engine displaced itself and the bike dropped oil a bit. at least the 2 year unlimited km warranty is good. Yoshi pipe sounds very nice :)

[QBS]

Thanks for the reply. You're the first Hyosung owner I've had an opportunity to get real world feedback from.

[chrisw]

Im a realist though, I didn't but the hyosung to learn on or for any other reason except as a budget commuter bike that I can thrash a bit on the weekend. For the price it serves my purposes fantastically. Its not a bike that is used to get you 'street rep' however, anyone that doesnt know much about bikes for some reason absolutely loves it to pieces. more than likely because its loud, gruff sounding. and its all black.

more pics for the xz550!
check out my bikepics site for any other projects running at the moment. My small business is up and running. 2 cafe racers sold within 4 months at 3100 each! for a 1980's 250cc bike! nice 1500 profit on each. got the latest cafe ready to go too. unfortunately no pics on the previous cafe. but the current one is being documented.
http://www.bikepics.com/members/wrtcustom/
and to steal someone elses completed cafe of the same model, this is basically what my cafe's end up like. however I fancy a more gloss acrylic paintjob, and also my polished aluminium ram-intake setup :D does nothing on a 250 but it looks very keen. sounds great too.

[chrisw]

Work began again on the bike, since the car took up all of yesterday.

Got the filler sanded down on the tank, and a fresh coat of primer grey.
Ditto for the front guard and front fairing.

I tested out the "Wild violet metallic" paint, and gee, its actually quite amazing. Dark dark purple metallic. very nice.

I will finish up the front wheel and swingarm today so the bike is ready to reassemble to a rolling frame tomorrow.

pics to come.

[chrisw]

FINALLY I got into gear and laid some paint down. all of the parts have now been filled. I decided to work on the gas tank today and keep each paint job separate so I'm not rushed (a common mistake I make).

-Sanded the primer filler down to 600 grit, clean, dry, and white spirit.
-Sprayed 2 coats of grey primer. dry, sand, clean, dry, spirit.
-Sprayed 3 coats of the base colour, Gunmetal metallic.
-Sprayed 3 coats of top colour, Wild Violet metallic (not as metallic as the gunmetal)

result? I love it. its not as bright as the plain wild violet was when I test sprayed on white paper. its quite metallic, but very fine particles. really pops in the sun, but doesnt show in the shade.

The next step? its acrylic and metallic, so it needs to cure for a few days then a MINOR sand to remove imperfections, and then to be cleared. once its cleared x 2 or 3, ill let it cure again and then buff it to hell.

images you say? here they are. halfway through the drying process, so it should become nice and satin once dried (and it did) I also apoligise for the quality of the pictures. I haven't had any batteries for my good camera for a few months, so ive been using a crappy little one.

[vadasz1]

Nice job.  I bet it really does POP in the sun.  Did you use a rattle can or a real spray gun?

[chrisw]

As you can probably notice with my state of the art gas tank holder, I'm obviously a professional :P

*cough*

... ok its a rattle can job. but to be honest, I've been spraying this way for 8 years and its never let me down. i really should learn how to spray with a gun, but yeah... never had the space.

[chrisw]

Finally its starting to take place. Its now a rolling frame for easy of movement purposes, and so I can clean up the porch.

Still have to polish the forks and the wheel hubs more. oh and finish the paint on the tank.

The paint is SOOO much darker in real life. I think i need to get my other camera working. :( it looks so lavender in the pictures.

[funkamongus]

WOW shes really coming along!!!!

[Kid Jedi]

that drive shaft/swing arm looks ALOT smaller in black...

[Night Vision]

ummm... did you know your fork lowers are pointed backwards? twist them 180 deg.

that drive shaft/swing arm looks ALOT smaller in black...

I think that's because the rear tire is oversized.... sorry Chris, not trying to be picky

[chrisw]

Yes, i noticed that yesterday  :'( I was hoping nobody would notice until I changed them round today.

and the tyre sizes are 120/90 and 100/90 for reference :P

[chrisw]

I'm also appauled to know it took me 30 minutes to work out why the bike looked like a cruiser / chopper.

rake yo?

[Kid Jedi]

huh.. run em backwards to make a sweet chopper...  

NO BAD KID JEDI! >:( BAD! >:( you have enough projects already! There is a shark fairing IN YOUR BED and a Cylinder head, pistion, Jug thermostat housing and crankshaft on your Coffee table!

Fine.... :(