E's 1983 Kawasaki KZ550 LTD Bratstyle Build

silverstonepgt

The Beerfish
I had concatenated my bike builds into one thread in Show 'N Shine, but I wanted to move out of there since the bikes are still really just projects, not done at all yet. So this thread will be for my 1st Kawasaki build - a 1983 KZ550 LTD that I picked up a year and a half ago for $700. It had around 10,000 miles on it, ran great, and had a backrest and bags:


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I started cutting it at the end of last season:


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Eventually rattled canned it in orange for last season:


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1983 Kawasaki 550 LTD bobber walkaround


Once winter hit I decided to collect some parts and started a new mockup:


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And a full re-wire started:


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Finally picked out a color for the tank as well, will be Jeep Rescue Green:

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With some black striping and such over top of it.
 
Here is the latest progress on the KZ, we cut the peanut tank open to make a new bottom and tunnel, heated up the brazing to pop out the bung to move it to the absolute bottom of the tank, and cut some tubing to use as the new tunnel. Its basically just a frisco mounted setup, but it has about a 1/2" - 3/4" tunnel to hid a bit of backbone. Also started taping up a template to build my seat/fender combo, not something I have seen a lot of, its sort of half bobber, half cafe or tracker shaped so far:


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Here is the tank bottom ready to go:

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And the tunnel in place:

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Hey, great looking color on your first set up.

Could you possibly put your stock style tank on with your mocked up seat pan/rear fender? I am actually building the same bike now (1982 550 chain drive) and had plans to build up a similar seatpan style, with slightly taller rear shocks and a floating rear fender mounted to the swing arm.

the sporty tank sitting tall looks good though, just not my speed really.

good luck with the rest of the build!

Also, you don't happen to still have those bags and the brackets for them do you?
 
Thanks!

I can see if I can mock that up for you the next time I am in the shop, I have the stock tank sitting there, but need to drain the gas out of it, I hate that they used vacuum lines for the tank, and that there is no "off" setting on the stock petcock.

Something like this though?:


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I have the bags somewhere, but I dont know if everything is still there to attach them. I also have a couple of backrest/luggage racks somewhere.

green91shoplus said:
Hey, great looking color on your first set up.

Could you possibly put your stock style tank on with your mocked up seat pan/rear fender? I am actually building the same bike now (1982 550 chain drive) and had plans to build up a similar seatpan style, with slightly taller rear shocks and a floating rear fender mounted to the swing arm.

the sporty tank sitting tall looks good though, just not my speed really.

good luck with the rest of the build!

Also, you don't happen to still have those bags and the brackets for them do you?
 
Close, But I hate (HATE HATE) when there is that gap between the seat pan and the frame rails. I am planning on cutting the back of the frame off behind the shock mounts and welding in a hoop that follows the arch line of your seatrest part of mock up and then building a seat pan to sit on top of it pretty much dead nuts like the one you have mocked up. I'm just gonna make the backrest part of it a bit more vertical and probably another inch taller to hide as much of the electronics as possible. gonna probably make mine out of sheet metal and weld it together, with a leather seat pad riveted to the pan.

PM me a price if you would consider selling the hardware and the bags. they about look perfect for something else i'm working on.
 
green91shoplus said:
Close, But I hate (HATE HATE) when there is that gap between the seat pan and the frame rails. I am planning on cutting the back of the frame off behind the shock mounts and welding in a hoop that follows the arch line of your seatrest part of mock up and then building a seat pan to sit on top of it pretty much dead nuts like the one you have mocked up. I'm just gonna make the backrest part of it a bit more vertical and probably another inch taller to hide as much of the electronics as possible. gonna probably make mine out of sheet metal and weld it together, with a leather seat pad riveted to the pan.

Yeah, this is getting made out of sheet metal as well, I plan on making the tail section seperate from the seatpan and attaching the wrapped pan to holes drilled in the existing rails and some welded on tabs using something along the lines of auveco door panel clips. It should then stay in place nicely, but remove easily to allow me to access the battery/electronics.

Also, I am not sure about the 1982, but I have a 1981 as well as this 1983 and the frame is slightly different between the two, so it may look a little different in the end, but its minor differences.
 
mine is a chain drive too. yours appears to be a shaft drive?

my tins are the same color yours were stock, big ass ugly seat and stupid pull back bars designed for someone child-sized to ride too.
 
Yeah, they offered both - my '81 is chain drive as well.

green91shoplus said:
mine is a chain drive too. yours appears to be a shaft drive?

my tins are the same color yours were stock, big ass ugly seat and stupid pull back bars designed for someone child-sized to ride too.
 
Didn't get a chance to mock up the old tank with this, my brother took it to a buddies house to try banging some knee dents into it.


Got all the extra tabs removed from the frame, tore out the rear half of the airbox, welded a bung in the frame to mount the rear of the tank w/ a rubber isolator. Rewelded the support tubes near the neck to clear the tank, got the bung for the petcock finalized. Still have to weld two tabs on the frame for the upper tank mounts, already have bolts in place welded in the tank. Also took off the brake pedal to reshape it into a rounded triangle, and radiused the old rear peg/exhaust mounts to eliminate the rear pegs. Finishing the tank and starting on the tail next.


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no worries if you come across them just let me know... looking to make hardbags for my daily rider... the soft bags just get soaked and i ride in the rain once or twice a week!
 
I haven't had much time to work on the bike lately, too busy moving into a new place, but it looks like in a couple hours I am heading out with a buddy so he can pick up a 1981 CB750C. Runs, carbs cleaned, new tires, but needs jetting for the pods the owner threw on - $375!


Should be another fun project.
 
I know its been a while since you posted, but.....Any more progress? Working on a 550 myself, love how we all go so many different ways on our builds. How has the tank gone? Also, are you going to put a brace across the back? I would think you might get some issues with the frame twisting? (very slightly I'm sure). Maybe not though?
 
jelloelstone said:
Anything going on this bike? i love this build, kinda the direction im going with my zuki.

Man, I always forget to check this thing. So far the big updates have involved helping a buddy completely renovate/finish his garage so I can work on the bike in it along with him and my brother (installing a gas heating unit tied into his home gas line and drywall...)

The gas tank is done as far as mounting and the new tunnel. It has a bit of pinhole sealing left before paint.

Did a bit of a teardown and took off anything that remained behind the motor.

On top of that I ordered some parts finally:

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And

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Gotta whip up a headlight mount that'll tuck this sucker tight in between the triple trees and then start on the seat.

I am sticking to my plan to build an all-metal welded on tail section similar to this:

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But of course I havent started it yet.

i am also going to be ordering some of these before I build the seat so I know where the tire will sit with the bike under full load:

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And I also plan on nabbing a set of K&N filters they make for the 550s that has 2 oval filters that feed into 2 cylinders each, rather than 4 small pods like on my other Kawi 550.
I will update once I start to get parts migrated onto the actual bike, not just on top of my dresser.
 
MotorbikeBruno said:
I know its been a while since you posted, but.....Any more progress? Working on a 550 myself, love how we all go so many different ways on our builds. How has the tank gone? Also, are you going to put a brace across the back? I would think you might get some issues with the frame twisting? (very slightly I'm sure). Maybe not though?

The plan for the rear end involves a welded on rear tail section, the bracing for which should add back in anything I took out.

I did ride it for a season chopped though, and I couldn't tell the difference (doesn't mean its not happening though).
 
What kind of headlight is that?!?! Definitely an eyecatcher. Also, is there a corresponding taillight set?
 
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