1978 GS550 Build

A

ajgs550

New Member
Picked up a Neglected, garage fresh, 1978 GS550 for a few hundred bucks . . . fully equipped with a lovely hand painted cobra on the tank . . .

I have loved the style of cafe bikes for some time and thought I would try my hand at it. I was eager to work on the GS550 because there are not a lot of cafe's out there.
 
sweet! thats the same color that my 78 gs550 was when i got it. mine had a fairing and hard saddlebags and a trunk too ::)

heres how mine is now...

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and i noticed you posted two posts, probably on accident. keep all your updates on the bike in this thread.
 
Hey nice work man! I'm just trying to figure out the whole posting thing on here . . . I have the bike about 60% done, I just have to figure out how to get the pics on here.

what kind of mufflers are on your bike, are they stock?
 
When I bought the bike it didn't run, had spark, but nothing else . . .

Time to start:
New Wheel Bearings (Front and rear)
Carb kits
New Battery
 

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You say there was a cobra painted on the tank? I heard there was a guy known only as "Rusty" that was notorious for painting GS550 gas tanks across the upper midwest.
 
Haha . . . very funny "imptegra" To bad the signature was "Trusty" I was wondering when you were going to see my thread . . . figured I have pile of reciepts and way too man pictures to count, I might as well share the info . . .
 
binnyblanco said:
4 into 1 kerker
Click to expand...

I see you have a Kerker, I have looked high and low for a kerker, Marshall, or Vance exhaust but could not find one for the 550 '77-'79 anywhere. Is you're pipe a survivor?
I recienly ordered a MAC 4-1 because I thought that was the only make I could get for my bike (new). I've heard mixed reviews on the MAC pipes. I've heard many ditch the stock muffler. Pipe should be here in a week or so . . . guess I'll have to be the judge. I'll post photos when it gets here.

You're bike looks kick @ss . . . Very clean lines from tank to seat pan. I really like the shape of that pipe, I'm hoping the MAC is a similar fit.
 
ajgs550 said:
I see you have a Kerker, I have looked high and low for a kerker, Marshall, or Vance exhaust but could not find one for the 550 '77-'79 anywhere. Is you're pipe a survivor?
I recienly ordered a MAC 4-1 because I thought that was the only make I could get for my bike (new). I've heard mixed reviews on the MAC pipes. I've heard many ditch the stock muffler. Pipe should be here in a week or so . . . guess I'll have to be the judge. I'll post photos when it gets here.

You're bike looks kick @ss . . . Very clean lines from tank to seat pan. I really like the shape of that pipe, I'm hoping the MAC is a similar fit.
Click to expand...


PO had purchased the exhaust...not sure where he got it. He said he purchased things from old bike barn mostly.
 
The tank had some character, and I was close to leaving the cobra on the tank . . . but I could not get myself to do it. Sorry cobra . . . you have to go.
 

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Fitted the bike with a new set of Shinko's which was only a tease becuase not soon after I ripped the engine out.

I was getting weak compression and thought it was the rings, but it ended up being rock hard valve seats, and about an 1/8" layer of carbon on top of the pistons. I think the PO just blubbered around with it until it would run anymore. I don't think the poor girl has seen the high RPM's for a while. Just in case the carbon issue was ignition related I ordered new points on condensers.

The pics below show the engine with the head off. One mistake I made was I didn’t clean well behind the head between the starter. When I started breaking the head loose, all kinds of sh%t started coming loose, and some fell in the crank case. Not good. I ended up dropping the pan, and taking all covers (stator and clutch) off to flush and properly clean the engine.
 

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ajgs550 said:
The tank had some character, and I was close to leaving the cobra on the tank . . . but I could not get myself to do it. Sorry cobra . . . you have to go.
Click to expand...

good decision. that cobra was gay ;)
 
I don't know if I saw that cobra I would be like "hey that is one bad mofo" or I would think he was fighting against GI JOE.
 
Just found this thread thanks to Go1 doing the organising! I like the direction. Did you make your rear sets or buy them. I would like to see more about them, they look pretty kewl! Check out my zooki! Eileen (link in my sig)

Keep up the work and the thread!
Cheers!
Brandon
 
binnyblanco said:
I don't know if I saw that cobra I would be like "hey that is one bad mofo" or I would think he was fighting against GI JOE.
Click to expand...

My thoughts exactly man . . . well sad report the cobra is no more . . .
 
Inspecting the cylinders it looked like you could still see some cross-hatching from the initial machine work, so that was a good sign. Plus ring gaps were well with in spec. I proceeded to hone the cylinders and fit the pistons with new rings since I had everything apart.
 
Some more shots of the engine. Took off both engine covers for some polishing/inspection. Getting them off was not easy as I'm sure all of you know.
 
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