TOPIC:

My kz550 is missing some of the major electrical components(among other things),like the voltage regulator, fuse box, and starter solonoid. I am not sure if the motor is any good and would like to try getting it running before i spend the money to replace some of these parts. How can i get this running without these components? basically, all i need is spark, i can jump the starter motor manually.
Any help much appriciated.

Check the wiring diagram at Loudhvx's website (he is our electrical guru and has 550's).

I think if you put 12 volts to the coils it will also feed the igniter, so that will give you spark, and of course make sure the negative cable (I assume you are using jumper cables) is hooked to the frame.

www.geocities.com/loudgpz/

I don't think the 1980 necessarily has an ignitor. Could be points. Put 12 volts to the coil's positive, as Steell says, that and a good ground connection on the motor is all you need (if the points, advancer, coils, and wires are there).

sorta unrelated but...what year did they lose the kicker?

I was wondering what year they lost the kick start also. My 78 KZ650 has a kick start (which is good since my starter isn't working!) and the 81 LTD 1000 I had before did not a kick start. Anyone else with info?

1980 was the last year for kickstart for both the 650 and 1000 (except possibly the cop bike, maybe 81 for it).

I didn't think the 550 ever had a kickstart, but I may be wrong on that one, I'm not to knowledgable on the 550's

Post edited by: steell, at: 2006/09/13 05:41

Hey guys, Thanks for the info! This bike does have points. I am assuming i should disconnect the gages and headlight to prevent to much current from blowing out the bulbs?
The 77 KZ650 I had did have a kickstarter, KZ550's never came with one. I think KAW dropped the kickstarter on all the bigger bikes around 1979 or 1980.

Thanks again!

You can run your starter off a battery. Use the solenoid because a start button will be handy. If you use a car battery play it safe and put a big fuse inline to protect against goof like shorting it out with a tool when you forget to disconnect from the bike.

Run your ignition off a different battery. Look at the diagram, You can probably pull the ignition fuse and clip the battery lead on to the fuse clip in order to bypass the rest of the bikes electrical system. Use a small inline fuse in this clip lead. I recommend a different battery so you won't be discharging it all the time running the starter and so you can ride her around on the "closed test track" once she;s running. You won't be able to resist so may as well plan for it

Before messing with the ignition you may as well check the compression. You're pssing in the wind if it's not adequate.

-Duck

When you run it, make sure to pull the little yellow or red wire from the coils. That will disconnect the power from the rest of the bike. Then put your battery power to where that wire attached to the coils. The black wire and green wire go to the points, and that's all you need (along with a ground from the battery to engine). The only part on the bike that will be powered up is the ignition and starter. Use an inline fuse like Duck suggested to be safe.

I hooked up everything as instructed. When I turn the engine over I only have spark on cyl number 1 and 4. So I swapped the wires that come from the points thinking that one of the points were bad. Cyl number 1 and 4 still sparked but 2 and 3 still did not. On the 2-3 coil I have power going in but none coming out to the points. The coil also seemed to get warmer than the other one. Looks like a good chance that I have a bad coil. Does any one know how to check the coil with an ohmeter?

Thanks,

By the time I get this typed someone else will probably have answered

Somewhere near 3 ohms (2.8-4.0) on the primary side (Points and power connection), and 17k-23k on the secondary side (between the two plug wires).

This is for the 650s:

By the time I get this typed someone else will probably have answered

Or scanned.

Post edited by: rstnick, at: 2006/09/22 20:55