Two, yes I said two 1978 suzuki gs550s. Story is a friend offered me up super cheap and supposedly ran a few years back, one has a title and is a good bike and other is a parts bike.
Let's start with a quick look over of the bad first.
Bad:
No air box
Leaking fuel lines/petcock
Flat tires
Front brake is utterly trashed
No side covers
PO "rebuilt" the carbs
Wiring looks terrible
Good:
New tires
Has compression
Pretty clean
Parts bike has some good parts for it
2019 date code battery
Plan on getting it running and see how I feel. I don't think I will do much to it beyond buzz around/commute.
Made a parts order and we are $300 deep so far.
I bought one of those as my first bike for $200. The starter gear was messed up so it was kick start only and a ton of fun.
In reply to EvanB (Forum Supporter) :
This one spins over on the starter. I'm quite excited. I'll bring it by when it's running for you to ride around on !
First job was fixing the petcock as the bike gets taken apart. 
One of the reflectors got knocked off loading it and found this underneath.
haha whaddya know? that looks pretty cool hiding under there!
Pulled the carbs off while I wait for parts, and boy did this turn out interesting.
PO said carbs where rebuilt by his father in-law. This is the single worst rebuild I have ever seen. 3 carbs didn't have bowl gaskets, the bowls where spotless, the carb bodies where nasty as can be.
Taking my time to tear them down since everything that's a flat head is stripped out.
I keep wondering whether one of this era of the smaller GS, KZ, or CB could make a kart track sized early Superbike...
Bobber.
Oh, please: build a bobber!
The king/queen aftermarket seat can go, but please don't build a bobber - way too many nice old bikes have been ruined by that trend already. A GS550 is well worth getting it back to decent running condition and then use it for what it is, an excellent all around mid-size UJM.
ddavidv
PowerDork
12/14/20 6:40 a.m.
The Bobber craze is the equivalent of stance in the automotive world.
In reply to Jesse Ransom (FFS) :
I did a few hot laps on a cafe cb360 I built years ago. It wasn't to bad.
SkinnyG (Forum Supporter) said:
Bobber.
Oh, please: build a bobber!
Bobbers arnt my style. This bike hasn't spoken to me yet. Honestly not even sure I'm going to keep it.
In reply to ddavidv :
It's almost bad as the cafe craze was.
In reply to stuart in mn :
The "king queen" seat is honestly terribly uncomfortable for my large stature.
I'm leaning to some updating in lighting and just riding it.
Got bored and tore the carbs down and look what I found under the seat. it's like thin tin foil, I'm 90% sure it's from the seal of a fuel treatment since the bike had zero fuel filters.
Stripped far as I was wanting and in the ultrasonic.
Professor_Brap (Forum Supporter) said:
Got bored and tore the carbs down and look what I found under the seat. it's like thin tin foil, I'm 90% sure it's from the seal of a fuel treatment since the bike had zero fuel filters.
Stripped far as I was wanting and in the ultrasonic.
This is not helping my to NOT buy one of these things. Ive been looking at them for a while now but haven't yet caved. Sooooonnn!
In reply to wawazat :
I'm jealous of that capacity, but I'm amazed at how good the cheap HF unit is if you can live with the small size.
Jesse Ransom (FFS) said:
In reply to wawazat :
I'm jealous of that capacity, but I'm amazed at how good the cheap HF unit is if you can live with the small size.
I got a small one for the same price as a HF one that seems to be super high quality. 
wawazat said:
Professor_Brap (Forum Supporter) said:
Got bored and tore the carbs down and look what I found under the seat. it's like thin tin foil, I'm 90% sure it's from the seal of a fuel treatment since the bike had zero fuel filters.
Stripped far as I was wanting and in the ultrasonic.
This is not helping my to NOT buy one of these things. Ive been looking at them for a while now but haven't yet caved. Sooooonnn!
Between gun stuff, small engine, motorcycle, old house, tools, and cars I normally have something in mine.
Yeah shooting stuff crossed my mind as did small engine carbs which always seem to cause me grief.
In reply to wawazat :
Small carbs I strip and plop in with some dish soap and seems to work wonderful
Played with the gs a little today.
Fired the gs on starter fluid.
The wiring is bad, but definitely can be fixed. Twisted and taped wires and stuff sniped off.
Any experts in gs wiring here?
If so, anyone know where the front brake light switch wires tie in?
Edit:found what I needed.
Edit: added photo of wiring diagram for thoes who can use it.
Just do an image search on GS550 Wiring Diagram, there are a bunch of them out there.
In reply to stuart in mn :
Found a good one. Took a few trys to find one with the same color wires. I appreciate it.
Professor_Brap (Forum Supporter) said:
In reply to stuart in mn :
Found a good one. Took a few trys to find one with the same color wires.
yeah, trying to paint wires different colors when they're so close together can be difficult...
it seems easier than trying to find one online
