GT550A (1977)

I've owned several GT380s since the late 70s and even had a GT750 briefly in the 80s, but never had a GT550. So when one came up locally I got it, along with a GT250 he was also selling. Both of these were in very good condition.

Then very shortly after another 550 came up for sale around 2 miles from my house, so had to get that once as well!

This is that 2nd bike. It wasn't in the best condition but was mainly all working but in need of some TLC and I could tell the engines crank seals needed doing.

Pictures of the bike when I got it below.

In truth the pictures make the bike look a lot better than it actually was. A lot of the niggles under the bonnet, bearings, some electrical problems a fair few dents and dings and a lot of bolt thread issues to sort out. But the chap was genuine and the price was good.

After many hours in the garage and with most things sorted, except the engine seals, it was good to go. The red tank had a few issues so used a newly painted black tank & panels (thanks to John at BoyzToyz in Brentwood). The paint job was actually for a GT380 which was another project I had at the time, but seen a lot of 550s online also using these colours.

Wheels were a bit scruffy so went with some period CMA wheels which were refurbished by CTC in Maldon. Frame and other black parts also stripped and powder coated by CTC.

Exhausts had a fair few scrapes and dings so got a set of Higgspeed Expansions. Stainless Steel and way lighter than the originals.

Engine : I was planning on getting the crank done by Chris Applebee and the blasting work by CTC, but came across someone selling an engine which had already been restored and managed to get a decent price which was not that far off what it would have cost me to get bits done and if I'd then rebuilt it all myself, plus I'd get a spare engine! No brainer really.

Lots of new and NOS parts needed to replaced bits which were either worn-out, broken or missing.

Replaced the forks, handlebars, levers, indicators, footrests, shocks, mudguards and a lot of nuts, bolts, washers and rubbers.

Engine looked fantastic but wanted to check it out to make sure fluids etc. were all good.

Plus I wanted to get the top end off to help with fitting into the frame.

Overall it seemed a good job and well worth the money, but did find a few niggles which needed to be sorted.

A few of the studs and threads into the cases were poor and needed to be repaired and replaced. A couple fo the studs used were much larger which suggested the problem was known when built and it was an attempted work around.

Also had an issue with the clutch not working as it should and amongst other things discovered that one of the two rods were not the right size, so not engaging properly. Easily sorted by getting one of the right size.

The last problem I found was after I'd tried to run the engine and had oil coming out of the bottom. It seemed to be coming from the Starter Motor housing and as the bike was still not fully rebuilt I took the tank and pipes off and laid it on its side. The bolts holding the motor in place had not been tightened and so the oil was coming out of the seal. Quick fix, but lucky it was found when it was.

Ignition : Initially setup the bike with a Boyer ignition system. Used this many times on the 380s over the years and they work well. But heard about these Accent systems and wanted to give one of those kits a try.

On the Boyer setup there's a lot of work required to fit. The unit is actually designed for the Kawasaki KH250, so the first thing you need to do is either strip the old Points setup off the leave just the backing plate and then screw the plate from the kit to it, or find an old baseplate and use that. Then you need to either attach diode wiring directly into the harness (I don't like that method) or into the wires coming from each of the coils. Either way you need to cut and join wires. Lastly you need to find somewhere to put the digital black box (typically on the battery box or, as I like it, under the tank).

Compared to all that malarky the Accent is a breeze as all the necessary electronics are on the circuit board which you place on the crank where the old points setup was originally. The rest is just plug in wires.

On the setup side the Accent also wins hand down. The Boyer needs to be dialled in as you would with points, whereas the Accent had a red indicator light so that as you turn the engine it tell you where the correct point is.

As it stands today.