Swapping GPZ500 parts

[stinkwheel]

Some stuff I learned over the last couple of days. Got a running but crashed older model one and a non-running D-model. Decided to take several bits off the newer one to fix up the old one.

I know some people have been doing stuff along these lines, might be helpful.

You can fit the whole top-fairing and front subframe from one model to the other, fits fine.

All the snap connectors for the headlamps and flashers fit as-is.

The snap connectors for the clocks fit too BUT the wires are in a different order. If you take a very fine precision screwdriver, you can get the terminals out of the blocks on the clockset and rearrange them so everything works. All the lights work fine, the rev counter reads HALF the revs it should do (presumably if you fitted a newer model loom to an older bikes clocks, the rev counter would read double). The speedo reads wrong, this must be due to the differing wheel sizes but it is not far out.

The temperature guage reads higher but I think this is correct, I always thought my D-model one ran pretty hot, it now appears this is just a feature of the scale on the guage.

Bar clamps and standard drag-bars do not foul the fairing.

Now my impressions. The look of the bike is a bit wierd, a very flat profile down the front with the smaller front wheel and the later fairing. Makes the bike look a lot more tucked-in and sporty. The aerodynamics of the later fairing are MUCH better, I was going to fit the bigger wheel but the new fairing has the existing wheel nailed to the road, makes the whole thing much more stable at speed. Iwill be keeping the smaller wheel for the faster turning this gives.

All this took about 4-hours from having both bikes parked next to each other to having the 'good' one fully dressed and running.

Then I ran into problems, I was changing over the exhausts, replacing the standard one for a Motad 2-1. The last stud I came to had been replaced with a high-tensile steel bolt which sheared in the head I spent another 9 hours getting this fixed, tried every trick in the book including: Lashings of WD40, mole-grips, heat (whole can of blowlamp gas), cutting a nut in half and using the two halfs to undo it, stud extractor, welding a nut on the end. Landed up drilling it out with a 6.5mm drill up the middle (VERY carefully and slowly!) and running a tap through it.

Oh, and halfords red high temperature paint does not cope with the heat of an exhaust.

I will post piccys later when I get back from my ride-out, I am very pleased with the results, the bike looks like a POS but handles better than it ever has, the 2-1 exhaust seems to have give the bike a bit more mid-range (which is notoriously flat on the GPZ500).
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“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.