I bought this 76 550F for $500 earlier this year and due to having a baby, I have been chipping away at it slowly.
The most current status and purchased pics are attached.
I had a local guy powder coat the frame with a satin black and had Harisuluv clean and rebuild the carbs. They look awesome!
I rebuilt the top end- new gaskets all around. It was leaking like a sieve- the head gasket plopped right off as the surfaces were covered in the copper gasket stuff. It did not stick to the gasket, only the aluminum- that was hell to remove. But, with patience, beer and music, I finally had all the surfaces clean. If I find one more gasket...!
After the motor went in, I put on the center stand with a new spring from DSS. I painted the swingarm and centerstand with por15 and topcoated with a semi-gloss from duplicolor.
I installed new tapered bearings in the stearing stem, and installed the forks with new gaiters. Got a repro seat cover from ebay, and put that on yesterday to see how it looks. I'm installing the larger turn signals, because I like the looks of those better, and found the F sissy bar from Tews-
There's a lot left to assemble, and hopefully I'll be able to spend a couple hours a night after baby goes to sleep. She starts daycare in a couple of days, so hopefully she'll be tired at the end of the day!
There are quite a few things I really want to do, but I might wait until this winter- riding season is getting shorter and shorter!