Hello. New member, but been trawling through the threads here for a while. Lots and lots of good information. Wow.

To cut a long story short, I got given a "dead" '82 XT550 (missing a few bits, but nothing particularly urgent, slightly bent frame, slightly dead motor, etc), and I'm in the process of recovering it to runnable state, at which point I'll probably be losing my VF500F2.

So, questions.

1: Rear shock. Looks to be in a fairly poor state, and once I've managed to extract the bloody thing from the swingarm (25 years of rust and crud holding the clevis pin in place, sigh) I'll probably be looking to replace it. As XT550s are a bit "hens teeth" in the breakers, I was wondering if anyone knew of other shocks that might be "persuaded" to fit whilst I'm trying to convince the missus that spending a few hundred quid chez Hagon is a good idea (and while I'm convincing myself that the engine is actually good enough to spend money on the chassis)

2: Exhaust. Apart from some (in surprisingly good nick) headers, I don't have one. If I can't find an original or something that can be adapted at the breakers, I have a line on some very cheap Sito brand zorsts imported from Germany. Anyone have experience with these?

3: Wiring. I have a wiring diagram, I have a regulator, I have a CDI, I have a coil, but I have no other electrical bits at all - no loom, no switchgear, etc. What's the *absolute minimum* I need to be able to try starting the motor? I'm guessing reg/rect to feed the CDI, CDI, coil and a jury rigged stop switch. Or will the CDI run the hot side without 12V (brown/red from alternator to CDI, orange/black from CDI to coil, and earth?)

Any help on any of the above would be appreciated. Thanks.

Simon