First bike, First project.

[Guest]

Hello, I'm Aaron. First time road bike owner, probably shouldn't have started with such a basketcase, but its my style. I like old junk. Mostly have experience with dirtbikes and the like.

I am generally working on cars and such, I figured I could get a bike back together easier than completely assembling a car anyhow. Or get my old boat running after sitting 10 years. shouldn't be much different with a bike.

junk I've worked on/swapped.

87 olds, was a v6 car I've had since I was 15, so like 11 years now. right now has an olds 350 and I swapped in a t-56 out of a trans am.




my boat, 59 glasspar avalon. has a 70-71 chrysler 70hp on it, I got it running decent but was having fuel cutout issues. found that the new style marine fuel line sucks balls and collapses when I turn. So, hopefully it gets out this summer more to test that theory. wife liked that purchase for some reason. probably because it was only like 200 bucks. there is a trend like this with the cheap junk I put together. Don't know how much I'll get it out this year with the new addition to the family that showed up at the end of february.





put a couple of these old vw gtis together. this one was a shell when I started. I figure if I have the patience for old vw maintenance that an old bike can't be too bad.



Anyway, heres the bike, picked it up for 300 bucks. 1981 gs1000. Can't figure out exactly what sub model it is, but I figured you guys could help with that, along with possibly having a seat laying around. Haven't looked at the engine numbers yet to make sure the motor wasn't swapped out or anything like that. Have only really started checking the electrical side of things. stator and r/r seem good, have to replace a plug boot that seems spent and then check if the cdi box is doing its job. Perhaps that will be in the next week here when I get some parts. Carbs are pretty cruddy but the slides and everything move ok, ordered an o-ring kit for them so I'll be getting started on that here in a bit.




only real weird thing I have found so far under the seat, is there seems to be an extra h4 plug wired in there. haven't figured out what it does yet, got cold again up here, and now we are expecting a snowstorm again tomorrow. I just want it to be spring.

anyway, hi, I'll probably end up asking some sort of silly question here before I get it working again, but who knows.

[GateKeeper]

Hello and Welcome to the site.....

here is the official/unofficial Welcome package for you, getting out to you sooner rather than latter as it seems your well on your way to getting your hands dirty on your new bike....

Cheers

Greetings and Salutations,

Every once in a while I will miss a new member or two and they may not receive their proper greeting. If you are here you probably have a 30 year old motorcycle that needs about 20 years worth of maintenance. In the links below you'll find maintenance lists, documentation, wiring diagrams, "how to" guides, vendor links, tips, tricks, and a whole lot of GS goodness. This is your "mega-welcome". Let's get started.

Let me dump a TON of information on you and share some GS lovin'.

I just stopped by to welcome you to the forum in my own, special way.

If there's anything you'd like to know about the Suzuki GS model bikes, and most others actually, you've come to the right place. There's a lot of knowledge and experience here in the community. Come on in and let me say "HOoooowwwDY!"....

Here is your very own magical, mystical, mythical, mind-expanding "mega-welcome". Please take notice of the "Top 10 Common Issues", "Top 15 Tips For GS Happiness", the Carb Cleanup Series, and the Stator Papers. All of these tasks must be addressed in order to have a safe, reliable machine. This is what NOT to do: Top 10 Newbie Mistakes. Now let me roll out the welcome mat for you...



Please Click Here For Your Mega-Welcome, chock full of tips, suggestions, links to vendors, and other information. Then feel free to visit my little BikeCliff website where I've been collecting the wisdom of this generous community. Don't forget, we like pictures! Not you, your bike!

More links to helpful threads in the forum:
Help! Your Bike Won't Start
DON'T DO THESE THINGS
Help! Your Bike Won't Run Well
Oh God! Pods!


Thanks for joining us. Keep us informed.

Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

[GSX1000E]

I love the Euro-Cutlass. How did you manage the 5-speed linkage? What donor car did you get the missing parts from? The TA?
The GS is an L model. You will need at least an L model seat pan to work with and some normal handlebars to save you from opening a vein.
Looking forward to what kind of magic you work on this one.

[smooth_358]

What "normal bars" work with the same controls and everything without too much dinking around? By normal I mean stock stuff, unless there is an affordable aftermarket option. Looks like maybe the e model type bars are more straight?

The seat has been elusive as I don't really want to drop 100 bucks on one for a 300 bike as of right now, plus shipping or something from ebay. Also haven't decided what I want to do there, as I don't think the wife would really ride with me, bikes scare her a bit, so I'm torn between trying my hand at a single seat, and shortening up the fender. I'm torn. Getting it running decent is priority atm anyway.


6 speed, doesn't have a linkage. the t-56 is a toploader. the position of the shifter is actually pretty decent into the stock console. clutch pedals were a set someone modified for a g-body monte that had a t-5. full hydraulic master/slave. master is out of a 95-96 camaro/transam what have you, and the slave is a slip on one from mcleod.



crossmember is custom, had a friend fab it up from some drawings I made at work. can kind of see it here.



bellhousing is an expensive guy from mcloed, had to get an adaptor bushing for the crank as its a stepped one for an olds to chevy. Newer chevy stuff and old oldsmobile stuff doesn't get along well.

[smooth_358]

Looking at the first picture again of the bike, that pic was from the seller, It looks like it had a header of some sort on it? The pipes that came with it are what looks like the stock pipes, and are painted or powedercoated black.

Do you guys think that is a header of sorts?

Suppose i'll have to take note of the jet size when i pull the carbs apart in case they changed em to account for that.

[bonanzadave]

now we are expecting a snowstorm again tomorrow. I just want it to be spring.

I hear ya . Where R U ?

[smooth_358]

Im down in rosemount

[bonanzadave]

Im straight across CR46 in Lakeville. What lake is that in your pic ?

[loud et]

That extra h4 plug is probably the plug for the turn signal relay or turn signal self cancelling unit. (I could be wrong)
Welcome here!
Get into Bass cliffs site for a ton of answers!
It helped me big time.

[smooth_358]

Im straight across CR46 in Lakeville. What lake is that in your pic ?

Definitely not to far from me.

The lake is cannon lake, down by faribault. I used to rent shop space with a guy down by there, this was right after I got my 6 spd swap done.

[smooth_358]

well, started tearing into the carbs last night. Seems they must be some sort of transition carb, the body is stamped/etched? 49150 instead of whats shown on the bikecliff chart (49160).

anyhow there must have been some sort of work done to this bike, or they were trying to compensate for a vacuum leak or something since it has 160 main jets in it. I'll have to buy some a little closer to stock, looks like a 110 or 115 is what should be in there. still has the stock 40 pilot jets, and the number on the air jet seems to be 200. looks like it needs to be 160? I'm not sure where I can get those?



also the pilot jet was about 2 turns out, are these not supposed to be snug?

[smooth_358]

Carbs are done and put back together.

next step was putting new plug boots on the coils, got them to ohm out pretty close to each other. Stuck them back on the bike today.

put a new gasket on the stator housing after the stator ohmed out good, and then went to check the points. Well I got a bonus there, seems to have some sort of dyna ignition on it. Not sure how you identify the difference between them? I had a picture but magically my phone made it dissapear. So now its full of oil and I dont feel like pulling the cover. Or does the pick up side not have oil in it?

Anyhow, picked up a new battery and got it charged up the other day. Threw it in and cranked it over to see what would happen in the spark department. Cranks over, nothing. Figured I should unplug and plug all the connectors in since its been sitting for idk how long. Last tabs were 99. Give it a crank again and viola, spark on all cylinders. Sweet.

perhaps this week ill toss the pipes on and carbs and see what happens.

have a couple of exhaust bolts to extract though. Have yet to decide my direction at attacking those first.

anyway. Today is a mini victory for me.

[Buddy]

The pilots (if you're talking about the mixture screws) should not be snug. 2 turns out should get you started. Then fine tune for highest idle from there.

81 would have had electronic ignition from the factory. No oil in the right side front cover.

I have a seat from an 82 GS850GL that should work on that bike. It's not perfect by any means but is usable. How's $50 plus shipping sound.

Good luck and ride safe.

Buddy

[smooth_358]

no, I meant the pilot main jet was loose in one of the carbs.

Strange, I figured the pick ups would still be points on an 81. either way its nice to not have to worry about them. The manual I grabbed to reference of bikecliffs site I guess is for an 80.

gonna send you a pm about the seat.

[smooth_358]

Well it seems like whatever pipes the dude gave me with the bike are definitely not for it. I think they are for an 1100 or something. They are in the way of the sidestand but I bolted em on loose to try and fire it up. Primed it with some fuel in a bottle and gave it a try. Seemed to fire right up and idled alright until I tried to take it off choke. Forgot to plug the petcock vacuum line. Anyhow.