GSX 400 F inline four from Poland

[Guest]

Hi,

I have already written at least two topics full of questions but I guess that I forgot to introduce myself. I like to call myself Himer it's a very old nickname from the past and with a very long story, some people in my country call me "Gearbox". I prefer nickname because pronouncing name Ireneusz is really hard for anyone. Currently I am 21 years old. I come from Poland and I live in Wroclaw. By the education and papers I am an Electrical Technician but my work is strictly servicing PCs and printers(I love that job by the way). Currently I do own 3 motorcycles. Two probably completely unknown here. Classic Polish WSK 125cc from 1984 and Czechoslovakian CZ 350 model 472.6 350cc from year 1987. WSK reminds me of my father, it was his motorcycle(he is dead), Cezet is my own buy and 5 years long story that is close to finish(complete rebuild to fatory state). Well Czechoslovakian piece seems to be bulletproof literally. I had 5 seizures on a very long trip to home and made it back on wheels plus you can repair it with very simple tools on the side of the road. Probably I should just say it is just a two stroke, that's why. While doing rebuild on Czechoslovakian "road bullet" I was really hungry for a saddle. So I started looking for GS 500 which is an amateur motorcycle in my country. I do ride for more than 5 years, yeah mostly without license made. But in some time law in my country changed so I am stuck for now up to 48 horse power and nothing widely available is good for my license(I did both for motorcycles and cars). I saw literally 8 GS 500s which were completely piece of junk for 4000 PLN.

I gave up. I was sitting in armchair smoking cigarette and drinking some good czech beer when my friend called me(he knew I was searching for a saddle). He gave me info on GSX 400 F katana. The one with gear indicator. I called the owner, ok everything is settled I am going in 100% to get a live look and ride and told him to keep it for me. I have arrived well in the evening but she was sitting in a very good iluminated garage so I could see everything. Then test ride with cold look and cold mind. Running straight, I got every bill for parts and total list what was done. For 2700 PLN she was just ready, everything payed including insurance.

Now she is with me. She had a burnt stator but with the original R/R one phase was enough to keep bike running there was a bottleneck in city. Problem is now resolved with replaced stator and SH-572A R/R which is barely warm. I loved this bike after some time, especially the engine. It is small, yes. 45 HP, okay... But God, it gives me eargasms. Plus I call her "Pretty Little Psycho". Rev her on gears up to 12k rpm you will get what I say I may be too serious about maintenance but I do check everything within the "Periodical Maintenance Section". Drivetrain serviced every 1000 km.

In dead season I need to:
- Retorqe cylinder head
- Check valves again
- Check and correct synchro
- Adjust mixture on all 4 carbs because slow system is flooding the engine
- Change tires to proper size(she has bad ones, good quality but wrong size)
- Change front fork oil(I know there is SAE #5 instead of #15 which is listed in manual)
- For a good measure, new spark plugs, oil, filter, cleaning of oil sump filter, new brake fluid

For now she doesn't have any major malfunctions I can ride her without worries. Kilometres just go one after another so I will need to make my list a thing.

It comes from Sweden so it is legit Swedish version. I have original front fender, back construction is also original excluding the case mount. Full fork covers are not original too, beneath are perfect forks but I am not touching it. She has 33 years, made in 1983 without any rebuild. I do not plan any rebuild it would be just simply destroying the taste of this bike. For its mileage and age it is almost perfect. 83 000 km on speedo right now.

And some pic:

IMAG0067.jpg

[Deuce]

Welcome and it is pretty clean! I'd remove the rack, though, but that's just me.

I am a copier repairman, so I guess we are in similar field.

[AMK]

Great story and nice bike.

[ddaniels]

Sweet looking little bike. Love the blue color. I would leave the rack on personally so you can strap down a printer if you want. Welcome to the forum and have fun.

[GS1150Pilot]

Great little bike!

[Himer]

She needs some work but she is like my daughter. You know I wish I will have a real daughter in the future, probably a matter of time. I will post some pics from circuit and a film in a short time. Probably I will do a fly by.

Edit 31-08-2016 at in my time 19:45 PM:

Recently I have been to a circuit, outside temp 30 degrees celsius, I have been riding her for 2 hours there without a stop. No malfunctions. It was a small circuit so going more than 3rd geard wasn't an option. Suspension feels hmm dizzy, weird? She has also few items placed too low to the ground. This isn't a bike to go on a knee, weight distribution and a big lack of stability when angle goes down while doing turns. Still a lot of fun though. I get a feeling that engine is far more advanced than the frame which is soft and suspension is really primitive compared to nowadays constructions.

Here is a photo, for now one I am waiting for some more. My jacket is loose and jeans are the special ones with protectors but I need to change them because literally since I bought them I lost 20 kg of weight.
#20160826.jpg

I couldn't bend the suspension more on this one. I tried to go more than 60 but I had a very unsafe loss of stability and I am not kinda into patching her up after crash.

EDIT 12.12.16:

I have ended my season in early october. Ridden 5500 kilometres in 3 months including a few trips in Czech Republic(such a great country). The sound from valve cover isn't a very pleasing one... Two or three valves are "ticking". I went to a guy who has a lot experience with older Japaneese bikes I took her to him to have a look on her and he said: "It's an old "oiler" it doesn't leak a lot, only sweats in oil under the cylinder head and under the cylinders. You can throw a lot of money and it can start leaking even more so you better clean her more often than usual". So that summarizes that I shouldn't dismantle it a lot excluding only valve cover for known "issues" there. Hmm what more, front suspension is bent, sadly I can't get any replacement so I bought front from GS 400E which apparently has 10mm less stroke than mine. I hope that at least the slider tubes are compatible. A lot of rust and grime under the tube covers around the seal doesn't tell anything good about this suspension. Now I have a reason for a lot of shimmy at 170 kph. So... the engine is a little unknown yet. I don't know if proper valve adjustment will help or I am in a very need of reworking the head. Carburetors need rebuild. Diaphraghms are stiff and they need adjustment. I think they are just begging for it. She is under work. I only hope that engine isn't wearing flat, rework will cost a small fortune. In my case I will need to press new bores into the cylinder body because there are none oversize pistons available. I have only traced oem stock size ones and the rings too.

There are two options:

a) flat out this engine and place it in garage
b) or try to source one with lesser mileage with healthy engine, so I am just looking for a donor.

I will see, when I bought her she had around 12 bar on each cylinder, still goes factory vmax. Engine "eats" 0,6L of oil between oil change so I think it even matches today's car's engine specification about oil consumtion(some GS 500 are eating a lot more, my friend refilled 3 times in a season I haven't had to do it). Only cylinder head is a little of mystery. There is a little of smoke on very high rpm but on everyday commuting - no smoke. Anyways I will let you know when she is finished.