Project: 1985 GS550ES

As a suggestion for tires take a look at Bridgestone BT-45's and Pirelli Sport Demons.

The BT-45s are touring tires... pretty hard in the center and soft on the edges to give you a good mix of long life and cornering confidence... They are a very capable tire and even work well in the rain. If you push things though you will find thier limits.

The Sport Demons are more sporting than touring. Very sticky by comparison. Fine handling in the wet or dry... You sacrifice tire life though...


There's some tricks you can do with tires to make the bike handle radically different...
The stock front is a 100 and the rear is a 120...
Bridgestone makes the BT-45's in 120 for both the front and rear... This makes the bike very stable. Unfortunately that stability sacrifices some of the "tippyness"(made up the word) of the bike. You have to wrestle it a bit more to get it to corner for you.

Right now for a mix of stability at high speed and ease of cornering I'm running a 110 up front and a 120 on the back. The bike tips in very nicely and still feels very stable at speed.

Roll Credits

I wanted to say "Thanks!" to all those who have contributed to the success of "Phase One" (getting the bike ride-able) of this project. Everyone who has dropped by, offered encouragement, advice, tips, suggestions, opinion and shared the benefits of their experience and expertise deserves a round of applause and should know their input has been very much appreciated. In particular, here are the names of a few that have been particularly helpful and managed to offer something that truly made my experience better by making the job easier, making me more informed, making the job faster/enabling me to do it once, etc. So Special Thanks to:

JTsGS650 (first reply post other than me, let me know I had a backup!)
lord1234 (spark plug and carb advice)
Steve (Saved me mis-reading my torque wrench and major Torque issues. This was huge as I almost certainly would've done some damage!)
LeeGS550E (confirmed that I did NOT want to remove the throttle plates)
Nerobro (Excellent carb removal "tricks" and overall knowledge of 550's. I'd still pay to see him remove, clean and replace his carbs in 10 minutes!
skreemer (identified UIW (Un-Identified Wire) oil sensor wire and planted the idea of upgrading to a GSXR shock)
foghog (helped identify UIH's (hoses) from fuel tank)
Thomas Kenny (letting me know he had extra carb parts...just in case)

Thanks very much!

PS: Stay tuned. I'll be sure to keep this thread rolling as I get into Phase Two (get the bike Safe & RELIABLE) of this project. I work slow, but I alwyas finish the race!

Congratulations on a job well done and well documented
:-) Gizmo

Thanks very much. Hopefully the documentation will be of use to some other GS-ers.

Bump!! Did Anyone Read My Post Above?

FYI: I did. Unfortunately, I've never done a proper vacuum sync...but it's on the list! Best of luck with yours!

Congrats, great feeling isn't it? I offer only this advise...since you're going to be back on the road: buy some new tires. If you really trust the tires are okay on it, great, but having it sit for years (rubber ages) they can develop cracks on the sidewalls or flatspots.

Consider taking the MSF rider safety course too as a refresher for your riding skills, too.

Enjoy!

~Adam

YES IT IS a great feeling!

The tires are number one on the list before I take this for anything more than a ride around the block. Their in great shape, visally, but after several years of sitting, I just will not trust that their not something of a hazard. IMHO, the tires are the most important safety feature of any motorcycle and I refuse to skimp or take chances in any way.

I actually to the BRCII as a refresher last year right before my uncle gave me this bike. My plan at the time was to buy new but then this gift came along! This year I'm hoping to take an advanced course if I can find an open spot.

Thanks for your thoughts!

That rust crud is usually varnished gasoline. The same rust crud clogs the small jets and passages in the carbs, which is why people 'dip' them to soften the crud.

I had a 550 that sat in a barn for a few years. I cleaned the carbs out diligently, but it never ran right. I later found, only after seperating each carb body (what a pain in the arse) that the fuel feed line passages between the carb bodies was clogged with varnished gas. This restricted the fuel flow to the carbs significantly.

FWIW, I never dipped any of my carbs to clean them. I always used the spray carb cleaner (buy a good brand like Gumout!) and took each piece out and hosed it and the passage it went in. Use a small brush on other parts.

~Adam

Well, the varnish seems to be gone from these carbs. I was gonna do the dip, but at the last minute I decided to stick with Gumout carb cleaner (spray). That's what I used in 1987 to get the carbs on my first bike cleaned up and it seems to have been all that I needed here, plus I finished the job with compressed air.

Congratulations on a job well done and well documented
:-) Gizmo

So far the carbs look very clean except for rust (or a rust-like sediment) in the bowls.

That rust crud is usually varnished gasoline. The same rust crud clogs the small jets and passages in the carbs, which is why people 'dip' them to soften the crud.

I had a 550 that sat in a barn for a few years. I cleaned the carbs out diligently, but it never ran right. I later found, only after seperating each carb body (what a pain in the arse) that the fuel feed line passages between the carb bodies was clogged with varnished gas. This restricted the fuel flow to the carbs significantly.

FWIW, I never dipped any of my carbs to clean them. I always used the spray carb cleaner (buy a good brand like Gumout!) and took each piece out and hosed it and the passage it went in. Use a small brush on other parts.

ALL SAME TIME (ONLY HAS TWO) I THINK THE PETCOCK MAY BE BAD, BUT NOT REALLY SURE HOW TO CHECK IT.

Make sure you plug the vacuum lines to the petcock and carbs if you are trying to sync the carbs. It will run funny and not balance if you do not plug the lines. Use a 'remote fuel tank' to provide gas to the engine. Set up a table next to your bike, buy a longer fuel hose, and run it to the carbs. Now you can run without the tank on the bike.

Yeeeeeeeeeeeeehaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Twice around the block and NO issues!!!!!

Congrats, great feeling isn't it? I offer only this advise...since you're going to be back on the road: buy some new tires. If you really trust the tires are okay on it, great, but having it sit for years (rubber ages) they can develop cracks on the sidewalls or flatspots.

Consider taking the MSF rider safety course too as a refresher for your riding skills, too.

Enjoy!

~Adam

If it won't run with the sync tool hooked up, you must have something wrong. Are you trying to sync them all together or one at a time?

ALL SAME TIME (ONLY HAS TWO) I THINK THE PETCOCK MAY BE BAD, BUT NOT REALLY SURE HOW TO CHECK IT.

It's Alive and it wants to Run!!!!!!

Yeeeeeeeeeeeeehaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Twice around the block and NO issues!!!!! \\/

I finally got the time (and the bolts, at Ace Hardware) to complete final phase of re-installing the carbs, air box, battery box, igniter, fuse box, battery, fuel tank and then the seat! (I haven't seen the seat on this thing in over two months. I almost forgot what it looked like!).

I fired it up late last night for just a moment. Started on the first try! Almost couldn't sleep in anticipation of taking it out for a test ride around the block today. Had a ton of stuff to do before I could get to the bike today, but when I finally did, again, it started right up, like it was just as anxious to get out of the garage as I was. It's like we were cured Vampires that hadn't been outside in the daylight for centuries.

Now that it's running I'll start thinking about how to make it even better, but for the moment I'm just gonna get it registered and enjoy riding! \\/ \\/

Almost without exception, the bolts on your bike are just standard metric thread bolts.

IIRC it's a m5 bolt. nothing fancy. It's not something that's highly stressed, so don't worry about it to much.

....

FYI: Turned out it was an m6 that was the match.

No but at that torque I'm surprized you were able to shear the head off. 6 lb's is slightly more than snug, anything stronger than cheap plastic should have stood up to the test...

Agreed. My only guess is that the bolt had aged in dog years for the last 22 years! :-D

[Dave8338]

If it won't run with the sync tool hooked up, you must have something wrong. Are you trying to sync them all together or one at a time?

Bump!! Did Anyone Read My Post Above?

The cam tensioner isn't highly stressed? Hmmm. I wouldn't have guessed that.

The torque according to the FSM for the Cam Tensioner Mounting Bolt is 6-8 N-m (.6-.8 kg-m, or 4.5-6.0 lb-ft). Does that seem excessive?

No but at that torque I'm surprized you were able to shear the head off. 6 lb's is slightly more than snug, anything stronger than cheap plastic should have stood up to the test...