Project: 1985 GS550ES

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.

What bothers me is what you were torqing it to. much more than snug is way beyond what most of the bolts on the bike need. For instance your valve cover bolts are something like 6lbft.

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?

Nice Work So Far Melodic.....here Is A Question For All You 550 Experts. Had The Carbs Rebuilt On My 550e (1983). Replaced The Plugs, Intake O-rings And Even The R/r And Battery. Bike Runs Much Better But...........the Person That Did The Rebuild Was Going To Sync The Carbs With A Sync Tool. He Did Everything The Instructions Say To Do (what To Disconnect And What To Leave On, Which Way The Petcock Should Be, Etc.....) He Said The Bike Would Not Run With The Tool Connected And If It Did, It Seemed Like It Was Only Running On Two Cyls. Is There Something We Are Missing? If Need Be, I Can Have Him Post, He Is Registered Here.

[Nerobro]

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.

What bothers me is what you were torqing it to. much more than snug is way beyond what most of the bolts on the bike need. For instance your valve cover bolts are something like 6lbft.

you are so lucky. i just had to pay out the nose to get 3 broken bolts removed. i also broke off a drill bit and an easy out in 2 of the holes.

ouch ouch ouch

go check in the phone book for a fastener company... Thats what i do when i'm looking for a random sized bolt. They usually have a guide to measure the thread pitch and what not.

Where to find replacement bolts?

So far I've been stumped to find replacement bolts locally (bike shops were closed today when I went looking). Any suggestions?

Sheared bolt is OUT!!!

Wooohoooo! \\/ Fortunately, I managed to get the little bugger out by adding a pair of 6" bent nose pliers to my tool collection. With them I was able to get a good angle on the bolt and create enough pressure and cross-bite to break the remainder of the bolt loose and get it out clean. My day is SOOOOOO much better now! \\/

Sheared Bolt! What to do?

So, the plan today was re-install cam-chain tensioner (I had removed it when I removed the starter), re-install carbs (which I finally finished cleaning and rebuilding earlier this week!), re-install air box, battery box, battery, etc (all the stuff I had to remove to make room to remove the carbs).

I got as far as halfway through re-installing the cam tensioner when the bolt sheared off as I was torquing it. I hadn't even reached spec!

Question 1: How to remove sheered bolt? The shear point is about 2-3 threads out of the hole but I've had no luck grabbing it with any tool I own due to the tight space. Here's an older pic of where the cam tensioner is and the tight space in which I have to work. Obviously the carbs aren't on yet, but the space is till tight. NOTE: To be clear the cam chain tensioner is the "wheel" located in the lower right of the pic, just below the intake boot and nestled amongst the oil lines.

Question 2: Where can I get a replacement bolt locally?

Thanks for your help in advance!

Skreemer I sent you a PM. I do not have pods on mine.

I run a K&N and standard air box. Tom

I replaced one of my intake boots as it was visibly damaged the other was old but fine. I put antiseize on my plugs because you are putting a steel thread into an aluminum head. My plugs always come out easier and I think using antiseize is easier on the threads in the head. You will no doubt have your plugs out a few times so a litte anti-seize is a good thing. By the way I have an extra set of carbs that I bought off of Ebay so if you run into a part that you can't find I might be able to help. :-) Tom

You have a great little bike and it looks good already. I am restoring my 1984 GS550ES and the first thing I did was remove, teardown, and clean the carburetors. They were dirty and really needed a cleaning in carburetor cleaner and blown out with compressed air. Check your rubber boots for correct fit and tightness on the front and back of the carbs. Spend a few bucks and put in new plugs with antiseize brushed on the threaded part.

I removed my exhaust system and installed a Vance and Hines pipe that I found on Ebay. I had to rejet for the pipe, and the bike runs hard and sounds great. Sorting out some electrical problems, my regulator/rectifier just burned out and I have one on order.

You appear to have the will and stamina to keep at your project. Keep at it and keep asking questions.

Good luck to you. Tom

Thanks for the compliment on the bike and the good wishes!

The carbs are off and in process right now. Haven't had a chance to work on them since last week, but I think the next time I get to work on them I s/b able to get them cleaned up and back on the bike. So far the carbs look very clean except for rust (or a rust-like sediment) in the bowls. The big problem is that the pilot screws are buggered, which is why I bought the second set of carbs last Saturday. I plan to attempt to drill and use a backout bit on the pilot screws on my original set and replace them with the pilot screws from the second set of carbs.

The intake boots from carbs to engine seem to be in good shape, but everyone recommends that I replace them anyway, so I probably will, sooner or later.

I replaced the spark plugs a few weeks back, so that bit is done. However, I didn't use any antiseize product. Is that a big problem?

Skreemer that should read www.regulatorrectifier.com

Tom

Thanks for the link... The main problem we were having is that the R/Rs were a bit small and didn't dissapate the heat fast enough during the ride... Since I dropped the GSXR600 one on there I haven't had an issue... though I have abuddy with a CB650SC that needs a new rotor and R/R...

are you running the K&N pod filters on yours? Mine seems rich at idle as well and I was thinking about setting the fuel/air mix lower....

if you could PM me your specs and settings that would be awesome.. we can compare notes and not muck up this thread...

and yeah I got the cams in... at the top end near 7K there's a huge yet smooth rush of power... coming off throttle though I get the pops... Nerobro and I are looking at building a few O2 sensor kits for checking fuel/air mix at the collector...

Skreemer that should read www.regulatorrectifier.com


Tom

Thanks Skreemer, I'll check my wires down stream from the R/R. I bought a new R/R from www.rectifier.com
for my GS550 ES for $79.00 and $9.00 freight. I hope that fixes things. I'll do some output checks from the alternator to be sure everything else is working properly.

Did you ever get your yoshimura cams installed in your 550ES ????

Distraction 528 cam and helped me tune mine to the Vance and Hines Pipe and It is definately stronger with the pipe :-) I am running 107.5 jets across all four but I think I need to go back to 37.5 mm on the pilots from the upsize 40.0 as the bike idles too rich with the 40.0mm pilots. Regards, Tom

You have a great little bike and it looks good already. I am restoring my 1984 GS550ES and the first thing I did was remove, teardown, and clean the carburetors. They were dirty and really needed a cleaning in carburetor cleaner and blown out with compressed air. Check your rubber boots for correct fit and tightness on the front and back of the carbs. Spend a few bucks and put in new plugs with antiseize brushed on the threaded part.

I removed my exhaust system and installed a Vance and Hines pipe that I found on Ebay. I had to rejet for the pipe, and the bike runs hard and sounds great. Sorting out some electrical problems, my regulator/rectifier just burned out and I have one on order.

You appear to have the will and stamina to keep at your project. Keep at it and keep asking questions.

Good luck to you. Tom

Replace your R/R with one off a new GSXR... if you keep an eye on ebay there are a few out there... they are damn near 3X the size though and you may need to fab up a small bracket for it (or lay it down between the rear fender and the battery box...) Do yourself a favor also... check on your stator while you're looking into the electrics... we've burned up a couple as R/Rs have died on us. Also check all the wires and connectors from the R/R back to the stator...when my R/R burned up I melted the stator wires and connector leading to the R/R...