78 GS750 engine overhaul on the Cheap!

[Bobbys 94]

Another view from the left side of the engine.

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[Bobbys 94]

Just a close up of what is done. Thanks to member Burque73 for the perfect set of carburetors!

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[Bobbys 94]

All went well after the timing issue.

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[Bobbys 94]

Had to time the cams Twice. My bad. Fixed before valve cover installed.

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[Bobbys 94]

Took a little more time than I thought but it ended well.

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[Bobbys 94]

My comment was intended to convey that you're being modest; you write "The proper fix would be... but that's for later" and then the photos show an engine that could've rolled off the factory floor a few days ago Like Nessism elaborated, these cases look damn fine. "Blasting" as in vapour/ice/bead/whathaveyou blasted.

The only blasting was a few beers and elbow grease and Thank you for your comment about being modest. I thought that I was the only one to see the fruits of my labor. I Love this stuff

[roeme]

Define "Blasting" I'm old and confused. I hope to get it running "Well" and ride her a couple times a week until I die. I've got a donor GS750 coming my way as we speak.
Not sure about your "minimum amount of work" comment. I massaged the valve cover for about 6 hours at a minimum.

My comment was intended to convey that you're being modest; you write "The proper fix would be... but that's for later" and then the photos show an engine that could've rolled off the factory floor a few days ago Like Nessism elaborated, these cases look damn fine. "Blasting" as in vapour/ice/bead/whathaveyou blasted.

[Bobbys 94]

Hope to installed these little bits tomorrow.

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[Nessism]

The cases look pristine, like they were bead blasted. Or, rattle can painted. Either way, you put in some serious labor. Looks nice. High labor, and low $ outlay?

[Bobbys 94]

Ok, this is certainly interesting. Basically a "I know what I'm doing and I wanna see the minimum amount of work I can get away with to get this running again", right?

Though...the engine did see some blasting, did it? No longer in the realm of minimum, then

Define "Blasting" I'm old and confused. I hope to get it running "Well" and ride her a couple times a week until I die. I've got a donor GS750 coming my way as we speak.
Not sure about your "minimum amount of work" comment. I massaged the valve cover for about 6 hours at a minimum.

[roeme]

Ok, this is certainly interesting. Basically a "I know what I'm doing and I wanna see the minimum amount of work I can get away with to get this running again", right?

Though...the engine did see some blasting, did it? No longer in the realm of minimum, then

[Bobbys 94]

My experience with the cheap gasket sets has been OK. The thing to watch is the thickness of the odd shaped O rings at the back corners of the barrel. If they're too thin there's not enough squash to keep them oiltight. A smear of sealant around the outside of those is all I use on the base gasket.
When stripping an engine if those O rings are in good condition I keep them for possible reuse if the next gasket set has the thin version.

The O rings you speak of both measured about .010 thicker than the old ones that I removed. No Goo added.

[Bobbys 94]

The green base gasket is red flag to me. Athena brand base gaskets are horrible, and almost sure to fail. Hopefully these are better.

Regarding the corroded cylinder, I hope it's not as bad as described here. Typically, you can find reasonable condition cylinders off eBay for a decent price.

As I said in my first post, this is a test project. I've looked at the cylinders available on ebay and all the other sources. I could even get a Brand New Factory cylinder from cmsnl if I wanted to for about $700 delivered. This will not be a concours resto.
Buying a "Reasonable" cylinder off ebay, I could end up with something worse than what I have to work with now, been there done that. I value all the information I get from the members on this site because as I've said before "I'm no expert" I'm just a guy with time/tools and the love of working on these machines.

[Nessism]

The green base gasket is red flag to me. Athena brand base gaskets are horrible, and almost sure to fail. Hopefully these are better.

Regarding the corroded cylinder, I hope it's not as bad as described here. Typically, you can find reasonable condition cylinders off eBay for a decent price.

[GregT]

My experience with the cheap gasket sets has been OK. The thing to watch is the thickness of the odd shaped O rings at the back corners of the barrel. If they're too thin there's not enough squash to keep them oiltight. A smear of sealant around the outside of those is all I use on the base gasket.
When stripping an engine if those O rings are in good condition I keep them for possible reuse if the next gasket set has the thin version.