1981 GS450E Rebuild

[pete]

I'm aiming for a scrambler style, so a high pipe is a must for cosmetic reasons.

I'm taking the heat and leg proximity into account, just not sure yet whether I'll tape it or try to get an effective heat shield, or both.

[landshark]

I know this wouldnt suit your high style of pipe, but it looks cool

http://page18.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/w57223797

[pete]

Mmmmm tasty... if only I could read the text

But you're right, doesn't fit with my look.

I think the best bet would be if they could extend the same size pipe a little and just stick a baffle in the end to keep it under the 94dB limit.

[Flaming Chainsaws]

Make a heat shield with a bunch of holes in it


I don't know if you like this kind of pipe or not but I like. I only picked this ad because it has lots of pictures. But if you shop around, you'll find cheaper priced ones.

http://cgi.ebay.com/REVERSE-CONE-SHORTY-MEGAPHONE-SILENCERS-NEW-CUSTOM-/120615960177?pt=UK_Motorcycle_Parts&hash=item1c15457e71

[pete]

The CL450 pipes are definitely nice, and I like the twin pea shooters out the back, however I feel with the full chrome and chrome heat shields it may be a bit much.

I think I'd like to tone the pipe down somewhat so while it'll still be a prime design feature on the bike, it won't be the only point of focus.

Oh, and i do like those reverse megaphones as well, and if I was retaining the low slung stock style pipes, a pair of those would be sweet.

[pete]

I just stumbled across this... had to buy it

Potentially I'm a sucker but I don't think so...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260738827230&viewitem=&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWNX%3AIT

[Adler]

I just stumbled across this... had to buy it

Potentially I'm a sucker but I don't think so...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...K%3AMEWNX%3AIT

You could practically WRITE that manual by now...

[pete]

Haha if only! I like the fact that it's what the workshop gets... should be a great reference I hope!

Plus it makes me look smarter, but that's easy to do...

[pete]

Well, didn't get the PO box checked yesterday, so checked it this morning, still no HEI modules. Must be the slowest postage on earth... it'll be over a week on Monday since I bought them!

Anyway, took some time to go looking for some things today and ended up with...

• A sheet of galvanised steel to make the electrics tray.
• A thin strip of thicker galvanised steel to make the choke bracket.
• Some nuts and bolts to mount all the electrics to the new tray.
• An old whipper snipper fuel tank.
• Fuel line.
• Fuel tap.

So I should be right now to get my electrics sorted under the seat area of the frame rails, make a bracket so I can use a handlebar mounted choke lever, and get a temporary fuel tank set up for the first start and future carb balancing etc.
Haven't snapped any pic's yet but will do next time I'm working on it.

I also took some more time to do a garage clean today as the house mate managed to get all the crap that couldn't go out into the garden shed and pile it all up right in front of the only power point in the garage, so for the last couple of months I've had to do acrobatics to turn it on and off. It's now pretty clear finally

I also got our old louvered wardrobe doors and some other odd bits of timber etc. suspended from the garage ceiling so there's about a foot of extra room down the right side of the garage now. So much easier to open the car door and get in and out...

[pete]

Ok, so first off, some pic's of what I picked up yesterday.

Galvanised steel for the electrics tray and a thin strip of thicker guage to make the choke bracket:



And whipper snipper tank, fuel line, fuel tap, and some nuts and bolts:



So I figured while waiting for the HEI modules, I'd get a start on the new electrics tray tonight.

It's going under where the front of the seat is just behind the tank, so I measured it all up and drew up what to cut and where, leaving some tabs that I'll curl over the frame rails and fasten probably using hose clamps:



And now I'm managing to frustrate myself just for something different. I have a hacksaw hanging above the work bench, but the noise is too much for this time of night, so I'm stuck with tin snips, which means I need to sort of nibble small bits off to get it to the required shape, meaning it's very slow going.

This is all I got done tonight:



When I get to drilling holes I'm gonna get stuck as well I'd say due to the noise, but I'll deal with that when the time comes.

Hopefully tomorrow is HEI module day... but I ain't holding my breath!

[Woodsy]

Any surprises in the PO Box?

[pete]

No surprises in the PO Box again today... I think maybe the seller has gotten together with the seller of my manual and decided to combine postage by shipping the HEI modules via New Zealand with the manual...

Bought this on eBay this morning too, just waiting for the seller to send me an invoice with postage on it. I'm guessing he's waiting for Monday in the US:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=190494460561&viewitem=&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWNX%3AIT

I can't believe you can't buy these here, or if you can they're extremely rare. There must be hundreds for sale in the US and the only difficulty I had was finding one where the seller was actually willing to respond to a question about the postage cost.

Anyways, so tonight I pretty much finished up the electrics tray except I'll need to file all the sharp edges yet and finalise mounting:



I think if I get some thin hose clamps and feed them through slots cut in the tray where the four brackets curve over, that should mount it pretty securely.

It's big enough to cater for the heatsink I got for the HEI modules as well as the R/R to sit underneath to maximise air flow:



The starter solenoid will probably end up underneath as well, so on top can be the HEI modules plus fuse(s) and indicator relay.

I'll also need to cut out an entry point for the harness at the back left as well.

I then went and got my temporary fuel tank sorted.

Enlarged the existing hole and whacked a grommet in:



The grommet's just an electrical one, but where it sits it shouldn't be soaking in fuel so should be fine.

Fed the fuel line in so the end is right in the bottom of the tank:



Hooked up the fuel tap:



And with some rope on it hangs conveniently from the left 'bar higher than the carbs so it should feed well:



Now, given that the exit point of the tank is so high up, I expect I'm going to have to syphon to get the fuel flowing to start with, and then the gravity feed should take over.

I don't expect the carbs will suck the fuel up from the bottom of the tank there, although if they did that would be awesome.

And the reason I didn't put the exit point at the bottom of the tank is simply because the only grommet I had was an electrical one, so not neoprene or anything fancy like that and I also haven't got anything handy that would seal it up that would be fuel safe.

So, fingers crossed I'll get some HEI modules tomorrow... I still ain't holding my breath though!

[pete]

Still no parcel, but after talking to my wife and house mate, I've learnt that small registered parcels are the slowest form of mail with Australia Post and are known to take a week or more. Great, just frickin spectacular. Good onya Aussie Post! Oh well, glad I wasn't holding my breath!

Anyway, paid for the GSXR left control this avo after getting the shipping cost from the seller, so hopefully it'll be here in a couple of weeks.

So, went down tonight and trimmed the electrics tray up a bit because I wasn't happy with the fit.

I want to be able to just drop the tray in from the top, whereas I cut it a little large so I initially had to put it in from underneath, but of course that won't work with the brackets curving over the frame rails.

So, trimmed it down a bit tonight and also cut a corner out to let the harness in:



I made it a little messier because I only had a little to trim off the edges, but hopefully a good go with a file will clean that up a lot, just can't do that at night as it's a little loud.

I then decided to measure up and design what should hopefully be an effective choke cable bracket to mount on the left carb.

This will mount on the front left bolt of the left carb at about a 45 degree angle towards the rear of the bike.



I need to also make up an adaptor from the cable end to the choke actuator, but I can't really do that until I get the GSXR left control here and know what sort of cable I'll be able to use for it.



So, here's the bracket design:



You can see the sections I'll be cutting out to make it an angle bracket and allow a fork type bracket to actually hold the cable, as well as a couple of dashed lines where I'll bend the tips up to prevent the cable working it's way out of the bracket. In that regard I basically copied the throttle cable bracket for the carbs.



I think that should work okay, and the only thing I can think that I may need to do extra is mount a spring to help pull the choke shut again, but that shouldn't be too difficult.

So, back to waiting again...

[Jestercinti]

Mr. Pete,

I must say you have a project on your hands! I am most curious to see if the HEI modules work OK. I have a 450 as well, and although I am confident in some igniter's that are being shipped to me from an awesome member, I'd like to see if this works on the 450 2 cylinder model.

I wish the parcel much speed to your home in Australia!

[pete]

Mr. Pete,

I must say you have a project on your hands! I am most curious to see if the HEI modules work OK. I have a 450 as well, and although I am confident in some igniter's that are being shipped to me from an awesome member, I'd like to see if this works on the 450 2 cylinder model.

I wish the parcel much speed to your home in Australia!

Yeah I did seem to set myself up for a bunch of work... while it's been challenging, it's also really enjoyable, and so far I've got a lot of satisfaction out of it.

However I'm getting a tad frustrated at the moment because I seem to just be in a holding pattern waitiing for the HEI modules to show up. If I knew small parcel post was this slow when I ordered them I would've asked how much extra for express post!

Anyway, on a positive note, I should hopefully be ordering a bunch of stuff like K&N pods, front sprocket, chain, and some other odd bits on Friday.