81 GS550T in Co Sprgs

[cowboyup3371]

Despite having winds in the 20 to 50 mph range today, I managed to get outside and take advantage of the sunshine and 70 degree weather to work on the bike. I am pretty happy with what I was able to accomplish but I won't be finished with it this weekend like I hoped since the weatherman is calling for rain showers tomorrow. Here's a list of what I managed to do and then I'll post the pictures:

• Removed, measured, and replaced the clutch springs
• Removed, measured, and re-inserted the old clutch plates
• Put the clutch cover back on
• Installed the foot peg brackets
• Installed the swingarm
• Installed the rear wheel
• Sorta installed the shocks but I had to remove them to do some other things so they'll go back on later
• Installed the carbs and air box
• Painted the tank
• Started to install the chain but couldn't get the master link on since I didn't have a c-clamp or the special tool

I stopped at the chain and ran down to Harbor Freight for a new c-clamp. Now, I've said before that I do a lot of woodworking but I only use spring clamps or bar clamps for that so I didn't have any c-clamps until tonight. If the weatherman is wrong about tomorrow I'll tackle that early in the day.

I also ran into a few problems with the swing arm I didn't plan on. First, the dang thing didn't want to go in with the end caps installed. It was too tight but if I took them off and put it up to the bike it fit with a bit of a gap. After posting a question about it here, I decided to give it one more try by hitting the end caps with my rubber mallet. Voila! the dang thing slid right into place without a problem . Then, I noticed the grease nipple fell off and when I looked, I found I neglected to check what was next to the swing arm on the engine side (sorry no picture of this). Seems there's an outcropping, for lack of a better word, on the engine side that sits right in the middle of the swing arm where I had that nipple. So now I have a nice 12mm hole and no way to throw more grease up there unless i remove the arm again and redo things. I may still do that once I get the chain in place but I want to get through that much first.

Either way, here's some pictures for you:

Springs were pretty close to their service limit on some and way over it on others so they all got replaced:



Removed and measured the clutch plates; they are close to their service limit so I think I'll hit that next year:





There's some marking on the inside but it's just marks not really indentations from what I can see:



However, the outside of the basket has some definite scratches. Any ideas as to why?



Here's what I was talking about for the gap when I try to install the swing arm without the end caps. Sorry but I don't have a picture after finally fixing it.



And here's the tank after finishing the painting and clearcoat. I think it's okay but will probably be more of a ten-foot bike since a lot of dust got into my shed (no amount of plastic could probably have helped me there). I decided to ditch the black stripe idea since I like that color like it is and there's already going to be a lot of black on the bike itself.



I'll post more pictures during the week. It's supposed to clear up Monday so I'll try to tackle the chain then and start working on finishing the electrical stuff. I'm hoping I can start the bike up by Thursday or Friday if all goes well.

Take care.

Mine is coming on slow and boring due to lack of "time" (read, $$$$) right now, but plodding along with the stuff that takes more elbow grease than $$ now, just to keep moving forward.
I will make a concerted effort to get more interesting pics up this weekend than I have been the last few weekends.

Can't wait to see your colour go on, should be super cool.

[cowboyup3371]

Nice work Scott, I would take an extra few hours or a day at worst to sand, fill and resand those two little linesunder the Bondo, I know it is a pain, but as Tom said earlier, it may look like almost nothing now, but when the colour goes down, it will stick out and scream at you.
Just do it, you have come this far, and put in this much work, think about it, what is a few more hours?
Overall, nice build, can't wait for the next installment.

Thank you Flyboy. Actually I did some work on those lines and think they came out okay since I don't really see them anymore. I'll know for sure when I put that first coat of paint on and find out if they jump out at me or not.

Looking for more from yours...how's it coming?

Nice work Scott, I am following it with interest.
The carbs look fine, as you say, the imperfections are out of sight, so out of mind, don't sweat it, once the whole thing is together it will all work out.
If you doing bearings, yes, you must replace the bearing races, no question.
Nice work on the tank, can't wait to see it with colour on, just one thing, I would take an extra few hours or a day at worst to sand, fill and resand those two little linesunder the Bondo, I know it is a pain, but as Tom said earlier, it may look like almost nothing now, but when the colour goes down, it will stick out and scream at you.
Just do it, you have come this far, and put in this much work, think about it, what is a few more hours?
Overall, nice build, can't wait for the next installment.

[cowboyup3371]

So the weather and other commitments haven't quite cooperated with me to the point that I could finish this up. But I have been slowly working. I put the new front sprocket on, valve cover end caps, and the tach cable on Monday night. Then tonight I finished putting the footpegs back together, swingarm with some grease (I'll add more later), rear wheel bearings in, and laid on some primer sealer on the tank.











If the weather will warm up a tad I hope to throw some paint on the tank tomorrow and start putting other things back on the bike.

I'm also in a bit of a rush now though. The government shutdown is supposed to happen Friday. If that happens I'll still have to go to work but won't get paid until a budget is finally passed. That means I don't know if I'll get my paycheck on the 15th and I've only got a few hundred to make it by on. Since the truck takes over $100 a fillup per week now, I'd rather have the bike running and only pay about $30 a week or so.

Have you ever tried evercoat featherfill? It's an all in one primer and lays nice and thick yet also seals so you can paint straight over it... It's also rather hard since it's polyester based and you won't have to worry about reactions with the topcoats because it's unaffected by solvents once it's cured. I'm not a prof. painter but this was a big part in my equation to figuring out how to get body filler/ paint work to look good. Most body fillers, and fiberglass resins are polyester based so it also sticks very well.

[pete]

No probs at all, just looked odd to me, but now that looks like mine did

[cowboyup3371]

Thanks Pete, fixed it.

[cowboyup3371]

Primered Again

So I quickly tried to do the tank today while we had some decent weather - outside was 57 and the wind just started to pick up when I got home but otherwise it was okay. I sanded and primered the tank again and then brought it inside. I see that I missed a couple of areas that still felt good to my fingers but obviously aren't. However, I am planning on redoing it later so I am going to make it look as good as I can and go from there.

Here's after the resanding with 400 grit paper. What's funny is that is the only area that self-etching primer came off.



And after I applied the filler primer. You can see the one line below a bondo section but it's pretty small. There's also one on the other side next to that bondo section.



I'll try to do things next time where I have a good teacher standing next to me to tell me what I'm doing wrong. But at least I'm trying to learn so maybe I won't need that.

Either way, I'll put the primer sealer on tomorrow and try to paint on Friday evening.

Thank you for looking
Scott

[pete]

Not sold on the carb colour, but it's certainly a good job and they do look good

The spring looks right, but the clutch actuator looks too vertical. Not sure how different the 450 is but it looks similar, and mine is more towards a horizontal position from memory.

[cowboyup3371]

As Promised - Carbs Finally Done

So I finally finished the touch-up on the carbs then realized I goofed and didn't need to do it. Either way they are done now. This color was picked out by Cheyenne (the one who was in the hospital) so please go easy on her . She picked out the Old Ford Blue Duplicolor Engine Enamel paint and I agreed thinking it was a little darker than it turned out to be (real light in real life); but we're staying with it and I'll put a darker blue on the tank and side covers instead.

Please, feel free to give me your HONEST opinions as to how they look. I know there are some issues still but they are where they can't be seen so I'm not terribly worried right now.

From the bottom - I put new screws in here and on top



Airbox side:



And intake side:



I also started putting back together the sprocket cover. Did I install this spring in the correct place?



More to come over the week.

[cowboyup3371]

So the weather wasn't the best after work today to allow me to work on the tank so I did what I could and tore into the rear wheel again. This time, I removed the bearings from the wheel as well as the sprocket mounting drum. I'll try to replace those on payday (Friday) since Z1 has them for about $25 for all three.

This here:

Wheel Bearing - Seal Kit Rear - Suzuki GS550 GS650 GS750 LS650 AB25-1347
6303-2RD 6305-2RD 30-6201-
Rear Wheel Bearing 6303-2RD Drive Flange 6305-2RD Seal 30-6201

Fits Suzuki 1983 GR650 Tempter 1980 - 82 GS550 1981 - 83 GS650EX, GD, GLD, GLX, GLZ, GX, GZ, MD 1985 GS700 1983 GS750ED, GS750ESD 1985 GV700 Madura 1986 - 88 LS650 Savage 1995 - 07 LS650 Savage
$25.17

I shouldn't have to replace the races should I?



The funny part here is once again I have found out how much of a frankenbike I have and it's not even bobbed or chopped or anything. The bearing numbers match up with a 1978 750EC wheel and not a 550 wheel. I think the only thing that is a 550 on my whole bike is the engine.

Either way, I'll probably go ahead and order new clutch springs this weekend too since I have that cover off. I'm hoping the weatherman is right and that it will warm up over the next few days. I would like to sand that tank and finish priming it (I returned two cans I didn't need last night and replaced them with the filler primer and primer sealer ones) so I can get that painted.

And the carbs are back together but I need to do some touch-up paint work so no pictures of them yet.

[cowboyup3371]

Thanks guys. I'll see what I can do once it warms up. It snowed out here last night so hopefully it doesn't stick around too long. I'd hope to start riding again by my birthday next week but I don't think that will happen especially since I still have some other things to do first on the engine side.

[tkent02]

Primer, glazing putty, Bondo or whatever you use, if you can see ANY imperfections before the color goes on it will look like CRAP. It needs to be way more better than that if you want good results. You can use rattle can primer to test the surface, shoot a little bit on and see if you can see the waves and wrinkles through it, or if you can see the edges of the bondoed area. If you can see them, it will be very obvious once it is painted. Really if you just close your eyes and feel the tank, the imperfections will be apparent. Little microhoony bubbles in the bondo will show up badly too, as the color will be deeper in each bubble, and when the paint dries it sinks back into the hole, you can't miss it, that's a bubble.
Time spent being a perfectionist now will save you a lot of aggravation later.

[Buffalo Bill]

Not so fast…You got more work to do.

After taking his air compressor hose to spray out any dust from the inside, I primed it with that self-etching stuff but you can still see the bondo markings. Do I need to spray some more primer on it or will the regular paint I'm using (will be dark) cover it okay?

Now you need to build a heavy layer of sandable primer over all. Then sand that down again. It'll fill in the low spots around the bondo and paper scratches. After that comes a seal coat primer, then the color.