81 GS550T in Co Sprgs

Glad to hear you found a back for the guage cluster. Cool when you run into fellow GSR memebers isn't it. Keep it up bro.

Paul

[cowboyup3371]

I didn't do much work today but instead found some parts I needed. I spent the morning at Steele's Cycle Salvage picking up these parts for the bike:

A new taillight and rear brake caliper dust cover from a GS850L to replace mine and the rear gauge cover (I was lucky to find this). Also managed to grab some lightbulbs for basically free.



Also ran into Zangetsu quite unexpectedly and his bobber/chopper bike. I'd never met him before and we only talked after a quick sigh of frustration on my part (looking for the gauge cover) led to me asking him what bike he had. When he said the GS1100 here, I asked if he heard of the forum. Replying he was a member, we talked for a bit and I got an up close look at his bike. Definitely an interesting look and he says it runs pretty good although he has a bit of a leak.



If you are reading this Zangetsu, give me a shout if you ever want some help working on it.

I also picked up a headlight bucket as I'd like to replace mine but realized after I got home that it was the same size as mine. I'll put it up in the parts for sale area if anyone wants it.

[cowboyup3371]

Thanks for the info Paul, I'll look into that especially if I don't find a replacement this weekend at the salvage yard.

As far as the job interview, I posted this thread on Friday saying I have a tentative job offer from the VA (haven't heard back from VTTI yet) in Dayton OH. They are starting the paperwork process to have me come in and once that is all done I'll receive a final offer. They need to send me to the Denver VA hospital to get my fingerprints and do a few other things first.

http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showthread.php?t=188607

Hopefully I'll have this thing back together in time to load it on a trailer and haul it east later in March or early April. I'd like to get it running before then though so I can spend more time riding where ever I finally go.

Does that Mean the VT job interview went well. Don't keep us guessing now.

Bike is looking good sorry the guage back did not work out. Option I was thinking about is cutting a piece of aluminum the same shape as the back, polish it up, drill a could holes and couple of small stainless steel bolts an washers will not only fixe the whole but give it a shiny custom kind of look. And aluminum is easy to work with. Good luck.

Paul

[pete]

Good stuff Scott, glad to see you got the stator back in and that bracket sorted. Fingers crossed you get her back together soon

[cowboyup3371]

Received the new bracket for my stator wiring today and some parts to fix the headlight adjustment. Also received a new cover for my headlight switch but forgot to order the screw with it. I'll probably swing by Ace on Friday if I don't have anything here.



Bracket's in place and loc-tited down this time...



Realized tonight after it all came that I don't have room through the hole in the engine casing to fit the stator wiring connector. So, I gave myself a couple of good scratches on the hand using a paperclip and standard screwdriver getting the terminals out. I'll make sure to order the tool when I buy new connectors for the harness this weekend.

Hopefully I'll have this thing back together in time to load it on a trailer and haul it east later in March or early April. I'd like to get it running before then though so I can spend more time riding where ever I finally go.

[cowboyup3371]

PM sent Paul. Thank you.

Cowboy shoot me a PM if you want to replace the back of your Indicator panel. I have an extra one.

Paul

Nice work! I still have to tackle the horrible harness on my 550.

[cowboyup3371]

Got the taillight socket apart, now to find where to buy new contacts

[cowboyup3371]

Won't really have time to do much else today after all but did clean up the switch...

Top



Bottom



I also threw the new air filter into the cage. I'd bought the spray can of air filter oil but the one out of the bag was oiled pretty well so I figured I'd not worry about it.

Good luck, Scott. Let me know how that interview goes!

I've found that a 10-15 minute bath in Naval Jelly works really well to get any corrosion off of the brass connectors (bonus: I just happened to have a bottle laying around!). I use a little baby food jar of the stuff to bathe the connectors in situ. My process goes something like this:

1. 10-15 minutes in Naval Jelly
2. Vigorous water bath to remove the former
2a. Brakleen if the water wasn't enough
3. WD-40 to displace any remaining water (hey, it's what it was made for!)
4. Some Brakleen to finish off any remaining dirt and WD-40
5. A generous smearing of Dielectric gel

Re-install and they look like new!

Cleaners don't reverse any corrosion - you need acid or abrasion to do that.

[Steve]

You guys out there in downtown Yoder sure do spell "Simple Green" funny.

(Based on the bottle in the picture, of course. )

So I started with this: soaking my harness in warm water and Simple Green.

[pete]

Nice work Scott, you'll be so happy you cleaned those connectors up!

Good luck with the interview!

[cowboyup3371]

And found a possibly burned connector. Anyone else think this could be contributing to some of my charred stator issues?



Finally right before the kids came home I tore apart the left handle switch. This is where I really think some of my issues were coming from as I started having problems turning on my turn signals last year. I assumed it might be getting dirty but had no clue it was going to be this bad:

Bottom of switch



Top



Contacts:



Switch itself is pretty nasty too but it's hard to see it:



I'm taking tomorrow off as well as I have another interview, this time with Virginia Tech. I'm planning on cleaning the left handle switch and maybe start attacking my carbs. That's all dependent on the winds though as we're forecasted to have over 30mph sometime tomorrow.