81 GS550T in Co Sprgs

Nice one Scotty, good to see you making some headway, I guess we don't realize, sometimes, here how fortunate we are to be able to wrench and ride pretty much all through the year and not have to contend with temps dropping to stupid cold and feet of that fluffy white rubbish that turns soggy and damps everything.

The wheel is looking super nice, please don't forget to tighten the front sprocket.

If I had to choose a winner from your plugs, it would be number 3, the others look a tad lean, I don't see any blistering or anything untoward going on there, so not dangerously so, just not enough color for my liking, but maybe they have not been in long enough to get some good color yet.
And pretty young girls shouldn't bite their nails

[cowboyup3371]

YEA!

The weather was finally cooperative enough this weekend that I managed to get out for a few hours today. I say a few only because my girlfriend had a small honey do list for me this morning (hanging curtains) and then my daughter had basketball practice this afternoon. Plus yesterday was full with her basketball game and towing the Jeep to the auto repair shop AGAIN.

But, I managed to do a few things, namely, get the rotors and sprockets on. I still need to tighten down the front sprocket but both the rotors and rear sprocket and torqued properly





Here's the new brake calipers all put together nicely after some issues



Some new parts. I bought that carb tuning wrench as well as a new tach cable, exhaust gaskets, fork seals, other gaskets, intake boots, hydraulic brake light switches, etc. I'll still have to order some new orings for the intake boots, a chain, and of course a helmet to be done.



Also, took the cam chain tensioner off as it's leaking and had a fun few minutes scraping off the old gasket





If anyone needs to do this, make sure you follow the tutorial found on BWRinger's page linked from Basscliff's site. So far it's on track and going well. I will take pictures after I clean it up.

Once the tensioner is rebuilt I will be doing my valve clearances again so I took the plugs out. Any thoughts on how they look? (I posted another thread asking as well).



Finally, took the handlebars off. As best as I could tell without removing the left grip, the bars seem straight so I'll recheck after putting them back on the bike. Course, I would like to know for sure what kind they are as I keep getting asked and can't answer. I'll be replacing the bolts that hold the bar on as they are pretty rusted.



Thanks. Hopefully I can get some more done next Sunday as it's supposed to get into the 40s again on that day.

[pete]

Hey Stan...how did you find out?

No actually I have been starting to look for a sport touring bike so I can take the kids on something a little more supportive than my 550 but it's not even in the cards yet moneywise. Course, there is a bike in Ohio I might be interested in AFTER I pay some more bills off. But we won't go there right now...

Hahaha you're gettin' into it now Scott

Once my 450 is done, there's a little Yamaha YB100 at my house mate's mum's place and a Ducati Cucciolo motor sitting in a crate in the garage here... my Mrs isn't gonna like it but one of those is next, probably the Duc...

[cowboyup3371]

Hey Scott, you do realise that when the shed goes up, then there is no stopping, this GS thing is going to take on a life of its own, before you know it there will be an S an E a G and who knows what else being brought back to life in there.

Hey Stan...how did you find out?

No actually I have been starting to look for a sport touring bike so I can take the kids on something a little more supportive than my 550 but it's not even in the cards yet moneywise. Course, there is a bike in Ohio I might be interested in AFTER I pay some more bills off. But we won't go there right now...

Hey Scott, you do realise that when the shed goes up, then there is no stopping, this GS thing is going to take on a life of its own, before you know it there will be an S an E a G and who knows what else being brought back to life in there.

[cowboyup3371]

I picked the bike up just a few minutes ago (winds finally died down a bit) and looks to be minimal damage. From what I can tell, the headlight bracket is possibly bent but won't know til the forks go back on and the turn signal was turned. However, I'm afraid the handlebars might be bent as something just doesn't look right.

And I put four car jack stands under the bike (two up front, two under swingarm) for support. I probably should have done it the first time and will be glad when I have a garage or shed for the bike.

[pete]

The bike was sitting on its center stand and a bottle jack supporting a block of wood under the oil pan with the trolley jack underneath just sitting there (no support). Winds last night were gusting between 50 and 60mph easy so I'm thinking the wind got up underneath the rear end, picked it up, and turned it sideways.

Bugger... maybe you can use all those for support again but this time tie it from four points just to stop it from rotating? Not sure what tie off points you'd have available but at least the deck wouldn't have to support the weight of the bike that way.

Just thinkin' anyway...

[cowboyup3371]

The bike was sitting on its center stand and a bottle jack supporting a block of wood under the oil pan with the trolley jack underneath just sitting there (no support). Winds last night were gusting between 50 and 60mph easy so I'm thinking the wind got up underneath the rear end, picked it up, and turned it sideways.

[pete]

Thanks for the suggestion but sadly, the deck isn't strong enough to support it. I'm going to figure out a way to adjust the budget so I can start building my shed.

Bugger, that's a bummer.

If you can get your shed done that will be the best solution for sure.

Can you maybe put some sort of chocks under the trolley jack wheels so it's not just the weight of the bike holding it in place? Some bricks or largish rocks would help I think... all depends just how strong those winds are!

[cowboyup3371]

Thanks for the suggestion but sadly, the deck isn't strong enough to support it. I'm going to figure out a way to adjust the budget so I can start building my shed.

[pete]

Scott that sucks! That's such bad luck, sorry to see it lying on its side there...

From where I sit I see no damage in that pic but that's not looking at the impact side... hopefully as Stan said there's little or none and she'll be right as rain once you get her right side up.

Is there a way you can suspend her from four points in future so you don't have to rely on the trolley jack? I noticed having the weight of just the front on my trolley jack causes it to slowly sag... that could just be my jack though as it's old and tired and probably needs some more fluid...

I really like the wheel though, it's looking real good

AAARRRRRHHHH, NO, jeez Scott that is so terrible, I honestly hope the damage is minimal, with all the major parts off, you might get away with a broken lever, mirror or indicator or so, maybe not even.
Damn, Scott, you sure have had a really rough ride this year.

The wheels look great though, very nice work.

[cowboyup3371]

Thanks Daniel. Yea, I drained the oil out a month ago, removed the tank and seat, and had the stator cover off to repaint it (did on Thursday). I'll see if I can lift it as the docs are happy with my progress. But yea, I'll make sure to call my uncle or have Helena help me.

That really blows! (No pun intended)
To have your bike carefully suspended on stands and a jack and then blow over and cause
GOD knows what kind of damage not to mention the PITA to get it back to where it was before the wind damaged it.
I hope that the oil was at least drained out of it.
Do not try to wrestle it back up with your recovering broken ribs without plenty of help!

Daniel

[cowboyup3371]

I hate mother nature

After a few days of nice weather, mother nature decided to come with a vengeance last night giving us winds gusting over 55mph. I was able to get some things done the last couple of days and even had the opportunity to paint on Thursday as temps were in the low 60s. So, this much got done:

Headers:



Pipes after wirebrushing as much surface rust as I could:



And Apex Sports mounted my tires for me. I took the old sprocket I bought earlier this year off since I didn't align the wheels correctly and chewed up half of the insides. But I was able to polish the hub real nice so I'm happy with the way these turned out. It also took me a bit to put the hub back into the wheel using the NOS cushions from Blowerbike but I managed to beat it into place with my rubber mallet (wrapped each cushion around the hub and then beat the whole thing down).





But like I said, Mother Nature came with a vengeance. I can't see what winds topped out at last night but I know I couldn't sleep because they were that loud and forceful. They came from the north so I was more worried about my daughter's basketball hoop I'd anchored to our back yard tree. The basketball hoop is still in good condition but although my bike sat North to South on my Patio it didn't survive so well:



The winds are still too strong (25 gusting to 40 or so Weather.com says) to pick it up right now so I'm not sure what damage I'll be facing. I'll probably just leave it like that for today and pick it up tomorrow as the weather is supposed to improve.

Too bad I'm still a few months out money wise to either build or buy me a new shed to work on the bike.