GS 550E 1980 -cafe build

Yeah, It was a little pricey but I didn't have many options with the 2.5" header. I may end up welding a baffle in at some point.

Like it a lot, is that the Dime City stainless shorty muffler?

Here she is. The paint was such a headache, I'll update later with the process and issues encountered. All that's left for now is upholstery, which will probably have to wait a few weeks.

Exciting day yesterday. I had the motor running last night for about a minute before the floats emptied. Sounds good.

Also picked up my license plate. Now Its just paint prep and paint.

It's looking great, keep us posted

Haha, there are no more wire nuts on the bike. They were on only so I could test everything. The wires were shortened and soldered together. I have the burns to prove it.

great thread!!!! love your work.

Looking good! Those wire nuts are an automotive no no. I am going to school to be an automotive technician. Either solder them in or use crimp connections.

Big updates: I've made a lot of progress over the last month, although not as much as I would have liked, my budget went over and I had to put in extra hours to get money to finish the build.

I finished cleaning the engine up and installed the headers and slipped on the muffler. This is going to be loud (may need a baffle).

Installed new chain.

Made and installed new cables. What a pain this turned out to be. I ended up losing the little plastic bushing thing on the end of the clutch barrel. It flew off while I was trimming the cable and went somewhere in my garage. I spent 2 hours looking for it with no luck, also can't seem to find one online.

Finished the electrical:
Wire nutted everything together for a test. Worked with just a few issues I had to chase. Wired in for coil relay and horn relay mods.



the taillight is super bright and the horns super loud.






Cleaned everything up, shortening where necessary and installed a few new connectors.




note: still have to wire in turn signals (broke one while mounting) and wire in license plate lights once I figure out a mount.


Rebuilt the carbs:
When I bought the bike the p.o. said it was't running properly and had trouble at low idle.

Opened them up to find 3 broken float posts JB welded together...
Luckily with the bike came a box full of a disassembled set of carbs and spare parts. The disassembled carbs were good except for one post. I was able to make a full set with only one nicked post (just above hole was sheared off).



box of parts that saved me:

I may end up building a second set of carbs to sell once I repair all the posts.

Also upon disassembly there was a missing washer on the main jet, I'm assuming this was what was the cause of the trouble.

The parts got the dip and o-ring treatment, new larger jets, and I'm just waiting on pilot jet plugs.



I cut foam for the seat.



I'm in the process of making a fiberglass cafe seat bubble. This will be removable so that the seat can hold two people.

I cut up an old polystyrene cooler and glued it together. I shaped it with a bread knife and 36 grit sandpaper. This makes a huge mess.



Once I had the shape I wanted covered it in tape it and waxed it.

I've got one coat of fiberglass and epoxy and its already pretty strong, I plan doing three total.

The bike should be finished early next week!

that's an insane attention to detail green2kgt, do you have a link to your build thread? I'm assuming it's on a different forum.

Today I finished making the rest of the brackets I need, this includes a hazard switch bracket, horn bracket and taillight bracket.

This is the horn bracket.




I even got it installed. These are horns that a lot of the Subaru rally guys use, they should be really loud and piercing at 118 db.


In this picture you can also see the tachometer delete plug.


I also started work on the tank. Before:


Mark the area to dent on paper then cut out 2 copies and tape to each side.


you can remove the paper after you get a good outline.




Here it is mounted and partially stripped. I've got a bit more smoothing to do and I need to go deeper on the right side but it's starting to look like a cafe racer. I may need to do bar dents too.

lookin good!!!!!!!! really liking some of the things you did. giving me ideas!

I love powder coat!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! im addicted to it! lol.

All the black in the pic below was silver on the bike originally... nothing was black from the factory.

http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/472790_10150940123348360_1012181400_o.jpg

Thanks for all the feedback. I haven't done anything on the bike over the last few days. I was busy taking the msf course and passed, now just to finish the bike. I did however take some more pictures of stuff that was previously completed.

Here is a better picture to show how the wheels turned out.


I painted the headlight bucket and the chrome ring was powder-coated, and installed with chrome hardware.
You can also see the nice top tree.


Another showing the top tree.


Electrical panel made from 2 pieces of poly-carbonate bent and riveted together. This holds the battery, new fuse block, igniter, turn signal relay. To the bottom of this is mounted the r/r offset with spacers for heat dissipation. The ignition and choke are also relocated on a bracket underneath. The starter relay will be under mounted as well.

Great looking bike! Excellent attention to detail. Especially on the triple. It erks me when someone gets clip ons and doesn't trim the mounts for the old bars. Keep up the good work!

looks really good so far! i really like the wheels i was thinking i would paint mine a bronzey gold brownish color similar to yours.

Ok, another update which will bring it to its current status.

I finished the grinding and smoothing for the frame. For the frame ends at the back of the seat I cut a wedge out and then bent and welded them closed.


back of the frame ready for paint. I would like to eventually powder-coat the frame but this will do for this season. Don't mind the chain, I need to buy a chain break and probably a new chain.


Here I am attempting to make a spacer for the speedo delete on the wheel. I ended up messing it up just before I was done. Instead I ended up throwing the old one in the bridgeport, milling away all the housing material so I could then put that in the lathe. It ended up working well but was way more work and time then I wanted for a spacer.


I put the new bearings in the wheels and threw the discs on. After I mounted them I realized that I have them reversed. I originally had them right too, but for some reason switched them after they didn't go on easily.








You can also see I made some turn signal brackets. The powder-coated headlight trim ring, painted bucket, and powder-coated top tree look great on the bike. The shocks were painted real quick, I plan on upgrading to nice gas shocks in the fall, but they are not in my budget for now and I don't want to waste my money on cheap ebay ones.

Upcoming this week will be the finishing of my electrical panel. I have got everything figured out and made up, it just needs to be wired.

Also this week I want to mount the taillight and get foam on the seat (if for nothing else just to make it not look like a terribly done brat).