New Member working on an 81 GS450L Brat-Style Cafe Project

[pete]

Yep, she looks great!

I do agree with GT though... if it was me I'd put a midpipe on each side to bring them back about 6 inches and angle them up about the same amount they're angled down now.

Of course this is just my opinion

Other than that, I really like the lines, that style works well!

[herostar]

Look'n good! Nice to see another 450 in denver!

I say chop down that front fender and throw some boots on the front forks.

[EvilEnfield]

Looking nice but those mufflers look a bit low, could wind up being ground down to little stubs with too many turns.

[dkletter]

Yeah. The mufflers are low. They're about 5" off the ground.. The PO had custom headers on the bike causing the muffler to collide with the kick-stand when mounted in the usual position. I need to weld an extension to the headers to fix that problem.

The pipes are these:

http://www.dimecitycycles.com/vintage-cafe-racer-caferacer-bobber-brat-chopper-custom-motorcycle-exhaust-parts-17-inch-reverse-cone-megaphone-muffler-80-84030.html

I would highly recommend them. They sound fantastic.. Sort of a deep throaty roar.. definitely louder than stock but not obnoxiously so.

[mpencegs]

Not sure if you still have that E tank but if you do hit me up on PM.. I would be interested in it..

[hjacobmiller]

Love this bike. I think the L's make an awesome brat.

How are your controls not hitting your tank?

[Zbradley1215]

Great looking bike man. This how I want mine to turn out.

How did you mount the seat? Did you cover it yourself or have it pro covered?

[dkletter]

How did you mount the seat? Did you cover it yourself or have it pro covered?

It is the brat-style seat from Dime City Cycles. The rear loop is from them as well. The two are made to work together. At 214$ that seat is hard to beat.

I priced out having the seat professionally made and the quote came back in the 400$ range...

http://www.dimecitycycles.com/vintage-brat-style-chassis-seat-parts-ribbed-black-leather-wrapped-dcc-originals-large-cc-seat-dcc-bratlcc-r.html

How are your controls not hitting your tank?

they miss the tank by about half an inch or so. The drag bars angle back a bit, by messing with the angle of their mounting position you can get them to work.

[EvilEnfield]

I don't know about over in the states, but here $214 dollars for a seat that looks like a bit off a weights bench is extortionate. Couldn't you have made it yourself and have it covered for far less? I'd probably pay $40 over here to have someone cover a seat that I'd made, probably $10 for someone to bend a bit of tube.

[mpencegs]

Hey Dkletter. I pm'ed you back about the tank..

[dkletter]

One step forward and two steps back.

So I need some help please.

After replacing all O Rings and Intake Boots, dipping the carbs, and decreasing the main jets one size from 127.5 to 122.5, it runs worse. The plugs indicate it still running rich and the surging idle problem is fixed, but it now bogs down and sometimes dies when revving above 5k RPM. Also there now seems to be a charging issue that did not exist before. I can see why people on this forum are against pod filters, unfortunately mine came that way, the airbox and its mounting points were been removed before I purchased it.

The air adjustment screws are set at 2 1/2 turns from lightly seated and the tank has been recently cleaned. Im not sure what to try next as this point.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Carbs freshly cleaned and disassembled:


Right cylinder plug:


Left Cylinder plug:


Bike's Current state:

[pete]

I don't recall what your pods are, but if they're the cheapy Emgo's, then there's a good chance they're at least restrictive as the stock airbox setup, and I've also seen a report somewhere of some cheap pods being *more* restrictive...

My suggestion would be go back to stock jetting to start with and see what happens.

2 1/2 turns for the mixture screws is definitely a good starting point.

You'll need to do some plug chops, starting at WOT and working down the throttle openings from there.

Once you get the mains dialled in, move to the needles, then the pilots.

[Good Times]

Right cylinder looks ok to me. The left looks a little rich but isn't fouled really bad.

Did you replace the intake boots and o-rings? I can't remember.

Do you have the stock needles?

Float heights?

Did you sync the carbs?

Just a starting point here to help diagnos.

Sorry for the problems. That can be frustrating.

[dkletter]

Yeah I replaced the intake O-rings and boots. Carbs were bench synced.

The bike was running well with exception of a surging idle before taking the carbs apart, so the only change I made when dipping the carbs was that I took the main jet down from 127.5 to 122.5 to account for adding new mufflers. (The PO had it set up for straight pipes)

I didn't measure the float height and the needle jet and appears to be stock. Also, I noticed that the PO drilled out the diaphragm.

I'm happy to take them back apart, I'm just not sure what changes to make when I do...

thanks in advance for help!

[londonboards]

Why would anyone drill out the diaphram?

Have you checked petcock is functioning properly?

Greetings