81 GS550T Full Rebuild...In Ohio

[pete]

Hahahaha trust you Steve

Just FYI I used rubber grease on mine before I put the nice new soft ones on...

[Steve]

...thanks again to the master mechanic on the forum.

Some day, I am going to meet that guy.

.

[cowboyup3371]

Some lubrication and they slid right in...should have thought about that Monday but it was too late. Tonight, I was going to use marine grease but was told to use WD-40 instead...thanks again to the master mechanic on the forum.

[pete]

Excellent Scott, looking good! Those calipers look the goods

You're right on the carbs though, they're definitely not sitting right in the intake boots.

I assume they'll be like mine where there is a lip on the inside of the intake boot that needs to sit in the groove on the outside of the carb mouth.

I can see the groove is still outside the intake boots in that photo which is what's telling me they're not seated correctly.

[cowboyup3371]

After playing band dad on Saturday and helping out with school work on Sunday, I finally had a chance to go work on the bike by leaving pretty early this morning. First things first, I cleaned up the airbox and battery box then hung them to dry until the humidity could fall back to a more reasonable level. While that happened, I grabbed the brakes and my side covers to take back to the house. Brakes were finally put back together with the fronts fully done:




While the rears were halfway finished at the house. It seems I forgot to clean out the mounting bolts and had left the cleaning stuff back at the garage. Plus, I ordered new brake pads from Z1 on Friday and should see them by tomorrow. But at least they went back together fairly easily and once I returned to the garage later in the day, I cleaned up the bolt heads with the roloc pad.



I also painted the battery box and airbox (metal bits) then headed for home for dinner.

Once dinner was done, the eldest and I ran back to the garage where she helped clean up the brake rotors so I can tape them off to paint later this week. While she did that, i put the airbox back together and mounted the battery box with new rubber grommets and washers to better fit it this time.

Then the real fun began. I thought I'd have an easy time with this as the carbs slid right into the airbox boots without a second thought. I tightened them down and started to mount them into the intake when lo and behold the carbs and airbox boots parted ways. So much for a non-cursing night. I finally mounted everything much like I remembered them last year but I still don't like the looks. Yes, they are stock boots all the way around but something just doesn't look right. I'll have another go at them tomorrow when it's a bit earlier in the evening.




But here's how the bike's looking right now.

[pete]

I hear ya' Scott, you get to that point where you can see the light and then the little things crop up and it's so frustrating!

However, you're making excellent progress, so chin up and you'll be there before you know it

[cowboyup3371]

After realizing the 3/8" spacer just wasn't going to play nice for me, Steve offered to grind down the spacer from Gustovh. A couple of attempts at it and a little "persuasion" while installing it finally got everything in place like it should. I then ensured all bolts were able to be put into place and so I'm able to torque them tomorrow evening.

I didn't throw the rear caliper into the oven yet but it sure looks good (sorry, still no pictures). I also wiped the fronts down with acetone, painted them, and then cleaned the airbox so I can repaint it. As I have rear brake parts coming in Wednesday I hope I can start finishing up the main chassis stuff by this weekend. Then we'll prime the tank, side covers, and wheels with painting to follow soon....or at least that's the plan.

I think that last statement is what's really bothered me about this project since late March - every time I think I am going to be close to finishing, something comes up with work or parts and I fall behind again. I am so ready to be done and riding before the season ends it hurts.

[tkent02]

Perfect .

[cowboyup3371]

I have a toaster oven at the garage now. Bought it for 5 bucks last year from a college kid

[tkent02]

Thanks Tom I just didn't know if I could bake them tomorrow or if I had to wait until next week since the can didn't say. And yes, it was Duplicolor's Brake Caliper paint

I'd start with low heat and after a while turn it up to what is recomended on the can.
You got an outdoor oven of some sort or are you going to be breathing this **** all night?

[cowboyup3371]

Thanks Tom I just didn't know if I could bake them tomorrow or if I had to wait until next week since the can didn't say. And yes, it was Duplicolor's Brake Caliper paint

[tkent02]

Once you bake them they are done, the paint will be very hard.

[cowboyup3371]

Today was a mixed bag of sorts. We put the stock spacer I received from Gustovh for the top rear mounting bolt into place today. However, we found out later when trying to reinstall the bolts that it jacked one side of the engine up just a bit too high. Removing it caused the engine to sit back into place perfectly. So, as it's a 10mm bearing with washers attached essentially, I decided to hit Lowes to find a replacement (Ace was closed already and has ticked me off lately on their selection). I found a 3/8" x 1/2" x 1 1/2" steel bearing that will work but we'll need to add some extra washers to take up the space. I think I'll be okay...I hope

Before all that, I finished stripping the paint off the wheels as best I could. I grabbed a couple of dremel sized roloc wheels from Walmart to help out. As good of a job they did, it wasn't worth the $3 for the two wheels as both went very quickly. I think they are made for the lightest of jobs. I then tried to soda blast off what paint was left but that didn't work either. Not sure what I'll do but am thinking of just priming over it since it's in the deep corners that I can't get to.

Finally, I painted the rear brake caliper halves and the brackets for the front brake calipers (my Salty Monk adoption). It was too late to take pictures since my phone battery was about to die so I'll do it tomorrow.

For those of you who bake your calipers in the toaster oven after painting; how long do you wait until you put them in? Can I put them in tomorrow morning or do I have to wait a few days?

[cowboyup3371]

Right, they were 750E forks that the PO had put on.

[Dogma]

Wait a minute, wait a minute...



WHAAAAAAAATT?


I don't know what you changed to make the centerstand work wrong, but bandaiding it by raising the forks is not the right answer.

IIRC, those aren't 550T fork legs.