Progress!!! 1978 GS1000E Restoration/Performance Rebuild

[ShadowFocus603]

This bike is going to be the envy of all the girls at the prom.

[rapidray]

Looking GOOD Anthony!!!
Ray.

[BadBillyB]

NOTE:

For anyone interested in using an shaved 1100 basket in a GS1000, the edge of the original GS1000 plate carrier will have to be turned down on a lathe until it matches the diameter of the 1100 steel drive plate. Otherwise, the GS1000 plate carrier WILL NOT fir inside the 1100 basket - it's a smidge too big. Just an FYI.

What steel plates are you going to use......Billy

[philosopheriam]

What steel plates are you going to use......Billy

Stock 1100 steel plates and Fast by Gast 1100 fibers.

[Sam 78 GS750]

definitely tracking this one... give me motivation for my own rebuild....

[philosopheriam]

Bottom end of the engine will be reassembled this weekend.

Pistons are being cut this Friday - top-end final assembly will be next week.

After this, I will be setting up my zinc plating kit and the long process of cleaning up all of the nuts/bolts/brackets/fasteners will begin. I will do the engine mount bolts first so I can get the engine back in the frame.

Carbs should arrive next week. I've decided to run a Pingel Guzzler dual-output petcock (no reserve) in polished aluminum.

[BadBillyB]

Stock 1100 steel plates and Fast by Gast 1100 fibers.

I am pretty sure you can only get 7 friction plates in the basket if using the 1100 steels. Stack them up and see how many it will hold. The GS1000 steels are .5mm thinner and will allow you to run one more friction plate. They are, however, too large in diameter to fit in a 1100 basket. Should not be too difficult to machine them down though......Billy

[philosopheriam]

I am pretty sure you can only get 7 friction plates in the basket if using the 1100 steels. Stack them up and see how many it will hold. The GS1000 steels are .5mm thinner and will allow you to run one more friction plate. They are, however, too large in diameter to fit in a 1100 basket. Should not be too difficult to machine them down though......Billy

Billy - you are correct! I did not realize this until I went to assemble the clutch today - I will post pictures later this evening. The GS1100 steels are 2mm wide, whereas the GS1000 steels are 1.5mm wide. Because I wish to retain the original number of steels and frictions (7 steels, 8 frictions), I will have to take my original GS1000 steels and turn the edge down on a lathe so they match the slightly smaller diameter of the GS1100 steel. Because my originals are in good shape, I'll just bead blast them once they come off the lathe so they can be reused.

These are the things one discovers by trial and error - thankfully, steels are cheap and hopefully I can sell a set of unused GS1100 steels to someone here on the board. :-D

[rapidray]

Anthony, are they the stock Suzuki, dimpled steels? If so, how much do you want for them?
Ray.

[BadBillyB]

Because my originals are in good shape, I'll just bead blast them once they come off the lathe so they can be reused.

These are the things one discovers by trial and error - thankfully, steels are cheap and hopefully I can sell a set of unused GS1100 steels to someone here on the board. :-D

Because steels are cheap, buy new ones if they are going to be modified. They may look perfectly flat when you stack them, but they may be out of parallel. This can cause shudder on clutch engagement. The other issue you might want to deal with is the wear grooves in the basket where the friction plates slide back and forth. If you go with the GS1000 steels, after a couple friction plates are installed, the following plates are going to ride on the "hump" where a plate has never touched. Ideally, a new basket would have been the ticket. Since you already have a good used one, you may want to smooth out the "humps" between the old contact spots in the basket. The max "out of parallel" spec on a common brake rotor is .0002" (or 2 tenths of one thousandth), not measureable even with a micrometer by a machinist on a used part......Glad to help......Billy

[philosopheriam]

Anthony, are they the stock Suzuki, dimpled steels? If so, how much do you want for them?
Ray.

Ray,

Check your PM's

:-)

[philosopheriam]

Because steels are cheap, buy new ones if they are going to be modified. They may look perfectly flat when you stack them, but they may be out of parallel. This can cause shudder on clutch engagement. The other issue you might want to deal with is the wear grooves in the basket where the friction plates slide back and forth. If you go with the GS1000 steels, after a couple friction plates are installed, the following plates are going to ride on the "hump" where a plate has never touched. Ideally, a new basket would have been the ticket. Since you already have a good used one, you may want to smooth out the "humps" between the old contact spots in the basket. The max "out of parallel" spec on a common brake rotor is .0002" (or 2 tenths of one thousandth), not measureable even with a micrometer by a machinist on a used part......Glad to help......Billy

Billy,

The plan was to check my old steels on a mirror or piece of glass to verify flatness - although I agree with your comment about runout specs on brake rotors, I can't imagine that Suzuki's OEM tolerance specs in the late 70's got anywhere close to that :-). Typically, the amount of runout that would cause chatter/vibration is something that could be spotted with either a dial indicator (in the instance of a brake rotor) or would be fairly obvious when the steel is laid flat on a mirror.

As for the basket, the one I have has the witness marks from the previous steels/frictions, yet it doesn't have indentations worn into it. Methinks it will be just fine.

Essentially, I have a shaved 1100 basket that will have all the guts of a 1000 once the steels are trimmed. From this point, I don't foresee running into anymore issues - the stock pressure plate and release mechanism should work just fine.

[philosopheriam]

Here are some photos from a couple weeks ago that I forgot to post - they were taken by a friend who happened to be in the shop with me and my buddy Fred. I'm the guy in the gray hat. Fred specializes in vintage Italian motorcycles and has worked on his fair share of old Suzukis and Hondas.

Photo Mar 16 2 19 43 AM by Anthony Monteleone, on Flickr

Photo Mar 16 2 17 47 AM by Anthony Monteleone, on Flickr

Photo Mar 16 2 17 35 AM by Anthony Monteleone, on Flickr

Photo Mar 16 2 17 40 AM by Anthony Monteleone, on Flickr

Photo Mar 16 2 17 14 AM by Anthony Monteleone, on Flickr

Photo Mar 16 2 19 51 AM by Anthony Monteleone, on Flickr

[philosopheriam]

More (in no particular order)

Photo Mar 16 2 22 13 AM by Anthony Monteleone, on Flickr

Photo Mar 16 2 21 33 AM by Anthony Monteleone, on Flickr

Photo Mar 16 2 20 59 AM by Anthony Monteleone, on Flickr

Photo Mar 16 2 22 31 AM by Anthony Monteleone, on Flickr

Photo Mar 16 12 35 30 AM by Anthony Monteleone, on Flickr

Photo Mar 16 2 22 01 AM by Anthony Monteleone, on Flickr

[philosopheriam]

Billy - you are correct! I did not realize this until I went to assemble the clutch today - I will post pictures later this evening. The GS1100 steels are 2mm wide, whereas the GS1000 steels are 1.5mm wide. Because I wish to retain the original number of steels and frictions (7 steels, 8 frictions), I will have to take my original GS1000 steels and turn the edge down on a lathe so they match the slightly smaller diameter of the GS1100 steel. Because my originals are in good shape, I'll just bead blast them once they come off the lathe so they can be reused.

These are the things one discovers by trial and error - thankfully, steels are cheap and hopefully I can sell a set of unused GS1100 steels to someone here on the board. :-D

Photos can better show what Billy is talking about:
IMG_1237 by Anthony Monteleone, on Flickr

Because the 1100 steels are thicker, the last friction does not sit below the edge of the clutch basket - one would have to remove the last friction or use 1000 steels that are trimmed down on a lathe to fit inside the 1100 basket.