Drew's 850 L Restoration

Thanks guys I appreciate the tips!

[jsandidge]

What did you do with the old wiring harness? I am restoring an 81 GS650, and the wiring harness looks pretty grimey. I don't know if it all functions yet, but I hope it functions. I'd just like to freshen it up some.

Thanks

My harness was in good shape. I had previously replaced many of the connections using parts from Vintage Connections. Great place to do business with. I then cleaned all the grime with Simple Green and a rag like Mikerophone says.

[mikerophone]

Curious what others have done for this as well.

I use simple green on a rag to clean up a grimey or sticky harness and re-wrap loose sections or sections I opened for testing or splicing with this wire wrap tape on Amazon.

The plastic split or spiral wrap loom works ok for short sections or areas that aren't subject to water from the road (like under the tank, but the PVC wrap is more of a permanent and protective solution. I'll be making a custom harness for a project bike this year and would like to learn more from others about what they use. I'll start a thread then, unless there's an existing or new on by then.

What did you do with the old wiring harness? I am restoring an 81 GS650, and the wiring harness looks pretty grimey. I don't know if it all functions yet, but I hope it functions. I'd just like to freshen it up some.

Thanks

[jsandidge]

It's next week, let's see some updated pics of your progress.

Coming soon....

It's next week, let's see some updated pics of your progress.

[mikerophone]

Glad to see you're still at it on this, this bike will be so cherry when you're done.

I think I told you before, but I have the same bike and I can only hope they mine looks half as good as yours does one day!

[jsandidge]

Yes I am. It will be my first attempt to paint anything. Still trying to decide on the scheme.

[Cyrano]

That's just the kind of motivation boost to on with the final push. Are you doing the paint yourself?

[jsandidge]

First ride!

Well I just couldn't wait till everything was finished. Took her for a ride around the neighborhood today. Boy that felt good! No lights, gauges, or fenders, so I just went a couple of blocks (a few times, hehe). Plenty of work left to do. Haven't even started on paint yet.

[jsandidge]

I've been slack on the updates, but not on the progress. I'll post some pics next weekend. But..... She lives again !!! Started her up today for the first time in 10 months. Still have to do a carb synch and dial everything in. Running a little rich right now. I'm 1 size over on the mains, 2-1/2 turns out on the mixture screws. I've been told that these bikes do better at sea level with the larger mains, but I'm not sure if that's quite right. I'll play with it. No road test yet, still have stuff hanging all over the place, but I'm happy.

[eil]

Right on. Looking spiff!

[alke46]

Nothing better to look at than what appears to be a fresh from the factory model. Great job.!!

[jsandidge]

Rear wheel done!

Whew! This was quite the ordeal. Rear wheel is finally done. We have a roller! The past couple of weekends have been busy. Polished and powdercoated the wheel, pressed in new cush bushings and bearings, then mounted the tire. Then, I powdercoated the center and edge of the brake rotor and installed it, powdercoated the right side spacers and caliper mount, balanced the wheel and installed the whole wheel assembly. Oh, also installed a black driven gear from a 1980 850 thanks to a member here. Not too bad for a guy that had never really worked on a motorcycle (or cars for that matter) before finding this site 2 years ago.

Here's the proof!

[jsandidge]

Question, why did you replace these? I was just in my rear wheel to replace the drive spline, should I have done these too?

I doubt you have any need to replace them. They will probably last longer than the bike. I pulled mine out to powdercoat the wheel, since I doubt they would have withstood the 400 degree temps. Since they were out, I decided to replace with new ones.