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1982 GS550M Katana Rebuild

  • Thread starter Thread starter mv577
  • Start date Start date
Mike
you are doing a fantastic job documenting your restoration here.I bought one of these at my local dealer Spring city cycles in saratoga springs NY as a one year old leftover.it was a great first bike I traded it in a couple yrs later on a 82 GS1100E and have owned about 15 or so GS1100's and a couple more 1000 Katanas.I used to live on this site but then had kids and took a break for while.now I just picked up another 83 1100E and can't wait to start restoring it

Rich
 
Well life is what it is and the bike was pushed to the side of the garage for a while again... Slow and steady I guess!!! A few updates on its progress... first off I got the body work back from the shop!!! You have to love shinny parts!



The tank when I brought it home...






Decals applied.... loving it! :D





Front fender installed...
 
I then started working on the front brake lines... I decided to do braided lines and went with Goodrich... There weren't any great kits that I could find for the bike... I've never used these type of lines where you put the line and end together as needed... but I have to assume they work or they wouldn't sell them lol



Putting it all together... and actually I messed up here by putting one of the longer lines in the wrong place... but I caught it before putting it on the bike...







 
I then grabbed the rear hub and axle and started cleaning those up...



I forgot a before picture but here is the new bearing being pressed into the cleaned up hub....



Cleaned hub, new bearing and seal...



New sprocket installed... I had bought new bolts, nuts and those washer things... however when I went to use them they were all too small... so I ended up reusing the old stuff, cleaning it up the best I could... and found some new nuts lying around that seemed to work...
 
I started to clean up the wheels for paint... They aren't in bad shape at all which I'm happy about... after a while though I decided to be lazy and I contacted my powder coat guy... I'll be dropping them off to him tomorrow lol...





This is how they sit now... they do look better in the picture then in real life but like I said they're not too bad... I will admit that I plan to have them done in a solid color... I know it's against the original design but I've never cared for the polished lip thing... and well it will be easier to keep them clean... so ya...

That's it for now... I have tomorrow off so hopefully will get some more done :)
 
mv577 said:
I started to clean up the wheels for paint... They aren't in bad shape at all which I'm happy about... after a while though I decided to be lazy and I contacted my powder coat guy... I'll be dropping them off to him tomorrow lol...
Click to expand...

Hope he good and not do the disc mounting surface, bearing surface and removes the lead wheel weights. All those things i have seen be powder coated over
 
Mike, looking good, I love that nothing is too good for this rebuild.

I too was keeping an eye out for when you reappeared with new updates, thanks for keeping your thread alive.


David.
 
Great to see the next phase of your excellent restoration.
I like the look of that front stand. Model?
What are you using for the rear?
 
sharpy said:
Hope he good and not do the disc mounting surface, bearing surface and removes the lead wheel weights. All those things i have seen be powder coated over
Click to expand...

Yup no worries there... He does a great job making what shouldn't be done... And the weights were pulled off 👍
 
Kiwi Canuck said:
Mike, looking good, I love that nothing is too good for this rebuild.

I too was keeping an eye out for when you reappeared with new updates, thanks for keeping your thread alive.


David.
Click to expand...

Thank you! I had hoped to be done by now but it is what it is... 👍
 
steve murdoch said:
Great to see the next phase of your excellent restoration.
I like the look of that front stand. Model?
What are you using for the rear?
Click to expand...

Thank you! That front stand is from the 90's I think... Someone have it to me a long time ago... I have no idea where it came from lol... I just have the bike in the center stand for the rear... ��
 
I haven't done tons the last few days... but I did get the piston rings and pistons installed... I'm waiting on a ring compressor, or two, to finish putting the motor together... They should be here on Thursday..







From there I messed with some little things in the hour I had here and there... I've had some luck sources NOS discontinued parts on EBAY this week... One little thing I grabbed was a front brake line cover... Devil's in the details!!




 
Messed around a little more with some cosmetic stuff... because hey... shiny things make me happy!!!

I said it before... swords are cool man... :)



New decals on the side covers :)



Seeing how it looks on the bike... Can't wait to see this thing together and on the road!!! Oh speaking of cosmetic... I decided to match the wheels to the paint... I've seen some bikes online with the silver rims and I like it... This is the color I chose after comparing it to the bodywork in all light sources..



The wheels are at the blaster this week... hopefully have them back next week sometime... I'll mount the tires and have a roller for the first time since I brought it home!!! I ordered the remaining wheel / caliper parts I needed to make sure I can button them up when the wheels come back...
 
So I mentioned I've been sourcing parts... and well even when I've found something I don't stop looking for a better option... A year ago or so I dropped my seat off to be redone with a local guy... It was going to be a side job and to this day hadn't been touched... no big deal since I didn't need it yet anyway... but I am always looking... I came across a nice looking original seat on EBAY right here in MA... Far more money then I spent on the beat up one but I loved the idea of it being original... so I bit and bought it!!!

Turns out the seller knows this thread and is a GSResource member... ridesauce... I got the seat today and it looks great!!! I did a quick pass with cleaner and conditioner and the little dirt that was on it is already cleaning off... I'll do another at some point but I'm very happy!!! An original 36 year old seat... love it!





:D
 
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