Kiwi Canuck tries his Luck with a Six Fiddy

[BigD_83]

Oops,

that might be a typo. I'm not in the office today, and of course the emblems are sitting on my desk. I'll remeasure them tomorrow and be in touch

Yup, it is definitely a 90mm emblem. I find it interesting; despite the chain vs shaft, Suzuki couldn't find a way to use the same engine casings for the E and G.

[dorkburger]

Thanks for the wheel cleaning info - I'll be doing the same in the very near future as well.
Im enjoying this thread. Nice to see a 650e coming back into daylight.

[Kiwi Canuck]

Thanks for the wheel cleaning info - I'll be doing the same in the very near future as well.
Im enjoying this thread. Nice to see a 650e coming back into daylight.

Hello Dorkburger, thanks for checking my rebuild thread, hope the info I posted helps, cleaning wheels really well is a chore, but worth it.

Much easier if you have the tires off as well.
I can install tires myself, so I get the shop to remove the old ones (so I don't ding up my rims) and then I can take a day or so to clean each wheel before I install the tires.

BTW my sons (12 & 13) get a chuckle every time they see your user name on screen, not sure I want to know how that name came about, but if you feel compelled my kids would love to know.

Cheers,

David

[dorkburger]

Im planning to try to remove / replace the tires on my own, so while the tires are off im going to clean / paint the wheels.

Dorkburger is completely innocuous. It was my sisters greeting for me when I came home from a night out at the wee hours while she was studying in the kitchen all night. It was generally returned with hi, geek or something of that nature.

[Charlie G]

Dorkburger is completely innocuous. It was my sisters greeting for me when I came home from a night out at the wee hours while she was studying in the kitchen all night. It was generally returned with hi, geek or something of that nature.

Thanks for asking Dave, I been dyeing to know.

[Vmass]

I used a Burgundy coloured 3M pad and set the wheel up vertically on a 5 gallon bucket full of warm water, the bottom of the rim rotates in the water bath and I get at it with the abrasive pad, I also use a stiff plastic bristle brush, (like used for dishes) and clean the painted part of the wheel, I do use the pad on the painted part but very lightly if the buildup is thick or it's corroded.

http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/3MIndustrial/Abrasives/Products/~/Scotch-Brite-Hand-Pad-7447?N=7581709+3293241244&rt=rud

The bucket works well as you can also lay the wheel on the bucket for cleaning in the crevices, I also put the bucket up on a box to bring it up to a good working height to save my back.

I used some orange pumice hand cleaner to assist with degreasing during the first pass.

I've made the mistake of using simple green on aluminum before, so be careful if you do use any of those types of cleaners as they can etch aluminum and will require extra work to clean it up.

This is a great tip! I wish I learned this 10 wheels ago. I have used the orange hand cleaner on very old neglected paint and had some decent, non damaging results......please try this in an inconspicuous location.

[dorkburger]

Definitely a heplful tip. I did one last night, but used a geeen Scotchbrite, (it was all i had) and some 400 grit sand paper on the rim - they are getting painted all black and the finish is pretty bad, so I had no issues using the sandpaper. The hardest part was getting old brown stains off the wheel. I had to use a combo of some pretty harsh cleaner and Scotchbrite scrubbing to get it off.

[Dougpod]

Great thread David and fantastic build....so many of the early 550 and 650 Kats were just driven into the ground and forgotten about. Nice to see one coming back to life!

Keep up the good work

Doug

[Kiwi Canuck]

Great thread David and fantastic build....so many of the early 550 and 650 Kats were just driven into the ground and forgotten about. Nice to see one coming back to life!

Keep up the good work

Doug

Thanks Doug for the comments, wow you have been around for a while but not posted much, nice to have you following along.

David.

[Kiwi Canuck]

Update on the progress so far.

I've been busy with work and family commitments so not too much time to dedicate to the bike in the last week or so. (not all work though, I did get to see Jim Jefferies last night, which was great)

I got a few hours to finish up the rear sprocket and cut the new chain to the correct length and rivet it together.

A few of you may remember the frustration I had with the Chain Tool I purchased for my GS1000S restore a few years ago, I couldn't get it to stay straight when trying to rivet the chain, it felt like it wanted to always twist and cause the tool to get damaged.

I did get a set of instructions from one of our GSR members in Europe, (John Kat) which did help but I finally was able to figure out what was wrong with the way I was using it.

Here's the kit I got, pretty standard and was about $35 IIRC



I ground off the rivet I needed to punch out and used the largest pin and no anvil in the end, the pin came out no problem.

This guy.





Then I needed to install the supplied rivet with the little o-rings and some grease which was also supplied, I used the anvil plates and the one with a slot goes on bottom and the one with the holes goes on top so you can see the pins as they come through the top plate. I used the handle and bar to wind the plates together and once it was close I removed it a couple of times to make sure the chain link wasn't binding up, once it was set to right height and not binding I was ready to rivet the pins.





This is were I really had trouble last time, but this time I used the round anvil without the recess for the rivet.

Not this one as the recess is not big enough and it causes the tool to tilt and once pressure is applied it binds up, I used the one without any recess.






After using the tool to start the rivet I then setup a makeshift anvil and finished the job with a small ballpein hammer I got from my Dad's tool collection, thanks Dad, thinking of you every time I use any of your tools.



Here she is finished beside the old chain.



OK one more small post and that's a wrap for tonight.

David

[Kiwi Canuck]

I purchased a new front sprocket and chain but looked at the rear sprocket an figured it should be good for a bit more life, so I put it in the parts washer to soak for a week.

It was still pretty nasty when I pulled it out this afternoon, if you look at the picture above of the old chain that's what it looked like.

If I could get an OEM one from Suzuki I'd probably order it but they are not available and some of the after market ones from JT I've bought came with round holes, which I dislike so I made the decision to clean up the one that came on the bike.

After about 2 hours of cleaning and scrubbing the sprocket and polishing the nuts and bolts, which that part makes no sense should have ordered new washers plates or whatever they're called, as they are only about $1.00 each.

I got it to an acceptable state and I'm calling it done.

Here she is all together but I've not locked the washers down yet.



The sprocket looks a bit worn in this picture but in real life it looks straight, unless I look at it for too long, then I start to doubt myself. ha ha it's going to have to be OK because that's what's going back on.

Taking the boys snow boarding tomorrow so no more bike work this weekend.

David

[SVSooke]

I have used JT sprockets but I really don't like they're round holes.I believe Sunstars come with the proper style,worth the $10ish more.

[Kiwi Canuck]

I have used JT sprockets but I really don't like they're round holes.I believe Sunstars come with the proper style,worth the $10ish more.

Good to know, if I need to change it I'll make sure I get a Sunstar then.

Thanks.

Should have an update soon as I just got a Parts Outlaw partial shipment in from the US mailbox, can't wait to dig in and see what they shipped.

David.

[Kiwi Canuck]

Here's some of the pieces I got today, a new mirror and got the engine decals and they are the correct ones, I saw one of these on ebay for $45 US located in Japan, but still available from Suzuki for $15.88 I'm stoked about that.




Also got a replacement front fender, undamaged and a good donor for this rebuild.

I got a quote to fix the sliver one and it was far more than buying a used one, the silver one is actually pretty beat up so good to find a usable one for a very reasonable price.

[Kiwi Canuck]

After 4 hours in the garage today I only got two pictures to post, I got a bit of stuff done but not worth posting pictures of.

Cleaned up the fork stanchions as they had quite a few rust specks on them, cleaned and stripped the triple tree, removed the turn signals and disassembled them as I cleaned them, they had a few dodgy wiring connections and wrong hardware on a couple of them and one had the lens screw mount broken off, not sure I want to spend $76.00 US on a new one so I'll see what my options are.

Cleaned up a pile of parts ready for my next batch to go off to the powder coater.

I also made a new list of bits and pieces needed for the next order from Parts Outlaw.

Straightening levers, if you ever had the misfortune of bending a lever on your bike and tried to straighten it by bending it back and had it break then here's a tip that may work for you.

Remove the lever from the bike and put it in a vise or support it so you can hit it with a hammer, for some reason the alloy will straighten when hit but will crack if slowly bent back.

It's worked for me almost every time.



Two good taps and it was spot on.