Kiwi Canuck tries his Luck with a Six Fiddy

[Kiwi Canuck]

Didn't get much done today on the bike, family stuff in the AM, snow shoveling all afternoon, finally got my driveway cleared and then shop time for the last 2 hours.

Cleaned out the fuel tank and tried to service the fuel cock, pretty stiff and almost need pliers to turn it, a little better after the service but still too stiff, will need to sort that out.

Also took a look at the carbs, almost all the screws came out without too much effort and only a couple needed the impact, but what a surprise when I opened the first bowl, holy cow, what a smell.

Here's a picture I missed from yesterday, cleaning engine in the driveway.



Here's the first carb I opened, I had to bag it in a ziplock and put it outside.






I will deal with those later, I think I'll do them outside and put them straight in the solvent tank once they are apart, never seen anything like that before, they are usually dry and crusty.

[bobgroger]

Kind of looks like the gas dried up and left the Sta-Bil. Does it come off easily with solvent\gas?

[Blue Falcon]

Didn't get much done today on the bike, family stuff in the AM, snow shoveling all afternoon, finally got my driveway cleared and then shop time for the last 2 hours.

Cleaned out the fuel tank and tried to service the fuel cock, pretty stiff and almost need pliers to turn it, a little better after the service but still too stiff, will need to sort that out.

Also took a look at the carbs, almost all the screws came out without too much effort and only a couple needed the impact, but what a surprise when I opened the first bowl, holy cow, what a smell.

Here's a picture I missed from yesterday, cleaning engine in the driveway.



Here's the first carb I opened, I had to bag it in a ziplock and put it outside.






I will deal with those later, I think I'll do them outside and put them straight in the solvent tank once they are apart, never seen anything like that before, they are usually dry and crusty.

I've had circuit boards come by me with less varnish on them....OMG. Is it really that bad?

[Kiwi Canuck]

Kind of looks like the gas dried up and left the Sta-Bil. Does it come off easily with solvent\gas?

Haven't tried yet.
As soon as I open it and took 2 pictures was about all I could stand, it's sticky and wet so should come off OK, it just a very toxic strong smell and I'm in the family garage were my wife keeps her car so I try to keep the smell to a low level, this would put her through the roof!!

[Nessism]

That gooey stuff comes off fairly easily with carb dip. Easier than the dried on stuff anyway.

[eil]

Nice score, I've envious. I'm pretty sure my next bike, whatever it is, will have fuel injection but I'd still trade my 850L for a 650E in a heartbeat. They look great and I have a feeling they go pretty well too.

[SVSooke]

Nice score, I've envious. I'm pretty sure my next bike, whatever it is, will have fuel injection but I'd still trade my 850L for a 650E in a heartbeat. They look great and I have a feeling they go pretty well too.

That's why I tried to pry it from him.My 650 was one of the nicest bikes I've owned.Light with enough power to do most anything.

[850 Combat]

It is amazing how different technically the 650E is from the 650G. The E is more of a traditional GS, with its roller bottom end, while the G is plain bearing like virtually everything today is. Nearly identical in looks, and fundamentally different between the cases.

I've owned three Yamaha 650 Secas. I've never ridden a GS650. I would like to compare them. The Seca had merit. Superior fit and finish to my GS's, The countershaft engine was narrow. The 8" headlight bucket is steel, and has adjusters built in. It had a built in chain lock, and a prop stand for holding the seat up. Yamaha cheaped out with ball bearing steering head bearings, where you couldn't see it.

Nice find.

[BigD_83]

It is amazing how different technically the 650E is from the 650G. The E is more of a traditional GS, with its roller bottom end, while the G is plain bearing like virtually everything today is. Nearly identical in looks, and fundamentally different between the cases.

I've owned three Yamaha 650 Secas. I've never ridden a GS650. I would like to compare them. The Seca had merit. Superior fit and finish to my GS's, The countershaft engine was narrow. The 8" headlight bucket is steel, and has adjusters built in. It had a built in chain lock, and a prop stand for holding the seat up. Yamaha cheaped out with ball bearing steering head bearings, where you couldn't see it.

Nice find.

You're more than welcome to try my 650G at a PNW gathering, should your work schedule line up.

[Kiwi Canuck]

Making some progress,

Not my favourite part of the cleanup process, cleaning the wheels, it's way more physical than expected and takes a good few hours, one down one to go.



Getting the Avon Road Rider tire on was harder than I remember, I've put a few on in the last 3-4 years but I was knackered after just this one.

BTW, no tire irons on these rims, all done by hand and the heal of my boot.

[Kiwi Canuck]

Nice score, I've envious. I'm pretty sure my next bike, whatever it is, will have fuel injection but I'd still trade my 850L for a 650E in a heartbeat. They look great and I have a feeling they go pretty well too.

Eli, thanks for your comments.

I look forward to getting it finished and taking it for a spin to see how it runs as I've only ridden the GS1000's lately, I did have a GS550 for a very short time back in 78 and loved it.

Newer fuel injected bikes are nice for the smoothness and pretty much push the starter and go, but there's something about using the choke and getting the engine just right before setting off.

I just realized, I now have 3 Suzuki 650's, a fuel injected 2012 VStrom, a carbed 2013 DR650 and now a carbed 1981 GS650, I'll need to get a photo of all 3 of them together.

Cheers,

David

[Charlie G]

The inside of that rim looks great! You shouldn't have any problem with that tire getting a good seal. I want to start mounting my own tires and need to look up a how thread posted a few years ago and give it a try.

[Kiwi Canuck]

The inside of that rim looks great! You shouldn't have any problem with that tire getting a good seal. I want to start mounting my own tires and need to look up a how thread posted a few years ago and give it a try.

I'm using tubes so I do get a good seal, haha, these rims are not tubeless rated.

David.

[Kiwi Canuck]

Small update, got the rear rim cleaned up and the tire installed, that was a lot easier than the front.



Dropped off a few parts to get powdercoated, swing arm, side stand, center stand and seat base, should get those back next week.

The seat base is quite rusty but fortunately it's mostly surface rust and it's actually in OK shape structurally and all the mounting tabs are in good shape.
Not too sure about the cover though, it's almost OK but I'll need to see if it will go back on without any rips as it's a bit fragile.



The rest of the parts that need refinishing I'll paint with VHT spray paint once the weather warms up a bit.

Cleaning and polishing going on, a few hours here and there, dropping a few parts into the rust remover tub after I get them cleaned up, I try to get them as clean as possible before putting the parts into the solution so it stays clean and should last a bit longer.

I got a few parts from the US mail box yesterday, an emblem for the side cover, a new seat lock which I switched out the cylinder from the old one already and a generator cover, the old one had pretty bad road rash and was not worth saving.

I'll post some more pictures in the next post, my email is not receiving pictures from my phone right now as we are going through an update to Outlook Exchange and it's causing some unexpected challenges.

David.

[Kiwi Canuck]

Spent a few hours cleaning out this used parts cleaner.

I didn't realize that when I bought it used I would be in for so much work, the previous owner had let the old solvent evaporate and it left a nasty tar like substance in the bottom.

I've had a few liters of solvent sitting in there hoping it will help soften up the mess, after 2 hours it hasn't even started to work so I'll try warming the bottom of the unit with a heat gun.

I got some of the worst out with a wide putty knife but mostly just smearing tar around in the bottom of the unit, once that's cleaned up I can use it to start cleaning up some parts.



One other small job I started was looking at the brakes to see what parts I need to order, got the front reservoir apart and it's looks pretty gunked up, should clean up OK though.



It's interesting how on some bikes one part is really pristine and the same part on another bike is completely corroded or rusted out, never seen one this blocked but on my Canadian Cooley it was really badly corroded but not gunked up anywhere near this bad.


More to come shortly.

David