Bought another one! Let the work begin!

[1978GS750E]

Solder that hole shut.

Thats what I was planning on doing with the pinholes after the spot welding. Just wanted something a little stronger for the main opening.

Got the inside soaking in MEK Subsitute, can't get the real thing anymore I guess? Put 600 or so, steel BB's in with a gallon of the MEK Sub and going out and shaking the daylights out of it every 30 minutes or so when I change the position of the tank. Looks to be working, albeit slowly, but it is working. What else was I gonna do this evening anyway??

After the liner is all softened up I plan on rinsing with acetone and then a hot air dry just for storage purposes. Got a gallon of the cleaner & etch that Nessism mentioned to do the final clean before I put the new liner in it.

Kinda wish that the city would let you have a fire in your yard, I would be tempted to go full "Chuck Hahn" on this one!

Hmmmm........wonder if it would fit inside my grill?

[Steve]

Put 600 or so, steel BB's in with a gallon of the MEK Sub and going out and shaking the daylights out of it every 30 minutes or so when I change the position of the tank. Looks to be working, albeit slowly, but it is working. What else was I gonna do this evening anyway??

I know a guy who rescued an old Goldwing. Rusted tank, of course. After removing the tank (which involves removing the rear wheel and swingarm), he loaded it up with drywall screws, wrapped the tank with old carpet strips and stuffed it into a small cement mixer, shoving foam blocks where necessary to keep the tank in place. About every half hour, he would re-position the tank and fire up the mixer again.

His only regret was not having ear protection while it was running, but he said it did a FINE job.

[1978GS750E]

Yeah Steve, I've also heard of people putting their gas tanks in the dryer! This tank is HUGE, so that is out!

Actually I have a porch glider, which works really well as a shaking platform. I wrap the tank in an old blanket, put it on the glider and "rock it back and forth" to do the shaking. Just takes a lot of time since I have to re-position it every so often to make sure I get all areas of the inside. Still working on softening up the old tank liner, right now it is soft enough that it holds some of the BB's. I'm thinking that by the morning it may be soft enough to get real agressive with the shaking!

[1978GS750E]

Got the belly of the pig back today!

Got my crankcase back from the welder this evening.

Looks to have done a top-notch job!

Then after a little die grinder work it looks like this:

[1978GS750E]

He also re-welded the broken starter gear pin area:



Got a little more work to do on it before I'll start putting it together again!

[1978GS750E]

Working on the pig again!

Finally got enough of my "other" projects (aka: crashed bike!) finished that I could devote some time to the pig this evening.

Got the crankcase back together, oil pan on and the oil pump installed.


Still got a lot of work to do! Probably going to put this in the frame before adding much more weight to it!

[Rob S.]

Glad that the front wheel photo bombed your engine - just to remind everyone that you're rebuilding the zenith of air-cooled Superbike-Dom, the (red) Suzuki 11ED.

[1978GS750E]

Got the engine, well some of it, back in the frame this evening. It is a lot lighter without all those extras on it! Didn't invent any new profanities, or use any old ones!


Actually have a little room to work on it now!

[Buffalo Bill]

Got my crankcase back from the welder this evening.

Looks to have done a top-notch job!

Then after a little die grinder work it looks like this:

Lovely! I love a story with a happy ending.

[grcamna2]

The welder did nice work on that cast aluminum.Did he do the oven treatment to remove all the oil from the porous castings or use another cleaner before welding? Excellent,strong repair.

[1978GS750E]

I did not ask how he cleaned it before welding. Just made sure to keep his phone number!

[1978GS750E]

Progress on the "pig" today!

Made a little progress on the "pig" today since I was burning my last days of vacation for the year. Got the cylinders on, head on and torqued down.


Ready to install the cams and timing chain tensioner tomorrow along with the carbs and airbox. Then its on to fab a bracket for the exhaust system. Will have to wait on a new valve cover gasket and some other bits before I can start it.

Who knows, might be running again soon!

[1978GS750E]

Got more work done today on the "pig". Got the cams installed, rebuilt and installed the cam chain tensioner, fabbed a new exhaust bracket and installed the 4-into-1, and installed the airbox and carbs

Waiting on a valve cover gasket and I think i'll replace the airbox boots as well before starting it up! Hopefully in the next couple of weeks????

[1978GS750E]

More work on the "pig" this afternoon! Got the valves adjusted, battery installed along with the rest of the airbox.


Still waiting on a valve cover gasket and a clutch lockwasher. Hopefully I can hear it run this week!

[1978GS750E]

It's snortin' now!

Finally got the much needed parts today! Got the clutch assembled and adjusted, the valve cover back on, connected the crankcase vent tube and replaced the plug caps. Connected my auxillary tank, hit the starter and after a few turns it came to life!

The best part is there were no strange noises coming from the crankcase like before! Still have to set the timing and adjust the idle. It has a battery light that is staying on so I have to check into what is going on there.

And of course, I had fresh paint on the cylinders and header, so the garage filled up quite nicely with smoke! But none was noticeable from the exhaust, so that is good.

It's always a good feeling when you hear them run for the first time after a total rebuild!

Looks like the "pig" may live to run another day!