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Greetings from CT, and my 1977 GS550

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    Greetings from CT, and my 1977 GS550

    Hey guys, this is my first post on here but I have been cruising this forum for the past month since I bought my first bike. I picked up a running (but not running well) 1977 GS550 with 34k miles off of Craigslist last month and have been working to bring back up to spec since.

    It looks to be almost totally stock (with the addition of that killer sissy bar ) which is cool for me as it will serve great for a learning experience. I don't have a mechanical background at all, but I wanted to buy a bike I could learn to work on.

    The good news is overall it's not in too bad a shape externally for having this many miles. Engine casings are dinged and scratched as is to be expected but the chrome and wheels especially look great. The exhaust doesn't show too much rust either. I had the compression checked and it is all in good shape thankfully. However, upon getting it home and in the garage, I quickly found out the air filter element was missing (it actually looked like it had withered away as there were some foam chunks sitting at the bottom). I figured that and the poor sealing on the air box lid could probably be a well enough reason to mess with the carbs and affect the engine running properly.

    Since then, I have done the following:
    - new battery (starter seems to work fine, but I have no idea if there are any other electrical issues)
    - oil & filter change
    - new Uni stock air filter element installed
    - old gas drained (tank looks ok), new gas put in
    - pulled the carbs out, gave them a few day long dip in PineSol, have yet to reassemble (with new gaskets & o-ring kit from www.cycleorings.com)
    - pulled airbox out and cleaned all the crap that was in it (not as bad as I thought)

    Current To-Do's:
    - reassemble and reinstall the carbs and airbox
    - check the valves (learned that this should be done after a short search on the forums)

    The goal as of now is just to get it running well in it's current shape before I choose to do any other mods or upgrades. Open to any other suggestions for things to check or change. This forum has proven to be one of the most valuable tools I could find in everything I have done so far, so thanks and cheers!




    Last edited by Guest; 09-16-2015, 08:23 AM.

    #2
    Welcome to the site.
    Excellent intro.
    Be thankful all you found in the airbox cavity was foam chunks and not a mouse nest like so many of us.
    2@ \'78 GS1000

    Comment


      #3
      beautiful bike...........

      Comment


        #4
        Quick update, I have had the carbs off the bike for a couple weeks now and have been working on them here and there when time allows. Like I said before, I'm new to all of this stuff so this was my first carb job. New o-rings and gaskets came and I have just started to put them back together.

        BEFORE:




        During/After






        Old intake boot O-ring and destroyed screw VS nice shiny new ones from cycleorings.com


        I realize this is amateur hour stuff for a lot of guys on here but I gotta say I'm having a blast learning to do this myself. Next up is getting them bench synced and back onto the bike. Thanks for lookin!
        Last edited by Guest; 09-29-2015, 05:58 PM.

        Comment


          #5
          Nice work so far.
          When there is such a wealth of information available on this site it is great to see a rookie take advantage of it.
          We were all noobs, once.
          Last edited by steve murdoch; 09-30-2015, 08:21 AM.
          2@ \'78 GS1000

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            #6
            It's looking great! Carb work is one of those things that makes me feel satisfied every start up and ride. Knowing that my work put that together and made that go and move back to idle like it should is such a satisfying feeling for me. Keep it up! She should be running in no time!

            Comment


              #7
              Before you wrestle those carbs back into the bike (yes, there will be a few choice words uttered ), ask yourself how lucky you feel.

              Pine-Sol is absolutely GREAT at getting rid of all the grime from the outside of the carbs, but it might not be all that great at dissolving the varnish and crud from the INSIDE, where it really matters.

              Before re-assembly, I would suggest dipping the carb bodies (and float bowls) for a day in Carb Dip (Berryman's, GUNK, Yama-Dip, etc.) so you only have to have ONE wrestling match.

              .
              sigpic
              mine: 2000 Honda GoldWing GL1500SE and 1980 GS850G'K' "Junior"
              hers: 1982 GS850GL - "Angel" and 1969 Suzuki T250 Scrambler
              #1 son: 1986 Yamaha Venture Royale 1300 and 1982 GS650GL "Rat Bagger"
              #2 son: 1980 GS1000G
              Family Portrait
              Siblings and Spouses
              Mom's first ride
              Want a copy of my valve adjust spreadsheet for your 2-valve per cylinder engine? Send me an e-mail request (not a PM)
              (Click on my username in the upper-left corner for e-mail info.)

              Comment


                #8
                Good thought, Steve. I'm taking my time anyways so I might as well take the extra step. One thing I noticed in the bowls was that the metal itself was rough feeling and spotty in certain spots. I don't THINK it was residue because I was scraping at it with a pick and it wouldn't really come off. Sorry I don't have any photos to show right now of it but I will try to get some. Is it just from being 40 years old?

                Comment


                  #9
                  good job on the carbs, good job finding cycleorings.com, etc. welcome to the site and enjoy!

                  i totally rebuilt the carbs on my 78 1000 and i've never ridden the bike (can't get it running). looking forward to someday doing the same to my 82 1100 working bike

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