Dec. 2017 BOTM.

[Redman]

Scott,

Thanks for further description and photo album of "before".
I see you had to deal with old, probably original, carb boots. And have restored with an air box.
I see you even found the seat rail and trim.
Great job of cleaning up and repairing.

I think the seat rails (back of seat) get taken off if someone has some aftermarket rack and/or trunk and/or sidebags installed. And they might also remove the little grab bar, and/or the trim, as those also may interfere with the added stuff.
I see in your "before" pictures there was some added bracket, which probably was for some aftermarket stuff that had already been removed.

As far as the stripe on the seat trim, my recollection of the 80 850G I had (94 thru 06), the stripe matched the tank color.
One of mine was broken (as happens when the grab bar is missing and then use seat instead when putting on side stand).
At that time I was able to buy a new OEM stock replacement, that came all silver. I had to paint in the stripe.
THe 80 850G was one color, so I cant say about the two-tone like you have.

Yah, 2008 (and 09) was kinda hard on me too.

If you're over this way (Grand Haven), let me know.

Dave

[Guest]

Scott,

I see you had to deal with old, probably original, carb boots. And have restored with an air box.
I see you even found the seat rail and trim.
Great job of cleaning up and repairing.

I think the seat rails (back of seat) get taken off if someone has some aftermarket rack and/or trunk and/or sidebags installed. And they might also remove the little grab bar, and/or the trim, as those also may interfere with the added stuff.
I see in your "before" pictures there was some added bracket, which probably was for some aftermarket stuff that had already been removed.

As far as the stripe on the seat trim, my recollection of the 80 850G I had (94 thru 06), the stripe matched the tank color.
One of mine was broken (as happens when the grab bar is missing and then use seat instead when putting on side stand).
At that time I was able to buy a new OEM stock replacement, that came all silver. I had to paint in the stripe.
THe 80 850G was one color, so I cant say about the two-tone like you have.



Dave

I found the new, OEM intake boots at a Honda dealership in Ohio for a fair price, so I drove down and bought them. Ever since I discovered that the old ones were shot, I've been tempted to call the salesman who told me that "they had always been surprised at how well it ran whenever they rode it from the shop to the front of the building" to tell him he's full of you-know-what, but that's probably not a very productive thing to do.

As for the bracket you see in the "before" shots, I'm pretty sure this bike had a Vetter fairing and saddle bags on it at one point. There are still scars in the paint on the tail light fairing behind where those brackets had been. If you look closely, the headlight and front turn signals are incorrect, and when I removed the headlight to replace it, it said Vetter on the inside. There was a large wad of non-factory wiring inside (probably from the Vetter installation kit) that I had to separate from the factory wiring. That's where the factory shop manual came in handy. The front turn signals were mounted in holes that someone had crudely drilled into the headlight brackets, so those had to be replaced with new ones also.

The chrome backing on the instrument cluster is new, as is the black bezel that surrounds the instruments and the trip meter reset knob. While I had that all apart, I detailed the the backsides of the instruments.

I was surprised to find that the chrome trim strips along the bottom edge of the seat are still available new. Not knowing what color the stripe was supposed to be, I guessed and bought a roll of tape that was the right width and seemed to be a close match to the light blue accent stripe on the tank and side covers.

The grab bar on the seat is also NOS Suzuki - it even still has the sticker that warns you not to use it to lift the bike!

The air box is used, and is one of the detail projects that still needs to be done (it's kind of scratched up) but the air filter is new, and the chrome covers on the ends are NOS, as is the starter cover.

There were numerous places on the frame where the paint was chipped, so I used a Sharpie paint pen to fill those in. If you look closely, you can still see them, but you really do have to look closely.

The triangular brackets at the back of the engine have been removed and repainted, but the two on the front still require repainting. Another job for next spring.

Both of the cast brackets for the front footpegs have been removed and repainted.

New, OEM clutch, throttle and choke cables were installed.

NOS "Suzuki" tank emblems and handlebar pad emblem. The original front fork cover was in nice shape, but missing the emblem, which isn't available any more, so I bought a good used cover that still had the emblem. Also installed both NOS reflectors.

The seat that's on the bike now is not the original, but it's in better shape (the original had a split in one of the embossed seams and the underside was pretty gnarly).

The tail light assembly is a good used one; the original was starting to crumble around the edge. Before installing it, I detailed it front and back. I used a plastic polish to remove a few light scratches from the original tail light lens, so it looks perfect now. Two of the turn signal lenses are NOS.

Two of the cylinder head end caps are NOS, as are the proper oval/domed screws that hold them on.

New Yuasa AGM battery.

New Shinko tires, front and rear.

New OEM rear footpeg rubber and OEM pins, both sides.

Polaris SH775 R/R, with Triumph wiring harness, mounted in original location on bottom of battery box (it was necessary to widen the holes in the R/R - towards the center - to match the spacing of the holes in the battery box).

New brake pads, front and rear, and OEM front brake reservoir, along with brake line flush and refill. Next season, I'll have Alex Callas rebuild and powder coat all the calipers, and I'll install SS brake lines. At the same time, I'll have Alex refinish the fork tubes, and I'll detail the brake disks.

And last but not least, I have to give credit to Alex Callas (aka Sandman99SS) for the gorgeous engine covers (he refinished the originals) and Steve Woodin (aka GSWhisperer) for doing a proper rebuild and polishing of the carbs.

[GS1000S]

Very Nice!

[Guest]

Very Nice!

Thanks! It's my baby.

[Sandman900ss]

IMG_8057.jpg
So cool to see this! Glad to have been a small part of what you've created here, Scott. It's great to see how your attention to detail, high standards, and good taste have brought your GS to a fantastic level. Congrats!

[Redman]

.................

And last but not least, I have to give credit to Alex Callas (aka Sandman99SS) for the gorgeous engine covers (he refinished the originals) .............

Tell us more about that.
He "refinishes" the "originals"....

And most all of us know about Steve.

.

[Guest]

Tell us more about that.
He "refinishes" the "originals"....

And most all of us know about Steve.

.

Yes, he refinished the originals. In other words, you send him your "original" covers (as opposed to buying somebody else's used covers), and he refinishes them. Or at least that's the way mine went, but mine were undamaged except for the deteriorated factory clear coat. I'm sure that if yours are scraped up, he'd be glad to finish others that you bought. If you want to see the results, the first three pictures in my Flickr gallery show the bike with them installed.

So what he does is strips off the remaining old clear coat, then sands out any minor imperfections in the aluminum, then continues "massaging" them until the finish is a close match of the original (as opposed to a high, mirror gloss), then he protects them with a baked-on clear powder coat. Considering the amount of manual labor that goes into this, his prices are quite reasonable.