1978 GS400 Barnyard Rescue

[SouthsideWJK]

Starting to resemble a bike...

Starting to resemble a bike...

I got the front wheel on finally! New bearings, seals, everything was cleaned and greased to spec. Loving the look of these tires more and more. As the Spring here leaves us with streets that look like they've been bombed, I think I made a smart choice going with the enduro tires....



I wanted to keep the factory fender, doesn't look like I'm going to have a clearance level I'm comfortable with. We have a '1969 CL350 fender that actually fits the mounting holes perfectly and provides an extra inch and a half of clearance, so I may wind up using it instead.



Now I begin a series of trips to Lowe's, Ace and Menards to buy bolts. Lots and lots of bolts.

 

[SouthsideWJK]

Carb/Brake help

Carb/Brake help

I have to rebuild the calipers and master cylinder. Never done this before, other than replacing all the seals, gaskets, lines and pads, are there any quirks or problems heading my way? I would love any advice/heads up you can give me.

Aaaaaaand I posted this on the Carb section, but figured I'd get a few more eyes on it over here. I have to rebuild the carbs and I haven't found a kit other than the generic one that pops up on eBay, any suggestions/tips?



I am in the process of getting married in September and buying a house, so buying new ones is out of the question for this season. I mean I could, but I wouldn't have a wedding to worry about paying for, and instead of a house I'd be looking for an apartment of my own...hey wait a minute!

Any pointers would be greatly appreciated!

 

[eil]

For the carbs, you don't need a kit, you need these:

1) http://cycleorings.com/
2) http://www.mtsac.edu/~cliff/storage/gs/Mikuni_BS-CV_Carburetor_Rebuild_Tutorial.pdf

 

[Guest]

Yep, what he said about the carbs, and some good carb cleaner to dip them in for 24 hours. You guys have Berrimans or something I believe?

With your brake caliper, just get the piston and seals from Suzuki, not that expensive and they will be better quality than any after market ones. Brakes are too critical to go dodgy on... and get yourself a braided steel brakeline as well, makes a huge difference!

I haven't done a master cylinder as mine was too trashed and needed replacing, but again I believe the best bet is the piston and cup set from Suzuki if it needs doing.

As for the front mudguard, I made a bracket/brace out of 2.5mm aluminium for mine and adapted a generic dirtbike mudguard I got cheap of eBay.

If those Shinko's were available over here I would've gone that path on the scrambler style I went for, but having said that, I'm extremely glad I'm using road tyres (Avon RoadRiders) now with the riding I do... the twisties wouldn't be anywhere near as much fun with dual sports I don't think!

 

[SouthsideWJK]

Exhaust

Exhaust

I did some digging, and actually found a great little cycle salvage off the grid about 45 minutes North of me. They had an exhaust for my GS. The headers and collector bracket are in great shape...mufflers, not so much.

 

[SouthsideWJK]

Rear wheel

Rear wheel

I thought I had the rear wheel laced in under an hour start to finish. Walked into my friend's shop ready to true this sucker when everyone started laughing....somehow in my excitement over all the spokes fitting I had missed that all the nipples seated about 90 degrees in the wrong direction.

Back home to tear it all down. I did some masking and figured that the spokes were correct in their sequence, but I needed to move the whole thing back by two holes.

Another hour of lacing followed by 3 hours of truing (about half of what the front took me, so I figure I'm getting better! At least that is what helps me sleep) bearing in, off to the tire shop and here we are (please ignore the cat house behind it)....



Suffice it to say, having never done a wheel build before, finishing my first two was immensely satisfying. However now I see an added value in those classic GS mags!

 

[SouthsideWJK]

As of Friday night

As of Friday night

Mocked up half the exhaust. I want to see what kind of clearance I have should I decide to hack off the OE cones (which are in worse shape than I thought) and add shorty 12" mufflers.

Seat is tight and right, instrument cluster has been torn down, cleaned, repainted and polished. There was an old Notre Dame parking pass on it and I masked it off and preserved it. Kind of a cool nod to the bike's history and my new adopted hometown.....

Back wheel/brakes get mounted tomorrow...hopefully I'll remember to snap a few pics between coasting laps around the shop. Pumped to get this thing off the stand!

 

[Guest]

Good work, she's looking good!

I haven't tried lacing wheels either but at some point I'll be giving it a shot on some vintage 28" bicycle wheels I have onto some drum brakes for another project.

 

[SouthsideWJK]

Go for it! It's hard, but not as hard as some of my biker pals lead me to believe. It is LOADS easier if you have a picture of the before or a stock photo of how it looks. This page helped me a lot since I was not wise enough to take a before pic:

http://www.webbikeworld.com/motorcycle-wheels/re-spoke-motorcycle-wheels/motorcycle-wheel-spokes.htm

The real hard part is the truing. Man, if you can get access to a truing stand, do it in front of some Netflix catch up homework with a sixer. I did mine in a friend's shop...standing there with nothing to watch...

 

[Guest]

Haha cool... all my stuff is done in the garage so I might have to get an old PC in there again...

 

[850 Combat]

Super good looking work. Looks like it will be fun to ride, too!!

 

[850 Combat]

I did some digging, and actually found a great little cycle salvage off the grid about 45 minutes North of me. They had an exhaust for my GS. The headers and collector bracket are in great shape...mufflers, not so much.

In the original photos, the exhaust looked pretty darned good, I thought.

 

[SouthsideWJK]

850 Combat...my original newbie idiot plans were for a cafe racer and I tossed the old exhaust. Yeah, the original, in hindsight, was in great shape. So I learned a $150 lesson.

I could go into morbid detail, but you guys have read it all before...I have made literally every classic beginner mistake one could make, aside from pods. Ah well.

 

[SouthsideWJK]

The Lost Week

The Lost Week

Work has been kicking my fanny this week and I had wisdom teeth pulled to boot, so it's been a slow week on the build. I did manage in my haze of painkillers to clean up the air box and cut a new filter..so it wasn't a total loss....





Tore the calipers down, cleaned them. Tomorrow's task is painting them while I wait for the gaskets I was shorted to arrive and rig in the wiring loom. I did manage ONE smart thing when I tore the GS down...I did an excellent job preserving the factory wiring so I am hoping it should be a snap!

 

[SouthsideWJK]

A slow June

A slow June

Work keeps us slammed until the 4th of July, so I haven't had quite the progress in June I was hoping for. I originally wanted to spend the holiday weekend riding, now it looks like three days of finishing it instead. The only thin I am doing to this rebuild that can't easily be redone is changing the mufflers.

The originals were nice, in a moment of noobie ignorance I tossed them during teardown, Managed to get a second set and the cones were pretty beat up so I cut them off and welded on a pair of 12' shorties.....

 

[SouthsideWJK]

Minor setbacks...

Minor setbacks...

Things like this have taught me some valuable lessons about organization as I meander my way through my very first build.

Had the head bolts. Painted the head bolts. Bolted them in. Removed bolts to clean head. Lost half of them. Ordered a new set. Five days. Head back on. Frustrating! BUUUUUT, lesson learned! Bag and tag those bolts like bodies on "Law & Order."

 

[SouthsideWJK]

Rebuilt my first calipers!

Rebuilt my first calipers!

Painted them with caliper paint, replaced everything (those dust covers are a bit pricey, woof!) and now I'm ready for lines. And some extensive testing. Heard stopping was a pretty important part of the equation.....

 

[A74R1]

very good work my friend.. If I had the time and the space I'd be doing the same to my 425.

 

[SouthsideWJK]

Exhaust finished...

Exhaust finished...

Work has calmed down a bit, so I am now able to get back into high gear on this project with hopes of squeezing a few months of good riding in.

Got the exhaust painted with 1500 degree manifold paint. I decided against heat wrap only because my last foray into it was messy, turned out kinda crappy and got dirty pretty quickly. Besides, you knida need four hands and this was much easier to do alone.

 

[SouthsideWJK]

Looks snappy!

Looks snappy!

Got the exhaust mounted, really digging the look of the shorty mufflers. Haven't fired it yet, but I'm hoping the User Reviews I read promising a bit more snarl than those factory cones were true. Plus, at $19 each, they were the lowest cost solution I could find...