1980 Gs1000 rebuild

[bomber737]

I finally got to ride my GS1000 for the first time today and what an experience it was. To date the largest bike I have ridden was a 2011 Harley softtail classic and its performance does not hold a candle to this bike. I have also ridden a 1975 Honda gold wing, and that was quite a dog compared to the GS1000. I can't believe people, i.e. my friend who is a GL fanatic, think their performance is even close. The bike ran really well except for a small stumble around 2000 to 2800 rpm and it not wanting to idle down all the way. I am going to figure this is due to carbs are not yet lubed sufficiently by gas. So tomorrow I will be adding some marvel mystery oil to the fuel to lube them up faster. It ran fine around 3000 rpm and really took off anything over 4000, this thing really pulls. Almost to much as I felt like I was going to slide off the seat at one point. I have tried to keep it as stock as possible and I really like the results. The only thing it needs are the side cover badges and they are on their way. I highly recommend using a Pinngle fuel pet cock and blanking off then vacuum port on the #3 carb. I will also be changing out the brake lines in the near future, the brakes feel a little spongy but they work when I need them to. I also changed to headlight to a clear one with a 85W bulb because I ride a lot at night and I wanted a wider beam and brighter light. So here are the final pictures of my 80 GS1000. Thanks to all for your encouragement and advise.

 

[7981GS]

Wonderful news!!!
You deserve the fruits of your efforts.

Eric

 

[bomber737]

Now that the riding season is past for 2012 I decided to get to those things I wanted to address now that I put 5000 miles on the bike last summer. I went on the memorial ride in October and got the chance to talk with a bunch of guys and pick there brains about my front suspension. I decided to go with the sonic straight rate springs. I went with the 1.1 Kg/mm and put a set of race tech gold cartridge emulators. I can't wait for the snow to melt so I can do try it out. I think I will be replacing the rears this spring. There is a place in the town over that will make me a set of rebuild-able rear shocks for $250 and for 100 more I can get the piggyback nitrogen canister added. I will see what the finances are and go with whats best. The place can match the spring rate of the front so hopefully I will be done with upgrades to the bike for a long time. I also did get around to polishing up the forks and covers. I am really happy with the results and I think the bike looks even better than it did last spring. I just did the shims again and re-synced the carbs so I figure I am golden for another season.
Here are some pictures of the finished polished parts.

 

[steve murdoch]

Congratulations on getting your project on the road.
To my eye, the right amount of shiny bits.

 

[1980GS1000E]

Beautiful job. Some ideas on the carbs:

They don't need lubing and adding Mystery oil probably won't help.

I have had a stumble at around the same rpm and what fixed it was some carb tuning, specifically the needles and pilot screws.

Again, great looking bike.

 

[mustangflyr]

Great job saving that GS, always liked the 80 "E" model still have one I bought new. Enjoy it fun machine.

 

[BluePlateSpecial]

I like the crash bars. My Honda came with some big ugly rectangular looking factory bars that had to go but I'm seriously considering putting some of these on my G when I get it on the road.

 

[bomber737]

Thanks guys that means a lot to me coming from people on this forum. The only carb issue I had was an inconsistent idle all last year. Otherwise the bike accelerates briskly all the way to about red line, I had to take it there once just for fun. There are no flat spots or stutters. So this winter I pulled them again and replaced the butter fly valve shaft seals. a few of them were hard and it is cheap to replace them. I think 8 of them cost around 15 bucks with shipping. I also replaced the intake boot o-rings. I put some vinton ones I had in a set last year and when I took the intake boot off to look at their condition they looked like they were sealing but I put nos Suzuki ones on anyway. So we will see what happens. I will be color tuning the carbs again and re-syncing it as I just got done re shimming the valves. The highway bars came with the bike. They must have been put on by the dealer because the original owner said they were on it when he purchased it. I did replace the lower bolts cause they were rusted and didn't seem to be the correct length. Last summer the bar had some give to it, now it is solid as a rock.

 

[althomas101]

When your bike won't idle down is a classic symptom of an overly lean engine. Probably due to the cracked intake o-rings.

 

[bomber737]

I thought of that but when I took the intakes off there were no crack in the o-rings. So I figured the next logical step was replace the butterfly shaft seals. Which I did, unfortunately it has been to cold up here in the north so I have not been able to colortune it and sync it yet. Hopefully nest week will be warmer. Thanks for the advise though, I appreciate it.