1980 GS550L build- lots of pics

[MatBirch]

I picked up this non-runner off CL for 300$, of course with the familiar story-"it ran fine when it was parked" , and "I got it from a guy who got it from a guy who... Just get a new title with this bill of sale"... Blah, blah, blah

Well, it hadn't been registered or run since 1990, but with help from this forum and a few new parts, I got it running easily. Only then did I let myself start in on the fun stuff. This bike is for my wife, who has never ridden, and has a very eclectic, retro style. She loves the old Pin-Up girl look.
After lots of looking, her favorite bike style comes from right here on this site- enter Scaylabs' 1100GL. This became the inspiration bike

Wife is only 5'2", so I lowered the rear end with some 11"" sportster shocks. The shock mounts were not only a tiny bit smaller, but they were so corroded that there was severe errosion on the shank where the bushing had been stuck for so many years. I drilled them out and re-welded new grade 8 hardware in.

As you see, I also capped off the ends of the frame where it was trimmed for a solo seat.
I'm going without sidecovers and putting the electrical in a pan under the seat

She picked the parts she wanted. My dad had given her a pair of his old horse saddlebags, and I found a sportster seat that matches it perfectly.

She chose a long rear fender for a more vintage look, so I fitted it up with the seat- note the paint testing on the tank! Lol

Next, on to the body work!

 

[MatBirch]

Paint Weekend! :
First color to match her favorite nail polish

A little tape work-

Color #2 to match her cowboy boots-

A little pinstriping and some VERY sweet decals I had made thru an ebay vendor
All buried under several coats of clear!

I mocked it up the next day, and this is pretty much where it sits now, as I wanted to hold off on any more work to the frame and motor until I got the title situation under control

The fender is just sitting on the tire, it really sits much closer to the seat

 

[jdknicks]

Nice work! Can't wait to see the finished product! Are you planning on using the saddlebags for the bike, or were they simply the inspiration for the seat?

I might have gone with a lighter color to accent the blue, but as long as the wifey is happy, am I right? Besides, nobody cares what I think! lol

 

[MatBirch]

Thanks
The saddlebags are indeed part of the plan. I just need to come up with a clever way to mount them. It would be much easier on a hardtail. I'll have to cut the strap off of them and create a frame to carry them. I plan to try to utilize the exhaust and/or the rear peg mounting points

 

[MatBirch]

A little update on our project-
Life tends to get in the way, but I have been slowly plugging away on this. I have completed rebuilding the forks, rebuilding the front brake, new front m/c, new stainless brake lines. I have wheel bearings here and ready to go. I have wheels stripped and ready for paint. They are currently at a buddies place awaiting polishing of the lips and faces. New tires are here and ready to go. I still need to fab up some new brackets to support a new headlight.
Here's what I've been up to with the front end-

I wanted to clean up the gauges, as they were pretty sad. I like some of the aftermarket looks available, but for my wife, I like the idea of things like the fuel gauge and turn indicator lights. Not to mention that the extra money would be a stretch right now.
The top of the housing was smashed and cracked, and all the plastic was oxidized and shabby.

I disassembled and cleaned everything, gave it all a coat of krylon fusion satin black. I cleaned and polished the chrome housing backs, as there was only a tiny bit of surface rust, and they were easy to save.
To spark it up a bit and cover the damage, I broke out some aluminum covers and polished them-

I think it turned out pretty cool

You can also sort of make out in the pic that I polished the upper fork crown. That was a ton of work, as the casting is really rough under the factory paint. It took a ton of sanding, and it's still a little bit rough around the edges. It really looks great though and most importantly, the wife loves it!

 

[tkent02]

A little pinstriping and some VERY sweet decals I had made thru an ebay vendor
All buried under several coats of clear!

Very nice, love the attention to detail.

Any leads on the ebay vendor?

 

[MikeyF]

LOVE the tank. My wife likes it too and loves that you're building it for your wife Nice classy retro look. I painted a Norton themed Suzuki logo on my L.

 

[MatBirch]

Any leads on the ebay vendor?

I have him saved in my account. I'll dig it up

 

[MatBirch]

Well- took a real bad spill into a big ole tree on my mtn bike, so I had to take the day. By late afternoon, my shoulder had loosened up enough, and I was stir crazy enough to get out to the shop. Wrapped up a few loose ends that I've been working on.

I had planned on polishing the wheels, but the guy who was gonna do it has too much on his plate. There was also quite a bit of damage that he couldn't get cut out. Easy enough to paint though-

Took a roloc disc to the rotors and got them painted as well-

AND- after much trial and error and test fitting, i finally got the new headlight mounts finished, polished and installed. The entire front end is just about there!

Up next- finish reassembling the wheels and get some rubber on them, get the rear brake rebuilt, and get this sucker back on the ground!

 

[A-train]

Bars

Bars

I'm looking to swap bars on my 81 550L.

Which bars did you go with on yours?

 

[MatBirch]

I'm looking to swap bars on my 81 550L.

Which bars did you go with on yours?

Daytonas
I took the specs from a few different bars and bent up 3/4" emt conduit to match. Set my wife up until she found one she liked. Kept me from ordering and returning...

 

[srg]

What paint did you use? A can of paint then a can of clearcoat? Or did you use a sprayer? I'm gonna be painting up my gas tank eventually, but I've never painted anything other than drywall in the past.

What front caliper and master cylinder did you use?

Also, the aluminum covers for the gauges? Mine are crap, this would be awesome.

I hope you don't mind the questions, haha. Thanks!

 

[MatBirch]

What paint did you use? A can of paint then a can of clearcoat? Or did you use a sprayer? I'm gonna be painting up my gas tank eventually, but I've never painted anything other than drywall in the past.

What front caliper and master cylinder did you use?

Also, the aluminum covers for the gauges? Mine are crap, this would be awesome.

I hope you don't mind the questions, haha. Thanks!

The paint on the bodywork is all PPG's fleet line of base/clear. The wheels are just Duplicolor rattle can wheel paint. I've had really good luck with it the past, so what the heck. Easy to touch up. I sandblasted them first and spent lots of time cleaning and prepping.
The caliper is the stock one, just cleaned up and rebuilt. The M/C is an ebay special. Looks good and got good reviews, but. I have no other feedback yet.
The aluminum covers are just scraps of 14 gauge sheet the I cut, bent, shaped and polished. Attached with VHB tape.

 

[JTGS850GL]

Is that pinstripe tape or painted pinstripes under the clear? I've been looking at the best method to do the pinstripes on my GS1000G but can't seem to find double row pinstripes that can do the tight turns without wrinkling.

 

[MatBirch]

Is that pinstripe tape or painted pinstripes under the clear? I've been looking at the best method to do the pinstripes on my GS1000G but can't seem to find double row pinstripes that can do the tight turns without wrinkling.

CheapO pinstripe tape from Napa. It takes some practice!! Lots of patience, a little bit of heat gun, then bury it in clear! A good color sanding and it's nice and smooth.

 

[MatBirch]

'Nuther Update!
Had a pretty good weekend and got lots of things done. My wife can't really see it, but it really is getting there.

I was able to squeeze some sandblaster time in between raindrops, so I got the exhaust collars cleaned up and painted, as well as the footpeg mounts and hardware. Also got a little further with assembling the wheels and brakes. I messed up and forgot to pick up tubes before the weekend, so. I couldn't get the tires mounted up.

I got all of the electrical up front buttoned up and back together. I can't test anything yet, as I don't have the battery hooked up yet. The new headlight has a different hole configuratiion, so I had to do a little cutting.

There is plenty of room inside the bucket though, so assembling it was fairly simple

Next, I spent some time on the electrical tray. I got a lot of wires traced, cleaned up connections and started mounting components. The R/R mounts underneath the tray

Not a lot to it, but took a few minutes and cleaned up and finished the shocks. New stainless acorn nuts and washers!

Nothing new here, just like the way the polished crown and clamps turned out!

 

[MatBirch]

Inching closer!

 

[MatBirch]

Closing in quickly! Back last year, I promised her June, and I think I can make it!

Got the bodywork fitted and can leave the fender on from now on. May need a little adjustment, we'll see. Took it off the lift and outside for a final scrubdown to degrease and prep the aluminum for painting the motor.
I just LOVE the new stance!

All painted up! Still need to unmask some things, put the decals on the covers and clearcoat them.

The punchlist is getting really short!
Wrap the headers and bolt up the mufflers
Install the coils and horn
Polish and paint the carb bodies
Torque every bolt!!!
Install tail light
Fab license plate bracket
Sync carbs

 

[MatBirch]

Update- it runs!!!

Update- it runs!!!

Been busy all week, to end tonight with some huge success, and a nice big fat brain fart failure.
I've gotten the brakes bled, all electrical finished up, including rebuilding the left hand switch. Finished the exhaust and buttoned up all sorts of loose ends
Tonight was THE night! My wife was at the ready to video. Got a little gas in the tank, confirmed no leaks anywhere and pushed the button. I let it spin a couple times, then moved the petcock from prime to on. Gave it a tiny squirt of ether, and she took a big breath and let a belch of fury! Another hit on the button, and she's purring like a kitten!!:dancing: she sounds absolutely awesome! I went with full exhaust wrap and the Emgo 12" Shorty mufflers on the stock pipes. Very impressed with the sound. Almost quiet, but with a throaty purr. Still only running on three cylinders. Spark but no fire on #3. I was hoping the valve job would help, but it looks like I'll have to tear the carb down again. I only let it run for a few minutes, because I have much more to do before it's ready for a shakedown run this weekend. I sat down next to her, and... "What's this?? You're new..." A nice little puddle of new clean oil underneath. A quick tracing led me to the new half moon plugs. Both rear ones were leaking, the left side really badly. Take it all down, pull the valve cover with plans to use 3bond on them.
Here's the brain fart- even having fully prepped the cover for paint AND prepping the head for the new gasket... Never even turned the valve cover over! All kinds of bits of old gasket still on there. What a moron!!
So just got in from full re-reconstruction of the valve cover WITH 3 bond on the plugs. Should be good to go. Went through and torqued a few things to spec to speed things up for the weekend!

 

[kimjay]

Did you paint that emblem on the engine, it looks great.