1981 GS450E Rebuild

[Guest]

Well... first of all tonight I cleaned up this little area as it should be perfect for somewhat of a little spray booth to spray the caliper and caliper bracket:



I'll just tack up one of my old plastic drop sheets around the area and it should be good to go.

In the process of cleaning that up, I found these that I'd forgotten about:



Which are for here:



Now, question is, I only have 3 out of the 4 that are supposed to be there (was like that when I bought it), so are these important and does it matter if I don't put any back on at all? The description on the parts fiche is simply "Rubber Pad", and I can't see any purpose they could serve that would be important enough for me to bother with them...

Anyway, back to the gauge lights.

These are what I'm replacing with LED's:



If you've read up on Matchless' guide, you'll see his gear position indicator has a diode or rectifier on it, whereas mine doesn't have this, so one less thing to worry about.

The good thing is that the way the gear position switch works, only one LED will ever be grounded at one time, so I can simply use one resistor for all six LED's which makes it a lot simpler.

Now, this is the existing 6th gear bulb lit exactly as it is, although note that this is night and I have two desk lamps illuminating this area, so it's not an ideal indication of how it is in daylight:



Then we have the 1500mcd LED:



Not real flash at all, too dull, and you can clearly see the outline of the LED as well.

Next up, 8000mcd:



Much better, although possibly not quite bright enough.

And the 20000mcd:



Bit hard to tell from my crappy blurry pic, but it actually doesn't end up much brighter than the 8000 and the viewing angle is much worse, so the 8000 so far is the winner.

However, it seems that Matchless may have ended up using some 13000mcd LED's and if so, that will more than likely be the ideal option as a compromise between the 8000 and 20000.

One thing also not mentioned in his LED replacement guide is the use of zener diodes. I imagine these are to protect for over voltage and reverse voltage, but I'm not 100% sure on that as it's been too many years since I've played with this stuff to remember things like that.

 

[Guest]

I had an idea that I may be able to rip all the stuff off the original rear mudguard and it may be ok to use with a different brake/tail light on it.

So, ripped all the original stuff off it:



And popped it in place:



I think if I use it, it'll end up looking like it has rather a large haemorrhoid... which is definitely not the look I'm after!

I'll still need to source an alternate rear mudguard as well as a seat.

The original front will definitely be fine though:



Will need some paint and some minor dent repair:



Not sure if you can quite make out the dent in those pic's, but there's a small one there as well as the crease that's fairly obvious as well. They should be reasonably easy to smooth out.

So I quickly sketched up a little diagram on my now very handy whiteboard and took some measurements for the rear mudguard:



The 45 degree line there from the rear axle is the legal requirement for the rear mudguard coverage here in Queensland.

 

[Guest]

And finally for tonight I popped the tank back on and took some more measurements for the seat:



I made sure I have pic's of the whiteboard diagrams on my phone as well so I have the measurements handy.

If I get to a wrecker next weekend I should hopefully be able to find what I'm looking for. No guarantees on getting time for that though of course.

I also had a look around this morning at other sites in the US for the caliper components I need, and it looks like if Boulevard Suzuki don't come through I might as well order them locally here.

Either the prices are $10 to $15 dearer for each component or the postage is absolutely ridiculous, and I mean $130 to $140!!! Insane.

At the end of the day it will mean I save very little on buying the parts here, and in some cases I will end up paying a lot more.

Fingers crossed Ashley from Boulevard Suzuki has just been on leave and will be back on Monday...

 

[SVSooke]

Those rubber bits are to stop the fins from 'ringing'.Throw back from Suzi's 2 stroke days.Don't do much so I wouldn't bother with them.

 

[davidduarte]

Those rubber bits are to stop the fins from 'ringing'.Throw back from Suzi's 2 stroke days.Don't do much so I wouldn't bother with them.

Now I have to go out and see if my 450E has any of them, although I don't think it does. Maybe I just never noticed.

 

[SVSooke]

Now I have to go out and see if my 450E has any of them, although I don't think it does. Maybe I just never noticed.

LOL made me check the 3 400's I got here.None of the 80's engines do.The 79 has the ones betten the head fins.Suspect the other are MIA

 

[Guest]

Cool, knew they had to be there for something, I'll leave them off seeing as I only have 3

 

[Guest]

Apparently it was mail day today. Got home to find a couple of parcels my wife was waiting on, several bills, and a parcel for me!



Pretty well packed for international travel:



One shiny new master cylinder with banjo bolts and washers:



And of course I had to put it on the 'bar tonight even though there's no braided line or calliper to attach it to yet:



So if I ever get my piston set etc. for the front caliper, then I should be laughing. Need to work out what angle banjo fittings I need for the braided line too and get it ordered.

They're cheap on eBay from the link SVSooke gave on an earlier post, but with postage added on I think it will be almost the same price to get it made locally here and I'll be guaranteed it'll pass the safety certificate. Wait and see once I measure it up and work the angles out.

So, I then trawled eBay and made a couple of purchases for my LED conversion for the gauge lights.

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=110685129744&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120427090846&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT

I should be right with these two as the flat top LED's have a much wider viewing angle and I don't think they'll be too bright as the resistor is a little larger than they require so should current limit them somewhat.

I also notice the viewing angle is "50% power", so assuming it won't give the full 20000mcd brightness either.

If all else fails, they were dirt cheap and I can get more.

 

[Flyboy]

Awesome, getting boxes of stuff in the mail is like getting Christmas prezzies.

And of course I had to put it on the 'bar tonight even though there's no braided line or caliper to attach it to yet:

Hahhahah, yeah, I know it, kind of like building a kite, and you have to fly it right now.even though there is not a drop of wind around.

 

[Guest]

Awesome, getting boxes of stuff in the mail is like getting Christmas prezzies.


Hahhahah, yeah, I know it, kind of like building a kite, and you have to fly it right now.even though there is not a drop of wind around.

Exactly! And no I didn't squeeze the lever like I was braking, well... maybe I did a few times...

 

[Flaming Chainsaws]

Exactly! And no I didn't squeeze the lever like I was braking, well... maybe I did a few times...

I used to twist my throttle like a maniac . That was when I first got my bike and was waiting for the battery. I soon found out that you have to roll on the throttle LOL!

Looking good Pete!

 

[Guest]

Cheers FC, I just hate this waiting... waiting for budget... waiting for replies to emails to order parts... waiting to get daylight hours to work on it... waiting to get a chance to visit a wrecker to look for a seat and rear mudguard... waiting waiting waiting... makes me mad

But alas, I will get there!

 

[Flaming Chainsaws]

Cheers FC, I just hate this waiting... waiting for budget... waiting for replies to emails to order parts... waiting to get daylight hours to work on it... waiting to get a chance to visit a wrecker to look for a seat and rear mudguard... waiting waiting waiting... makes me mad

But alas, I will get there!

Funny. Me and SVSooke just had this little conversation . Waiting sucks!

 

[Guest]

Indeed... my patience is wearing thin with it all and I wanna ride this year...

 

[rlong74]

I just stumbled across this... had to buy it :dancing:

Potentially I'm a sucker but I don't think so...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260738827230&viewitem=&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWNX%3AIT

Shoot, I bought the Suzuki shop manual from my local dealer for $45. I think i'm the sucker. It is pretty indispensable though.

 

[Guest]

Shoot, I bought the Suzuki shop manual from my local dealer for $45. I think i'm the sucker. It is pretty indispensable though.

Mate if you could get the genuine one for $75 I say that's good going

Over here that probably makes them $150+...

 

[Guest]

Well I'm finally getting to order my caliper parts and things this morning from Boulevard Suzuki, seems my initial email went to their SPAM folder. I suspect it's because the carb T piece is called a "Nipple" on the fiche. I removed the descriptions this time.

Next bit of news is it looks like I'll be able to take a week off around my birthday at the end of June to take my bike to Tranzac to get the exhaust made as well as paint the tank and mudguards.

That means between now and then I have to get to a wrecker to find the seat and rear mudguard and get some paint.

I think I found my fly screen also to hide the gauges:

https://www.slipstreamperformance.com.au/store/product_info.php?cPath=225&products_id=11325

I'll try to get it before painting so I can colour match it. It also may be a little tall but it shouldn't be too hard to cut it down a bit.

And I got my bits and pieces to make up my voltage metre yesterday as well as a bulkhead box for the ignition circuit:



Finally something almost like progress :dancing:

 

[Guest]

Spent about an hour and a half down in the garage tonight, and all of that time was either trying to get the needles out of the carbs or trying to get a decent pic once they were out. Extremely frustrating on both accounts!

The digital camera's ok for most stuff, but close ups of small items like jets and needles is pushing it way beyond what it and I are capable of.

These are the best I could manage:



Five needle positions there and it's currently on the middle one, so I shouldn't need to worry about locating suitable washers unless it goes down to the bottom setting and is still lean.

I did measure up for the washers just in case, and they should be about a 7mm outside diameter with about a 3mm hole in the centre.

Once again I'm back to waiting... I hate waiting...

 

[Guest]

Well now I'm a little confused again... just for something different

Looked at my needles again and they're marked 4C3 which I thought was stock, however according to the fiche, 4C2's are stock.

However... looking in the Sudco PDF with all their jet needles and also looking at the dimension chart at www.motorcyclecarbs.com, There are no 4Cx numbers anywhere, however it did clarify that 4C2 and 4C3 are effectively the same thing and that the last digit is simply a revision, so 4C3 is just a later revision of effectively the same needle as a 4C2.

Of course this will only present a problem if adjusting the needle and shimming it doesn't get the tuning right, as then I'll need to look at alternative needles.

So, short of working out how to measure the 4C3's at the right interval along the needle length to determine the taper, anyone got any ideas as to where these spec's might be hiding?

 

[Guest]

I've been able to start on my gauge LED conversion tonight, details in the thread in my sig. below, but here's a crappy video of what I achieved tonight:



On another note, not sure how I'm going to go with wreckers tomorrow either.

Turns out two of the four I tried to call today had numbers disconnected, so I'm guessing they're out of business.

The third is no longer a shop front and only does mail order meaning I can't wander in and measure seats and guards

And the fourth guy may or may not be opening tomorrow, need to ring him at 8:30 to see.

So that doesn't bode well for getting my seat and rear guard sorted any time soon, and while my right hand man at work is on leave I can't take days off during the week to go looking either, so the earliest I can do that will probably be the week after next if I can't get anywhere tomorrow. Frustrating!