1981 GS450E Rebuild

[Guest]

I did get some more done last night, but tidying that harness up and mounting the Dynatek coils is so fiddly and tedious it took me a couple of hours to get done. There really isn't much room at all for those coils, and in fact you can't route the throttle cable where it's supposed to go as the coils are too close together for it to run down under the frame backbone.

Anyway, new bullet connectors on the parker bulb:



H4 socket to replace the stock plug:



I checked the voltage before doing that. Low beam is good and high beam is ok, a little voltage drop but not too bad so I'll leave it as is.

And the result of about an hour and a half's work... the other stuff above was all of half an hour at most with voltage checks etc.:



I did end up getting those cables even more out of the way with another couple of strategically placed cable ties, so I should have clearance to get the valve cover off as well.

You can also see the throttle cable sitting just the other side of the breather cover for the moment too. It's supposed to route down under the frame backbone but there's not enough clearance with the Dynatek coils.

The house mate got out to Bunnings yesterday also and he picked me up a new 5" wool polishing pad and some fasteners that I hope to use to hold the seat cover on:



Now if I can just get that headlight dent finished then all the electrics will be taken care of except mounting the tail light and rear indicators which are waiting on the paint polishing...

 

[Guest]

Well I'm not going to win any panel beating awards, but...



And the result:



Finally the front looks like it should again

All I need to complete it now is the fly screen and a mesh headlight guard... but both of those are optional things that won't help me get a safety certificate so they can wait. Things like tyres are a little more important, I hate looking at that crooked front tyre...

I also discovered that something funny's going on with my horn switch too. According to the wiring diagram, the orange wire should have switched 12v to it, and the green should be switched to ground via the horn switch. The orange wire is fine and has switched 12v, but the green wire has 12v when the horn button is pressed. I can only assume that I've stuffed something up when swapping the plugs so I could use the GSXR left control, so I'll need to get something sorted out there.

So, having the electrics pretty much in hand I thought I'd start trying to get the seat foam organised.

I mounted the tank and tail piece to make sure I can get the shape right and started measuring and drew a diagram up on the white board of what I think will work best:



As you can see I'm going for a slightly stepped seat, and the red shaded areas are the softer foam with the black shaded areas the firmer foam. I think it should work out ok...

I got these pieces cut out to start with:



And sitting on them actually feels pretty good even though they don't go all the way to the tank and there's no real shape to them yet.

And then I got this far before calling it quits for the night:



I stuffed up the little bit at the back there but one of the offcuts should sort that out.

I need to trim some bits from the bottom of the main bit to let it conform to the shape of the seat pan better, but it's definitely looking like it will work.

I could really use a longer sharp knife too as I'm just using a Stanley knife at the moment and while it's sharp enough the blade's only long enough to go about halfway through the foam so I have to do each cut twice to get through.

I also need to get some contact adhesive to stick it all together...

On another note entirely, is it just me or has the forum been really quiet lately?

 

[Guest]

Complete side note, started this thread:

http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showthread.php?t=184488

I'd really like to stop that left pillion peg from sagging so I don't get hassled about during the safety certificate inspection...

 

[Charlie G]

Pete,

The forum has been quite latley. Maybe the weather change. Looking forward to see you carve the foam.

cg

 

[Hoosier Daddy]

could really use a longer sharp knife too as I'm just using a Stanley knife at the moment and while it's sharp enough the blade's only long enough to go about halfway through the foam so I have to do each cut twice to get through.

Borrow your Mums electric carving knife she does the turkey and Ham with. (or pick up your own) It has nice long blades, easy to control, and goes through seat foam like butter!

 

[Guest]

Pete,

The forum has been quite latley. Maybe the weather change. Looking forward to see you carve the foam.

cg

Cheers Charlie, glad it's not just me! I was thinking the weather plus haloween as it seems to be a big deal over there (not so much here).

Borrow your Mums electric carving knife she does the turkey and Ham with. (or pick up your own) It has nice long blades, easy to control, and goes through seat foam like butter!

Thanks mate! I've seen that tip before now you mention it, on the DTT somewhere I think. Don't have one of those but I do have to duck up the road for lunch today so I'll take a quick peek in the supermarket there if I remember and see what they have...

 

[Englishman]

Cheers Charlie, glad it's not just me! I was thinking the weather plus haloween as it seems to be a big deal over there (not so much here)....

Well to break the boredom I'll update my 400 to Laverda clone thread later tonight. Not quite the detail of Petes threads, but some progress.

Mark

 

[Guest]

Well to break the boredom I'll update my 400 to Laverda clone thread later tonight. Not quite the detail of Petes threads, but some progress.

Mark

Cool Mark, that'll be good to see

I obviously just have no life beyond updating my threads on the forum here...

 

[Guest]

Well I only got about 45 minutes on it tonight as I had to get back onto the laptop to start some work at 10pm. Now it's twiddle fingers waiting for stuff to happen time... there'll be a fair bit of that tonight.

Anyway, all I really achieved was shaping the bottom of the bottom piece of foam to better suit the shapes of the seat pan:



Other than that, I just sort of stood and stared and sat on it a few times to work out where I should put the step etc. I think I have it sorted now...

Oh, had no luck tracking down a better knife tonight either, so still using the Stanley knife for the time being... I suspect I'll have it finished before I get a chance to look further...

 

[Charlie G]

Cool Mark, that'll be good to see

I obviously just have no life beyond updating my threads on the forum here...

...and I have nothing better to do than read them. I quess I could go and work on mine?!!

 

[Guest]

...and I have nothing better to do than read them. I quess I could go and work on mine?!!

You certainly could Charlie! Hop to it then

Or you could go globe trotting again and share your photos again...

 

[Guest]

Not a lot done tonight, just a little more on the seat. I'm a bit knackered after working til 3am and now working again tonight (more thumb twiddling while waiting) and still working today so I'm just taking it easy so I hopefully don't screw the seat up.

Anyway, taking shape slowly:



I'm quickly reaching the point where I need some contact adhesive to stick it all together so I can shape it properly once I get the basic shape done.

I also scored some 12.7mm (closest I could get to 12mm) and 6mm hose today for the breather hose and vacuum hose.



One thing I need to do yet is work out where I'm going to route the breather hose and carb overflows as they need to go somewhere safe seeing as there's no airbox for them to go into.

I'm thinking some sort of small container to feed them into, but not sure yet... still giving it some thought...

 

[Hoosier Daddy]

One thing I need to do yet is work out where I'm going to route the breather hose and carb overflows as they need to go somewhere safe seeing as there's no airbox for them to go into

Can they run along the same path as the vent hose from your Battery and just vent to the ground? Or do the Aussie tree huggers frown on that?

 

[Guest]

Can they run along the same path as the vent hose from your Battery and just vent to the ground? Or do the Aussie tree huggers frown on that?

THey do indeed frown on that... it's ok to drop battery acid but fuel and oil are a no-no...

That's ok though, I'm letting it fester in the back of my mind with a couple of other things and I may yet end up with something cool... possibly poorly executed but at least a cool idea... maybe...

 

[Woodsy]

My carb overflows were vented to the ground, stuff the greenies you'll be going to fast for them to see anyway! lol

 

[Charlie G]

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/mcy/2677495499.html

Pete,

I just saw this add and thought you might be interested in the asking price. Think this is a good deal?

cg

 

[Guest]

My carb overflows were vented to the ground, stuff the greenies you'll be going to fast for them to see anyway! lol

Haha true... there's a small matter of the safety certificate to get first though...

Either way I think it will be easily sorted, just gotta sort some things out and it should be good...

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/mcy/2677495499.html

Pete,

I just saw this add and thought you might be interested in the asking price. Think this is a good deal?

cg

Cheers Charlie, from what I can tell that might be a good deal except he's not including the tank and it's not running...

Don't know quite enough about them just yet to have too much of an idea, but I do know that complete running ones attached to vintage bicycles are in the thousands of UK pounds area...

I'm still keen to dig into mine but the 450 is first, must get it done before touching the Duc...

 

[Guest]

So speaking of touching things...



I can't believe how comfortable that is! And how much room there is either...

All I need to do is trim those couple of bits up the back and fill a couple of gaps at the sides under that small piece supporting the pillion section and I can glue it all together ready for final shaping.

I got these today too:



That knife made it sooooo much easier tonight, kicking myself I didn't get one earlier!

That glue is supposed to stick all sorts of craft things including material and leather as well as wood, so I would think it'll be fine for sticking the foam together. I'm not worried that it's water soluble as once the cover goes on it won't be getting wet and the cover will hold it all together anyway.

I can't wait to get that done and get it covered!

Also, on another exciting note, I made another call about tyres today and I believe I have a much better solution than the universal block trials tyres:

100/90-18 Pirelli Skorpion Trail front:



4.10-18 Pirelli Skorpion MT90 A/T rear:



I had a good chat with a guy from here http://www.mtmmc.com.au/ and he was happy to spend the time on the 'phone to get me what I needed.

He made a comment about the trials tyres that matches some reviews I've seen on the 'net at large that says they're fine until you either load the bike up or hit wiggly lines, then they become crap quite quickly.

He used to do super motard with those MT90's also and he said they stuck like glue for him (except when he forgot to scrub them in and went over on the first corner).

They should run me about $260 for the pair (fitted) so that makes me rather happy and I should be able to get them after pay day in a couple of weeks

 

[Guest]

From my paint thread:





Everything is on and buttoned up except the front guard (it's just sitting there). The only thing that will have to come off again will be the tank so I can get the fuel tap on and the fuel and vacuum hoses sorted. I also need to sync the carbs at some point.

Definitely not perfect, but I'm happy with it and it's definitely enough for me to be proud of my first ever paint job...

I also got to clean and polish the gear change lever:



Much better than how it was...



And I also polished up the mounting bolts for the headlight:



So, get the seat done, get some tyres, sort out the breather and carb overflow, and I think I'll be pretty much there...

 

[SVSooke]

Looks like all your hard work is coming togther.
Finally