1981 GS450E Rebuild

[Guest]

They use expensive cologne down there? All I remember smelling last time is s*&t... Been a few years though and perhaps I was just in the wrong neighbourhood...

Yeah I was sorta gettin' a move on, then stripping that thread has really dented my progress and at the moment everything seems to be getting in the way.

Normally this would be my day, but Cox Plate today so we'll probably end up watching that and having a (losing) bet instead, although hoping to get that little bit of time this morning to do the thread repair.

You must be getting the rain we just had... couple of weeks of cruddy wet horrid weather... but perfect weather for getting stuck into the project of course

My only problem with that weather is when it finishes all the neighbours tend to synchronise their mowing and whipper snipping so it's a real ruckus...

 

[Charlie G]

OK, Syndney is off my list of places to visit. Don't need any help lowering my IQ and as far as I'm concerned I am odorless. Well, sometimes I have Beer breath.

cg

 

[Leigh]

Odourless, Charlie?
I guess I'll have to take your word for it.

 

[Guest]

Actually, I must admit I work in Fortitude Valley here in Brissie and, well, it's an interesting place to work. Wander up from the train station past the ex-junkies awaiting the chemist to dispense their medication, avoiding the drunken natives weaving along the footpath, smelling that wonderful aroma of bins needing emptying of who knows what, hearing of a homeless guy getting bashed to death right outside the building I work in... lovely place to be

But anyways, enough of that, got my thread repair done today

 

[Guest]

Thread Repair Done

Thread Repair Done

So for those of you (like me) who have never repaired a thread before, here's how I did it.

And for those of you (also like me) that use a Haynes manual, be prepared to read this carefully because you will need it.

Do yourself a big favour and get a Clymer or genuine manual and ditch the Haynes...

So, look closely and you will see there isn't much in the way of thread in the centre hole:



This is the hole for the shift arm pivot bolt I stripped the other week after torqueing it to (as it turns out) about twice what it should be, hence my comment above re: Haynes vs. Clymer/genuine. Haynes has the torque figure completely wrong!



Enter one of these:



And it's possible to fix this wee little minor issue.

First step is to drill the hole to the required diameter for the tap:



I cleaned up the metal shavings before taking this pic. Note that they will go everywhere, and I mean everywhere! I had a rag around the hole to try to catch them, but it didn't make a scrap of difference. So take the time to clean them up properly otherwise you will likely end up with bits of alloy grinding away in the crankcases...

Next step results in more metal shavings, but these ones are at least localised to the hole. Time to tap a thread to take the new thread insert. I lubed it up with a small amount of engine oil and gently screwed it into the hole a bit at a time, winding it back out every now and then as the instructions say to clear the thread.



Worked like a charm and there's now a nice new thread to take the thread insert:

 

[Guest]

Next step is to get the insert ready on the installation tool which is easy as pie. Just adjust the collar on the tool to the correct depth and slip an insert on there:



Next step is screw it in just like a bolt or screw, although I would suggest take it easy as I don't know how you'd go about fixing it if you snap the installation tang off it before it's screwed in all the way:



You then break the installation tang off (separate tool in the kit for this) which is a bit hard to take a pic of, then there you have it, one fixed thread ready to roll:



I have a shiny new replacement bolt for that now too, so no need to use the old one in case the threads were damaged.

So now I'm theoretically full steam ahead, but no time until at least maybe next Saturday I hope.

 

[Leigh]

Nice one, Pete.
I was going to suggest a heli-coil if you had lost the thread.
Seems like you're a jump ahead of me.

As for working in The Valley. You have my commiserations.
I rode through there once a couple of years ago.
Fast.
Just kept going.
I'm sure you can understand.

 

[Charlie G]

Piece of cake Pete. I've never done that. Glad you got it fixed.

cg

 

[Guest]

Cheers Charlie! Me neither until now, but on the one hand it was sorta fun, on the other it was sorta scary, but definitely glad it's done and I'm on my way again

Leigh, you're a smart man.

Seems you kept on going south, skipped Sydney, and stopped in a good place. Yep, I like Melbourne, only been there twice for a holiday so far, once for some job interviews, and once to look at some potential properties.

We tried to make the move, but far too many $$$ involved in our circumstances unfortunately, so if we do it it's going to be either a large number of years away or a lotto win away...

 

[scottychop]

Nice work Pete. That whole mess was scary eh? I was rooting for you.

 

[Guest]

Cheers Scott! Very glad I got it done and dusted. If it had to go to a machine shop, the whole thing would just have had to go on hold indefinitely as I don't get time to do stuff like that as most of those places are only open during business hours. If I manage to get a day off, it's for something other than the bike...

 

[Guest]

Well upon my return from Sydney, there was a present waiting on the dining room table for me:



Once again thanks Mr Robert Barr for your very treasured O ring service to us GSR type people.

I was extra impressed that the needle valve O rings are specifically identified and that there is a piece of paper in there to let you know some handy tips for installing them which is awesome.

 

[Guest]

A little progress...

A little progress...

Got about an hour and a half on it yesterday, but unfortunately not a very productive time.

First off I realised I hadn't read anything from the manual before I started, so I was looking at the crankshaft and counter balance shaft instead of the transmission which lead me to duck up the road looking for some moly lube. Local Supercheap is useless, turns out they sell it but the children who work there didn't know. Why must they employ 15/16 year olds who don't know anything just to save a dollar?

Anyways, went the other direction to a little auto parts store and got this:



Then I realised I needed to continue with the gear shifting mechanism instead...

So, back into it with my newly acquired bolts and screws and got the shifting drum and shift forks in properly.



I didn't use the torque wrench this time, just popped on some thread locker and nipped them up snugly so they should be all good.

I also did the same for the oil pressure relief valve:



All in all, not much done, but it's a start.

Next time I'll have read some more from the manual before starting and I may even now be able to get some time at night to do some also which will speed things up seeing as I don't seem to be able to get my Saturday a fortnight at the moment.

 

[scottychop]

Looking good.

Looking good.

Now lets see you put it together as fast as you took it apart!

I'd sure love to head down to see the bike builds you all have going on. It's a long swim however...

 

[Guest]

Mate that's easy... 5 years to get it apart... hahahaha

If it takes me that long to get it back together I'm gonna go nutso and yell and scream and stuff coz I got a hankerin' to go ridin'...

 

[Leigh]

I'd sure love to head down to see the bike builds you all have going on. It's a long swim however...

Just go the other way, Scotty.

C'mon, Pete, hurry up.
2 days of bucketing rain have put the dampers on my efforts this weekend.
I did give the tank a bit of a cut & polish which really highlighted just how crappy I am at prep & paint.

Kids are back at school tomorrow so I'll be in the shed catching up.

 

[Guest]

Just go the other way, Scotty.

C'mon, Pete, hurry up.
2 days of bucketing rain have put the dampers on my efforts this weekend.
I did give the tank a bit of a cut & polish which really highlighted just how crappy I am at prep & paint.

Kids are back at school tomorrow so I'll be in the shed catching up.

Yeah yeah quit ya naggin' already!

I'm struggling to get some time lately, haven't really been able to get into it again since I stripped that thread. I've only spent about an hour and a half on it in the last month. Keep going that way and it really will be another five years!

If I can get the garden shed sorted, I'll have somewhere to stick some stuff and get some room to move, then I can do some quiet stuff at night, like put the motor back together.

Kids and school hey? That's one problem I don't have... I'm not "child friendly"...

 

[Suzuki_Don]

Choke Mechanisms

Choke Mechanisms

OK Pete, Suzuki used a choke actuating lever on the LH switch gear in around '82 GS1100. See Illustration below.

The next piece of information I am going to give you is of extremely sensitive content, so I would appreciate if you would keep it to yourself and tell no-one on this site. I would be ostracised if anyone found out. The LH switch gear on my 550 is off a YAMAHA XJ650. Two main reasons are that I don't like the Suzuki plastic switch gear and I like the choke mechanism on the Yamaha, it is more sturdy. The Yamaha switch gear is an aluminium casting which means any part of the housing can be used as an earth.

Another benefit is that the Yamaha LH switch gear also has a passing button to flash other drivers with when needed. One slight drawback is that the switch gear came off a model that had self cancelling blinkers, which my bike does not have. This means that when you move the blinkers knob to the left for instance, the left blinkers come on and the knob returns to the central position on the switch gear (spring loaded). To manually cancel the blinker the knob must be pushed straight in, as per the arrow on the knob. But no doubt I will get used to it.

 

[herostar]

That looks just like the LH control on my '83 GS750E

 

[Suzuki_Don]

That looks just like the LH control on my '83 GS750E

Is your switch gear plastic or aluminium, does it have a pass switch?