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1981 GS450E Rebuild

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I'll leave the paint pic's tonight as I want to hit the hay as I'm knackered, but I'll quickly chuck some other stuff I did in here.

I cut the old exhaust bracket down the other day so I can still use the rubber stopper for the centre stand, and I ground it back to be a bit smoother today so I can paint it up:



You can also see in that last photo where I finally got back to starting to polish up the starter cover.

That was after a few minutes on the sisal wheel with cutting compound, but that's all I had time for today.

It didn't look too bad so I chucked some Mother's on it tonight:



And put it back on the bike finally with it's new SS screws:



I also ran the cylinder head nuts on the sisal wheel today as they looked horrible:



And gave the fuel cap a quick go with Mother's as well:



And, finally, my braided line arrived from Canada today:



And I'm off to bed on that note...
 
Isn't that relaxing compared to the frustrations of prep and painting?
LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL
 
pete said:
I ended up going with the recommended winding the material back a little (not alot though) so we'll see how it goes...

So far though it looks promising!
Click to expand...
So how did 'winding back' on the material a bit work out? did it give smoother finish?
 
Hoosier Daddy said:
Isn't that relaxing compared to the frustrations of prep and painting?
LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL
Click to expand...

Indeed it is! Just standing at the bench grinder while it and the compound does the work... love it :D

Which reminds me I'm almost out of cutting compound and am getting low on buffing compound as well...

I just wish I had about another hour yesterday so I could get that starter cover shining like a mirror and do some other little odds and ends...
 
rustybronco said:
So how did 'winding back' on the material a bit work out? did it give smoother finish?
Click to expand...

I'll let you be the judge of that Dale...







This is after the three coats were done yesterday, and the lighting in there is terrible for these photos but it was good for painting at least.

I'm hoping to get 15 minutes of spare time where it's actually sunny this week so I can get them out and get some real photos.

Personally I think they came out a bit smoother...
 
Hi pete...like I said before, I cant wait to see those ON the bike!

Just wanted to tell you that you?ve inspired me to go ahead and try to do my own paint job (when I finally get that far that is.....).
 
Looking wicked Pete, and from the looks f it, you are in for minimal sanding to get rid of the orange peel as well, those bits are going to shine beautifully, congrats again.
Does the sun never shine on the cursed little athol you live on, damn, I am busting to see them in all thier glory???:D
 
BRAVO! Isn't it great how clear makes the metalics "pop"?
I can hardly wait to see a pic of it out in the sun!!!

IMG_3826.jpg
 
drivera84 said:
Hi pete...like I said before, I cant wait to see those ON the bike!

Just wanted to tell you that you?ve inspired me to go ahead and try to do my own paint job (when I finally get that far that is.....).
Click to expand...

Me neither! Definitely on the home stretch now and I'll need to have the tail piece and tank on to work out the seat foam shape, so they'll at least be temporarily on the bike in the next week or so I would imagine :)

Glad to see my work is inspiring you, always makes it worth while when you see others spurred into action :D

Flyboy said:
Looking wicked Pete, and from the looks f it, you are in for minimal sanding to get rid of the orange peel as well, those bits are going to shine beautifully, congrats again.
Does the sun never shine on the cursed little athol you live on, damn, I am busting to see them in all thier glory???:D
Click to expand...

Cheers Stan! There's definitely some orange peel there but I won't know how much until I get some sun pic's...

We actually had some sun this avo but I didn't get a chance to pop them out for pic's... they call Queensland the sunshine state... sometimes I wonder why :rolleyes:

Hoosier Daddy said:
BRAVO! Isn't it great how clear makes the metalics "pop"?
I can hardly wait to see a pic of it out in the sun!!!

IMG_3826.jpg
Click to expand...

Mate it sure does! Makes a huge difference... and yeah neither can I, I need to see it properly!!!

Collo said:
Looking good, Pete! What are you doing for a tank badge?
Click to expand...

Cheers Collo! The plan is to do something with the originals and put them back on...
 
pete said:
I'll let you be the judge of that Dale...


Personally I think they came out a bit smoother...
Click to expand...
Pete, I can only judge by what I can see in the reflections. to me it looks quite a bit smoother than when you first started clearing those pieces, but that could also be attributed to you being a bit more confident with your new found talent.

imagine what you could do now if you had proper equipment... knowledge is a wonderful thing isn't it?
 
rustybronco said:
Pete, I can only judge by what I can see in the reflections. to me it looks quite a bit smoother than when you first started clearing those pieces, but that could also be attributed to you being a bit more confident with your new found talent.

imagine what you could do now if you had proper equipment... knowledge is a wonderful thing isn't it?
Click to expand...

I had another look tonight and while I can see what I believe to be orange peel, I reckon you're right and it is quite a bit smoother that the first lot...

And yeah knowledge is definitely wonderful and good equipment... well... haha yeah that sure would've made a difference! Not to mention a proper speed hardener for the primer :rolleyes:

At least I got that gun pretty well cleaned up in the end...

Thanks again for all your help Dale, although I'll probably need more to make sure I don't ruin it while polishing... haha

I hope to have some sun pic's done real soon...
 
So I didn't actually do anything productive tonight except for a huge clean up of my work area in the garage so I've got somewhere safe to put all the parts once I take down the temporary booth.

These are the stock badges I need to clean up somehow yet and decide what to do to make them do justice to the rest of the paint job:



And the fruits of my labour tonight have all the original stuff I won't be using stacked neatly in a useless corner, and the area under the work bench organised with room for all the painted parts as well:



I've also started the hunt for a replacement H4 type 7" headlight and hope to get the brake disc and pads real soon too...

I believe I'm on the home stretch now :D
 
Wish I could be more help with your parts search... all my past vendors are here so shipping would kill any cost savings I could find you... Find an Emgo dealer there in Oz, they have 7" H-4 headlamps in vaious shapes, chome and black.
 
Hoosier Daddy said:
Wish I could be more help with your parts search... all my past vendors are here so shipping would kill any cost savings I could find you... Find an Emgo dealer there in Oz, they have 7" H-4 headlamps in vaious shapes, chome and black.
Click to expand...

Yeah things like headlights tend to bump the shipping price up. It's fine if I'm ordering a bunch of small stuff with it because that makes it justifiable, but just a headlight can be a killer.

Come to think of it, I noticed Emgo pods in the dealer I sometimes go to, could be worth a call! Thanks for the tip ;)

mlc216 said:
I thought for sure you were riding this bike by now? :rolleyes: haha need me to come over there and help? I've never been to that big island of yours...
Click to expand...

Mate I wish! Sure, bring a headlight, brake disc, tyres, and a sewing machine to make a seat cover with you ;)
 
pete said:
Mate I wish! Sure, bring a headlight, brake disc, tyres, and a sewing machine to make a seat cover with you ;)
Click to expand...

I have all that stuff... but I'm fairly confident none of it would pass your inspections over there!
 
mlc216 said:
I have all that stuff... but I'm fairly confident none of it would pass your inspections over there!
Click to expand...

Hahaha bugger! But yeah I gotta go get this thing a safety certificate and everything so it all has to be good.

Mind you, if they don't like my braided brake line I'll need to put the dodgy rubber one back on to pass the safety inspection, how's that for stupid?
 
Haha yeah I read something about that earlier in your thread. You guys should be getting into spring time pretty nicely by now right? So you'll have your bike good and ready for summertime?
 
mlc216 said:
Haha yeah I read something about that earlier in your thread. You guys should be getting into spring time pretty nicely by now right? So you'll have your bike good and ready for summertime?
Click to expand...

Yep definitely into spring! That's why there's all these clouds about :mad: haha

But yes I'm hoping it's rideable before Christmas so I can go for a Christmas ride for the first time in nearly 10 years :D
 
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