1982 GS300 Project - Where do I start

[razor02097]

I don't think you would have killed the rectifier just by shorting the positive out. I read around on the forum that the regulator rectifiers on these suzukis aren't very good.

 

[hjacobmiller]

I don't think you would have killed the rectifier just by shorting the positive out. I read around on the forum that the regulator rectifiers on these suzukis aren't very good.

Yeah I didn't think so either, but I literally just tested my r/r before I did the upgrade to the Dyna S and it was fine according to the specs in the manual.

Thats why I think I may not have it grounded properly.

Using a sealed gel battery shouldn't make a difference...right?

P.S. I meant to ask you if you got new intake manifolds (engine side)when you got all the carb stuff. I was thinking of getting some along with the cycleoring kit, bowl gaskets and other random stuff.

If my r/r is in fact bad I'd going to have to let her rest for a month or so. Dyna set me back a couple bones haha

 

[Guest]

First off, yes absolutely triple check your ground is good. Having the R/R ground to the battery negative is fine but as long as it has a good connection to frame ground and frame ground has a good connection to battery negative all should be well.

Use a multimeter and check resistance between the R/R ground and battery negative. If it is more than about 0.5 ohms or so then something's not right. You can do this for all your grounds too.

Next up, whenever connecting your battery, always connect positive first, then negative. When disconnecting, disconnect negative first, then positive. That way, if you happen to bump a spanner or screw driver from battery positive to the frame, you won't short anything or blow any fuses because there is no connection to battery negative to short out.

I agree though that doing that shouldn't have killed your R/R. The stock Suzuki R/R's are very dodgy at the best of times though so who knows...

A sealed gel battery won't make a difference either.

And, finally, on the replacement R/R side of things, if your budget is tight, then there is a cheapo alternative that works. I did this myself last year when trying to get the electrical system sorted ready for getting her on the road.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Voltage-...Accessories&hash=item3cc55c310f#ht_4578wt_952

That's the cheapo Hong Kong equivalent of the Shindengen/Honda style R/R's that are touted on here and while I don't expect it to last as long as the real deal, so far it's going well.

The three yellow wires are for the stator, red is the charging output, green is ground (Hondas all use green for ground apparently) and the black wire gets connected to a switched 12v line somewhere (eg. rear brake light switch) to give the R/R feedback, also known as the sense wire.

I also put a single 10mm LED voltage monitor on my custom dash so I could keep a close eye on the charging system:

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/GAMMATRO...ultDomain_3&hash=item2c587692c9#ht_3970wt_952

 

[hjacobmiller]

First off, yes absolutely triple check your ground is good. Having the R/R ground to the battery negative is fine but as long as it has a good connection to frame ground and frame ground has a good connection to battery negative all should be well.

Use a multimeter and check resistance between the R/R ground and battery negative. If it is more than about 0.5 ohms or so then something's not right. You can do this for all your grounds too.

Next up, whenever connecting your battery, always connect positive first, then negative. When disconnecting, disconnect negative first, then positive. That way, if you happen to bump a spanner or screw driver from battery positive to the frame, you won't short anything or blow any fuses because there is no connection to battery negative to short out.

I agree though that doing that shouldn't have killed your R/R. The stock Suzuki R/R's are very dodgy at the best of times though so who knows...

A sealed gel battery won't make a difference either.

And, finally, on the replacement R/R side of things, if your budget is tight, then there is a cheapo alternative that works. I did this myself last year when trying to get the electrical system sorted ready for getting her on the road.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Voltage-...Accessories&hash=item3cc55c310f#ht_4578wt_952

That's the cheapo Hong Kong equivalent of the Shindengen/Honda style R/R's that are touted on here and while I don't expect it to last as long as the real deal, so far it's going well.

The three yellow wires are for the stator, red is the charging output, green is ground (Hondas all use green for ground apparently) and the black wire gets connected to a switched 12v line somewhere (eg. rear brake light switch) to give the R/R feedback, also known as the sense wire.

I also put a single 10mm LED voltage monitor on my custom dash so I could keep a close eye on the charging system:

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/GAMMATRO...ultDomain_3&hash=item2c587692c9#ht_3970wt_952

Thanks! I just got a Rick's. Local place will have it in tomorrow afternoon. I start a new job in a few weeks so I'm not going to have the joy (sometimes anger ) of messing with her for a bit. Figured I might as well ride her around til then. Won't have to spend any money on gas :lol:

I ordered new orings and bowl gaskets too. I've definitely been running lean. Plugs are cloudy white and after getting warmed up it idles super high.

I have a brand new set of plugs to see how things are going after the carbs are cleaned up.

Old seat pan should be here this week too. I'll start cutting that down but won't get to the fun part til August probably.

Instead of the wideband I think you should go with this:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Car-Alarm-T...es&hash=item3a7661a45e&vxp=mtr#ht_1999wt_1133

 

[Guest]

Hahahah nice!

Congrats on the new job! That should mean you've got some budget for fiddling right?

I've determined I'm crap at reading plugs and unless they're either really really white or really really black I have no idea... hence the wideband idea eventually.

Sounds like you're on your way to getting her running nicely and you'll definitely have to keep us up to date with the seat.

 

[hjacobmiller]

Hahahah nice!

Congrats on the new job! That should mean you've got some budget for fiddling right?

I've determined I'm crap at reading plugs and unless they're either really really white or really really black I have no idea... hence the wideband idea eventually.

Sounds like you're on your way to getting her running nicely and you'll definitely have to keep us up to date with the seat.

Thanks! I'll actually be starting with a company I interned with last spring so at least it will be familiar. I just got out of school - I'll let you in on a little secret - I didn't go to school for Zook repair :lol:

As far as budget goes - I hope I don't have to spend much more! New r/r, starter, Dyna S,.. Gad-zooks! Sorry I have been wanting to say that for a while!

I definitely need to get the carbs straightened up though. I tried making it a bit richer (about another 1/2 turn out) but still seems to running quite warm and can't get an idle anywhere close to what I want.

Hopefully the o-ring kit helps...

 

[hjacobmiller]

This is what I want to get rid of:

Uggh. What a mess.

 

[Guest]

Yeah it gets messy there alright...

I'd show you what I did with mine but Photobucket is performing maintenance so not only can I not find the pic's to link here but I also can't upload pic's of the Malvern Star bike I picked up today for the Cucciolo project

 

[razor02097]

Thanks! I'll actually be starting with a company I interned with last spring so at least it will be familiar. I just got out of school - I'll let you in on a little secret - I didn't go to school for Zook repair :lol:

As far as budget goes - I hope I don't have to spend much more! New r/r, starter, Dyna S,.. Gad-zooks! Sorry I have been wanting to say that for a while!

I definitely need to get the carbs straightened up though. I tried making it a bit richer (about another 1/2 turn out) but still seems to running quite warm and can't get an idle anywhere close to what I want.

Hopefully the o-ring kit helps...

The mixture screw won't make it run necessarily richer it will let in more air and fuel at idle. Steve had wrote how the proper way to adjust the mixture screw is to turn it out about 3 turns from seated then with the motor idling turn in the screw until the idle speed starts to slow then back it up 1/8" turn.

 

[Guest]

Photobucket's back up, here's my tray:

Everything grounds to a single point and one of those wires goes to battery negative:

Everything except the indicator relay is underneath:

 

[hjacobmiller]

Oh, its so clean! Very nice!!!

Did you just use 14ga sheet metal to make that tray?

My seat pan will be here this week so I start brainstorming after I know what I have to work with.

I need to send Dynatek some more pictures of the installation - will have to take some more while I'm messing with the carbs.

 

[Guest]

Nah that's 2.5mm aluminium sheet there. Had a huge sheet I made my front mudguard mount/fork brace out of and have heaps left still.

 

[hjacobmiller]

Nah that's 2.5mm aluminium sheet there. Had a huge sheet I made my front mudguard mount/fork brace out of and have heaps left still.

What is working with it like?

I don't have any metal working tools except a drill, pair of snips and some files so I have to keep that in mind for any modifications I do.

Oh I do have an amazing tool to remove rust with. It's called a wire brush. Ever heard of it?:lol:

 

[Guest]

What is working with it like?

I don't have any metal working tools except a drill, pair of snips and some files so I have to keep that in mind for any modifications I do.

Oh I do have an amazing tool to remove rust with. It's called a wire brush. Ever heard of it?:lol:

I don't have much more than that to work with metal either... a hacksaw and a jigsaw with metal blades is about it...

I find it easier to work with than steel but I'm no expert at it, I only know what I've tried and made for the 450. What I've made from either 2.5mm or 1mm aluminium is:

Front mudgard mount/fork brace
Dash/Acewell bracket
Acewell speed sensor mount
Battery box cover
Electrics tray
Tool tray under the tail piece

Oh, and what's better than a wire brush is a wire wheel on a drill or bench grinder... they work well

 

[hjacobmiller]

I don't have much more than that to work with metal either... a hacksaw and a jigsaw with metal blades is about it...

I find it easier to work with than steel but I'm no expert at it, I only know what I've tried and made for the 450. What I've made from either 2.5mm or 1mm aluminium is:

Front mudgard mount/fork brace
Dash/Acewell bracket
Acewell speed sensor mount
Battery box cover
Electrics tray
Tool tray under the tail piece

Oh, and what's better than a wire brush is a wire wheel on a drill or bench grinder... they work well

Definitely. I used a cup-end brush to clean up the inside of my head light bucket:

 

[Guest]

Cool, they make it a lot easier! That's how I prep'd my wheels for paint too...

 

[hjacobmiller]

Photobucket's back up, here's my tray:

Everything grounds to a single point and one of those wires goes to battery negative:

Everything except the indicator relay is underneath:

I really like stashing it all on the bottom side of the seat and open. Gives the r/r a chance to get some airflow and cool off.

My seat pan should be here today and I hope it gets here soon enough I can tear off all the old crud and get it down to just the plastic pan.

I was thinking about what I could with the battery. Depending on how thick the seat pan is I was thinking about chiseling it out and then setting the battery in there, drilling a hole through the bottom to run leas through and then sticking everything on a tray like yours.

Since its a sealed AGM battery I can put it in sideways right? I may not even need to if I go with a hump in the back. I believe the L style pan gives me some thick area to work towards the rear.

Is that the mail man knocking?!??

 

[Guest]

I really like stashing it all on the bottom side of the seat and open. Gives the r/r a chance to get some airflow and cool off.

My seat pan should be here today and I hope it gets here soon enough I can tear off all the old crud and get it down to just the plastic pan.

I was thinking about what I could with the battery. Depending on how thick the seat pan is I was thinking about chiseling it out and then setting the battery in there, drilling a hole through the bottom to run leas through and then sticking everything on a tray like yours.

Since its a sealed AGM battery I can put it in sideways right? I may not even need to if I go with a hump in the back. I believe the L style pan gives me some thick area to work towards the rear.

Is that the mail man knocking?!??

Yeah I was hoping to get some extra air flow with the R/R under there, especially with the cheapie from Hong Kong.

You should be able to do something with a smaller sealed battery although I just made a lockable cover for mine in the standard location.

I don't think the E pan gives as much room underneath...

 

[hjacobmiller]

Well my new seat came today and I mounted it on there. I think it looks great. What do you guys think?

It was in SUCH great shape when I got it too!

OK - so here is the pan. Not at all what I was expecting the innerds to look like. I thought the actual pan was 3-4 inches thick because of the hump in the back. Wrong.

Not worried though because I think this actually gives me a good place to start.

I need to pull all the old staples out and wash it before I do anything. It definitely has seen better days.

Hmmm... Wish I had more time to start getting into this...

 

[Guest]

That should give you lots of flexibility to get it to the shape you want... nice!