1982 Suzuki GS400L/Z

[TrikerJoe]

Hello all,

This will be my second build log, this one is for my 1982 Suzuki GS400L/Z (Canadian version). I've been working on it since July of 2012. I bought it off a guy who advertised it as ***MINT*** and it promptly blew out the exhaust. That led to a complete teardown and me missing Sturgis 2012.
For this reason, she is named The ***MINT*** Bitch.

I have read over BassCliff's site, thanks so much for that resource. I could not have gotten this far without it.

What I've done so far...

K&N filters - not pods but round, cylindrical types... pics to follow.
Mac 2 into 1 exhaust.
Hagon shocks - 180mm (2" drop) firm rate springs built to 225lbs rider.
Rubber front and rear.
Valves adjusted.
Intake boot O-rings. (thanks cycleorings.com)
Carb teardown, clean (soak) and rebuild.
Carb vacuum balance with home-built tubing gauge.
Petcock rebuilt.
Anti-Gravity Battery (12 cell).
Timing set to 20*.
Front forks air pressure balanced.
Chopped off a bunch of useless pieces of frame.
Different handle bars, waiting on a set of pullbacks.
Waiting on parts for seat and sissy bar with back pad.

Now I'm just having tuning issues. I will get to those in a separate thread and keep this as my build log.

Pictures to follow, must get them off the camera first.

Cheers, this is a great site.

Joe Friesen aka TrikerJoe

 

[TrikerJoe]

This is it pretty much when I got it, taking a look over the basics, looking for anything glaring. Such as the air filter that had broken down to powder over the years... This is all at my house down south, trying to get ready to go to Sturgis.

 

[TrikerJoe]

Low Kms!

Twin Swirl Combustion Chamber

I made a lot of mistakes on this build, not buying a new air filter for that air box was the first one... this is the beginning of the pile of parts...

 

[TrikerJoe]

Wiring from early rear tail light mods

This was my mindset at the time.... a little Mickey Mouse... had no idea what i was getting into.

All ready for Sturgis, incarnation of the Mint Bitch #1! Or so I thought...

 

[TrikerJoe]

Then this happened on one side...

...and this happened on the other.

So I did this... and needless to say, the bike ran worse than before... actually ended up just not running.

 

[TrikerJoe]

After that I gave up on Sturgis, and proceeded to tear the carbs down, see what they looked like.

They didn't look too bad, tore them down fully and cleaned them up.

I always manage to break something along the way. Cycleorings.com to the rescue!

I know I will get flamed for this, but I soaked them for 24 hours in SeaFoam. It seemed to do a good job.

Cleaned up and ready to go back on!

 

[TrikerJoe]

intake boot removal was a PITA. This is before I got my JIS screwdrivers!

The aftermath

O-rings weren't too bad, but replaced anyway. This is how it sat until I got the bike back up north to work on....

 

[TrikerJoe]

Ordered a whole bunch of parts and got ready to carry on.

Fender relocate

reusing the original fender mounts

New Hagon shocks!

Some of the wiring is a little questionable...

 

[TrikerJoe]

New Mac 2 into 1 exhaust.

 

[TrikerJoe]

Petcock rebuild

Vacuum balance special tool almost fit...

...and did fit after a few minutes with the grinder.

my vacuum balance setup.

 

[TrikerJoe]

Marked for cutting.

Setting the timing.

...and my downfall, it would seem, playing with the carb.

Getting there, just waiting for parts and some tuning! And for the snow to melt so it can be test-driven and tuned more!!!

 

[GateKeeper]

WOW.....lots of work done in one day.....impressive....

just kiddding, I am sure this was over a span of some time, seems your moving along very nicely....

.

 

[TrikerJoe]

weekend update

weekend update

Got a few things done this weekend, got The Bitch idling again, and finally made up the bracket to raise the gas tank.
Also got in my new bars...

New bracket for my gas tank. Yes that is rebar and 4 washers.

My new bars... too cool pullbacks from the 70's/80's. Just need to figure out how to make the front brake work and the clutch cable not hit...

...and a quick mock up with the seat pan I will run until I find a seat I like. Also that tank belongs to my other GS, just in place for mock up.

 

[Guest]

Hey Joe, I'll follow along here... those 'bars aren't my type but each to their own right?

Your carbs are definitely different to mine and they are possibly from the '83 and onwards going by the floats.

When was your bike made? If it's the latter half of '82 then it's likely it's actually an '83 model.

You'll need to get yourself a longer brake hose and clutch cable too.

 

[TrikerJoe]

Hey Joe, I'll follow along here... those 'bars aren't my type but each to their own right?

Your carbs are definitely different to mine and they are possibly from the '83 and onwards going by the floats.

When was your bike made? If it's the latter half of '82 then it's likely it's actually an '83 model.

You'll need to get yourself a longer brake hose and clutch cable too.

I was so pumped when I found those bars!!! Still not quite sure if they will work but they're on there for now.

The brake hose is for sure too short, and it will need a shorter throttle grip to allow the brake/mirror to fit... I'll get it yet... oh but the throttle cable should work, I just had to reroute it a bit.

The insurance papers say it's 82 so that's what I've been going on so far... it's a Canadian version so I'm finding lots of little differences. From what I had been reading I thought it would have valve shims but it has the set screw/locknut setup, for example. There seems to be some overlap from the 400s to the 450s but I don't know too much about it yet...
Thanks for taking an interest in my build! Cheers!

 

[johns]

I was so pumped when I found those bars!!! Still not quite sure if they will work but they're on there for now.!

From an aesthetic and ergonomic point of view they won't . Shame on you, putting such hidious bars on a GS!

 

[Guest]

Aaaaah I missed the rectangular cam ends... so you have the 8 valve engine as opposed to the 4 valve engine.

In Aus yours would be called a GSX rather than a GS, so there are definitely some differences with things like carbs and valve adjustments etc.

 

[TrikerJoe]

From an aesthetic and ergonomic point of view they won't . Shame on you, putting such hidious bars on a GS!

I figured the Dutch would love those hideous pullbacks!
I was in Amsterdam last spring, what a gorgeous place! I miss it so much.

 

[TrikerJoe]

Aaaaah I missed the rectangular cam ends... so you have the 8 valve engine as opposed to the 4 valve engine.

In Aus yours would be called a GSX rather than a GS, so there are definitely some differences with things like carbs and valve adjustments etc.

Yeah most folks on here refer to them as GSs so I go with that as well. The manual insert I have is for a GSX400 and the Canadian version of the wiring diagram matches my bike perfectly.

Do you know of any other differences between mine and other GSs, off the top of your head? Wondering what other surprises await me!

 

[Guest]

Apart from the engine and carbs a lot of other things will be fairly common...