'78 Suzuki GS550 Project

[cjwoods89]

Hello, I'm new to the forums and new to motorcycles. My father-in-law has an 1100 Harley Davidson, and is begging to teach me how to ride. I did not feel comfortable taking my first ride on an 1100cc engine, nor my father-in-law's brand new Harley Davidson.

So, while scouring the Craigslist, I recently bought a 1978 Suzuki GS550 for 450$. Ran perfectly fine and kicked over several times from Youngstown OH to Sharon PA (30-45min). Now that it's home, I was able to ride this bike around the block quite a few times. When we were messing with the clutch adjustment (seemed to be slipping, at least according to father-in-law), it seemed as if the battery died. Battery seemed to die about 3 times during the 4 days that I had it. Bought a new battery, of course this one doesn't fit well with the bike's metal battery chassis. When taking a closer look with the seat off, the welds look pretty bad. The guy chopped the frame in order to fit this new seat on, which barely fits on there. One of the welds where the guy chopped the bike, it seemed to have cracked the weld joint. I can try and get a guy to fix it, however now the bike won't turn over! It's acting as if the battery is dead yet again!

My brother-in-law and I hooked up the battery to a trickle charger, cranked up the knob and hooked it to the bike while it was hooked into the bike. The bike turned right over. So we figured, maybe the bike's ground is bad. We replaced the one ground coming directly from the battery. This seemed to work, however now the electric start no longer works. We were able to get the bike to turn over with the kick start, but now I can't seem to get it to turn over anymore.

The guy told me that the bike has been sitting in his garage for about a year, and he supposedly found it in the back of a barn for an unknown period of time. He painted it up, swapped the seat, gave away the bags (2 WEEKS BEFORE I PURCHASED THE BIKE!!!!), then stopped. I'm hoping to get this bike restored, but the welds are making me worried.

I'm going to have to tear the bike down and rebuild the carbs, possibly the engine, and general maintenance that one would do to an older bike (any tips you can provide is greatly appreciated). Is it worth tearing the bike down then mounting back to the original frame, after re welding the frame correctly, or should I attempt to purchase a frame and transfer the pieces to the new frame as I'm tearing it down and cleaning it? (This may assist in my efforts to find out why the bike isn't running properly).

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-...HjvldwI/w1113-h835-no/IMG_20130812_104900.jpg

 

[tkent02]

I have an extra 550 frame if you need it. Have the original seat too, it needs to be reupholstered, but the pan is solid.

 

[cjwoods89]

What year frame is it? I can reupholster it, or at least attempt to!

Where are you located?

 

[Hdale85]

I'm the brother in law in question, anyways are you near Cleveland? Or are you in another state all together? lol.

We still are talking about what direction to go with this he originally wanted to restore it to original but I think we could do something custom pretty nice and he'd be happy with it even longer especially if we build up the engine a bit to a 650+ I have to research exactly what parts we'd need though.

For now though I want to get it running again and I think we should probably just replace the electronics? It seems like some people have something that looks completely different than what's on his bike now? It all looks pretty sketchy and wondering what we could replace to update it and modernize it a bit?

 

[Hdale85]

So I think I've figured out what we need to upgrade the ignition and what not, we'll see when he gets the money to order these parts. I'd like to get it running again before we start tearing it apart for the rebuild. But pretty soon (next month or 2 I imagine) we'll be pulling the bike into his basement and start the tear down. We'll snap a few pics next time we work on it and keep this thread updated.

 

[stunner67]

looking forward to pics and info. I have an 82 550l. 1500 out of pocket to purchase it running, but not running great. Everything was in great shape and only 16k on it. Another $1500 later, I had a shop rebuild the carbs, swap the rear swing arm for one with a disk brake, new battery, brake pads, and the mounted a pair of triumph mufflers for me. The rest is all original, so let me know if you need any pics of specific areas for reference. I can't imagine there are much differences between the 78 and the 82. I'm hoping to make a few more mods to give it a kind of bobber look, but nothing in the immediate future as funds are low.

http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showthread.php?t=216854

 

[Guest]

Congrats! The Suzuki GS series are basically tanks. However, they must be maintained just like anything else if you want it to run properly. Cliff will be along shortly to provide your offcial welcome. Best thing you can do is to read the material on his site. It will be chock full of info on the charging system as well as containing the schematic and service manual. Before doing anything radical, get the electrics sorted (you have a charging issue - see the Stator Papers on Cliffs site for troubleshooting) and the bike running properly, brakes serviced, etc. Then you can take on any mods you wanna make. Oh, and get that weld fixed pronto.

Good luck. I have an 82 550 that I completely rebuilt and modded to 675cc and love it. You got a good one. Take your time, don't skip steps and she will bring you great joy.