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79 GS 850 question

  • Thread starter Thread starter arrow78
  • Start date Start date
A

arrow78

Guest
Hello everybody,
I just picked up a new (to me) gs850. I got it from a gentlman on Craigslist for 300.00 dollars. I didnt hear the bike run, however I got it for a cheap enough price that I wont lose if she truns out to be a lemon (which I dont think is the case anyway). My brain is running overtime right now, from excitement that I got it for such a low price, but also, because shes really in nice condition for a 33 year old motorcycle (The tires are less than a season old, and the brakes were recently redone; front and rear). It is obvious that this motorcycle was well cared for, and a person doesnt see that very often. The guy I bought her from stated that he had her running after a year of sitting, but that she had been run for a while on 3 cyls. he didnt know if the valves or cylinder was damaged or not. So, with that in mind, I have a couple of questions.

1.) If she ran (and the PO says it was recently; approx a month or so ago) I think I will do a valve adjustment, and tinker a bit just to see if she is up to snuff. What are your thoughts?

2.) If she doesnt run well, how far should I go to resurrect her. New head? Rework current head? The bike has 46,000 miles on her right now, but, I just want an around town bike.

3.) At some point I know I will get scolded for not rebuilding, resynching, and reworking the carbs, along with the airbox etc first and I understand this, my point is that I will have a better feel as to what I will need to get, and how far I will need to take the bike down for the rebuild if there is a problem. Right now, the valve cover is already off, and it would be an easy matter to adjust valves and see what and where I need to get down to (ie head, valve job etc) Is my thinking flawed on this?


Thank you in advance for your assistance, and time in responding. Have a good one
Arrow78
 
Last edited:
Greetings,

While its opened up definitely check your valve clearances. And when you do check them the kick starter turns the engine over easily!! Doesn't hurt to get eyes on the valves through the ports just to see their condition. Yes, you will want to run through the carbs completely, O-rings, etc..... mine would barely run (and I mean three minutes of sputtering, etc. and then dying) until I did, and it runs about 80% right now until I sync the carbs, etc... but it runs on all 4 pretty smoothly with good power for not quite done yet. Sealing the air box made a big difference for me.

Best wishes..
 
Hi,

With an unknown history, ALL of the maintenance must be addressed, from brakes to valves to clean carbs to air intake repair to tires (check the date code) to fluids. It's all in your "mega-welcome".


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff
 
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