• Required reading for all forum users!!!

    Welcome!
    Register to access the full functionality of the GSResources forum. Until you register and activate your account you will not have full forum access, nor will you be able to post or reply to messages.

    A note to new registrants...
    All new forum registrations must be activated via email before you have full access to the forum.

    A Special Note about Email accounts!
    DO NOT SIGN UP USING hotmail, outlook, gmx, sbcglobal, att, bellsouth or email.com. They delete our forum signup emails.

    A note to old forum members...
    I receive numerous requests from people who can no longer log in because their accounts were deleted. As mentioned in the forum FAQ, user accounts are deleted if you haven't logged in for the past 6 months. If you can't log in, then create a new forum account. If you don't get an error message, then check your email account for an activation message. If you get a message stating that the email address is already in use, then your account still exists so follow the instructions in the forum FAQ for resetting your password.

    Have you forgotten your password or have a new email address? Then read the forum FAQ for details on how to reset it.

    Any email requests for "can't log in anymore" problems or "lost my password" problems will be deleted. Read the forum FAQ and follow the instructions there - that's what we have one for...

  • Returning Visitors

    If you are a returning visitor who never received your confirmation email, then odds are your email provider is blockinig emails from our server. The only thing that can be done to get around this is you will have to try creating another forum account using an email address from another domain.

    If you are a returning visitor to the forum and can't log in using your old forum name and password but used to be able to then chances are your account is deleted. Purges of the databases are done regularly. You will have to create a new forum account and you should be all set.

81 GS400 Cafe racer project

  • Thread starter Thread starter oldschoolorange
  • Start date Start date
O

oldschoolorange

Guest
Well after restoring 2 bikes in the past and never documenting it I have decided that I should stop being so lazy and take pictures and give any relevant info on what I am doing with my current project. I am planning on selling the bike to my brother in the spring and still being able to make a few bucks without gouging him on the price. This thing will be kept simple and made as light as I can without spending too much money.

So here is what the bike looked like before i started tearing things off of it
(Not my bike but the same model)
2zfiaf8.jpg


Now here are the pics of the bike in the back of my truck, with the wiring harness allready stripped off, clutch handle bead blasted, all body work removed, exhaust removed, started cutting the rear frame already (shortened by 6 inches or so and removed some bracing.
2cdjolg.jpg

2eqa179.jpg

2gxh1yr.jpg
 
Last edited:
Work to be done

1-Clean up wiring harness
2-Run 2-1 exhaust with internal baffles
3-Rebuild front forks
4-Make custon bump back seat
5-Weld up some new crossers in the back
6-Have wheels powdercoated satin black
7-Make custom rearsets so my pegs are another inch or so farther back
8-New rear springs
9-Progressive front fork springs
10-Small cafe style fairing at front
11-Rear fender - Now this is where there will probably be some issues, I want to make a rear fender that hugs the rear tire. I am going to have to figure something out here, Any advice or ideas from you guys would be of great help.

There are probably more things to do to it but this is all I can think of for now.

Wish me luck

Chris
 
I am kind of impartial to them myself, I will have to see how they clean up
 
What tank is that?

Good luck with the bike. Looks like a great start.
 
fork overhaul

fork overhaul

Hey Oldschool.

I just did my forks a few days ago. a couple tid bits you might find useful

In the workschool manual, they comment either W15 oil, or a 50/50 mix of 10W30 motor oil and automatic transmission fluid. save you self the pain in the a$$ of that, and grab some AW32 hydrolic oil from Cr@ppyTire. its about 11$ for 4 litres or about 4$ for 1L. Why use this stuff? well I've been looking at my charts, and the Viscosity of AW32 is on par with what they want you to mix up. The benifit of AW32 is that:
1, its all one oil, so you know it will be consistant, no worrying about dino or synthetic.
2, More anti-wear additives. aw32 is more of an industry type fluid and designed as such. the end-result for us? OVER KILL.

I just discovered this, cause I'm cheap. I cleaned my forks out, measured the springs and refilled with this stuff, and they are a little bit stiffer.


Hope that helps!
 
Thanks for the tip Kevin. Now one more question about the fluid - How are it's antifoaming abilities? Forks with air in the oil suck.

As for the tank question, It came on the bike. As soon as I saw it I knew I would not have to make a new tank for it. The tank is from suzuki according to the nameplates on the sides of it however I have never seen a picture of a 400 with the smae style tank
 
Tank looks alot like our 450's tanks.
Here's the S tank when I was painting it:
P4170005.jpg
 
Last edited:
lower?

lower?

11-Rear fender - Now this is where there will probably be some issues, I want to make a rear fender that hugs the rear tire. I am going to have to figure something out here, Any advice or ideas from you guys would be of great help.
Click to expand...
Are you in a position to lower the rear end? Would lowering blocks work? They worked for me and mine dropped two inches,and pretty much hugs the rear tire. I can't see your pics on this post. I can post some pics of my blocks if you would like to see them up close.8-[
P1280136.jpg
 
Tank

Tank

oldschoolorange said:
As for the tank question, It came on the bike. As soon as I saw it I knew I would not have to make a new tank for it. The tank is from suzuki according to the nameplates on the sides of it however I have never seen a picture of a 400 with the smae style tank
Click to expand...

I just got the same tank off e-bay , although with a few dents in it. I think it's from a 1981 GS 450, although the seller wasn't sure. It sure saved a lot of work!
Keep posting pics! I'm doing sorta the same thing to a 77 400x, with spoked wheels and a front drum brake.It'll look cool, but I sure won't ride it too fast!
 
Hmm must be from a 450 then, Thanks. I wonder if there is a chance that my bike is a 450 instead of the 400 I origionaly thought?

About the fender hugging the rear tire I want to mount the fender on the rear swingarm as close to the tire as I can get it, and then bring the fender just past the axle so it will be like a 1/4 fender.

Beautiful bike Tracy, I have a very similar color blended with pewter on my 550.

2rw50z7.jpg
 
rubbing

rubbing

Beautiful bike Tracy, I have a very similar color blended with pewter on my 550.
Click to expand...
Thanks oldschool. Just have to watch out for fender rub, unless you stiffin up the rear suspension. With me on my bike of course it sits even lower than shown, but I still have a little travel in my shocks for some comfort. Good luck and keep the pics coming.:)
 
foam? forgive my ignorance but uh.. EH?

if your asking about if it holds air, well no, if you are patient. some bubling takes place if you just dump it in there. but if you know how to pour a good pint, you should be fine.just let it settle.

on mine, turns out there was no soap or water even in the forks, jsut really bad oil, and a good bit of dirt (hence why i went looking for the better antiwear oil) The swishing that was there befor is gone. I'm assuming that means that there is no longer any air in the oil.

hope that answers it. if not give me a definition of foam and I'll let you know.

also, I have a 4L of the stuff, and you only need at most 170ml per shock (got more jsut in case i ended making a mess, and to use as cleaner)
carry an empty bottle with you, and next time you are out by Mac, give me and call and I'll give you all you need!
 
Antifoaming is pretty muck the oil's ability to [SIZE=-1]deaerate. when the forks are moving up and down they are swishing the oil in them around, this as I am sure as you know will trap air in the oil. If the oil is not able to evacuate the air fast enough you end up having problems. It is just like having air in a hydraulic system. some forks allow you to put air in them through a schrader valve in the top to help with dampening as well
[/SIZE]
 
well AW32 is a hydraulic jack and pump oil, so I don't think they were thinking about that. Although, the Viscosity rating is on par with the recomended mis of ATF and 10W30 oil (hot cold range as well) so the rate at which air escapes would be about the same. There some sort of special water seperater in it though.

I'm having trouble imagining how it would be that air would get mixed in to any critical part. Given that you have bottom bleed holes, i don;t think it would be that much of a problem...

anyways, you are welcome to come by and check it out. It seemed most appropriate for me, but then my main concern was wear on the shocks. not quite as intensive as your high performance application.

I guess you'll just end up burning me on that 1000mile ride (how do i get details on that anyways)

And about those tanks. I still have no idea what mine is really... but the case may be with yours as it is with mine, where it is a 450 frame, with a 400 engine on it (gsx engine in my case)
 
Last edited:
Here the Iornbutt is through zenriders

http://www.zenridersmc.com/IronButt.asp

here is the link

Now about the tanks and other oddaties on the bikes, they are both older than us, You just kind of have to figure out what someone else did along the way. On that note you should see the wiring harness mess on my bike:shock:. I have got to re wire the entire thing
 
Thanks for the link. I'm back in the Hammer on the 2nd btw.

While you are at the wiring, you may want to look into an improved grounding system. Someone posted on a past thread about how they traced the gs's notorious electricle failures to insufficient grounding, and that they had managed to accomidate that. Its a bit of extra work, but if you can protect your electricle (especialy if your mods put a heavier load on the electricle system) then it may be worth while.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top