81 GS450s Build a better Caf? project

[cajunup]

Hello all.

I just bought essentially a basketcase 81 GS450s off of craigslist for a few dollars. I decided I needed a project so it seemed like an obvious choice, then after doing some research, this website became the second obvious choice.

Everything was stripped from the bike, but essentially still there in boxes.

Bike has just over 15k miles on the speedo in the box and the last time it was registered was '92 and had 13500 miles on the paperwork.

PO didnt do anything to it except tear everything off of the frame to shave tabs and cut off about 6 inches of the tail of the frame. His PO turned it into some sort of silly looking cafe racer. Black frame with crap rattle can metallic orange paint and a homemade tail with drag bars.

The engine was intact, but valve covers had been off for a few months. intake and exhaust cams, shims, and channels have some top rust. She wouldnt turn over by pulling on the cam chain, but once I pulled the head and cylinders, everything is moving well.

The plan is to pull the cases apart, flush everything to make sure I get rid of any crap from pulling off the incredibly dirty head and cylinders, make sure it's all in working order, get the bottom end cleaned up, heads and cylinders media blasted and put back together, carb rebuild, back in the frame, modify wiring harness and move battery and electronics to the tail, clean up paint, and put it all back together.... In my 700 sq.ft. apartment for the most part...

Now I know there will be some things I can't do in the apt (obvious noise restrictions amongst other things), but I just want to see if I can get it rebuilt on my own.

I'll post some pics when I get back to the home computer later today.

Thanks all!

 

[Redneck]

Welcome to the GSR. You have come to the right place for information. Lots of 450 owners and lots of people who like the Cafe Style and can give good advice and constructive Criticism. Good Luck and can't wait to see your progress.

Paul

 

[Guest]

Ok, I'll definitely be tuning into this one! I just finished up my "scrambler" of sorts before Christmas so I'm fresh off a 450 rebuild. Plenty of pic's and things in my rebuild thread if it helps...

Good luck and looking forward to the pic's!

 

[BassCliff]

Greetings and Salutations!!

Greetings and Salutations!!

Hi Mr. cajunup,

Best of luck with your build. Let me dump a TON of information on you and share some GS lovin'.

I just stopped by to welcome you to the forum in my own, special way.

If there's anything you'd like to know about the Suzuki GS model bikes, and most others actually, you've come to the right place. There's a lot of knowledge and experience here in the community. Come on in and let me say "HOoooowwwDY!"....

Here is your very own magical, mystical, mythical, mind-expanding "mega-welcome". Please take notice of the "Top 10 Common Issues", "Top 15 Tips For GS Happiness", the Carb Cleanup Series, and the Stator Papers. All of these tasks must be addressed in order to have a safe, reliable machine. This is what NOT to do: Top 10 Newbie Mistakes. Now let me roll out the welcome mat for you...

Please click here for your mega-welcome, chock full of tips, suggestions, links to vendors, and other information. Then feel free to visit my little BikeCliff website where I've been collecting the wisdom of this generous community. Don't forget, we like pictures! Not you, your bike!

Thanks for joining us. Keep us informed.

Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

 

[Guest]

Excellent choice and welcome to the club! I'm really fond of the less than half-litre bikes. I espcially like Pete's scrambler. Might do one of those for my next bike. Post up some pics and let the fun begin!

Sci85

 

[olddaddy]

The GS 450 is without a doubt underrated in almost all ways, by almost everyone, except those lucky enough to ride one! GREAT bikes! Keep us posted, the twins are great to work with. If yours is an S and you go pure cafe, I am always looking for stock bits for mine.

 

[Englishman]

Welcome to the twins users. Seeing your location I believe I know the bike you purchased as I was contemplating it myself for parts. Also based on the Craigslist pics I think the PO was posting his progress on the board this past summer. Made his own glass tail section in what looked like his dining room !

Good luck with the project. I'm in Houston too during the week and up in Livingston at the weekends, so shout if you need some help..

Mark

 

[Guest]

Welcome to the twins users. Seeing your location I believe I know the bike you purchased as I was contemplating it myself for parts. Also based on the Craigslist pics I think the PO was posting his progress on the board this past summer. Made his own glass tail section in what looked like his dining room !

Good luck with the project. I'm in Houston too during the week and up in Livingston at the weekends, so shout if you need some help..

Mark

I think I know the one you mean... I wondered what happened to that build!

 

[cajunup]

Thanks for all the information and well wishing from everyone!

I think I know the one you mean... I wondered what happened to that build!

Do y'all know what thread that was? I'd like to take a look and see what all he did.

anyways, here are some pics as promised..

as you can see, bc the PO removed the valve cover for an extended period of time, I now have to deal with slightly rusted cam lobes, shims, and all that fun stuff.

 

[cajunup]

and some more...

there was about 3lbs of dirt dead bugs and leaves in that sprocket area. it was like a horror movie.

while trying to split the cases, just to clean out some dirt and sh*# that fell in the lower end while removing the cylinders, i think I busted the "upper crankcase bolt", the one that is accessible under the starter cover. I was wrenching on it and it popped so loud that I jumped.

The good news is that most of the bolt came out. The bad news is that its about 3-4 inches long and only the first two threads came out with the bolt.

Is that going to hinder my ability to pull apart the cases? obviously I'll need to remove and retap once I get to it, i'm just worried it was holding it all together and Im going to have to do some complex surgery to get everything apart.

I got all the phillips head screws on both sides to remove the side covers exvept for one, so I'm still working on how to get that joker off.

Thanks all.

 

[cajunup]

another good update is while trying to source a media blaster for the head and cylinder cases, I gave an old friend a call to see if he knew anyone for hire. Apparently he has a 4'x3'x3' fine glass media blaster in his garage and it would only cost me a case of beer.

saves me about $300.

Is the glass media going to be ok with the aluminum or would it be too abrasive?

 

[Guest]

and some more...

there was about 3lbs of dirt dead bugs and leaves in that sprocket area. it was like a horror movie.

while trying to split the cases, just to clean out some dirt and sh*# that fell in the lower end while removing the cylinders, i think I busted the "upper crankcase bolt", the one that is accessible under the starter cover. I was wrenching on it and it popped so loud that I jumped.

The good news is that most of the bolt came out. The bad news is that its about 3-4 inches long and only the first two threads came out with the bolt.

Is that going to hinder my ability to pull apart the cases? obviously I'll need to remove and retap once I get to it, i'm just worried it was holding it all together and Im going to have to do some complex surgery to get everything apart.

I got all the phillips head screws on both sides to remove the side covers exvept for one, so I'm still working on how to get that joker off.

Thanks all.

another good update is while trying to source a media blaster for the head and cylinder cases, I gave an old friend a call to see if he knew anyone for hire. Apparently he has a 4'x3'x3' fine glass media blaster in his garage and it would only cost me a case of beer.

saves me about $300.

Is the glass media going to be ok with the aluminum or would it be too abrasive?

I tried searching for that build but couldn't find it, I'll keep looking and see if I can see it in my old subscribed threads list... it's a long list though!

I got my head and cylinders wet blasted, which is a non-abrasive process so it was safe and didn't affect any bearing surfaces or oil passages or anything like that. No idea where you could get that done of course but the finish is superb.

As for the snapped bolt, just take note of which one it is, it won't stop you splitting the cases. The difficulty for me was the the allen head bolts in the oil filter recess, they had me stuck for a couple of months all up.

Once you've got the cases apart, try a left hand drill bit in the snapped bolt to see if you can get it out that way after squirting some sort of penetrating oil down there. If you use an extractor, be very careful you don't break it as they're harder than most drill bits. Try the left hand drill bit first.

 

[Guest]

Oh, and as for your cam lobe surface rust, I had little spots on mine from sitting but it didn't feel particularly rough and didn't seem to affect the profile or anything so I didn't touch them, just put them in and let the oil in the engine take care of it.

After the first 15 minute run I checked the valve clearances and the cam lobes looked a lot better, so I'll check them again at the 1000km service which will be very soon.

 

[cajunup]

Oh, and as for your cam lobe surface rust, I had little spots on mine from sitting but it didn't feel particularly rough and didn't seem to affect the profile or anything so I didn't touch them, just put them in and let the oil in the engine take care of it.

After the first 15 minute run I checked the valve clearances and the cam lobes looked a lot better, so I'll check them again at the 1000km service which will be very soon.

thanks pete.

yeah, the cam lobe and shims have enough rust to make me worry, any tips for removal? should I just try to scotch brite it off, or does it need to be a mirror finish?

 

[Guest]

Not sure on the best and safest technique, but you want them as smooth as possible while taking as little material as possible off them... I would imagine the metal is quite tough given the work they have to do so hopefully it will be hard work to take too much material off...

Also, this is the build that came to mind when thinking of doing it in an apartment or something:

http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showthread.php?t=170393

Not sure if it's the right one or not... have you got pic's of the whole bike at all and the tail piece in particular?