'81 GS550 Cafe Build

[D-Mac]

Update:


Tuesday afternoon I dropped by a large industrial shop and picked up some grinding wheels to grind aluminum. I?m going to use them to carve off the handlebar mounts from the top triple tree bracket. It?s full caf? for this bike. I mention this event only because while at the shop picking them up the President of the company backed up and scratched/dented the side of my wife?s new BMW. I spent the rest of the afternoon driving to a distant body shop for an estimate. $1300 to repair, and this is only the second time I?ve driven her car (I normally drive a van on the verge of becoming a true ?beater?).


Things got better Tuesday night when I took apart the second fork. It put up quite a fight, but it?s done. Here it is mostly disassembled. Looks rougher than the first one on the inside. The OEM manual calls for ENGINE OIL mixed with TRANSMISSION OIL. Since we now have this stuff called FORK OIL, I will be experimenting with that instead of the voodoo recipe when the forks go back together.


Fork from hell.

I woke up bright an early yesterday morning, sent the kids off to school, and headed directly for the ?lab.? I must have been feeling sadistic because this morning I decided to try and get the crankcase and alternator covers off before I even had my morning coffee. Over 20 ancient Phillips screws (mostly #3 size) stared back at me....laughing. The left side ones looked pretty good (intact), but the right ones were deliciously pre-stripped.


I started with the left side to warm up (alternator cover). It wasn't so bad. My impact driver made short work of ALL of the screws. Once inside, the stator looked like crap - no wonder the bike won't charge properly. A lot of little washers came flying out of the starter gears, but the parts diagram will help me here.
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WARNING: A pointless and overly-detailed account follows. If you don?t enjoy reading about endless frustration and silly drama, please close your browser NOW.


So next I tackled the right (crankcase) cover. ELEVEN rounded off screws. Ugh.


Screw #1 ? no go with the impact driver; no go with a punch on an angle, no go with vise grips. OK. Time for the Dremel, which is at home, so on to #2 for now?.


Screws #2 through #6- WOOT! Some tense moments, but these all broke loose.


Screws #7 ?Nope. Nadda. Frozen hell.


Screws #8 & 9 ? Easy as pie with the driver.


Screws #10 and #11 ? It was CRITICAL that these break loose because they are partially buried by the engine. One false move here and I might have to use the drill (and the last time I did that I machined the cover badly). Using ALL of my skills, I carefully set the driver and struck it soundly. Nothing. Again. Nothing. Again 25 more times. Nothing. Then #10 stripped out. The #11. Damn. Damn. Damn. 10 more minutes of various tools. Nothing.


So I went back home to get the Dremel. On the way outside I dropped it. Oops! I broke my last cutting wheel. ARGH. So it was off to Tractor Supply. What?! No cutting wheels? Off the local hardware store?.none either?! Fine, off to the nearest ?real? town 25min away. About $100+ in tools later (got a 6? bench new vise on sale + screwdriver set + locking pliers set), I bought my $5 pack of cutting wheels and headed home. I really gotta stay away from the tool section. It?s killing my budget for this project.


Wait! That?s not a dremel wheel??.

Back in the shop, I carefully cut slots in Screws #1 and 7. No problems. Both broke loose with the slot impact attachment.


Then it was on to Screw #10. I had to cut a little toward the edge of the screw because of a lack of room, but after about 10 attempts at slicing into it, I got just enough to get a good bite and it came out. YES!


Finally, it was Screw #11. It was almost totally buried (pic below). By flipping the engine on its side and sliding the wheel in, I could just touch the screw, but the wheel was skimming the side of the engine. I wrapped the engine in duct tape as a ?warning? to myself (if the tape started cutting, I knew I was getting too close). I had to lean over the table to reach the screw as I carved, and carved, and carved. It was pretty much hopeless. I was starting to score the engine, but I gave it one last try and barely managed to get a tenuous bite with the driver. I had one more shot to break it loose before I had to get out the drill. I reached back??took a deep breath, and smacked the hammer square onto the driver??and.......it spun loose. Yes!


Screw from HELL.

I finished up the morning removing the oil sight glass. It was badly clouded and the seal on the outside looked terrible. The inside seal had been ?repaired? with some sort of pink-colored substance that looked like silly string. I think it was some kind of GLUE ?! Anyway, it was flaking off and I was planning to blast the case with stripper anyway, so it had to go. I punched it out and it will be replaced.



After lunch I spent a little time stripping and sanding the side covers and fork leg #2. This is gonna take a while! I also pulled the timing cover and discovered that it was so badly ground down with road rash that it?s not worth salvaging. In an ironic twist, a previous owner had replaced the ?DOHC? Suzuki cover insert with a black piece of plastic that had the Harley Davidson emblem on the back side. Classy. I also pulled out the stator.


Broken stator. It has since been removed from the case and tossed unceremoniously on the floor.

A shot before stripping the crankcase covers and another lower fork leg.

A pic of the stripping process. Yummy.

The fumes from the stripper spray nearly put me into some kind of 80s flashback (one side effect of the spray is that it impairs your ability to absorb oxygen into your blood!), so I quit early for the day and arrived home to find that my Haynes service manual had arrived. Excellent.


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This morning I did some mock ups of various seat types. Not enough pics, but here?s one that was rejected (seat wasn't long enough). I re-installed the rear fender to give me a sense of where the rear wheel will be. I will NOT be using the rear fender. I'll finish the mock ups tomorrow, choose a design, and get the seat going as well.

 

[Motocrossx23]

Looks familiar! lol

Good job!

 

[D-Mac]

Ended up without much time to work on the ?rocket? today (damn I hate that tank ? can?t wait to strip it).

Did some parts sanding for an hour. Very slow progress. I?ll be out of 220 grit long before I?m done with it.
I did a better mock-up of a caf? seat/cowl. The rear of the frame sticks up about 4-5 inches, so the template is NOT lying properly flat yet. Obviously I?ll be cutting off the rear part of the frame that sticks up past behind the shocks, but that?s for a bit later (planning on doing it in January). Overall, the frame is really well suited to a caf? project.
Imagine this seat style, but sitting about 4 inches lower than shown here.

The whole thing is close to 29? long and the seat part is about 17? long and ~9-10? wide, so I?ll be able to move around a little. The hump is about 6 ?? tall at the highest point, which should be enough to conceal a battery (I?m thinking AGM battery, which I could mount sideways if needed). Hiding the other electrical components will be a little harder, and I have no ideas yet about how to do it exactly, but I?ll sort something out. There?s no avoiding it ? I?ll be diving into the world of fabrication soon enough.

I hope to spend a little more time stripping/sanding parts tomorrow. I have a looooong list of stuff I need to order, but it will likely have to wait until the new year. I?ve started too many different parts already. At some point soon I?ll have to bite the bullet and order some more expensive parts (many of which cost more than I paid for the bike!) For now, I?ll stick to making a few things look pretty.

 

[DrunkenChekhov]

Are you planning on running 2-up? Because I only have 10.5 inches of sitting room, and that seems to be about 1 inch too much.


Nonetheless, you're making some great progress. Are you planning on keeping the L tank, or getting an E or G tank to look a littler sportier.

 

[D-Mac]

Ended up doing a lot of non-bike shopping today.

I did manage to spend a few hours sanding and polishing though. I?m happy with how the second fork lower turned out, but the cases could be a LOT better. They still have some character marks on smudges on them (although I haven?t polished them beyond the wheel, so some of this will come out). Still, I kind of like the ?dull? aluminum look on them since it will blend better with the engine, which will be painted grey. I still have the generator cover and sprocket outer cover left to polish, but both of mine are so badly scratched/cracked that they are probably too far gone to use. I?ll probably buy replacements on eBay or at the local salvage yard in a few weeks.

Before:

After (no flash ? a roll of tape is sitting on the top of the tall case where a new ?Suzuki? emblem or something similar will go):

Tomorrow I start on the wheels. Keeping true to the original design, I?m planning to sand/polish the outer rims and ?spokes? and then mask them and re-paint the inner parts with VHT wheel paint (black). If it doesn?t look good or last well I can always have them powdercoated later. If I get a chance I will also paint the caliper bodies.

After looking over some frames, I?ve decided that I will be have the frame and swingarm powdercoated after all. It just looks sooooo good. If anyone has suggestions for good powdercoaters in southern Michigan, let me know.

 

[GateKeeper]

Looking good D-Mac.....

I was wanting to powdercoat my frame, rims, and various other bits and pieces, but the cost was way too high, 600 bucks plus., one place did all the work, cleaning, masking and coating, while another did not, just the coating, but both cost about the same...so I will take the cheaper route and use the good old rattle can....

Do let us know what your cost will be on powdercoating your stuff

I don't see any VHT wheel paint up here, so I was wondering what to use myself...we have the header paint, caliper paint, engine paint, roll bar and cage paint, but no wheel paint....lol

 

[D-Mac]

Looking good D-Mac.....

I was wanting to powdercoat my frame, rims, and various other bits and pieces, but the cost was way too high, 600 bucks plus., one place did all the work, cleaning, masking and coating, while another did not, just the coating, but both cost about the same...so I will take the cheaper route and use the good old rattle can....

Do let us know what your cost will be on powdercoating your stuff

I don't see any VHT wheel paint up here, so I was wondering what to use myself...we have the header paint, caliper paint, engine paint, roll bar and cage paint, but no wheel paint....lol

Ouch! It it's $600 here I'll be breaking out the rattlecans too. That's pretty much my entire budget for paint/trim work for the whole project. One place that's about an hour way is apparently about $200 to coat a frame and swingarm, and that supposedly includes prep. I'll get a real quote from a few places once I'm closer to being ready. I have to figure out how to modify the frame to fit the seat/battery/etc first.

I think a lot of the VHT paints are similar. I hear that the caliper paint and "regular" enamel they sell are basically the same thing. I haven't looked for their "wheel" paint around here, so we'll see what happens.

 

[Motocrossx23]

VHT appliance epoxy for frame

VHT caliper paint, baked, for any engine parts

I use any decent wheel paint (duplicolor, VHT, etc) and then hit it with a 2k clear coat.

 

[D-Mac]

My fingers got a lot of exercise over the past two days.

Yesterday afternoon I ran some errands, which included picking up more wet/dry sandpaper and some paint. I ended up buying VHT caliper paint (dull black) for the calipers and painted parts of the wheels because everyone sells it and it came recommended. There isn't much else available around here.

I then scrubbed the wheels with a scotchbrite pad and various brass/steel brushes. They were nasty, but having a giant sink at work made things easier. 30 years of grime can take its toll. Looking at the codes on the tires, one appears to have been made in 1991 and the other is older (old coding on it indicates that it was made in the 7th year of a decade – likely 1987, or maybe even [gasp] in 1977 since the sizing is non-metric on that one. Both are cracked badly and will be replaced before the bike hits the road.

Wheels started like this…..

The wheel bearings still moved ok, but I could see some rust on them. What the hell, I might as well replace them now. They are originals with 20K and 30 years on them – mostly sitting. I drove them out and only one looked really bad. What a mess.
This morning I removed the third rear bearing (the large one in the outer hub). The dust seal was nearly gone on it, but the bearing drove out easily.

Then I did a little sanding. I started by removing the rear rotor and sprocket from the hubs and cleaned them up. Then I carefully cleaned and sanded the paint on the rotors themselves.

Cleaned rotors ready for new paint.

After TWO MORE hours of sanding I managed to get the rim of the front wheel partially done with 220 grit. This is taking FOREVER. I figure I’ll need a full day of sanding just to get the wheel hubs and spokes clean. Then I’ll mask them off and re-paint the inner hubs and replace the bearings. My fingers are badly cut/bruised/scraped from all the sanding and busting knuckles on rusty fasteners. The grease embedded in my hands looks permanent.

A wheel after a little sanding. I still have to do the spokes, polish the bare aluminum and re-paint the hub.

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I spent the rest of the day exercising my fingers by going on a major buying spree! My dad sent me a little cash for my project, so I decided to put it to good use.

I started by ordering many, many OEM seals, clips, nuts, washers, bolts, side cover gaskets, new sight glass, and replacement studs/nuts for the oil filter cover. Basically enough replacement fasteners and replacements for wearable parts to rebuild the forks and wheels (it’s CRAZY how quickly this stuff adds up!) I paid a little more and ordered everything from Bike Bandit because there’s still no sign of any of the parts of the brake calipers I ordered about two weeks ago from another supplier. From the looks of it I’m doing a lot of catch-up on decades of neglected maintenance. Good learning experience for me though.

In a departure from sticking with Suzuki parts, I ordered new aftermarket shocks (low end knock-offs) to replace the rusted-out ones that came with my bike. I got them for about $100 via eBay and from what I hear they’re at least as good as stockers and they look 100x better. I’m pretty excited about it. I wanted them now so that I can see how they affect the frame geometry.

I also ordered a stainless steel bolt kit and replacement wheel bearings/seals from Z1. These guys are super-reliable and ship quick.

Then I bit the bullet and ordered a new aftermarket stator from Electrosport. Since I have the alternator cover completely apart, I figured I might as well do this now. I’ll get their regulator/rectifier once I get closer to doing the wiring.

After that, I realized that I had won a couple of used parts on eBay (e.g., a bracket, a Suzuki emblem, a NOS ignition cover to replace mine, which is absolutely destroyed). I broke down and bought a few other parts I’ve been watching as well.

I finished my “shopping spree” by buying a set of clip-ons and a composite seat from Dime City Cycles. They have a great looking seat and a 10% off sale going on this week, which put me over the edge. I’ve spent many hours staring at these things. We’ll see how they work out. My “motorcycle account” is officially drained for a while, but all of this stuff should give me plenty to work on over the next month.

My valve cover gasket and breather gasket from “real gaskets” arrived today. Excellent stuff.

I’m taking a little holiday break, but I’ll be back sometime next week with another update. Happy holidays!

 

[Motocrossx23]

Jeez you went to town!!!

 

[GateKeeper]

After all that,,,,,you deserve a break..........enjoy the down time

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year...

 

[Flyboy]

Nah, not good enough
You haven't sanded the wheel enough until your fingers are bleeding, ask me how I know....

I know how you feel, and, hey when you get to the other wheel, you do it all again...

I figure I?ll need a full day of sanding just to get the wheel hubs and spokes clean.

and then some....

But that wheel is a fantastic transformation, nice work there, I recon this bike is going to be 20mph faster with all the weight removed once the dirt is gone.

It really is looking good, your attention to detail is excellent, and it sounds like you have enough bits together now to keep you occupied for a while, it's always nice to reward yourself with some retail therapy.

 

[D-Mac]

Nah, not good enough
You haven't sanded the wheel enough until your fingers are bleeding, ask me how I know....

I know how you feel, and, hey when you get to the other wheel, you do it all again...

and then some....

But that wheel is a fantastic transformation, nice work there, I recon this bike is going to be 20mph faster with all the weight removed once the dirt is gone.

It really is looking good, your attention to detail is excellent, and it sounds like you have enough bits together now to keep you occupied for a while, it's always nice to reward yourself with some retail therapy.

I was thinking of your thread while I was sanding. A few of my fingers are starting to look like that. Another hour and I'd have no fingerprints left.

 

[7981GS]

Fantastic progress with lot's of effort. Wow!

Daniel

 

[Good Times]

Impressive work on a bike that really needed it! :dancing:

 

[Guest]

Great progress so far. With a little early Christmas shopping to boot!

At the autoparts store they have 6mil nitrile gloves. I always wear them working on the bike. Take care of that skin. It will thank you for it.

Sci85

 

[GateKeeper]

+1 on the gloves.....I wear them all the time, it's much easier to clean up your hands afterwards, and I find I don't lose any feeling when handling items, and there is less slippage on tools and other parts....

and nothing worse for me when my fingers and nails are dark black and sitting in a executive meeting....

 

[Motocrossx23]

Lol, I guess that's a perk of being a tech teacher is I never worry about my hands =p a little orange pumice rub and I'm good to go!

 

[mike-s]

I have to agree on the gloves, I've found the "latex" gloves give the most dexterity and feel, but are the easiest to crumble when exposed to petroleum products, oil is surprisingly a worse culprit than petrol in this regard as it sticks to the gloves, making it worsen extremely quickly.

Nitrile gloves are the best, but they cost the most (a dozen gloves in a box are about $4), a close second are vinyl gloves as they are cheaper ($5 for a hundred of them), they last almost as long and the feel is pretty close to the same, ignoring the fact they aren't quite as "stretchy" as nitrile or latex. Now I go through a box of a hundred in about 3-4 months, but it makes cleanup so much easier when all it takes to sort your hands out is remove/swap a pair of gloves.

 

[Billy Ricks]

Nah, not good enough
You haven't sanded the wheel enough until your fingers are bleeding, ask me how I know....

I know how you feel, and, hey when you get to the other wheel, you do it all again...

and then some....

But that wheel is a fantastic transformation, nice work there, I recon this bike is going to be 20mph faster with all the weight removed once the dirt is gone.

It really is looking good, your attention to detail is excellent, and it sounds like you have enough bits together now to keep you occupied for a while, it's always nice to reward yourself with some retail therapy.

BTDT. I polished a set of '88 GSX-R wheels by hand, spokes and all. The spokes were sand cast finish that had to be taken down before the real polishing could even start. I have 60 hours of hand wet sanding in them then a few more hours of polishing.