'81 GS550 Cafe Build

[D-Mac]

Carb rebuild/mod continued?..

Original jet needle

New needle

I also bought an o-ring kit from cyclerings. This includes all of the hard-to-find o-rings for these bikes. It?s very well organized. Check out the old/new rings for the choke. About time these were replaced!

It wasn?t all good though. At one point I somehow managed to spray carb cleaner directly into my EYE while spraying the tiny passages to make sure they were clear.
OUCH OUCH OUCH.

Here?s the offending cleaner. NOTE: I was wearing safety glasses (foreground) at the time of the ?incident.? They slipped a little off my nose and the cleaner bounced around inside the carb and came in from the side ? directly by the glasses and onto my eye with a lot of pressure. 15 minutes of rinsing by staring at the shower head and everything was OK.

Done for now. I still have to polish the float bowls. The rubber plug covering the pilot jet came from yet another supplier.

NEXT UP: This week I plan to finish the carbs, rebuild the master cylinders, and hopefully (finally) paint part of the engine. I?m now thinking to paint the lower engine black (except for the polished case covers) but do the head and valve cover in silver.

I picked up a tube for the seat hoop. I have to bend it and weld it on. Once that?s done I can begin to build the new battery box and places to hide the other electrical components.

 

[boontonmike]

LOL I learned the same way about carb spray and cleaning passages.

 

[brslk]

I was pretty sure I was gonna die or go blind when I sprayed carb cleaner in my eye.
I filled the sink with water and dunked my head in and blinked for about half an hour.
The pain went away but my eyes felt dry for awhile.

I think if I ever use it again I will wear swimming goggles!

Bruce.

 

[D-Mac]

Weekly update time. I was a little all over the place with my plan this week, but I had to keep working hard so I can bump this thread back up to page 1!

My first attempt was to rebuild the master cylinders.

The rear didn?t happen because I discovered that I was missing some key parts. I ordered the missing stuff, but it hasn?t come in yet. You might recall how bad it looked from a few posts back.

Although the front one didn?t look as bad, one quick look at the master cylinder and I knew I?d be rebuilding it. Check it out.

Here is a pic from the end of the rebuild. I replaced everything ? piston cup/spring/plunger/boot, cleaned the cylinder, and lubed it with fresh brake fluid.

----
Then it was back to finish up the carbs ? starting with polishing the float bowls. I did the usual sanding, but put a little more effort into it since the bowls are small and easy to work with. I went with 220/320/400/500/1000/1200 wet paper and then over to the buffer. I?m pretty happy with how they came out. Not perfect, but shiny.

This is before final polishing too.

After cleaning the bowls, I checked the float measurements (only 1 was off), replaced the gaskets, and reassembled them with the new allen-head fasteners that arrived last week (plus a little anti-sieze of course).

I decided to clean and paint the steel brackets that hold the carbs together. As others have experienced, the clear coat turned yellowish when curing it in the oven. Good thing they?re small parts.

All of the o-rings for the fuel/vent tubes between the carbs were replaced.

It was a little tricky getting everything lined up properly for reassembly. I didn?t have as many pics as usual because my phone died when I took them apart. Anyway, here are a few pics of the finished carbs. I still need to do a quick ?bench sync? but everything seems to function correctly. I also need to check over and clean up the rubber intake boots. Although I have a lot to pick from (2 sets) most of them are pretty beat up and clogged with all sorts of sealants (in place of the correct o-rings, which I have), so I might end up replacing one or two ($$$). We?ll see.

Carb bank!

----
On Wednesday I took my tubing to a local fabricator to have it bent for the rear seat hoop. I should have it back this week. I?m looking forward to fabricating the new battery/electrical holders. I?m definitely in over my head with this stuff, but I?m sure I?ll learn a lot.

----
I spent some time scraping off more engine gaskets off this week. I?m still working on the old valve cover gasket, which is glued to the head and needs a few more hours of gentle scraping.

----
The cylinders are almost ready for paint. I just need to give them a final cleaning (after removing the base gasket they got all dirty again). Then I?ll wipe them down with acetone and then shoot them with engine primer and black. Can?t wait!

----
I dug out my spare cam chain tensioner and pile of tensioner replacement parts. I might tackle that this week too.

 

[GateKeeper]

This is before final polishing too.

nice, very nice......

 

[cowboyup3371]

Looks very nice D-Mac. Keep at it.

 

[D-Mac]

3/25/2012

It?s been a couple of weeks since my last update, but progress is still creeping along.

I finally got around to getting the rear tube bent for the seat. By buying 2? of tube myself (matching the dimensions of the stock frame) and having a fabrication company bend it for me, I spent less than $20. Perfect fit too. Since I have an ?extra? frame that came with the spare engine, I decided to test fit it to that one first before chopping the ?good? one. A couple of pics?.

Before?.

After cutting?.

My seat is a very tight fit over the frame and I want part of the frame to be visible, so I cut some wood and figured out that it looks/fits good if I lift the base on the seat about ??. I?ll be welding some tubing so that it fits properly and is supported. Then I can just fasten the seat base to the frame. I?ve also cut some sheet metal to enclose the battery under the hump. Here is the actual cut and mocked-up.

More pics. I will be raising the back of the tank up a little so that it lines up better with the seat.

Ugh. Tank must have been leaking. Still gotta tackle that.

I also managed to drive out the top steering head bearing race, but as some of you know the bottom one is tough to reach. After struggling with a piece of bent threaded rod, I?ve decided to weld a bead around the lower race. If it doesn?t fall out, I?ll at least have something sticking out enough to reach with a drift.

Top race.

I?m planning to TIG weld everything for the frame where I?m taking a welding course. It?ll take a few trips back and forth before it?s done.

I still haven?t painted the top end of the engine yet, but final prep is basically done (one final acetone wipe and I?m ready to shoot). Hopefully this week.

 

[Guest]

D-Mac, use this tool found in my thread I stole from Flyboy. Works like a champ to get the lower race out.

http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showthread.php?t=185189&page=4

Sci85

 

[D-Mac]

D-Mac, use this tool found in my thread I stole from Flyboy. Works like a champ to get the lower race out.

http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showthread.php?t=185189&page=4

Sci85

Thanks! I can't believe that I spent 45 minutes with a piece of bent threaded rod and never thought about this!

I'll try it this week sometime.

 

[DannyMotor]

What size bearings are you using on the top? I just need to know the thickness. I'm swapping mine over and need to figure out how wide to get the top bearing. From what I found they make them in 13mm, 14mm and 15mm... but I measured the race seat and it's only about 12mm high.

 

[providedrailroad]

3/25/2012

It?s been a couple of weeks since my last update, but progress is still creeping along.

I finally got around to getting the rear tube bent for the seat. By buying 2? of tube myself (matching the dimensions of the stock frame) and having a fabrication company bend it for me, I spent less than $20. Perfect fit too. Since I have an ?extra? frame that came with the spare engine, I decided to test fit it to that one first before chopping the ?good? one. A couple of pics?.

Before?.

After cutting?.

My seat is a very tight fit over the frame and I want part of the frame to be visible, so I cut some wood and figured out that it looks/fits good if I lift the base on the seat about ??. I?ll be welding some tubing so that it fits properly and is supported. Then I can just fasten the seat base to the frame. I?ve also cut some sheet metal to enclose the battery under the hump. Here is the actual cut and mocked-up.

More pics. I will be raising the back of the tank up a little so that it lines up better with the seat.

Ugh. Tank must have been leaking. Still gotta tackle that.

I also managed to drive out the top steering head bearing race, but as some of you know the bottom one is tough to reach. After struggling with a piece of bent threaded rod, I?ve decided to weld a bead around the lower race. If it doesn?t fall out, I?ll at least have something sticking out enough to reach with a drift.

Top race.

I?m planning to TIG weld everything for the frame where I?m taking a welding course. It?ll take a few trips back and forth before it?s done.

I still haven?t painted the top end of the engine yet, but final prep is basically done (one final acetone wipe and I?m ready to shoot). Hopefully this week.

Where'd you get that fabricated at? Got a phone number?

 

[D-Mac]

Where'd you get that fabricated at? Got a phone number?

It's a place about 15 minutes from my house called Brockie Manufacturing. A guy at my local metal shop recommended them to me. They do pretty much anything, so I might have them TIG weld the tubes so they look good. Here's their website: http://www.brockiefab.com/

Pretty much any fabrication shop should be able to do it. I'm told that a lot of muffler shops bend tube too.

 

[D-Mac]

FINALLY, I have a little engine paint to show you.

Just the cylinders though. Work has been nuts lately.

The prep was as follows (in some cases there were repeated cycles of these steps):

Washed part in soap/water
Masked off and soda blasted
Neutralized part in weak vinegar/water solution (twice)
Dried with compressor between cleanings
Scrubed and dunked with HOT, de-ionized water (multiple times) and re-dried
Scrubbed with bottle brush and parts cleaner to get everything clean in the fins
Cleaned EVERYTHING carefully with acetone and cotton swabs of various sizes until the swabs came out white-as-snow.
Masked off delicate parts
Sprayed with VHT engine primer (2 light coats)
Sprayed with VHT black engine oxide paint (2 light coats and 1 medium coat + touch-up)

Whew! I accidentally masked off too much on the bottom, so some of the bare aluminum sticks out. I?ll wait a full week for the paint to dry and then re-mask, prime+paint the missing spots. I didn?t sand much, so there are a few nicks and bumps here and there from the years of use (and abuse).

I?m VERY happy with how it came out. The paint is a duller, sort of cast-iron black. It looks retro and fits the bike well. It also hides the flaws nicely and goes on easily. In a few tests, it seemed to ?stick? well. With curing it?s supposed to be very gas-resistant too.
Polished the breather cover too.

Before??yuck!

After!

I?ve gotten a LOT better at this since I did the side covers. I?ll have to re-do those someday since they look dull in comparison to the carbs/breather. Oh well, I guess I?m climbing the learning curve.

**Now for my dilemma*** I am certain that I am painting the bottom-end black and keeping the side covers polished. Cylinders are black.

I recently decided to shy away from blacking out the top of the engine and was leaning toward painting the head and valve cover ?universal aluminum silver? instead (I have the paint). I think it looks a little ?top heavy? this way, but others I?ve shown mock-ups to thought it was great. Silver-color would also be more forgiving against chips and scrapes (since the layers and aluminum underneath are pretty much the same color). That said, I started thinking today about going back to my earlier plan and going all black on top too, except for the breather cover (polished), various fasteners, side covers, and the chrome cam covers parts on the ends. The chrome bits would really ?pop? that way I think.

Decisions?..decisions? Thoughts?

 

[Guest]

Do some looking around. Silver and black look really good together IMO on an engine. In some cases the head is black and the cylinders silver and others vice versa. I like the look personally.

 

[Good Times]

Just my thoughts...

First I love the black on the jugs. Nice!

I think I would go with polished cases and black out the rest of the motor. Seems like the silver head and cover would take away from the cases. It might be a little out of balance as I picture it in my head.

BUT it all depends on what you are thinking with the rest of the color scheme on the bike. The aluminum paint might be balanced out by something else. What are you thinking covering the rest of the Redneck Rocket with?

 

[bakirkwold]

Nice job. The breather cover looks very close to mine.

 

[D-Mac]

Just my thoughts...

First I love the black on the jugs. Nice!

I think I would go with polished cases and black out the rest of the motor. Seems like the silver head and cover would take away from the cases. It might be a little out of balance as I picture it in my head.

BUT it all depends on what you are thinking with the rest of the color scheme on the bike. The aluminum paint might be balanced out by something else. What are you thinking covering the rest of the Redneck Rocket with?

Here are the two engine paint/polish schemes I'm considering (one was the Dec '07 GS "bike of the month" and the other is from a thread on another forum).

Option 1: Silver/black/polish (my black paint is not this shiny, but otherwise it would be identical)

Option 2: Black/polish (this engine is basically identical to mine even though the bike frame/tank/seat are different).

While I think Option 1 looks better with the engine sitting on the bench, the chrome cam caps, polished covers, polished carbs, and chrome exhaust will give me lots of bright "accents" to make it visually interesting when it's in the bike. So I think Option 2 might be a little nicer in the bike.

The tank and seat cowling are going to be black. I'm thinking of using gold pin-striping on them, which will pick up the gold of the calipers and rear shock. Headlight will be powder-coated black. I'm leaving the upper triple tree "natural" and the fork tubes are polished.

I'm going to take a few days to think about it. Keep those ideas (and votes!) coming.

 

[D-Mac]

Nice job. The breather cover looks very close to mine.

Nice! Yours looks a little cleaner. I didn't sand mine enough with 220 to get all of the scratches out.

 

[DannyMotor]

I did mine as well... once it's mounted... you can't really see the top, just the lip... So focus more on the outside and it'll be time well spent .

 

[Nightcrawler]

Awesome thread, so detailed I wish I had seen this before I undertook my 78 550. I also wish I could sand/polish as good as you can on these parts. I opted to just sand/paint most of the ones and your polished parts look much better.

Keep it up.