81 GS550T Full Rebuild...In Ohio

[cowboyup3371]

Wow, third page. Shows how much I haven't been doing lately thanks to work, weather, and money. I do have my paint booth set up and ready for painting but the weather is too cool and wet plus the heater doesn't seem to be working on its own very well. I'll try doing some more of that soon I hope.

Meanwhile, Steve stopped by today to help guide/supervise my valve lapping efforts. Things turned out pretty well and I have a better handle on doing things for next time I think. I'll try to write up something for those who haven't done it before though.

First off, thank you to my eldest, Charmayne, for being our picture taker today:clap:. She was very enthusiastic about the job taking 54 pictures for us...of course I pared it down to a more reasonable amount but at least she likes using the camera.

Here's the valve lapping tool we made from a bolt and a small section of breather hose:

We then chucked it into my electric drill and placed the compound around the valve:

Holding the bottom of the valve with a shop cloth and an index finger, we placed the drill tool against the head of the valve, locked the speed in place, and used friction and a little bit of pressure to let things turn from there.

Checking them:

More to come:

 

[cowboyup3371]

Both girls also got to try things out;

Charmayne:

and Cheyenne:

Charmayne thought it was pretty cool and fun while Cheyenne was her normal inquisitive self as to how things worked.

Course today wasn't all fun and games and everyone had to have their fun. First, Steve is showing off his light skills and trying to compare flashlights:

Charmayne and Cheyenne hamming it up for the camera

And Cheyenne's reindeer antlers:-\\\

(Actually she didn't want her picture taken).

But now the valves are done and the head's still waiting on a repainting. Hopefully I can start doing some more regular work soon.

 

[Dogma]

Looks like a good time was had by all.

I must say, I'm rather surprised to find that I've spent enough time working with Steve to be able to recognize his hands in a photo. And yours, Scott. What's up with that?

 

[tkent02]

Steve, the master flashlight man.

 

[cowboyup3371]

It seems the weekends are the only times I can do much right now but I found out the local bearing shop has the bearings I need; Wright Patterson AFB's auto hobby shop might have their sandblasting cabinet operational next weekend; and the local sandblasting and powdercoating companies aren't too bad in their pricing. So with that in mind, I did some paint stripping of the triple tree, center stand, headlight ears, and other small parts.

If all goes well, I'll have them and the frame in for powdercoating soon after the first of the year.ray:

 

[cowboyup3371]

Many thanks go out to Old_Skool for sending me my new clocks after I busted the needles on the others. I managed to get the glass off of them tonight without breaking anything and repainted these needles to look a little better. I used white model paint for the needle and the same orange/red nail polish on the tips that I did for the kill switch.

The wife helped as well tonight as when we tried to repaint the redline area on the tach, she accidentally put on too much nail polish remover while trying to clean up some excess. But she made it right and fixed it as best she could. It'll do for now as I don't want to buy another set again. I do need to go see a speedometer store though as these have about 2000 miles less on them than my old ones.

Now I just need to repaint the covers as they are pretty faded. Any suggestions on what to use to resist the weather?

 

[hjacobmiller]

Wright Patterson AFB's auto hobby shop might have their sandblasting cabinet operational next weekend

Wright Patt ey? Thats my old stomping grounds! I grew up in Piqua so not too far.

 

[cowboyup3371]

The house thermometer said it was 60 degrees outside and www.weather.com said the humidity was at 57% so I chose to lay down some primer on the engine casing. I learned a valuable lesson that this is not like Colorado and I can't just paint without having a better mask even with rattle cans. So I'll hold off until the next warm spell to do much more. I also need to develop an air flow system as there's still a heavy paint smell in the garage. I saw some pictures of fans up against the plastic of a paint booth so I need to figure out how best to do it. Anyone have any suggestions?

Front of the engine

Rear

I'll remove the side covers later after I figure out which way I want to go with the actual engine paint color.

 

[duaneage]

I used a couple of halogen lights to warm up the engine before painting. I left the lights on for about an hour and used a surface thermometer to read the result : 75 degrees. I painted the cases with VHT paint and returned the lights. It was about 45 outside so I did this in the garage and ventilated for the rest of the day.

 

[Guest]

Hey Scott, seems I've been a little negligent and completely missed this thread! I'm subscribed now so will come back later and have a proper read...

 

[cowboyup3371]

Hey Pete, it's all okay.

So what's the latest on your pipes? Sure will be glad to hear when yours is on the road again.

 

[Guest]

Looks like you're making some good progress, those clocks look good!

I'm waiting for my 'phone to ring at the moment to tell me it's ready to pick up... I'm hoping I can go down tomorrow to get it. That'll make 3 weeks without it and I'm going stir crazy!

 

[cowboyup3371]

After putting together my new tool chest, I started in on removing the races from the steering head. The top one came out fairly easy with the dremel - meaning it only took me about 45 minutes or so after my first cut.

However, the bottom one - !@#$%^&*()

Although I read about Flyboy's efforts at removing it using the swingarm bolt and a washer, I figured it couldn't be that much harder to use the Dremel and cutting wheel. After a quick conference about it, I started in on it but quickly realized it wasn't coming out. Several more cuts and still no luck when trying to chisel it out after each one. Finally, I got tired of using my crappy wood chisel (the only one I have that's old and beat up - won't use my good ones) and bought a proper cold chisel. Still having no luck, I asked if Steve would come over and lend a hand. While waiting for him, I re-heated some leftovers for dinner and sprayed PB Blaster in there figuring it was stuck from the grease and grime. Changing the side of the frame I was sitting on, I took a few more whacks at it again. It finally broke free and things fell out before Steve even made it past his local gas station. Of course, he was nice enough to still come over and inspect things so that I knew I didn't mess much up. Fortunately, I didn't and just need to take a round file to the area I cut into while using the dremel.

Now I'll just pack that section with paper towels/tape/whatever and ship the frame off to the powdercoater in the next few weeks.ray:

 

[cowboyup3371]

Dropped my frame off at the sandblaster today; got a little nervous when one of the guys started talking to me and I couldn't understand a word he said. Found out he is from Turkey and even the guy who wrote up my sheet said he never can understand him. I was assured all threaded holes would either be plugged or taped off so hopefully the job will turn out good; find out more on Monday.

 

[Guest]

Good luck Scott, hopefully you've found a good one who does what they say! I've seen a few on here go pear shaped so it'd be nice to see one that goes as planned for a change...

 

[cowboyup3371]

Yea I'm nervous only because I don't know what to expect but am hoping for a quality job. It's the same place the powdercoater I'm using will send it but they recommended I do it beforehand on my own. More to keep the paperwork straight than anything.

 

[Guest]

Fingers crossed for ya'!

 

[cowboyup3371]

The frame's back from the sand blaster:

I'm hoping I can get it to the powdercoater on Monday - keeping my fingers crossed.

 

[SVSooke]

Here on the wet coast if you waited till Monday you'd need to blast the rust off again.

 

[cowboyup3371]

With as much snow on the ground as we have right now, it's one reason I threw it in the house. I'll probably call the powdercoater on Thursday and see what I can work out.