81 GS750E Yard find going to need lots of TLC

[jdvorchak]

Just bought this bike tuesday for next to nothing. So far it needs love from front to back and everything in between. I've done plenty of old UJM revives but this one is going to be a challenge. Looking forward to it! So far I've found that the starter solenoid (relay) is inop. The crank case had about 2 gallons of water. Every electrical connection is corroded some but the lights, turn signals and brake light work. Those are the connectors I could get to easily under the tank and seat. I still need to pull the headlight and ignition switch to clean those connections.

I filled the crank case with kerosene and spun the starter enough to get the oil light to go out. Then using starting fluid I did 3 runs of about
2 seconds each. Sounded like it was running on all 4! Next on the agenda is to change oil and filter and pull the carbs (BS32?) for a cleaning. Front air box is on order from eBay but can't seem to find a rear air box for reasonable price.

Brakes do work, sort of. All screws in the front MC have the heads almost ruined but I'm able to get them all off and have replacements from ACE Hardware. Rear brakes actually have a good pedal feel. That being said I'm still going to completely disassemble everything from the MC to the calipers for flushing and cleaning and possible rebuild. I usually do that on both brakes when I'm reviving UJM's.

Here are some pics of what I'm working with.

Just got it off the trailer:







My son backing it into the garage. He knows how to trailer a bike and is one of the best riders I know. He does the loading and unloading of these bike I buy:

 

[jdvorchak]

Oh.. that rusty looking stuff on the top of the fuel tank is actually a decal of a dragon. Not exactly my style. It will be removed when I repaint the bike. Just haven't decided what color or scheme to use. I'm not doing a restore so I can use any color I like. in spite of the years of dirt the chrome the overall condition of the bike is pretty good. No side covers but I can fab up something if I can't find OEM for reasonable price.

 

[jdvorchak]

Last Missouri state inspection sticker says 2003. So sitting for 12 or 13 years. I don't expect much but these old Suzuki's seem to run forever. The fact that lights, turn signals and igntion sparking on all 4 is a testament to that.

 

[Nessism]

2 gallons of water in the crankcase suggests significant damage. Bummer on that.

 

[jdvorchak]

Just what I can see in the filler hole I don't see any rust! I might have mentioned that I already did some test runs with water out and diesel fuel in. Ran on all 4 but it's way too early to tell. I know I need some side cover gaskets and valve cover gaskets. They have RTV oozing out. I'm pretty sure the clutch plates are all rusted together with that much water. There was about 3 qts of oil in there with the water so maybe not 2 full gallons of water, but certainly over a gallon.

when you buy a bike that's been sitting for years outside you can't expect much. The way I bring one back to life keeps up front cost low so in case I need to stop and start parting it out I can still get my money back and buy something else.

 

[eil]

It's hard to know whether the water caused any real damage or not. If it wasn't in there for long, it might actually be fine as most of the important bits should still have had a thin coat of oil on them.

I hope I'm reading this wrong and you were running it with oil in the crankcase instead of kerosene

 

[Guest]

If you were closer I'd offer you a small pile of parts for that seat/grabrail combo

I will have a lot of stuff for 750E going very very cheap --

Complete Head/Cams/Camcover etc
Everything in the cases except the crank and oil pump
Later front forks with anti dive
Loom,CDI,Stator- complete electrical system
immaculate engine covers
fork seals, brand new plugs
Carbs
airbox
coils

etc. etc. etc.

 

[jdvorchak]

no I test ran it with just diesel fuel in the crank case. 3 times maybe 1 to 2 seconds at a time. I needed to get the diesel all through the engine and the water out. It worked. The only other option I have would be to pull the engine and disassemble it. Today I let it drain for an hour, changed the filter and put in new oil. Spun the engine, spark plugs removed, until the oil light went out. Any remaining water will boil out first time I run it up to temperature. In similar situations where I've gotten the water out of the crank case and replaced it with oil, I've later drained the oil into a pot and boiled the remaining water out on my hot plate. Using a candy thermometer I never let the oil get above 220 F. Normal running oil temp is well above that point. Put that oil back in and ran it for 100 miles then one final oil change. No ill effects noted.

 

[Cipher]

met a nice guy last week who had his hoinda accord dump the contents of the rad into the trnny via the cooler.
He prurged it with fresh tranny fluid in much the same way.

 

[Nessism]

no I test ran it with just diesel fuel in the crank case. 3 times maybe 1 to 2 seconds at a time. I needed to get the diesel all through the engine and the water out. It worked. The only other option I have would be to pull the engine and disassemble it. Today I let it drain for an hour, changed the filter and put in new oil. Spun the engine, spark plugs removed, until the oil light went out. Any remaining water will boil out first time I run it up to temperature. In similar situations where I've gotten the water out of the crank case and replaced it with oil, I've later drained the oil into a pot and boiled the remaining water out on my hot plate. Using a candy thermometer I never let the oil get above 220 F. Normal running oil temp is well above that point. Put that oil back in and ran it for 100 miles then one final oil change. No ill effects noted.

I'd pull the oil pan and take a look inside. You need to shim the oil pressure relief spring anyway. Those engines are known for oiling system issues and shimming the spring is a factory recommended fix from NZ.

 

[jdvorchak]

Thanks Nessism. I can't seem to find any meaningful info about shimming relief valve searching Google. Like a how to?

 

[LarsKroghStea]

Not too many 16v 750s here.. Excited to see where this goes

 

[jdvorchak]

Not too many 16v 750s here.. Excited to see where this goes

Ok good to know. Well this one is pretty rough so I intend to go through it from front to back. I already posted another thread in the carb section about what I found when I opened the carbs. I will also pull crankcase side covers, need new gaskets at least. Also going to pull the valve cover and check the valve clearance. It is not your typical bucket and shim like the 8 valve bikes... I think... from the FSM. Thank you Bikecliff. Also noticed that the carb holders are not typical like you would find on a GS850 for example. Carb sync ports are also relocated to the cylinder head not on the carbs, although #2 carb has a vacuum port for the fuel petcock. So there are some differences. Now that I know there are not many of them here I'll post pics of what I find. Maybe it will help someone down the road.

Here is what I found in the carbs. Interesting method of repairing the float pivot towers:

 

[Nessism]

Thanks Nessism. I can't seem to find any meaningful info about shimming relief valve searching Google. Like a how to?

Info is in the archives here including photos. Add washers on top of the spring to increase the relief valve upper limit. Needless to say pulling the pan will allow you to inspect the inside of the engine for corrosion at the same time.

 

[jdvorchak]

Ok I give up. I've just spent the last 30 minutes searching for "oil pressure relief valve" "pressure relief" "shim relief valve" and get plenty of references to "you should do the oil pressure relief valve mod" but no where a link to a how to or pictures or anything other than "you should do the mod". I even looked in the FSM and so far I haven't even found a reference to oil pressure relief valve. Those searches were on this site search. Google mentioned the NZ mod but that was just a mention of the mods existence. Ed, are the "archives" you talk about the "old tech data"? I even looked at online parts fiche and they make no mention of a pressure relief valve. Stumped......

 

[Nessism]

http://www.thegsresources.com/_foru...-750-oil-pressure-relief-spring-mod-revisited

http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showthread.php?197103-Shimming-oil-pressure-relief-spring

 

[jdvorchak]

thanks but both of those urls have the pictures broken. But there was enough written info for me to figure it out. When I do it I'll post close up pics so maybe help the next guy.

 

[Guest]

The 1981 750E and 1100E are the baddest looking bikes Suzuki put out in the 80s, in my opinion. I'd love to find one for a song.

 

[jdvorchak]

The 1981 750E and 1100E are the baddest looking bikes Suzuki put out in the 80s, in my opinion. I'd love to find one for a song.

When I was looking for a project it was between this bike, a KZ550 and a 650 Nighthawk. I picked the Suzuki because I liked the looks of it better. It's just a nice looking bike.

 

[Nessism]

thanks but both of those urls have the pictures broken. But there was enough written info for me to figure it out. When I do it I'll post close up pics so maybe help the next guy.

You should be able to get the jist of the mod from those threads; take apart the valve and find some washers to shim the spring. I'm just not sure how thick the washers should be since I haven't studied the matter.