'82 GS300L Restore & Timing Adjustment - Complete Noob

[Guest]

lol over thinking it a bit I think.

The bolt on the end of the advancer and the big nut behind it are fixed to the crank.

You use the big nut with a wrench to rotate the crank and everything should go with it. That's its designed purpose.

Just under your spacer the advancer rotor is the only thing that should move and it should only move forward. If you hold the crank and rotate that you'll notice that it moves forward a bit and then springs back.


If its locked down tight then you might want to loosen the bolt holding the advancer on the crank and see if the rotor rotates better then. If so then your spacer might be too thick and binding things up.

Take the advancer out before you clean it. You don't want to get any solvent on your new electronics.
Take the plastic rotor off as well. Just soak the weights and springs if they don't move freely and grease them up again after.

The center bolt is normal right hand thread.

As for it not firing:

Are you sure that you have the left and right firing in the right order ?

The reason I mention that is because the rotor could be on backwards and firing the wrong cylinder at the wrong time.

You usually would find this out with a loud backfire.

Look at Pete's setup and try to align your plate the same way so the timing will be close to where it has to be.



For the light test, connect a light between ground and the - on one of the coils, Left or right.

When you rotate the engine and the light turns on, that's how you know where it is timed.


So to do it right. look in the window to make sure you see the F mark for the left side and that that side is on the compression stroke.

Then grab the rotor and turn it by hand clockwise so that its fully advanced. Then while holding it that way try and rotate the crank a bit until the light comes on.

When it does come on look in the window again and see how far off you are.

Adjust the plate a bit and try again until your marks lign up and the light comes on at the same time.

 

[hjacobmiller]

Well gentlemen....we have a running bike!

Mechanix, you deserve a medal for putting up with all of my stupid questions!

And Pete - thank you so much for all the guidance and measurements!

The solution was easy - the rotor was on backwards. I didn't even think to check that.

I need to set my idle a little lower and set the throttle cable again. I'm having problems with turning and it revs up really high and then idles like that. I know it isn't carb problems though since those were were just cleaned.

That will be another day though as it rides just fine for little rides down to the local beach.

As promised here are some pictures:

I had to bend down the coil mount a little to fit the spacer they provided:

Here is my little mini-harness extension to the coils:

Tucking the coils underneath the tank:

Running the plug wires:

My cleaned up dash:

And some wholesome shiny goodness:

Seriously, thank you guys so much.

I suppose I should have asked this sooner, but what could have caused the original box to go out?

 

[Guest]

Awesome news Jake! Glad to see she's back running again

My ignitor died after sitting for years but I suspect that the standard dodgy charging system is what kills them. If the R/R goes and you get overcharging I have a feeling they can't cope with that long term.

Mind you, after 30 odd years capacitors tend to start drying out anyway...

PS: Tell Dynatek a DS3-3C works on a GS300 with retro-fitted mechanical advance too

 

[hjacobmiller]

Awesome news Jake! Glad to see she's back running again

My ignitor died after sitting for years but I suspect that the standard dodgy charging system is what kills them. If the R/R goes and you get overcharging I have a feeling they can't cope with that long term.

Mind you, after 30 odd years capacitors tend to start drying out anyway...

PS: Tell Dynatek a DS3-3C works on a GS300 with retro-fitted mechanical advance too

I already emailed Larry with pictures and all.

How did you guys get so smart with bikes!?! I know I'm just a young gun at this business but seems like you all know these bikes better than Suzuki did!

 

[Guest]

Its part of the passion of owning a 30 year old bike.

Mine was made before I was even born. I actually found this site a year before I got my first gs400.

I bought a an83 gs550L with no papers and a Suzuki Quadrunner 160.

Managed to fit the 550 engine in that frame and had to learn things from scratch.

That included replacing a burnt valve, rebuilding carbs, changing shim's, removing head, complete custom exhaust, wiring, ignition, charging...

Then I went online looking for a manual and found the GSR.

From That I learned how to rewind my own stator and did that too.

I even had to figure out how a 6 wire RR worked with a sense line.

Since then, I mean 18 years later I've owned two gs400's and worked on a 750 and 850.

After a while you notice allot of things are very similar and there is less mystery to how it all works.


Its mostly discovered from wanting to know and wanting to fix something.

The rest comes from actually doing work and seeing it through until its done.

That Quadrunner took nearly 4 months to finish, Even though It could have been done in a weekend.

It takes time and patience to really learn and make something your really proud of.


You kind of remind me of when I got my first GS400, That's when I actually got on the forum and asked questions.

With my second one I was on allot more but giving more information back.

Some people rebuild this bikes just for something cool to do. Others for nostalgia. Some for a look they like (cafe), and some for sentimental value.

When you have passion, you find a way and it all adds up.



You should make a write up for that bike, Its safe to say that the DS3-3c can be applied to any 250-500 base which is going to help Dyna with sales I can imagine.



One thing I would recommend to them would be to paint the rotor red on one side and blue on the other like you would see on a magnet.

On and an adjustable rev limiter would be nice

 

[Guest]

Everything I know I have either learnt from here on the GSR or worked out by myself over the last few years getting my 450 going.

Before rebuilding it, I'd never done more than change oil, gap spark plugs, and install a car stereo or three.

I did however do some college about 20 years ago and have fiddled with electronic things along the way as a result which is how I know how to solder and how I remember some basic electronic things.

So next time you think I'm a guru... well I ain't haha

I can tell you though that I'm now no longer afraid to tackle anything mechanical. I may not always succeed and may get out of my depth, but I'm more than happy to have a go.

Mekanix goes places that still scare me though!

 

[hjacobmiller]

Well I definitely appreciate all of the help and I have a new respect for old bikes.

There is definitely a lot of pride knowing that I took something that wasn't running and found out what would work and how it works. Kind of embarrassing to look back and see where I came from, but really cool seeing what I have now.

I've been riding around town and get plenty of looks. Even though it is just a little bike it is still a blast. Actually I think it is more fun because it is a small bike.

I was thinking about replacing the chain though. Its a little stressed and probably is the original one. Does anyone have any recommendations? The front and rear sprocket teeth look fine, but the chain is pretty rough looking. I've heard to do both the sprockets and the chain at the same time.

What do you guys think?

 

[Guest]

Jake that's excellent to hear!

It gives you a real sense of satisfaction you just can't get with modern stuff.

All I can suggest with a chain is get a good one.

I have a Triple S O ring chain on mine and so far so good, but there are also RK, EK, DID, etc. that are good brands.

The recommendation definitely is to do chain and sprockets together so the teeth and chain wear evenly (supposedly anyway).

 

[razor02097]

Well I definitely appreciate all of the help and I have a new respect for old bikes.

There is definitely a lot of pride knowing that I took something that wasn't running and found out what would work and how it works. Kind of embarrassing to look back and see where I came from, but really cool seeing what I have now.

I've been riding around town and get plenty of looks. Even though it is just a little bike it is still a blast. Actually I think it is more fun because it is a small bike.

I was thinking about replacing the chain though. Its a little stressed and probably is the original one. Does anyone have any recommendations? The front and rear sprocket teeth look fine, but the chain is pretty rough looking. I've heard to do both the sprockets and the chain at the same time.

What do you guys think?

The chain and sprockets should be replaced as a set. On the 300 a bikemaster O ring chain and JT sprockets ran me under $100.

 

[hjacobmiller]

Any tips for getting the front sprocket off?

 

[Guest]

Bend the tabs back. Get an axle nut socket. 30mm i think. Put the bike in first and hold the back brake. Then try and loosen the nut. impact gun works better though.

 

[hjacobmiller]

Bend the tabs back. Get an axle nut socket. 30mm i think. Put the bike in first and hold the back brake. Then try and loosen the nut. impact gun works better though.

Ahh, the rear brake. That is what I forgot.

Is is OK to reuse the tabs? Just re-bend them back over?

 

[razor02097]

Is is OK to reuse the tabs? Just re-bend them back over?

That is what I did

 

[Guest]

Ahh, the rear brake. That is what I forgot.

Is is OK to reuse the tabs? Just re-bend them back over?

As long as the washer is still reasonably solid yes.

A second person helps a lot with this too...

 

[hjacobmiller]

Cool - I'll have to go get the right sized socket. The chain and sprockets won't be here for a couple of days so I have plenty of time.

I think I'm going to start a new thread because now that it is running I am really thinking about starting to slowly make a custom project out of it. I want to ride it around while doing most of the stuff, so a complete strip down and rebuild will have to be postponed until cooler rainier weather.

After reading Pete's rebuild thread and seeing some of his tricks, I got inspired.

I'll post the new thread in here, but I think that this will be a slow process over the next year or so.

Update: http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showthread.php?t=195200

I can almost hear Pete and Mechanix cringing in anticipation of my questions....:lol:

See you in the other thread!

 

[Guest]

Inspired by my thread? Cool

And don't worry, I don't think either of us are phased by the questions... we get to learn stuff too

See ya in the other thread...

 

[Gs katuchi]

Couple quick questions, I have an 82 gs300l and the engine is completely apart. I have all the parts to put it back together but I don't know a thing about how to set the timing. So any info on that would be highly appricated. Also the air box is missing so I bought some cone air filters on ebay, will those be fine?

 

[Guest]

Couple quick questions, I have an 82 gs300l and the engine is completely apart. I have all the parts to put it back together but I don't know a thing about how to set the timing. So any info on that would be highly appricated. Also the air box is missing so I bought some cone air filters on ebay, will those be fine?

Probably best to post something on the Twins forum. The engine is quite similar to the GSX400 which is sold everywhere BUT the US. There's a factory manual download available for that through the 'bike cliff' site here as I recall. It's basically a GSX400 engine with a smaller bore and shorter stroke and five speeds instead of six.

If you haven't 'built' a motorcycle engine before you'll be best to study up. There's also the question of why it was apart. So you need to do major amounts of reading on this site before you start. Just bolting all the bits back together isn't all there is to it. Setting the timing is the last thing to do and it's straightforward.

As to the air box, not running it will present major hurdles in getting the carbs rejetted, and there is no performance advantage to running without the air box. The best and cheapest way to solve the problem is to put the filters back on ebay and start looking for an air box.