'82 GS300L Restore & Timing Adjustment - Complete Noob

[hjacobmiller]

Hello All,

I recently purchased an '82 GS300L for a summer commuter back and forth to class, etc. It was in OK condition and ran when put in storage last year but had some electrical issues that I have sorted out thanks to the wiring diagrams provided by Bikecliff. Also have cleaned the carbs, changed the oil, changed the battery, currently cleaning the exterior of the engine and other minor repairs (spark plugs, headlights, etc).

So here is where I am at. I removed the cam tensioner so that I could remove the starter and clean the well that the starter sits in. Unfortunately I think I may have turned the crank with the cam tensioner removed since I was cleaning the rear wheel while waiting on parts. I spun the rear wheel while cleaning and I am not sure if it was in gear when I spun it. From what I understand, since the cam tensioner was not in place when I spun the wheel, if it was possibly in gear I could have turned the "crank" causing there to be a potential timing issue if the crank had in fact been turned. I also understand that if this timing adjustment is not correct I can do a lot of damage to the internal components of the engine (piston, valve, etc.)

My questions are the following:

1. How do I check the timing? From what I can tell in BikeCliff's manuals (pg. 265/317 of GS300LZ manual), I need to remove the cylinder head and align the intake and exhaust sprockets with a specific number of links between the two. Is this what I am looking to do? I am nervous because, again, I am a noob. I don't want to do any damage obviously and I don't want to have to replace the head gasket if I don't have to because it isn't exactly cheap.

2. If I do have to remove the cylinder head, what is some general advice?

3. Are there any other maintenance items I should check before giving it a shot at starting after I have ensured the timing is correct? I'm anxious to get out on the road but I want to make sure the engine and its components are working and that I won't do any damage to it by trying to start it.

I really appreciate any advice and from what it looks like this site is a great place to learn.

Thanks!

 

[tkent02]

Not remove the cylinder head, just the valve cover which sits on top of the head. No big deal, it needs to come off once in a while anyway to check the valve clearances. Do both jobs at once, and it would only take an hour not counting your newbfulness. For a newb give it an entire afternoon. There's really not much to it. The hardest part is going to be removing the old gasket if it's been on there thirty years, and don't over tighten the valve cover bolts, they don't need to be very tight at all. The gasket is something under $20. Get it from Suzuki, grease it up before use and you can reuse it several times.

 

[hjacobmiller]

Awesome!

I had another question. When I drained the tank I noticed some sediment, although it was not interior rust. The tank is actually in great shape and the gas was not discolored so I'm not worried about an acid treatment or anything. I do want to get that sediment out of there and possible put an in-line filter between the petcock and the carbs.

Thoughts?

 

[7981GS]

You might find this thread quite useful: http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showthread.php?t=187284

Eric

 

[hjacobmiller]

This may be a dumb question, but what component of the electrical system is on the right side of my engine and has a gray (6 point I believe) wire harness coming out of it that goes underneath the bike, comes back up between the motor mount and the swing arm and then plugs into a connector on the main wiring harness on left side of the junction box? Whatever that wiring is, it needs to be replaced because there is a huge break in the casing and all of the wires are exposed.

That is probably a very vague and non-technical way of describing what I am looking at, and I would post pictures but I still haven't taken the time to upload any.

Any clue what I am talking about?

 

[hjacobmiller]

If anybody is interested here are some pictures of it.

 

[tkent02]

How about a pic of that broken electrical doodad?
Maybe the ignition on the end of the crankshaft?

 

[hjacobmiller]

Will do as soon as I get home! In class for another hour and then rushing home to see if parts arrived.

Starting the cam adjustment tomorrow. Someone mentioned checking valves while I have the valve cover off. What tools do I need? I know I need shims, but I didn't know if there was anything else. Anything tools specific to the bike?

 

[hjacobmiller]

Actually, if you look in the side picture of the engine/carbs below, you can see the connector I am talking about. It is the one all the way on the left next to the silver component (r/r?).

I am not entirely sure what the components are as the service manuals don't show any actual pictures of the signal generator, ac generator, r/r, etc. and my 'newbfulness' is overwhelming.

 

[mike_of_bbg]

You'll have to take a closer-up picture. 6 wires sounds like either igniter or R/R.

If it's the igniter, that would probably be quite difficult to find a replacement for...

 

[hjacobmiller]

Is there a specific torque requirement for the valve cover? I have looked in the service manual but all I see is for the cylinder head...

 

[hjacobmiller]

And I lucked out and found out a picture and it looks like what I am talking about is the Signal Generator and Oil Pressure Switch lead wires. Now, I haven't googled a signal generator so.....

 

[Guest]

Is there a specific torque requirement for the valve cover? I have looked in the service manual but all I see is for the cylinder head...

I believe it is 6-7.5 ft/lbs. , not much as Tom says, don't over tighten.

Signal generator = points set in older generation engines. Not a cdi, but an upgrade over points. Ray

 

[hjacobmiller]

Timing was fine and checked the valves while I was in there. Scraping the old valve cover gasket off was a pain! The last one was put on with perma-gasket or something like it and it took a long time to get it off.

Tensioner went back on easily once I figured out how it worked. There is not a lot of space between the starter cover and that bottom bolt thought.

I checked the valves although I didn't have the tool to adjust it, but they were in tolerance for the most part. Going to run fuel lines today and hopefully get a battery that fits underneath the air box so I can give it a try tonight!

More pics soon!

 

[Guest]

It helps with the starter cover off to get that bolt in.

Instead of using that tool for adjusting the valves I used a 9mm wrench and a pair of small needle nose vicegrips and feeler gauges.

You don't want tight valves.

Back off both nuts and loosen the screws. Clamp onto the square end of one of them and turn it until you get the spec you want. (0.003" to 0.005")

Then while holding the vicegrips straight, tighten the nut.

Repeat for the other one and recheck/ adjust several times until your happy. Then rotate the crank and move onto the next set.


That motor looks just like the GSX400's. I wonder what is common in them.




Your right about the signal generator and oil pressure switch.


How about a picture of the damage?

Its not that hard to rewire if its just a bit of damaged wires.

Check out this manual as well:

http://www.mtsac.edu/~cliff/storage/gs/GS_GSX_250-400-450_Haynes.pdf


Its probably very similar if not the same information in the 300 manual.

 

[hjacobmiller]

Runs!!!!

Threw a set of jumper cables and started right up!

Fixed the wiring in the signal generator line with new splices and heat-shrink wrapped up the joints. Looks great. Wrapped the whole area with tape and shrink wrap.

Now here's my problem. As soon as I take the jumper cables off it dies. I'm guessing a charging issue?

Thoughts?

 

[Guest]

Yup.

Could be stator, Regulator, or wires.


All you need is in here:

http://members.dslextreme.com/users/bikecliff/

http://members.dslextreme.com/users/storagecliff/images/stator_check.pdf

http://members.dslextreme.com/users/bikecliff/images/GS850stator.pdf

http://members.dslextreme.com/users/storagecliff/images/r-r_replacement.pdf


Glad to see it running.

 

[hjacobmiller]

Thanks! I did a couple preliminary tests to start off.

1. Battery was precharged gel so I know it was in good condition when I bought it. I checked it and made sure it was charged and it was.

2. The starter was loud and sounded like it was grinding something terrible. Well, it was... I pulled it off because I wanted to check the brush length. What I found was worse. One small part of the corner of a magnet was busted from what looked like it had been dropped at some point because the body was scratched on that side. So, I cleaned out all the ground up magnet with air and wiped the whole thing down with a dry rag. Then I did the resistance testing per the supplemental service manual (thanks BikeCliff!) and everything was OK. However, I did notice a couple very tiny knicks in the coating of the coils from the magnet shreds. Wasn't bad at all and for the time being I'm not worried about it because it was cranking even with all that ground up magnetic chunkiness in there.

3. I did the continuity and resistance tests on the AC generator outputs but since it (I should really get a name for "it") won't run I can't do all of the tests. The resistance was in spec between each and there was no ground error in any of them. So, for the time being I will not focus on it.

4. When I tried to test the r/r I was really disappointed. Failed all of the resistance tests. Infinite resistance between all lines. I tried the prongs coming out of the r/r and with the prong harness attached. The battery was off now that I think about it but since it was only a resistance test that shouldn't matter...?

My thought is that I should invest in a new r/r and see what happens from there. Sound good?

The ac generator output wires show no signs of overheating and I didn't notice any on the stator coil itself when I glanced at it while I was poking (figuratively) around in there. I'll double check though to make sure.

Valve clearance tomorrow night...!

 

[Guest]

Awesome work.

Usually the stock RR fails and sometimes it takes the stator with it.
Other tines it just withers and eventually dies.

There are many alternatives for a good replacement that wont give the same problems as the stock one.

The "new" type are called "Series" RR's They help by using only the power needed and not shunting the excess to ground.

Here's the discussion on RR's:

http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showthread.php?t=134690&highlight=mosfet&page=8


Do you have an On/Off switch for your lights ?

If so there are two wires that go to that switch and come back to the RR.

Its designed to disconnect one of the 3 yellow wires when the lights are off.

You don't need this extra bit of wiring and you could connect the 3 wires from the stator directly to the 3 wires for your new RR.

 

[hjacobmiller]

I tried reading that post. Waaaay over my head ha ha ha. So you're saying that there might be alternatives to replacing the stock one? I have googled "1982 suzuki gs300 regulator and a few products from RMstator and other suppliers come up. All around $80-$90. Are there ones that may be cheaper and better? I am trying to do this project as low cost as possible, but I don't want to skimp on the important parts either...