83 gsx750esd

[ensure]

Now that i have finished the 750EZ project it is time to get serious about my 750ESD.
I bought it about 9 months ago for $800 and at that point it had not run for the previous 6 months. The PO said it had run OK but at about 80km/h it started to splutter a bit. It had been sitting outside half under a cover so was a bit of a mess.
Nothing a bit of time and effort couldn't fix (hopefully)

The plan is for a total stripdown, de-rust, repaint, get rid of the half fairing, recover the seat and polish it till it shines

Heres a few pictures of its before condition

 

[SVSooke]

It will take some work all right but it can come back,my 85 EF wasn't much better.I'm a fairing guy so I don't get why you'd want to remove it but that's meMust admit I'd kind of like the lower pieces so I could take the lowers off my EF for the summer,suspect the shipping $$ from NZ would be to much though.

 

[Grimly]

Good grief - I take it that was parked up on a coastal location?

 

[Rob S.]

An '83 with "Full Floater" suspension? I thought that came along about '85.

Am I wrong?

 

[Guest]

The 'Full Floater' design was first used on the off-road bikes in '81, and then appeared on the road bikes in '83. It was actually designed by an American guy, and Suzuki 'borrowed' his work. The ensuing court case made the inventor a rich man. IIRC, Suzuki had to pay him something like $12 for every bike they produced incorporating his work.

 

[Gold01ca]

Fair amount of rust on that pup,
good luck with your resto.

 

[ensure]

To answer a few of your comments
There are a few reasons for removing the fairing, none of them logical just my personal preference.
Firstly I think the front end appears a bit bulky when you are sitting on the bike.
Secondly this bike won't be going warp speed very often so i dont need the wind protection
Thirdly I wanted to modify it just a little bit and i was inspired by Gatekeepers GS750ES project back in 2012. We didn't get that model in NZ with the small nose fairing so i will have to come up with an alternative.

The bike has spent the last few years here in Auckland and you are never too far from the ocean so corrosion can be a problem. I live less than a kilometre from the beach so its not going to get any better here.

It is probably not worth sending fairing bits from NZ as i pay a minimum of US$40 delivery charge every time i order anything from the states.

The stripdown is underway so i will post photos shortly.

 

[Crankthat]

Looking forward to your resto!

 

[ensure]

So before i started pulling it apart i bought a battery, poured in some fresh fuel and tried to crank it over. Several pushes of the starter button and it was trying to start but would not catch. Then i realised the choke cable had disconnected from the carb and once i reconnected the wire into its correct place she started straight up. Took it for a few laps of the neighbourhood and it run OK up to about 70km/h. No smoke or horrible noises from the engine so Good enough to start the dismantle knowing it should go again once reassembled.

Dismantling went relatively straightforward. I have been spraying all the nuts and bolts with WD40 every week or two for the last 2 months so there were no sheared bolts or nuts that wouldn't come off. Pheww

The best thing i did while dismantling was take pictures of every nut, bolt and cable as i removed them and wrote it down. I created a 60 page pdf file with photos so once it was all refurbished i could just start at the last page and work my way forward.

Dismantling was spread over 3 weekends from this

to this

to this

I built a trolley for the engine out of an old cupboard door and some castors so i could move it around the garage and outside for cleaning

Almost apart

And ready for the cleaning to begin

 

[SVSooke]

Did you see the handy dandy frame painting stand I made for the 85?


The 85's frame has been on "The Rack" twice.

So has the 78 1000's frame.The 82 GPz750's frame is due up this summer.

 

[ensure]

I saw your frame painting structure a while back and thought that was a good idea. I haven't gone that high-tech for the undercoat layer.

Started off with a bit of this

Gloves were useless so kept the hose handy to get those spills on my arms.
Paint came off pretty easily and ended up with this

close-up of frame looks like this

A bit more de-rusting and sanding and it was ready for the undercoat

While the undercoat was drying i got the engine outside for a final cleaning before painting.

Did it in 2 halves with copious amounts of kitchen plastic wrap used to protect the engine

Leave it to dry for a few days now.

 

[GateKeeper]

.........
Thirdly I wanted to modify it just a little bit and i was inspired by Gatekeepers GS750ES project back in 2012. We didn't get that model in NZ with the small nose fairing so i will have to come up with an alternative.

..........

I am happy to hear my rebuild gave you the inspiration to do this resto....

Seems your going to do a bang up job, and the bike will look fantastic upon completion....

Cheers....

.

 

[mikerophone]

I am happy to hear my rebuild gave you the inspiration to do this resto....

Seems your going to do a bang up job, and the bike will look fantastic upon completion....

Cheers....

.

+1 I'm tagging along, have the same bike and can't wait it see what you end up with.

 

[ensure]

I got the frame painted midweek. 1 coat of black basecoat and then some 2 pak black gloss coat. The light of day revealed a couple of missed spots but they were in concealed spots so i touched them up afterwards.
And so the rebuilding begins. First thing is to get the engine back in. I have found the 'lay it on its side and lift the frame off' method quite easy for a 1 man job.

Unfortunately i scratched the frame getting the engine back in but it was minor and hidden so a spot of paint with a brush has fixed it.

TRiple clamp was next to go on. I am going for the bare aluminium finish and am leaving off the plastic cover.

Oil cooler is also in.

The next job is to get the mufflers painted. All stripped and ready to go. I am going for a Cast Iron Flameprrof paint.

 

[mikerophone]

Looking good!

Looking good!

Looking good! I've used the lay the bike on its side engine removal/put back method with success as well, works great.

I like the way the triple tree looks - my plastic cover is in pretty good shape but the 2 rubber screw covers are a little out of shape...

In the States we have a VHT header paint for $10 a rattle can that I have had pretty good luck with for exhausts, claims Very High Temp resistance, here it is in front of my daughters scooter exhaust I did earlier this week:

Cast Iron paint outta hold up nicely, never thought of that. Keep up the g
ood work, she's coming along nicely!

 

[ensure]

That is the very same paint that i am using. Cast Iron is just a colour and not a special paint type. Seeing as i have painted the frame and engine black i thought the exhausts needed to be lightened up to give a bit of contrast.

I got the rear brake master cylinder in and then the swingarm, chain and cushion lever. In my first effort i didn't get the swing arm bolt through the appropriate hole in the cushion lever as it just didn't want to fit in.
After much consulting of photos and manuals I pulled the bolt out and tried again and it all fitted together nicely.

I also started on some paint stripping of the tank. Pulled all the internals out

THen gave the gloss a bit of sanding before attacking it with paint stripper. The Gloss coat makes a real crackling sound as the stripper causes it to bubble

I also received some of the decals in the mail this week. The new one is a bit smaller than the original

 

[mikerophone]

Looking good! That paint is good stuff. Thae new decal is quite a bit smaller, but will look way better than the faded old one - keep up the good work!

 

[ensure]

Good progress this week with the front forks going in and the wheels re-attached. Starting to look like a motorcycle again

I repainted the front forks and replaced the fork oil. The springs were still within factory spec so they were left in there. I stripped the anti-dive units and left them as bare aluminium. They probably don't do anything but they are still functional so i am leaving them on.

I also got the exhaust headers painted and installed. The end of the pipe where the muffler is attached is pretty rough so will require a bit of efort to get it sealed. I am thinking of using some silica exhaust tape and thin aluminium strip (off a car exhaust repair kit) to fill the gaps.

I have also decided on a plan for the headlight seeing as i am not reinstating the original fairing. I looked at using a round headlight on mounting brackets but i couldn't find anything that pleased me and was relatively cheap. After going through my spare parts bin from my 1100ET i found the headlight brackets and rectangular headlight and enclosure

It sits quite well with the instrument cluster so i will put it all together and see how it looks.

And here is the colour i have settled on.

 

[rwnielsen]

Nice work. It'll be a totally different bike when you're finished. A note on the anti-dive units... there needs to be flow between the two ports on the slider. Blocking the flow will lock up the forks or, at least, make them incredibly stiff. I'd love to buy that fairing, it's just what I'm looking for. Good luck with the bike
Rich

 

[ensure]

Got the painting done this week and put the decals on today. I have used a mix of original style and some additional stripes I had left over from my 1100 kit.

And all together

Should get the gloss coat on in the next couple of days