83 gsx750esd

[eil]

Wow, STUNNING job with the paint and decals. That blue really does it for me. Can't wait to see the whole bike put together.

 

[mikerophone]

Wow, STUNNING job with the paint and decals. That blue really does it for me. Can't wait to see the whole bike put together.

Me too. The blue is very nice indeed.

 

[nikosg]

This is fantastic. I cant wait to see this progress

 

[ensure]

I got some 2 pak clearcoat from the local autopaint shop and set about finishing the paintwork.
Unfortunately there was Good news and Bad news once i had finished.
Here is the rear cowl and side covers

And the tank

The eagle eyed amongst you will have noticed the run in the clearcoat and unfortunately there were 2 more. One corner of the 'S' had also lifted a little. Not much but i could tell. After letting it dry for a couple of days i give the tank a light sand all over and a more serious rub over the runs. I will give it another coat this weekend and keep a closer eye on proceedings.

To cheer myself up a bit i fitted the front fender to see how it looked.

Do you think i am on the right track?

 

[dorkburger]

Do I think you're on the right track?.....Absolutely! Nice work.

 

[mikerophone]

Huge difference! Looks great

 

[ensure]

I had a bit more success with my second attempt at the clear coat. I was a bit hesitant in how much i sprayed and was probably a little bit over-cautious. Still there are no new runs and the cover is good.

Put together most of the pieces and this is how it is looking at this stage. The seat is off being re-covered and should be back in a few days.

I will connect up some wires and fuel lines later in the week and see if i can get it started.

 

[GateKeeper]

This is coming along very nicely.....soon it will be ready to hit the road....

Will you put on new tires, perhaps new SS brake lines as well ?, seems both are still original ? and for your safety they should be replaced....

 

[SouthsideWJK]

Paint and decals look great! Your bike is really looking sharp, I dig it!

 

[SVSooke]

Hmmmm.........Replace the good looking fairing (IMO) with an 80-81 'lunchbox?Oh well it's your bikeGK is right about the tires and brake lines.I do like the blue.Only 2 runs in the clear,I beat you by a mile

 

[ensure]

The brakelines are original but the tyres have an 07 date on them so they can stay for the moment. I have looked at some HEL brakelines but it is $450 for a full set of front and rear from the local supplier.

I think that people either like the look of the ET/Ex light fairing or Lunchbox as some call it or you don't. There is no middle ground. I am willing to concede that i am not 100% happy with the look from directly in front but i am satisfied with the appearance from all other angles.

This was the old view, felt like i had way too much bulk in front of me

and this is the new view

One of the items i had to replace was the instrument cluster as the Tacho did not work and the plastic cones which the cover screws into had all broken off so the PO had taped on the cover with electrical tape

I thought i could improve on that so got a replacement from a local bike wrecker

Here are a couple of shots of the bits that were worst affected by the rust

Looking a bit better now

If you look back at page 1 you can see the same original shots

And under the triple clamp

And now for the issues i came across getting it running again

It started up allright and idled fine but it was missing a bit on partial throttle but not to any real pattern.
It then blew a fuse. I replaced it and it blew the fuse again. I could smell a faint wiff of burning but couldn't pinpoint its source so reluctantly replaced the fuse again and got about 1km befor i could see smoke pouring out from under electrical plate on LHS. I got it home and had a closer look. When i got the Regulator/rectifier out it was absolutely cooked. Thankfully the wrecker had 1 of those so i replaced it and the bike ran better after that, not great but it stopped blowing fuses.
I removed the tank and checked the fuel lines and fuel filter and they seemed fine. I removed all the electrical leads from coils, spark plugs and gave them another clean and reassembled. I also put more fuel in the tank as it was practically empty.
I don't know which one helped but it ran much better after that. That just left me with the original issue of it starting to run rough at about 80-90 kmh which the previous owner had told me about.
I had found a clue on the internet about air getting inbetween the seat and the tank and upsetting the airflow into the snorkel. You had to be going 80kmh at least before this effect occurred. So i glued an extra bit of plastic to the lugs on the front of the seat that hook under the frame hooks. This holds the front of the seat down firm.
So out on the road again for another test and the bike went straight to 110kmh with no stuttering at all. Excellent.

Here is a shot of the new seat

Nearly there. I need to work out how to keep the sidecovers attached as the front lugs are missing.

 

[ensure]

Here are some overall shots of the bike. I have gone low tech for the moment and fixed the side cover on with a bit of velcro on the front. The lugs have gone and the PO had drilled a hole there and screwed it to the fixing on the tank. It will do for now.

gg

 

[eil]

Very nice clean-up job on that one, sir!