Blah blah rebuild blah blah blah...

[Detman101]

Heya,

I just wanted to share with you all a brief selection of the photos of the rebuild that I did when I got the bike back in 2003.
Most of the work was done in the bedroom and bathroom of my old room I rented in Silver spring, Md over the course of that winter and spring.

I Picked up the bike from a shop in Md. It had been brought in for repairs to the carb which had a broken float post. The shop decided to JB-Weld the post back in place (They broke it) and of course the gas melted it right off...gummed up the carbs and the float messed up again.
The owner brought it back to them and the shop told him the lie that he would have to replace the carbs at stock pricing! The owner apparently balked and just left the bike at the shop when he moved.

There it sat for years out in the back of the shop.

Every now and then they would sell parts off of it that people needed.
Until it was no longer in shape to be sold to the "General Public".

Luckily I was looking for a project bike.

Bought the rolling mess for a small fee and u-hauled it home.
I sourced out some replacement parts on ebay and when they came in, the work began.

This is the bike with it's new tank, seat, side covers and Honda rebel fender on for a test fit.

I taped off the tank and stripped it with paint dissolver/remover.

Then I attacked that honda rear fender!

Then I primed and painted them both.

The looks were almost finished for the bike. All that was left was to paint the side cover. I moved on to the workings of the bike due to nice weather.

I installed the Dyna Coils that I got from Ebay.

And installed caseguards and new smaller lights all around the bike along with my old Bar-end Mirrors which I sold to my friend Josh.

I then began work on the intake and exhaust. I installed new jets with guidance from this website and also installed a new MAC 4-into-one exhaust.

It was then that I understood that the carbs were completely dirty and needed to be cleaned so off came the pods and apart came the carbs for a thorough cleaning...which led to resetting all of the jetting (which was way off now due to the carbs being clean) all over again and the addition of pods since I couldn't get that stupid airbox back on the carbs.

This is the wacky setup I had to use with my failing stock petcock. I had to install a shut-off valve in the line because the stock petcock would drain all of the tanks fuel into my engine. That didn't work either because the shut-off valve was about half the size diameter of the fuel line. The tank was also sending a lot of rusty gas to the carbs..clogging them up. So I had to add in a paper fuel filter from a car.

You can see the large flakes of rust from the tank.

This is what the gas looked like coming from the tank. (Mind you, gas is regularly almost clear as water or a little reddish/pink.)

The Evil Stock Petcock

While working on the carbs I got my sissy bar in and painted it.

After sorting out the carbs over 3 maddeningly painful months... I moved on to the suspension and grafted on some modern rear shocks that handle better and are adjustable. You can see them in these photos.

After getting the necessities out of the way I added pretty things like stickers, a windshield, an LED voltage monitor and LED lights under the tank.

Replaced the rear tire, tweaked the carbs a little more and then I commited to RIDING IT instead of working on it hehe.
Recently it's had the fork seals and steering stem bearing replaced but now it's all about riding out.


Well, I hope you enjoyed a little history about my bike.

Ride on

 

[Jethro]

Well, I hope you enjoyed a little history about my bike.

I sure did!

Those LEDs under the tank are kwel!!

Where did you get the handlebar risers? Those are nice!

Decent paint job, I like the paint work on the tank!

Bike looks good man, should be good for many miles!

 

[Detman101]

Why thank you!

The risers I got from the Baltimore Cycle Salvage. They are 4-inch
risers and thats a dragbar on there.

Thank you for the praise, I had a good time investing some of my life-force into this bike which I've aptly named "Lazarus" after Jesus' best friend he raised from the dead.


Dm of mD

 

[DMPLATT]

Man, what a job. Looks great. Where do you want me to send my bike? lol. :lol:

Tell me more about your led voltage monitor please. :lol:

Also, going with the pods - and understanding you've got it running good, what jetting did you end up with?

Man, looky at all that room you have with the airbox out. 8O I like it. :wink: :lol:

Thanks for the story and photo's. I really enjoyed the progress.

You married? Cause my wife would kill me if I brought any of that into the house. 8O :?

 

[DMPLATT]

double post.

 

[Hoomgar]

Dood! I remember you going through a lot of that. I also remember at one
point you were ready to scrub it completely! Kudo's to you for sticking it out
and now look what you have man


Very good! And it isn't even close to being a rat bike. It's far too nice

Congrats dood!

 

[Detman101]

Man, what a job. Looks great. Where do you want me to send my bike? lol. :lol:

1. Tell me more about your led voltage monitor please. :lol:

2. Also, going with the pods - and understanding you've got it running good, what jetting did you end up with?

3. Man, looky at all that room you have with the airbox out. 8O I like it. :wink: :lol:

4. Thanks for the story and photo's. I really enjoyed the progress.

5. You married? Cause my wife would kill me if I brought any of that into the house. 8O :?

1. Well, After the stock stator and regulator dying on me, I decided to replace it all with electrex components and after doing that I saw...

at Radio shack.
http://www.radioshack.com/product.a...y_name=CTLG_011_008_003_000&product_id=22-112

It's a Voltage tester that displays results thru LEDs and it's waterproof. SO I thought, "why not wire this into the bike to monitor the charge at all times" and that is just what I did.
I hooked it into the "ignition-on" lead at the fusebox and ran the ground to the frame and VIOLA....I have a permanently mounted voltage monitor that lights up bright in the day and at night. All it takes to see how much my new equipment is charging is a quick glance.

2. My main jets are Mikuni 115. The pilot jets I left stock but I need to go up in size on them...dont' know what size yet though. The needles are on the 4th groove from the bottom. I could go with bigger mains and lower the needle some but I'll leave it alone till I put the new can on there since it runs so well. The midrange and top end run like a raped ape with no hesitation but the bottom range is a little spotty. I've got it pretty close with the mixture screws turned 1&1/8 turns out. I run a MAC 4-into-one exhaust which isn't as free flowing as the sportbike muffler I am going to put on the bike this summer once I get a custom mid-pipe made up to connect the 2.5 inch header to the can.

3. Yes, there is nothing more frustrating than that darn airbox. I almost lost my mind and salvation trying to shoehorn that thing in. I ditched it in the end.

4. You're welcome. I left out a lot cause the other pics are on my home pc. I'm at work and only had the main build photos here.

5. Hahahahah...I'm married now but I was single when the build took place. If I tried that now I'd be a dead man.



Dm of mD

 

[Detman101]

Dood! I remember you going through a lot of that. I also remember at one
point you were ready to scrub it completely! Kudo's to you for sticking it out
and now look what you have man


Very good! And it isn't even close to being a rat bike. It's far too nice

Congrats dood!

Yeah, that was when I was tuning those carbs.
Man, I almost went insane! 8O :roll:

It's a sweet ride now.

Dm of mD

 

[Guest]

I remember reading about all your jetting issues about a year ago when I was getting my then-new-to-me 550 sorted out. Glad to see you stuck with it! Good job.

Debby

 

[Detman101]

I remember reading about all your jetting issues about a year ago when I was getting my then-new-to-me 550 sorted out. Glad to see you stuck with it! Good job.

Debby

Yep. Thank you Debby!!! I'm glad that
I stuck with it too!

Dm of mD

 

[Anonymous]

what a great job! I can't think of what else to say....

What you have done is what seperates BIKERS from riders!

Awesome!

 

[bradleymaynar]

Very nice! It sounds like it's definitely been a labor of love, and well worth your time and effort.

Brad tt

 

[earlfor]

Great pictures and history. I remember all to well your hairpulling days and being just short of throwing it off a cliff and jumping after it. LOL eheheh
Nice job!!!! Wrenching can be fun, but riding is always more. Cheers
Damien.

Earl

 

[beby99]

Great job man!!!

And, as I see by your avatar.....when your not riding it...
your laying on it. :lol: Must be love :wink:

 

[Detman101]

YEah, it's defintely love.
I've never stuck with something/someone that gave me such headaches so many times for so long :lol:

No wonder the wife is jealous.

hehe,
Dm of mD

 

[mrquadriga]

Let me ask you, how much wrenching experience did you have prior to this project? For example, if your lawnmower quit working would you take it apart, send it to the shop, or buy a new one? I have projects that need doing but lack self-confidence. Doing something like that would certainly be something I've never attempted before but would help the esteem issue as well as gain some credibility amongst the forum crew. Congrats on the fine job.- Pete '80 GS 1100L

 

[bradleymaynar]

Let me ask you, how much wrenching experience did you have prior to this project? For example, if your lawnmower quit working would you take it apart, send it to the shop, or buy a new one? I have projects that need doing but lack self-confidence. Doing something like that would certainly be something I've never attempted before but would help the esteem issue as well as gain some credibility amongst the forum crew. Congrats on the fine job.- Pete '80 GS 1100L

The BIG question is "what do you have to lose?" When I had my 750 I was scared to death to rebuild the carbs. Even just pulling them off the bike frightened me. When I got my 1100, and it ran like crap, I didn't hesitate to pull the carbs and rebuild them (with no prior experience). When the bike fired off after the rebuild my satisfaction level, and confidence in my own ability, went through the roof.

Remember that it's awfully hard to find decent mechanics that know how to work on our bikes. So self-reliance becomes a must. It's not hard, it just takes patience. Plus you've found the definitive resource for our bikes (at least that's what google says ).

Brad tt

 

[back_online]

Wow, great pics, story and nice ride!

I can only imagine the fumes in that bathroom where you were playing with all that gasoline were rough.

Very impressive project.

 

[Detman101]

Let me ask you, how much wrenching experience did you have prior to this project? For example, if your lawnmower quit working would you take it apart, send it to the shop, or buy a new one? I have projects that need doing but lack self-confidence. Doing something like that would certainly be something I've never attempted before but would help the esteem issue as well as gain some credibility amongst the forum crew. Congrats on the fine job.- Pete '80 GS 1100L

Well pete, I've always taken apart every toy I owned just to see how it worked. But my main sense of confidence in wrenching on my bikes came from the fact that I always had a second bike to ride while I wrenched on/broke the other one hehe.

But now I have only one bike...my only...My GS!
And I have to be a bit more careful with what I do and when I do it.
I like my car but I'd rather ride the bike hehe.

 

[Detman101]

Wow, great pics, story and nice ride!

I can only imagine the fumes in that bathroom where you were playing with all that gasoline were rough.

Very impressive project.

Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you all that I got high like 15 times in the bathroom from the paint stripper fumes! :lol:
And that was with the bathroom window open!!
If I had left it shut I probably wouldn't be here today.

Mind you, this wasn't a regular house bathroom. It was a master suite bathroom which is abotu half the size of a regular bathroom with a sink, toilet and shower and just enough room to move between the three. :lol: