Bringing a 78 GS 550 back to life. . .

[Nessism]

Yes, OEM gaskets. What I do is get the part number from Partzilla and then search ebay for a better price. Order where you find the best deal on the quality stuff.

 

[Guest]

Thanks Steve, good to know what to look for.

 

[Guest]

Sounds good Ed, thanks for guiding me in the right direction.

 

[Steve]

I went cheap on my engine rebuild this past summer and used Vesrah, on the understanding that they are about the best of the non-OEM gaskets. They might be the "best", but that's obviously not good enough. This is what happened after about 2300 miles.

Slathered on a bit of JB Weld Quick to dam the leak and made it the 850 miles home only using about half a quart of oil. :encouragement:

.

 

[Guest]

WOW! I see why you guys are down on aftermarket gaskets. That video should convince anyone to spend a little more for OEM.
Thanks Steve.

 

[Guest]

Received my order of shims from Z1. I should have investigated the swap program, but what's done is done for now.

Steve's spreadsheet is a really nice tool for adjusting and record keeping. Next up is getting the rear tire tube replaced so I can put
the motor back in the frame.

 

[Steve]

Leave E4 loose. For the three intakes that are tight, you don't really know if just one size difference will be enough.

Since you have different sizes in there already, take out the 2.65 from I2, put a quarter in its place. Yes, a 25-cent piece. It won't hurt anything, as long as you don't start the engine with it in place, and will certainly prevent some costly damage caused by turning the engine with a missing shim. Take that 2.65 and put it into I3. Rotate the crank a few turns to settle it into place. Measure the clearance. It might be correct, it might be to thin, but it's easier to measure the extra clearance of a shim that is too thin than it is to guess how many sizes smaller you need. After checking I3, put the 2.80 back in, move the 2.65 to I4. If you are lucky, and only need to drop one size, it will measure out good. If it's still tight, you will know that you need to drop to a 2.60 (or smaller).

.

 

[Guest]

Thanks for looking this over Steve. The "Tight" warning is leftover from the original shims. Replacing I2 - I4 with thinner shims brought the final clearance back into spec. I2 - 0.05, I3 - 0.06, I4 - 0.05.
Am I missing something? Both EX and IN clearances are between 0.03 - 0.08 mm.

Thanks.

 

[alke46]

No you are not missing anything. The clearances for both intake and exhaust are between 0.03 and 0.08..... That being said, #4 ex. at 0.09 was good. We even can tolerate 0.10 as that gap will tighten slightly as it wears in.

 

[Guest]

Thanks Larry. From what I've read I thought about leaving the 0.09 gap on #4. Before I button it up I might go back to the 2.75 mm if it will eventually tighten up.

 

[Guest]

Time to work on the headlamp housing. The 2 lower headlight mounting holes were blown out.
A little fiberglass and JB Weld should give me something to work with and bring them back to life.

I know these things are ugly as sin, but after a little sanding, dremel work and paint they should be workable.
Plus, they'll sorta be hidden down low.

 

[canuckxxx]

I like what you are doing with JB Weld and Fiberglas mat. Gives me some ideas for fixing up a badly rusted out seat pan.

 

[Guest]

I like what you are doing with JB Weld and Fiberglas mat. Gives me some ideas for fixing up a badly rusted out seat pan.

Yeah, you can't beat fiberglass, and I would rate JB Weld right up there with duct tape.

 

[Guest]

At some point I'm going to need some coils. I know 3 ohm will eat up your battery, and 5 ohm are a safe bet. I've opted for going EI in the past on some of my projects. For now, the coils I'm looking at are 4 ohm from "4 into 1 Motorcycle parts".

$60 for coils, wire and boots seems like a fair price. I definitely don't want to start a "which is better" coil war. These seem like they'd bridge the gap if I decided to go with a Dyna S unit.

 

[canuckxxx]

I'll be watching this because I think my 850 needs coils.

 

[Steve]

At some point I'm going to need some coils. I know 3 ohm will eat up your battery, and 5 ohm are a safe bet.

There is nothing wrong with 3-ohm coils. 5-ohm coils are, indeed, "safe", but won't give you as good a spark as the 3s. Suzuki specs call for 3-5 ohms.

You may have seen one of my earlier posts about low-resistance coils, they were 0.7 ohms. I will be replacing them with 3-ohm Dyna coils later this winter.

.

 

[canuckxxx]

Does anyone on the forum have experience with these, reasonably priced, coil sets.

 

[Guest]

I noticed in my box of parts that I'm missing the gear indicator switch unit. A close look at its' location tells me there should be a small ball bearing in front
of the spring below.

I've searched and can't seem to find in my service manual or Clymer manual or an exploded view on Bike Bandit a look at what makes up this device.
A regular BB seems to fit in this hole, but another issue comes up.

When I push a BB in this hole, it push the spring inside this small tunnel and the BB disappears completely. The spring is about 3/4" long. I would assume that the spring should apply just enough pressure to keep the steel ball (or BB) just proud of the hole so that it would make contact with the switch connectors.

So, either I'm missing a spring to go along with this short one, or I need to find a longer spring that will put the right amount of pressure on the BB. That sound about right?

Hold the phone, I guess I'm more tired than I thought:

It looks like I'm missing some sort of "pin" that makes contact with the switch. So, the Ball goes in 1st, then the Spring, and finally the "Contact Pin".

________________

Ok, now I have to quit posting when I've been up for 24 hours. The above diagram is for a GS 750. The GS 550 shows only a "spring" and a "contact" pin-like piece.
It looks like the contact piece should be long enough to take up the slack from the short spring.

 

[WMurphy]

If the repairs on that bucket aren't going to hold or just aren't working well, shoot me a message. I have a bunch of '78 parts that are still in good shape, including that bucket.

 

[Guest]

If the repairs on that bucket aren't going to hold or just aren't working well, shoot me a message. I have a bunch of '78 parts that are still in good shape, including that bucket.

It seems to have worked Murphy. Thanks for the offer, really appreciate it!