Bringing a 78 GS 550 back to life. . .

[Guest]

Finally, the wiring is complete. I ran into a snag with the rear turn signals of all things. The bike kept blowing fuses, and I was ready to blow one too, every time I tried them. I can't say enough good about Matthew at Sparck Moto. http://www.sparckmoto.com/ Matt bends over backwards to help you troubleshoot any issue you might have with your wiring harness. My issue was a misidentified ground wire. But now all is good.

Now, if anyone is still paying attention to this thread, I have a question for you. Does anyone recognize what the parts below are for, or where they would go?
These were in the box of parts when I bought the bike. I searched exploded images on Bike Bandit and couldn't come up with anything for location.

Thanks fellas - Mike

 

[Guest]

They are for mounting the air filter inside the metal box, and for fitting the plastic part of the airbox to the frame.

 

[cowboyup3371]

Like Steve said, they are for the airbox

 

[Guest]

Excellent! Thanks fellas for pointing me in the right direction.

 

[Guest]

I probably should have done some troubleshooting on my gear indicator display before getting everything wired up.
I knew something was wrong. The gear indicator sensor checks out OK. I appear to have a couple of burned out bulbs.

Left to right, 1 through 4 are functioning -

"5" and "6" not so much -

Next step, do a search on this site -

Consensus is go to Bike Bandit and look up the part number, okay easy enough, or is it?

For the life of me I don't see a representation of these gear indicator bulbs on this fiche for a 78 GS550.
So, a little more digging and someone recommends Radio Shack. I'm thinking "right, they went south a long time ago" or did they?

This bulb looks like it might do the trick. Anyone have any thoughts on this, or a better vendor? (I don't have a Suzuki dealership, so I'm relying on the interwebs".

 

[1978GS750E]

I believe the #13 is the gear indicator display. My 1978 GS750 has an LCD type display that changes numbers for different gears????? It is located on the bottom of the center lights under the neutral light, IIRC. Maybe the 550 is different???? I do not remember anything like what you have pictured in mine. My 750 display went bad and I bought one from China off of ebay for about $2 including shipping that I made work.

 

[Guest]

Yeah, that's probably it, just not listed on the parts list, either that unit - which I wouldn't think it would be - or any replacement bulbs.

 

[Rich82GS750TZ]

If you look at the fiche on Babbittsonline.com there are at least 3 different gauge clusters for 78 GS550. It's probably # 17 on your image. But the nice thing about the parts list on babbitts and some other sites is they indicate how many of everything in the image your bike requires. So if you find "bulb" in the list and match it to how many you're counting since you have it all apart, you should get your answer.

 

[Guest]

If you look at the fiche on Babbittonline.com there are at least 3 different gauge clusters for 78 GS550. It's probably # 17 on your image. But the nice thing about the parts list on babbitts and some other sites is they indicate how many of everything in the image your bike requires. So if you find "bulb" in the list and match it to how many you're counting since you have it all apart, you should get your answer.

Thanks Rich, but #17 is the bigger bulb for the back lighting, oil, high beam, etc. It lists "9" bulbs. The shift indicator only has 6 bulbs. Thanks for looking. I ordered 3 from Radio Shack from earlier post.

 

[hillsy]

Did you swap over a "good" bulb into the housing of the "bad" bulbs to make sure it wasn't a contact / wiring issue?

 

[Guest]

Good thought hillsy. Yep I swapped a good bulb onto the #5 & 6 slot. Both sockets are good, they lit up. So the 2 bulbs have given up. Each burned out bulb is dark inside. I'm in no big hurry, but it's times like this when I wish we still had a local Radio Shack.

 

[Guest]

This morning I spent some time looking at the bike and making a list of what's left. I realized that I should probably seal the gas tank since
I had to epoxy some pin holes on the outside before I derusted it. I've used POR 15 before with good success, but after reading Wingman's and Nessism's posts, I've decided to go with Caswell's epoxy. Look's like Amazon has it for $44 + $12 shipping. I'll look around for a better price.

Until the sealer shows up I've started prepping the cowl for priming. I still don't have the side covers I need. I'll look for those, and do the finish painting after I get the bike running.

I need to order some Suzuki OEM fuel hose, & vacuum hose. Electrically, the bike is ready, just need to work on the fuel side of things.
Eventually I'll get the pipes down and see if I can clean and shine them up a bit.

 

[Guest]

The Caswell Epoxy tank sealer arrived today, one day earlier than expected! Woo Hoo!

The initial rust wasn't too bad in the tank, and if it didn't have some small pin holes I might have skipped sealing it.
From what I can see, it only has a bit of surface rust, but this sealer will remove any doubt.

Part A looks like Karo syrup. The viscosity wasn't as thick as I thought it would be. It was used at room temperature.

I sealed up the fuel petcock opening the night before to prevent leaks. I removed this to drain the excess epoxy out when it was time.

Once mixed, in it goes. . .

Sealed the filler with glad wrap and a rubber band, but being anal I covered that with painters tape.

Rotate every which way for 10 minutes and let it drain out. . .

It looks like a good 4 oz came back out from the 24 total ounces that went into it.

​All in all it was an easy process. I'm glad I used the entire amount of the epoxy. If I'd gone cheap and tried to get by with 1/2 a can I'm not sure I would have got as thorough a coverage.

 

[Guest]

Well the saga of replacing my shift indicator bulbs goes on. I received some bulbs from Radioshack, and I was hopeful. . .

It looked like the right size but I could see right away it was going to be difficult stripping the hard plastic off the leads. . .

No, make that impossible. . .

I gave up on those after ruining the 3 I purchased. I had a "duh" moment when I found 100 mini bulbs on ebay for less than $8. . .

They are just slightly larger but should work. . .

Well, low and behold they do work, BUT! There is an issue with the readout. . .

The issue is, the indicator isn't synced up right. 1st gear reads: "6", 2nd gear reads "5", 3rd gear does read "3", 4th gear reads "1", 5th gear reads "2", and 6th gear reads "4". I thought maybe I had the board in upside down, but there's no way to do that. There's also no way to put the 2 plugs together in the harness because of a slot. So, does this mean the sensor or the mechanical rotor is out of sync?

 

[Guest]

Turn the sensor 180 degrees?

 

[Guest]

Turn the sensor 180 degrees?

Thanks Steve! I ran out of time today, but I'll give that a try tomorrow afternoon. I bought this sensor used, and the loom coming off of it seemed to favor the way I installed it. But I'll turn it around and see what happens.

 

[Guest]

The problem with the erratic gear indicator display turned out to be the sensor. It was installed correctly, but the wires were in totally different locations in the male plug compared to its' female plug companion. After lining up all the like wires it works like a charm.

Here's a side point I want to vent about. I ordered a complete air filter kit (filter and outer foam) online from a company whose name rhymes with "Rabbit's". I received an email 3 days later stating that this item was not only back ordered with them, but this was a "national back order" and I wouldn't find it anywhere else with a separate vendor. I did find it, and immediately cancelled my order. My frustration was that it took an hour on hold to get the order cancelled.

I'm peeved that they don't have a better inventory system. Why allow sometime to order an item that isn't in stock, and is on a major back order. Most people now have some type of "live" inventory control that prevents what I went through, albeit this is a 1st world problem, but the icing on the cake was the $19.95 shipping charge, and the $7.05 sales tax. (I know sales tax is required if you do business with certain locations). All in all this was a disappointing experience. I will look for other vendors before I deal with these people. Vent is over.

 

[Guest]

Factory Jet!?!

Factory Jet!?!

Well, I made one of the "newbie" mistakes. I eagerly stripped the carbs down and later realized that messing with the factory set jet is a big no no.
I didn't see that this jet was "painted shut" and gleefully took it out. Now am I royally screwed? Anyway to get it set back where it will function?
I've done a search and haven't found any thread on these VM22's or any other Mikuni setting. I can't be the first idiot to run into this? Thanks guys.

 

[Big T]

I don't know what search terms you're using, but there are dozens of posts about the pilot fuel screw. It is mentioned in the VM carb tutorial.

You are following the tutorial, right?

 

[Guest]

I don't know what search terms you're using, but there are dozens of posts about the pilot fuel screw. It is mentioned in the VM carb tutorial.

You are following the tutorial, right?

Hey BT, if not, I will now! So, this is the pilot fuel screw, that's good to know. Doing a search for VM Carb Tutorial I end up with this:

I'll have to do some more investigating.