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engine replacement for 1982 GS650GL

  • Thread starter Thread starter William Groebe
  • Start date Start date
VERRRRY GOOD Will.. the last time I did this was for a CB750 but these days I am lazy and don't want to do it again lol. but brings back memories to say the least. good work. I 'm sure it will be fine!!
 
I'm having somewhat of a topsy turvy day today. First it was great to come home to my order at my doorstep from Parts Outlaw (or Deland Motorsports as it states on the invoice). I was excited to think I may be putting the beast back together this weekend. Imagine my concern when I realized I hadn't received the full order. I'm missing seven lower crankshaft bearings. I'll call them tomorrow to find out what happened. Maybe they're sending the bearings in two packages. No big deal if that's the case.

A bigger deal is that none of the new bearings look like the bearings they are replacing. They either have no oil hole where they should, have an extra oil hole, or have an oil groove where there shouldn't be one.

For example, the new rod bearings don't have oil holes in them, but all the rod bearings from all three crankshafts I have in my garage all have oil holes in the rod bearings, and the diagram on the ordering form show them with oil holes. The new bearing is on the right, and the old one with the oil hole is on the left in the photo.


As far as my understanding six of the eight upper crankshaft bearings should have no oil grooves or holes. Whereas the the inner two upper bearings are the same as the lower bearings with both a groove and two holes. Again, just like in the diagram below.



But the upper crankshaft bearings I received have oil grooves. The original bearing is to the left while the two in plastic are new.


And the one lower bearing I received so far has three holes. The original bearing is below it. The new one is in plastic




I can't imagine that I messed up this bad. Have bearings changed over the years? What did I do wrong?


help
 
What fun! Been a while since I played with this stuff and I haven't looked at a 650 crankshaft.
since you said....
"For example, the new rod bearings don't have oil holes in them, but all the rod bearings from all three crankshafts I have in my garage all have oil holes in the rod bearings, and the diagram on the ordering form show them with oil holes. The new bearing is on the right, and the old one with the oil hole is on the left in the photo."

does the crank have oil passages drilled in to feed the rod bearings?
 
Thanks for the response, tom203. The answer is that yes, the crank has oil passages for each bearing location which definitely implies that the bearings should also have oil holes in them which they do in the bearings I took off the crank. Check out the image below

 
Great pic! Yes, oil feed holes on rods too! Something is very wrong-oil needs to get to contact surface of those bearings in order for them to do their job (splashing is not acceptable) . I assume the lower crankcase receives pressurized oil thru holes adjacent to each main crank bearing and this gets pass thru drilled holes leading to rod cranks.
Ask Deland why? Maybe suzuki screwed up, but something is seriously wrong.
 
I sent Parts Outlaw an email with the same pics and info as in my last post. I will call them tomorrow to discuss. I've got to get this worked out.
 
Thanks.

Corey from PartsOutlaw.com called Suzuki and couldn't get confirmation as to why the parts were changed, but apparently some parts are modified over the years. Suzuki insists these are all the correct parts for my bike and should work in the bike just fine. I'm a little nervous about putting the rod bearings in without an oil hole. Corey said I could return them for no restocking fee if I want. That's pretty cool.

I'm going to check on ebay for replacement parts with the original part number and if all else fails, I'll machine my own holes where necessary.

I'm also going to try a post specifically regarding bearings in case anyone else here has noticed the change in bearings and has any advice.
 
Seems like this bike has been one hurdle after another for you. You have my sympathies but I'm sure it'll be on the road again soon.

I'll machine my own holes where necessary.
Click to expand...

I have the feeling this is the path of least resistance. It sounds like someone at Suzuki goofed when they superceded the old parts with these ones. Wouldn't be the first time, although this one has the potential to lead to catastrophe.
 
I am so grateful that the GSR forum exists. If it weren't for you I wouldn't know what the hell I was doing.

I posted on another thread my issue with the bearings and it looks like we've come to a conclusion that the new bearings do not have holes in them on purpose. A member called prays4u noted that on page 25 of the supplemental manual on BikeCliff's site http://www.mtsac.edu/~cliff/storage/gs/GS650GManual.pdf it shows the new bearings lacking oil holes and mentions that improvements have been made in the design to increase durability. Maybe the oil holes in the rod bearings were causing the bearings to wear out prematurely.

Anyways, now that I've got that figured out, I just have to wait for the rest of my crankshaft bearings to arrive and I'll be putting the girl back together.
 
I received the rest of the bearings in the mail yesterday. I know what I'm doing this weekend!
 
hope the projects going okay I just saw the post today. if I may be so bold I don't suppose you have a 650 parts engine lying around with a good piston to spare
 
opelmaz, I'm going to wait to part with any spare parts until I am finished putting her all back together and she runs. But, hopefully that won't be too long.

I've had to work OT the last few weekends, but I had this last Sunday off, so I found enough time to put the bottom end together.

Before puttung enything together I measured out the oil clearance on the rods with the new bearings using plastigage.



they were all within spec, so I put all the rods on the shaft.


Then I had to put the bearings on for the crankshaft. First I laid out all the bearing boxes in order of where they will go on the shaft. Upper shaft bearings in the top row, lower bearings on the bottom row. And I labeled each bearing with a sharpie, just in case I forget which box each one came from.



I laid a piece of plastigage on each bearing, torqued the engine down and pulled it open again to read the oil clearance. They are all within spec!



I spent the rest of the day putting the lower end of the engine back together. Now I just need one more full day to put the top end in and put the engine back on the bike and I'll hopefully be on two wheels. I'll probably have to wait for Saturday.
 
I found bits and pieces of time over the last few days to get the bike back together by last night. I was going to test it out this morning, but realized I'd left the battery charging on my battery tender at 6v instead of 12v. Whoops. I hooked the battery back up to the charger at 12v and will try to start it up when I get off work tonight.

There were a few minor hiccups, which I'll detail below. The first of which is that I stripped one of the holes for the bolts for the signal generator assembly. They are 6mm bolts and with all the tearing down and putting back together I managed to lose all the thread in the engine hole for one of the bolts. I'll search the forum for the best way to fix this.


For now here's my usual pics of the process.

First off I had to install the pistons. When putting one of the circlips back in to hold the pin I lost control of it in my tweezers and it flew off into my garage never to be seen again. Luckily I had the parts bike to pilfer a circlip from. No time lost.


Dropping the cylinders onto the pistons is tricky without a special tool to clamp the piston rings, but I found that using a tape measure wrapped around the piston rings works well.




I had to change out a few of my shims. I can't have .15mm clearance!!
I don't have a valve puller tool, so I had to torque down the camshafts, check the clearance, remove the camshafts, replace the shims, then retorque down the camshafts.


Then I had to get the engine back on the bike. Same way I got it off. I found it easier getting the engine on and off the frame with the valve cover off. Gives you just a bit more clearance.
On a side note, see how the right turn signal which I'd carefully taped to the fender came loose and I didn't notice. Well the wire snapped off, so I need to rewire my turn signal. No big deal.





Time to put the valve cover on, and the exhaust I picked off the parts bike.


Looks like a motorcycle again, minus a few flaws: the stripped bolt hole for the signal generator cover, the rewiring of the turn signal, and no battery yet.
I'll hopefully fix everything but the stripped hole tonight and take her out for a spin around the neighborhood. Wish me luck.

 
I couldn't get her started tonight. The battery had charged up during the day, but I couldn't get the engine to start. The starter motor is going strong and there is spark in the spark plugs, though when I tested them out unplugged they sparked but the spark spark was pretty small. It was the first time I tested out spark plugs that way so I could be doing something wrong there. Or maybe the battery just needs to charge more to supply more spark.

I wore the battery down trying to start her up. Turned the tank to reserve. I even primed it for a minute before gas started leaking out of the carbureters. Probably a bad idea. I'll check my compression tomorrow and try to start her up again.

This same thing happened when I replaced the transmission. It took an hour or so before the engine actually came to life for the first time. I didn't have to do anything special, but just wait for the engine to wake up from a long slumber, and then it started up without fail every morning. But this time I tried for more than an hour. I'm a little disheartened, but I'll try again in the morning. I just don't want to drive my neighbors crazy with the starter motor. It's worse than screeching cats.
 
Amazing! Check to make sure " choke" is fully engaged at each carb end - when I first got my bike , it wouldn't start up from cold unless the choke plungers were fully pulled out- half way wasn't adequate.
Of course, the carbs shouldn't leak after a minute of prime, but that problem might cure itself.
No valve bucket depressor? Just use zip tie method - it's easier. No need to remove camshaft which will just distort your readings/guesses when it's bolted back down.

edit: try a 1/4 inch screw for signal generator, the extra .010 might grab enough
 
Will, the best way to fix that is to get a helicoil kit. Napa has them. I wouldn't hesitate to helicoil that. And i would also try some starting fluid to see if it fires up. Have you checked to see if you are getting spark? Weak spark/no spark will keep you from getting down the road. Looks great otherwise
 
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