First build, GS500 commuter streetfighter

[Guest]

Guys that's just awesome! Those red accents are perfect!

Have you considered doing the case cover bolts in red instead of the stainless ones? They almost look out of place with the other red accents... but of course that's just my little opinion...

Love it with the bodywork and dual lights too, can't wait to see it painted up and complete!

 

[oldpara]

Yea, the stainless bolts look a little out of place.
I had bought the stainless bolts before any real plan of action was formulated.
I like to put the stainless bolts on all the bikes, easier to work with, but now am thinking of perhaps red anodized aluminum bolts from ProBolt.
That's something that could be done down the road, along with brake and clutch cable adjusters, etc.
Black tail and tank with red stripes, Hmmmmmmmmmm.
Hadn't thought of that

 

[Guest]

Yea, the stainless bolts look a little out of place.
I had bought the stainless bolts before any real plan of action was formulated.
I like to put the stainless bolts on all the bikes, easier to work with, but now am thinking of perhaps red anodized aluminum bolts from ProBolt.
That's something that could be done down the road, along with brake and clutch cable adjusters, etc.
Black tail and tank with red stripes, Hmmmmmmmmmm.
Hadn't thought of that

Yeah typically I'd also say stainless all the way, and in fact I did the same on my 450's case covers. I think this is just one of those rare cases where something different is required... anodized ones should do the trick nicely I reckon, and yes, can definitely be done later on.

Listen to Tim, he has great ideas with colour schemes/flows/etc. and he's also pretty handy with the photo-chop thing

 

[Tim Tom]

Listen to Tim, he has great ideas with colour schemes/flows/etc. and he's also pretty handy with the photo-chop thing

Aww shucks, thanks Pete . Although out of curiosity I did do a red mock up the other day...

If you want I'd be happy to do some other options. Though I think that in order for the black to look good it would have to be extra glossy. This build is to nice for flat bodywork

 

[GateKeeper]

Yea, the stainless bolts look a little out of place.
I had bought the stainless bolts before any real plan of action was formulated.
I like to put the stainless bolts on all the bikes, easier to work with, but now am thinking of perhaps red anodized aluminum bolts from ProBolt.
That's something that could be done down the road, along with brake and clutch cable adjusters, etc.
Black tail and tank with red stripes, Hmmmmmmmmmm.
Hadn't thought of that

I have another suggestion for the case bolts, blacken them out instead ?

not sure if this works with SS bolts, but we used to heat up bolts, and then throw them into some old and really black oil, this would blacken out the bolts, and no worries about them getting chipped as it's not the same as paint....

just a thought

 

[Guest]

Aww shucks, thanks Pete . Although out of curiosity I did do a red mock up the other day...

If you want I'd be happy to do some other options. Though I think that in order for the black to look good it would have to be extra glossy. This build is to nice for flat bodywork

Any time Tim, credit where credit's due I say

That red is quite tasty...

 

[cowboyup3371]

That red is quite tasty...

+1.
I think the red looks much better on that one.

 

[oldpara]

Tim, That's amazing stuff !
great way to get a "good" idea of how a color would look .
I agree, a great talent there !

 

[Tim Tom]

Tim, That's amazing stuff !
great way to get a "good" idea of how a color would look .
I agree, a great talent there !

Thanks, it keeps me occupied on slow days at work. Feel free to let me know if you want any other mock ups done

 

[Guest]

Any more progress guys? Keen to see this one done and on the road

 

[Guest]

Any more progress guys? Keen to see this one done and on the road

Well we got the paint back on Fri. Sat morning we worked on some smalls on the bike, got carbs on and fuel lines run and got the wiring straightened out after a brain fart on my part. Then to end a day of progress we fired it up bike and exhaust sounds awesome, very throaty deep toned. Another session 2 and it should be done. Dana has some pics to post and is going Monday to register the bike so we can get busy sorting out the jetting. As we are in uncharted territory with this custom exhaust. I measured the length of pipe and we have about 5 ft of pipe total. Will keep you posted

 

[Guest]

Well we got the paint back on Fri. Sat morning we worked on some smalls on the bike, got carbs on and fuel lines run and got the wiring straightened out after a brain fart on my part. Then to end a day of progress we fired it up bike and exhaust sounds awesome, very throaty deep toned. Another session 2 and it should be done. Dana has some pics to post and is going Monday to register the bike so we can get busy sorting out the jetting. As we are in uncharted territory with this custom exhaust. I measured the length of pipe and we have about 5 ft of pipe total. Will keep you posted

Awesome! Can't wait to see the pic's!

 

[tas850g]

I was fortunate enough to see the bike in real life and the pictures do not do justice. It really is amazing from where it started to where it is at this point in the rebuild.

It will be one sweet ride when completed

Amazing job so far Jim and Dana!

 

[Guest]

I was fortunate enough to see the bike in real life and the pictures do not do justice. It really is amazing from where it started to where it is at this point in the rebuild.

It will be one sweet ride when completed

Amazing job so far Jim and Dana!

Awww man I wish! It's a little bit of a swim for me to see it unfortunately...

 

[oldpara]

OK, here we are with some "semi finish" pictures. I say semi finished because of minor touchups due to wrenching dings, need to fill in the sub frame with mesh or something to hide the rear master etc.

We had to trash the stock (convaluted) fuel delivery system because the right carb just wasn't getting enough fuel. These 500's have two petcocks, one on/off on the tank and a prime/run/reserve on the frame of the bike, and miles of hoses. We're running a direct line to the carbs via two tee's. Thats about as direct as we can get at the present time.
We also found that the duel Dominator headlights draw alot of current and the electrics can't effectively keep up so we'll modify that glitch with smaller bulbs or just one headlight driveing and two for high beam, something will work out OK.
The bike runs darn good and sounds awesome but needs different jetting.
Factory main jets were 122.5, we now have 140's and we're going to go to 150's. It's tweaking time.

We both took it out for a short ride Saturday and we like it,

Heres the pics

This has been a great project. Thanks HJ !!!!
Brooom Brooom .............

 

[Guest]

Hey hey! Nice work fellas, that has to be the meanest looking GS500 I've ever seen

Now we need to see video, gotta hear how she sounds!

The black suits well with those red highlights, just subtle enough I think... nice

 

[DannyMotor]

Sweet ride! Makes me wish I kept my old GS500E!!

That exhaust is BY FAR the best I've ever seen on a 500. Love the little red touches as well. I'm happy to see it came together for you boys! Ride safe!

 

[Guest]

Yes the bike is coming together nicely, it seems to handle well, light and agile, the braking is much improved over stock with just a line change, and some new pads, front suspension feels good we made some changes to the internals and added some heavier oil, got rid of alot of the stock sponginess that these 500's are noted for. And the GSXR rear shock made the rear MUCH better. The motor runs good and pulls real good, I was really worried about losing bottom end power by the amount that we opened up the exhaust , but apparently we found the right combination of bends and length of pipe because it has real good bottom end power, it kind of faulters alittle on the upper end, so I'll play with the jets , and the needles [Dana did get a jet kit for it knowing with the pipe and K&N lunch box filter there was going to be jetting issues]. I don't think we are that far off. I also still need to do a vacuum sync on the carbs. So there are still a few issues , also lighting[ drawing to much power] that still need to be worked out but all in all it has been a great project and I very much enjoyed helping Dana with this project.

 

[Guest]

Hmmmm I'm pretty sure you can get high output stators for the twins, a bit costlier than the stock replacement but will give you some more juice which might help with your lighting issues...

 

[Guest]

Hmmmm I'm pretty sure you can get high output stators for the twins, a bit costlier than the stock replacement but will give you some more juice which might help with your lighting issues...

Ya I'm not sure what amp, the stator is but the issue stems further than that,
1 , it has the dominator headlights [ w/ 2 55watt low beam bulbs]
2, it has that tiny little Shoria Battery in which we are uncertain of if it is really capable of running the bike if it were all stock with stock lighting.The tail light and plate lights are LEDs, .
When we did the stator test at 5000rpm we had 80 volts on all 3 legs of the stator, when we checked for charging with both headlights on we get about 12.2 volts, unplug the headlights and it charges at 13.75- 13.85 at about 2000-2400 rpm all tests done at, at Idle with lights on it 's not good 11.6 or so and shut lights off 12.85. so it seems to be working kind of backwards as to what it should, regulator is new stator tests fine and is presumed good as the motor in the bike has less than 2000 original miles,So I have to do some more testing on what is going on . It will take alittle to sort but I am sure we'll prevail. Also we could go to lower wattage bulbs , or a single on each beam, maybe a 35 on low and a 65 on high instead or 2 55's on low and 2 I believe 75's on high.