GS 550E 1980 -cafe build

[wegs426]

I've been lurking here for a few months and now that school is out I can finally dig into my first build and first bike.

I bought it off craigslist in early march, the guy was cool enough to drive it over to me. 1980 GS 550E:

These past months were spent taking a ton of stuff off the bike, researching info here, designing the build and ordering parts. I'm going for a modern cafe look.

My slew of parts:

mac 4-1 head pipe, pirelli sport demon front tire, K&N pods, hella horns, Custom LED taillight, turn signals, grips, clip-ons, headlight brackets, clutch lever, mirror, gaiters, acewell gauge, and shorai battery.
not yet received: muffler and MC from DCC

I'll update how she sits now tomorrow.

 

[musicman]

Are you planning on doing anything with that stock seat? If not, interested in selling it?

 

[wegs426]

Are you planning on doing anything with that stock seat? If not, interested in selling it?

Unfortunately it was taken apart foolishly before I found this forum. When I first got the bike I planned on doing a quick cafe seat out of it (shortening and trimming foam). I took it all apart before but didn't damage it otherwise. I then realized that there was no easy way to narrow the seat and keep the hinges. So the project developed and will now include full custom seat and tail. I'll start selling stuff (sidecovers, tail, seat parts) after I finish the build unless someone on the forum wants to buy them. The cover had a few small tears through it but was otherwise okay.

 

[cowboyup3371]

What did you do with the stock exhaust?

 

[Ricosmodernlife]

Ahhh very nice. I'm working on pretty much the exact same bike. I'm interested to see how yours comes out!

 

[wegs426]

What did you do with the stock exhaust?

Its currently hanging up on my wall, I plan on selling it. It has minor pitting throughout and is a bit worse around the crossover.

 

[wegs426]

Update: last week I cleaned the forks to a dull shine. I started with 220 grit and worked my way up to 800 for the brushed finish I wanted.

Broken down as far I will go for now.


Did some grinding on the frame:

I removed excess tabs and passenger pegs and supports. I am removing the center stand as well. I want to be able to have the option to carry a passenger. When I make rearsets over winter I'll include something.

I mocked up the left side bars.


The first run of the bridgeport after I rebuilt it (bought from a foundry where they left it outside for a year) It still needs more tooling and fixtures, final setup and digital readouts. I drilled up a bracket for my ignition and choke cable relocation.


This will sit under the seat, I could not stand having the choke on top of the triple tree.

And a quick placement of items to see how she looks.

 

[wegs426]

I made a little more progress today. I faced off the handlebar mounts and removed the old gauge mounting ears from the top tree.

I also drilled a hole so I can mount the new acewell gauge. It just need a bit more filing and then its off to get powdercoated.

I also finished the mounts for the seat pan. Its held in place by tool clips and fits nice and tight.


I ordered what should be the 2nd to last round of parts today (wheel bearings, jets, exhaust gaskets, and stainless brake lines).

 

[wegs426]

I'm working on electrical mounts. I want to place everything on a panel underneath the seat but there isn't much room. I ordered a new blade type fuse block which will update those and will allow me to fuse the horn and coil relay mods I'm doing. The r/r is going to mount in the air-stream to the underside of the panel. I'm just confused on one part. There is a small box with one fuse in it and I'm not sure of its purpose. I've checked the wiring diagram and it is called the output terminal. It looks like it fuses an alternate ground to the starter relay. Is this part necessary, and it if is just a fuse can I wire it into my new fuse block?

 

[wegs426]

The last few weeks have been very busy and I am starting to see some real progress. This post documents the powder-coating of my wheels and other misc. parts. I have a friend that works at a powder-coating place so I got to get a behind the scenes look and help, all at a great price.

Starting point:


Sandblasted:


I even got to sandblast my small parts:


Wheels ready for powda (after being dipped):


First coat misty gold:


First coat baked:




Second coat transparent gold powder:


Next post will show finished product.

 

[cowboyup3371]

Can't wait to see how they turn out.

 

[wegs426]

Ok, another update which will bring it to its current status.

I finished the grinding and smoothing for the frame. For the frame ends at the back of the seat I cut a wedge out and then bent and welded them closed.


back of the frame ready for paint. I would like to eventually powder-coat the frame but this will do for this season. Don't mind the chain, I need to buy a chain break and probably a new chain.


Here I am attempting to make a spacer for the speedo delete on the wheel. I ended up messing it up just before I was done. Instead I ended up throwing the old one in the bridgeport, milling away all the housing material so I could then put that in the lathe. It ended up working well but was way more work and time then I wanted for a spacer.


I put the new bearings in the wheels and threw the discs on. After I mounted them I realized that I have them reversed. I originally had them right too, but for some reason switched them after they didn't go on easily.








You can also see I made some turn signal brackets. The powder-coated headlight trim ring, painted bucket, and powder-coated top tree look great on the bike. The shocks were painted real quick, I plan on upgrading to nice gas shocks in the fall, but they are not in my budget for now and I don't want to waste my money on cheap ebay ones.

Upcoming this week will be the finishing of my electrical panel. I have got everything figured out and made up, it just needs to be wired.

Also this week I want to mount the taillight and get foam on the seat (if for nothing else just to make it not look like a terribly done brat).

 

[Mad Mark]

looks really good so far! i really like the wheels i was thinking i would paint mine a bronzey gold brownish color similar to yours.

 

[pitbullmccoy]

Great looking bike! Excellent attention to detail. Especially on the triple. It erks me when someone gets clip ons and doesn't trim the mounts for the old bars. Keep up the good work!

 

[wegs426]

Thanks for all the feedback. I haven't done anything on the bike over the last few days. I was busy taking the msf course and passed, now just to finish the bike. I did however take some more pictures of stuff that was previously completed.

Here is a better picture to show how the wheels turned out.


I painted the headlight bucket and the chrome ring was powder-coated, and installed with chrome hardware.
You can also see the nice top tree.


Another showing the top tree.


Electrical panel made from 2 pieces of poly-carbonate bent and riveted together. This holds the battery, new fuse block, igniter, turn signal relay. To the bottom of this is mounted the r/r offset with spacers for heat dissipation. The ignition and choke are also relocated on a bracket underneath. The starter relay will be under mounted as well.

 

[green2kgt]

lookin good!!!!!!!! really liking some of the things you did. giving me ideas!

I love powder coat!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! im addicted to it! lol.

All the black in the pic below was silver on the bike originally... nothing was black from the factory.

http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/472790_10150940123348360_1012181400_o.jpg

 

[wegs426]

that's an insane attention to detail green2kgt, do you have a link to your build thread? I'm assuming it's on a different forum.

Today I finished making the rest of the brackets I need, this includes a hazard switch bracket, horn bracket and taillight bracket.

This is the horn bracket.




I even got it installed. These are horns that a lot of the Subaru rally guys use, they should be really loud and piercing at 118 db.


In this picture you can also see the tachometer delete plug.


I also started work on the tank. Before:


Mark the area to dent on paper then cut out 2 copies and tape to each side.


you can remove the paper after you get a good outline.




Here it is mounted and partially stripped. I've got a bit more smoothing to do and I need to go deeper on the right side but it's starting to look like a cafe racer. I may need to do bar dents too.

 

[wegs426]

Big updates: I've made a lot of progress over the last month, although not as much as I would have liked, my budget went over and I had to put in extra hours to get money to finish the build.

I finished cleaning the engine up and installed the headers and slipped on the muffler. This is going to be loud (may need a baffle).

Installed new chain.

Made and installed new cables. What a pain this turned out to be. I ended up losing the little plastic bushing thing on the end of the clutch barrel. It flew off while I was trimming the cable and went somewhere in my garage. I spent 2 hours looking for it with no luck, also can't seem to find one online.

Finished the electrical:
Wire nutted everything together for a test. Worked with just a few issues I had to chase. Wired in for coil relay and horn relay mods.

the taillight is super bright and the horns super loud.

Cleaned everything up, shortening where necessary and installed a few new connectors.

note: still have to wire in turn signals (broke one while mounting) and wire in license plate lights once I figure out a mount.


Rebuilt the carbs:
When I bought the bike the p.o. said it was't running properly and had trouble at low idle.

Opened them up to find 3 broken float posts JB welded together...
Luckily with the bike came a box full of a disassembled set of carbs and spare parts. The disassembled carbs were good except for one post. I was able to make a full set with only one nicked post (just above hole was sheared off).

box of parts that saved me:

I may end up building a second set of carbs to sell once I repair all the posts.

Also upon disassembly there was a missing washer on the main jet, I'm assuming this was what was the cause of the trouble.

The parts got the dip and o-ring treatment, new larger jets, and I'm just waiting on pilot jet plugs.

I cut foam for the seat.

I'm in the process of making a fiberglass cafe seat bubble. This will be removable so that the seat can hold two people.

I cut up an old polystyrene cooler and glued it together. I shaped it with a bread knife and 36 grit sandpaper. This makes a huge mess.

Once I had the shape I wanted covered it in tape it and waxed it.

I've got one coat of fiberglass and epoxy and its already pretty strong, I plan doing three total.

The bike should be finished early next week!

 

[bakirkwold]

Looking good! Those wire nuts are an automotive no no. I am going to school to be an automotive technician. Either solder them in or use crimp connections.

 

[nikosg]

great thread!!!! love your work.