• Required reading for all forum users!!!

    Welcome!
    Register to access the full functionality of the GSResources forum. Until you register and activate your account you will not have full forum access, nor will you be able to post or reply to messages.

    A note to new registrants...
    All new forum registrations must be activated via email before you have full access to the forum.

    A Special Note about Email accounts!
    DO NOT SIGN UP USING hotmail, outlook, gmx, sbcglobal, att, bellsouth or email.com. They delete our forum signup emails.

    A note to old forum members...
    I receive numerous requests from people who can no longer log in because their accounts were deleted. As mentioned in the forum FAQ, user accounts are deleted if you haven't logged in for the past 6 months. If you can't log in, then create a new forum account. If you don't get an error message, then check your email account for an activation message. If you get a message stating that the email address is already in use, then your account still exists so follow the instructions in the forum FAQ for resetting your password.

    Have you forgotten your password or have a new email address? Then read the forum FAQ for details on how to reset it.

    Any email requests for "can't log in anymore" problems or "lost my password" problems will be deleted. Read the forum FAQ and follow the instructions there - that's what we have one for...

  • Returning Visitors

    If you are a returning visitor who never received your confirmation email, then odds are your email provider is blockinig emails from our server. The only thing that can be done to get around this is you will have to try creating another forum account using an email address from another domain.

    If you are a returning visitor to the forum and can't log in using your old forum name and password but used to be able to then chances are your account is deleted. Purges of the databases are done regularly. You will have to create a new forum account and you should be all set.

GS 550L Gets a make over

  • Thread starter Thread starter Redneck
  • Start date Start date
Well let me say prepping the darn carbs takes a heck of a lot longer than painting them. I think I taped and stuffed paper towel wads in holes for almost an hour this morning. After I had boiled them for 30 minutes. Then spent another hour painting them while prepping my front wheel and entertaining my little helper. Right now the carbs are in the oven getting heat cured. Going to leave them in for about 2 hours then going to see if the wheel will fit in. Here are some pics pre-baked.

DSC_0038.jpg


DSC_0040.jpg


DSC_0042.jpg


DSC_0043.jpg


Started prepping the back tire but it is going to take a little bit longer hope to have it done by mid week and if the weather holds painted by Friday.

Hope to have the Carbs together by then also. I need to find somewhere to order the needle bearings for the swing arm because I am tired of paying cycle nation $23 for a shipment no matter how big or small.

Paul
 
Stuff looks great! You just hit on a couple of my personal delema's ...
Black, silver or stock colored wheels. Then, to paint them with the tires off for the best coverage or with the new ones on to keep from nicking the paint on installation.
Last time I mounted the new tires but deflated them after I set the bead, then painted them. That allowed me to actually mask off the tire and get the paint right to the edge.
 
Last edited:
Stuff looks great! You just hit on a couple of my personal delema's ...
Black, silver or stock colored wheels. Then, to paint them with the tires off for the best coverage or with the new ones on to keep from nicking the paint on installation.
Last time I mounted the new tires but deflated them after I set the bead, then painted them. That allowed me to actually mask off the tire and get the paint right to the edge.


Hoosier you know... I thought about that after I put the paint on yesterday. Though for the record the original plan was to get them PCed but that fell through. Should have probably had them put the tire back on before paint. If I have to I will throw on some touch up after they put the tires back on.

Thanksy Psy and Flyboy.... Anyone notice what was missing at the front of the bike.... My headlight ears. I did not notice that till after I was done fighting with the forks. Guess the fight is not over yet.

Paul
 
Hoosier you know... I thought about that after I put the paint on yesterday. Though for the record the original plan was to get them PCed but that fell through. Should have probably had them put the tire back on before paint. If I have to I will throw on some touch up after they put the tires back on.

Thanksy Psy and Flyboy.... Anyone notice what was missing at the front of the bike.... My headlight ears. I did not notice that till after I was done fighting with the forks. Guess the fight is not over yet.

Paul

Bugger on missing the ears, but the upside is you'll be able to change your forks in 5 minutes flat once you're done :D

Paint is looking great!
 
I have seen it both ways. I just know how bad I am when it comes to not scratching a good paint job.
 
Last night got the Carbuerator put back together mostly. Still need to get the choke lever installed and the spring for the throttle. Thank goodness i had two Carbs to work with. I will say I used the original carbs they were in better shape but the parts and pieces may not have gone in the right carb. I am going to treat this like I replaced the jets in everything and hope I get it right.

Also pulled the forks and put the headlight bracket in and the little decorative piece across the lower triple. Overall a productive night so much so that I did not realize how late it was till I went to get the camera to snap off some pics. So I will have to upload those this afternoon and post them this evening.

Paul
 
Nice work on the rebuild, Paul; keep the pics and updates coming.

It's so close you can almost taste it right? Geez, I know the feeling but 'done!' will be here before you know it.

Heck, it's not even July yet! There's still plenty of riding time left this season! (I say that to myself as much as I say it to you...)
 
Great stuff Paul, looking forward to the pic's :D

I've had plenty of nights where I look at the clock and realise I'm gonna struggle getting up in the morning :eek:
 
I've had plenty of nights where I look at the clock and realise I'm gonna struggle getting up in the morning :eek:
:lol: Ain't that the truth!
and depending on your beverage of choice... might have a REAL bad headache
 
As promised pictures.... the table needs some modifications it is too short and wants to tip forward so I might need to add a brace. Anyway here you go.

DSC_0059.jpg


DSC_0061-1.jpg


DSC_0060.jpg


And here you can see the difference in the green.. I am having a hard time matching the PC Green.

DSC_0058.jpg


Painting it black is no longer an option because seeing it like this I can tell it would be way too much black.... though that yellow John Deere combo is starting to stir itself in the back of my head.

Refert to post #25
http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showthread.php?t=161712


Paul
 
Mate can you feel it yet? It's lookin' great, even with the slightly mismatched green... and man I can hardly tell the difference...
 
The bike is getting there! It's starting to take shape. I think you should do the wheels either solid silver, or black inners with a polished lip.

It will be a lot of black otherwise and you need something to brighten the bike up a bit.

The body work looks awesome though, I love the green :clap:
 
Looking good Paul, I like it a lot, those little flashers look good...in a kinky sorta way:p
Are you planing on doing anything with the original flasher mounting holes, maybe a suitable size rubber plug or something?
 
Looking good Paul, I like it a lot, those little flashers look good...in a kinky sorta way:p
Are you planing on doing anything with the original flasher mounting holes, maybe a suitable size rubber plug or something?

I am not a big fan of the way out flashers. I kind of like the sleek hidden look. But with that in mind safety first. I want to get everything back together with headlamp installed. Once that is done I plan on parking the bike on the side of the road one night. Turning on the headlight and a blinker and then making sure my blinkers are visible. If they don't stand out and grab ya then I am going to switch back to the wide stalks till I can find some other way to make the blinkers more discreet when not in use. I believe there are some longer stalked versions of what I have on there that might do the trick. I figure about three inches from the light should be good because those little lights are quite bright. We will have to wait and see.

Paul
 
The bike is getting there! It's starting to take shape. I think you should do the wheels either solid silver, or black inners with a polished lip.

It will be a lot of black otherwise and you need something to brighten the bike up a bit.

The body work looks awesome though, I love the green :clap:


I am going to put them on all black and take a look. If it is too much then I can always sand off the lip and give it a polish. Harder to put the paint back on and make it look good. Thanks for the compliments I really like the green too. I was really trying for a no Chrome look but I may have to yield to the front fork uppers, handle bars, shocks. Seeing as that is the case I may need to polish the rims just to keep Continuity.

Paul
 
This is an old video but I have those same turn signals.
http://www.youtube.com/user/SpidershotgunX#p/u/5/1RyH_D5gN6E

Bright enough to see them :).

Yep those are the ones you and I were discussing on your 450 thread when you first started it. Before you decided to go cafe. I had them on the bike and ran with them all last year on the rear. I want to put them on the front and rear this time. They are bright I just want to make sure you can see them at night next to the headlight. Thanks for the video.

Paul
 
Back
Top