GS shop recommendation east of Dallas

[Downs]

I'm fairly certain I'm in need of valve seal replacement on my GS1000. I lack the time to take the job on at this time and am looking for a shop to tackle it for me. I work in east Dallas and live in Greeville, TX.

Any suggestions?

 

[Steve]

Get ready for sticker shock. :-k

That is, if you even find a shop that will let it through the door. Many shops have a "10-year policy" in force. Anything older than 10 years old is not worked on. There is just too much possibility that something is going to break and will change the job from "flat-rate" to "time and materials". By the time you do T&M on a 40-year-old bike, it can easily exceed the value of the bike.

What you should know is that to change the valve seals, you need to remove the head. Whenever you remove the head, you should also change the base gasket. Whether you also change the rings at that time would be up to you, but be prepared for about $200 for the gaskets (including the valve seals) and probably 4-8 hours of time. You should also note that there are many gaskets and seals that are not part of a gasket set and need to be ordered separately. Those include the tachometer drive seals, cam chain tensioner seals and the tensioner gasket to the block.

Not sure how far you would be willing to take your bike, but member Chuck Hahn works on bikes. He is just south of OKC, about 200 miles north of you.

.

 

[Downs]

I've changed valve seals without removing heads before. But not a GS. It just requires a compressed air hose modded to fit the sparkplug hole and a lever took to break the retainers loose. But I defer to others experience on the GS since I've only done valve adjustments on it

 

[Steve]

On an engine where the valves actually stick up, it's likely possible, but you have to remove the buckets and fabricate something to compress the springs to remove the retainers. Probably not impossible, but working inside the bucket wells and trying not to scratch them certainly makes it a bit more 'interesting'.

Besides using compressed air, I have also heard of it being done by packing some thin rope or string in through the spark plug hole.

.

 

[Guest]

I betcha a shop will pull the head.

 

[bwringer]

I've done valve seals on a shim-over-bucket engine before (not a GS) using an air hold.

I made a little angled widget out of aluminum bar that bolted to the cam cap holes and compressed the valve springs using a hunk of PVC with a window cut in it to reach the keepers. You could also use a rope in the cylinder to keep the valve from falling.

So yeah, it's possible. And if the head and base gaskets and the rings are OK (assume you've tested leakdown and such?), this would be my first choice method for getting this done.

As far as a shop in your area capable of this sort of thing, I have no idea. Good gravy, there's gotta be an old-school or dragbike shop somewhere in the DFW area.

The thing is, any decent shop (or grumpy old fart in his garage) that actually knows what they're doing will be absolutely covered up with work, so it's probably going to be a while before they can get to you and it won't be too cheap. Maybe hang around some vintage bike nights and ask around -- they don't want to be bothered by every yahoo with a busted sportbike and no money, so these places often aren't in the usual directories. You need to know a guy who knows a guy.

And of course, hopefully there are some GSR folks in that area who know a guy who knows a guy and can PM you some intel.

 

[Downs]

Its not a daily rider so I'll just put it on the backburner till I can get around to it. It drinks about a quart every 1000 miles. Compression good, nothing at all coming from the crankcase breather. Every once in q blue moon I'll get a little puff of smoke usually after startup.

 

[chuck hahn]

Joe Whelan is a member here and owner at VJ MOTO near Dallas. I suggest you get ahold of him ASAP.

 

[alke46]

Its not a daily rider so I'll just put it on the backburner till I can get around to it. It drinks about a quart every 1000 miles. Compression good, nothing at all coming from the crankcase breather. Every once in q blue moon I'll get a little puff of smoke usually after startup.

As they say in Aussie land, Crikey, you can not be complaining about a qt. every 1000 miles. Ride the snot out of that sucker. Of course you need to replace the 40 year old stem seals but my 79 model was using a qt. every 350-400 miles. That gets to be embarrassing when you go to rally and you are that guy that's pouring in a quart after your 300+ mile day.

Anyway, good luck to you.

 

[Charlie G]

Joe Whelan is a member here and owner at VJ MOTO near Dallas. I suggest you get ahold of him ASAP.

First person that came to my mind. I've seen many of his projects on the forum. Hope you follow this lead and he has time for you.

 

[TxGSrider]

First person that came to my mind. I've seen many of his projects on the forum. Hope you follow this lead and he has time for you.

Wow, that place is just a couple miles from my work and I have never heard of him. I may have to stop by.

 

[Downs]

Joe Whelan is a member here and owner at VJ MOTO near Dallas. I suggest you get ahold of him ASAP.

Checked out his website last night. Looks like a nice shop. I'll give him a call and see what we can do over there. Even if there is a wait time I'm fine with that, like I said it's not a daily rider but does have sentimental value and I'm willing to spend a bit to keep her on the road.

 

[Downs]

As they say in Aussie land, Crikey, you can not be complaining about a qt. every 1000 miles. Ride the snot out of that sucker. Of course you need to replace the 40 year old stem seals but my 79 model was using a qt. every 350-400 miles. That gets to be embarrassing when you go to rally and you are that guy that's pouring in a quart after your 300+ mile day.

Anyway, good luck to you.

I'm used to no oil consumption lol. 4-6,000 miles between changes with no adding oil is normal for me.

 

[Guest]

Joe does top-notch work, for sure.

 

[alke46]

I'm used to no oil consumption lol. 4-6,000 miles between changes with no adding oil is normal for me.

On which bike?

 

[Aussie Rob]

I lived in Rockwall and worked in Greenville 8 years ago. I found Clark's Wheeled Sports at 8705 Wesley St Greenville purely by accident.
The owner, John, was a former Suzuki dealer. He loves and raced all things GS, he is also into Vincents. He must be close to eighty now. I didn't get any work done through him but found him a wealth of knowledge on old Suzukis. He still had original GS tanks on the shelf, some with shotgun damage due to an after hours uninvited guests. The workshop is old school and he always busy repairing all sorts of bike. Mainly older ones. He is close and it couldn't hurt to drop in for a chat.
Hope this helps.
Rob K.

 

[Downs]

On which bike?

Take your pick

00 Bandit 1200S
07 KLR 650
04 FJR1300
03 BMW R1150R
08 BMW F800ST
07 Yamaha FZ6
97 DR350SE
04 VSTROM650

None of those bike ever burned a drop of oil that I know of and the oil is checked regularly in a PM cycle I have for each vehicle in the garage. Maybe I've been exceptionally lucky over the years. If Ihave to pack a quart of oil on the bike with me I find that mildly inconvienent. I mean that's the room a bottle of whiskey could be using

 

[Downs]

I lived in Rockwall and worked in Greenville 8 years ago. I found Clark's Wheeled Sports at 8705 Wesley St Greenville purely by accident.
The owner, John, was a former Suzuki dealer. He loves and raced all things GS, he is also into Vincents. He must be close to eighty now. I didn't get any work done through him but found him a wealth of knowledge on old Suzukis. He still had original GS tanks on the shelf, some with shotgun damage due to an after hours uninvited guests. The workshop is old school and he always busy repairing all sorts of bike. Mainly older ones. He is close and it couldn't hurt to drop in for a chat.
Hope this helps.
Rob K.

I grew up west of Forth Worth and moved over here Oct of last year. I did run across Clark's. Place is still there, I've bought a few parts there and he has a GStank on the self in front of the register. Place looks like a gold mine of old bikes in the back but from what I've been told it's not a MC salvage yard lol.

 

[alke46]

Take your pick

00 Bandit 1200S
07 KLR 650
04 FJR1300
03 BMW R1150R
08 BMW F800ST
07 Yamaha FZ6
97 DR350SE
04 VSTROM650

None of those bike ever burned a drop of oil that I know of and the oil is checked regularly in a PM cycle I have for each vehicle in the garage. Maybe I've been exceptionally lucky over the years. If Ihave to pack a quart of oil on the bike with me I find that mildly inconvienent. I mean that's the room a bottle of whiskey could be using

All of these bikes you want me to choose from are all light years advanced compared to a 78 GS 1000. I would doubt if any older (78-79) GS 1000 could make a claim of no oil consumption, especially since most of them would be getting their oil changed after 3,000 miles or so.

 

[chuck hahn]

None of the 3 78 and 1000s I have use oil. But then again I did complete engine rebuilds when I restored them. If all is correct with the engine and gaskets they dont use oilk.