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GS450 Rebuild

The twins have a more relaxed 28 degree rake, but a substantial amount of offset in the triples to compensate to make the steering still quick (very short sporty trail spec resulting). The GS 4 cyl models mostly come with a 27 degree rake and less triple clamp offset. A 19-inch on the front of a GS twin may slow down the steering too much, as well as add more rotating weight and unsprung weight. I would look into retrofitting the first few years of GSXR front wheel. 18x2.50, but then you have to figure out how to fit the back wherl, custom spacers, sprockeT carrier cush drive swapping to get the correct chain line, swingarm width tire clearance checking....
If possible, then running the shortest front tire possible, 100 / 80 - 18 maybe. Then running a single disc GS550 fork or a GS500 fork in 83 GS1100E triples, both of which could use the twin pot calipers and 310 mm 98-99 CBR900RR rotor. The triples would have less offset than the original 450, but the shorter diameter tire would make up for that
Clearly 77-79 GS twin wire wheels are a far easier route, as you can lace up some $100 rims from MikesXS.com in 2.50x18 rear and 2.15x18 front and you will end up with a substantially better contact patch and ability to run widely available tires like the Battlax BT45 & BT45V (higher speed rating), which comes in dual compound for the rear only, which is where they wear flat.
Then ditching the spindly 33mm stock forks fir a set of 35mm GS550/650 forks or a set of 37mm GS500 forks in 82-83 GS1100E triples, with appropriate fork braces, will be a HUGE upgrade and takes GS axle diameter (need axle spacers from a 37mm fork bigger GS - 78-79 1000C/N may do the trick).
 
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Cheers Chuck, all handy info to know. I've contemplated what to do with the caliper actually as one of the caliper axles has a rubber boot on it and mine seems to have expanded just enough to make the front brake grabby at walking speed. It all cleans up nicely and when moving it works well, it's just the walking pace speed is bad. I ordered a new one but it comes without the rubber and there's no separate item on the fiche for the rubber either.

I've also considered a GS500 front swap with the 17" wheel but then the rear being a disc is an issue. I'll have to check into your suggestions, haven't given it a whole heap of thought just yet.

Sorry for the hijack Sam!
 
GS500 swap with a GS1100E 82-83 (non-leading axle) aluminum triple clamp set is a nice bolt on but give you more trail (more relaxed steering) than stock. As does a 19" wheel. That's why I suggest an 18" in the shortest Tire overall diameter possible (100/80 or 90/90) to lessen the trail, and then longer shocks and/or dropping G the triples down on the forks .5"-1" to steepen the rake, which will also quicken the steering.
Look at those BT39 & BT39SS tires, they are more if a canyon carver/track day tire, but if only running the front, and on a light bike, may be a good choice matched with a dual compound BT45 rear.
 
Can you get a twins, 18 front with dual disk?

No, the 18x1.60 front mag wheel hubs are not drilled for the rotor on the right side, only left. They could be drilled and tapped I suppose, I'm not sure if the center register for the rotor is finish machined on those wheels either.
Now if you have a wire spoke wheel front disc GS twin, those are the same front hubs as a base model 77/78-79 GS550, GS750, GS1000, which are always drilled for dual disc, but will have a plastic cover snapped over the right (unused) side. Internationally, there was a GS750DB model which came with dual front discs on wire wheels. We did not get that here in the USA unfortunately, & the stock front brake on a 77-79 base model 750 just SUCKS, & without a fork brace, the forks will twist under really hard braking. Thankfully we can easily upgrade to dual disc, & "twinpot" sliding 2 piston calipers and modern honda rotors, if we please!

My apologies Sam000Lee for the slight thread hijack...
 
All good info, thanks again Chuck! The BT39's are a no go, nothing suitable in a front with those unfortunately.
 
Okay it's been a little slow on this due to the freezing weather, other projects, and a new job. Over the weekend, I cleaned up some of the welds I had done and added a little bracing.
I was at a bit of a standstill for a couple weeks not being able to get the rear fender to sit where I wanted, but after a bit of hacking up I think I found a good position for it. I'll get a better position of how it looks up soon. Hopefully this weekend I can put some foam on it to mock up the shape for the seat before upholstering a cover.

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I put this paper towel in kind of as a joke:

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I'm looking for another one of these tanks if anybody has one lying around...

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I was on the fence about tearing the whole down to paint the frame in the interest of not making the bike unrideable for a longer but I'm going to go for it.



Here's what else has been keeping me busy:
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Okay so this has been slow going between work, taking advantage of the remainder of the year on my GS750, other projects/things I'm involved with. I've got a bit of momentum on my GS450 over the past couple weeks and had the chance to do the GS500 cylinder/piston swap as well as start putting things back together.

I don't really like new shiny parts and have been trying to use as much of the original stuff as possible - taking it apart giving it a good cleaning and then making it work with the new shape/stance of the bike.

I made a separate thread for that swap to consolidate information that I used in case anybody else wants to do this in the future. Link here.

The engine with the GS500 cylinder:

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Here's how the bike currently stands:

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I designed and 3d printed some velocity stacks at my job. They're printed using a "Durable" material that has some flexibility but not very good "creep" properties. I can see these deforming over time particularly since they're downwind from the engine block so might play print it in another material (we have a High Temp material that can withstand high temperatures but is more brittle).

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I'm running some CB350 bars that have holes for internal wiring and am pretty siked that I was able to get the wires on the control switch I got from DCC through them for nice clean bars:

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Currently re-doing the wiring. I made a from-scratch harness last year that I'm re-using most of. Contrary to I think at least a few others, I love wiring.

 
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hello - Again I'm back after a while with no updates. This time I'm done! I took last week off work and spent a bunch of time finishing some projects. For the GS, I finished up the wiring and seat upholstery and made sure everything was tightened up and road ready. This thing rips. I can definitely feel the extra power from the GS500 cylinder upgrade and it feels like the front wheel could even come up if I'm not careful. It's light, narrow, goes and stops fast and is super agile. I've been having loads of fun for the past five days blasting around. It's so much more fun in the city than my GS750 which feels like a bit of a clunker now :)


Before wrapping the seat:

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Nice work Sam, and yeah these are fun little bikes to throw around!

Looks like a pretty good end result you've got there. What was the end result of what you had to do for base and head gaskets etc. with the 500 cylinder swap? Was it literally just 500 pistons and cylinder with stock 450 gaskets or was there more to it?
 
Thanks, Pete!

For the cylinder swap, it was super straight forward. I used the GS500 cylinder head gasket and the GS450 base gasket and O-rings. I made a separate thread for the engine mods in order to consolidate all the info for anybody else who wants to do it and should update it after I get a few more miles on the bike. I still have a good set of GS500 cams I was thinking of using (I know you did that mod ;) ) but figured I should do one thing at a time.

https://www.thegsresources.com/_for...02-My-GS450-gt-GS500-Cylinder-and-Piston-Swap
 
Ah yes, thanks Sam, I had actually replied in that thread too but forgot all about it... good idea doing one thing at a time too!
 
Nice Sam, these are fun little bikes for sure so glad to see you're still enjoying it! Giving mine a refresh has certainly helped get it back on the fun meter for me, a whole different world of fun to the Kat but fun all the same!
 
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