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GS450S neaten up

  • Thread starter Thread starter wally
  • Start date Start date
wally said:
Thanx! It appears our graphics in South Africa differed from the ones in the states...

Took front wheel off tonight, washed and scuffed it. Plan to prep and hopefully paint it tomorrow.

btw - how does one remove the little chrome cap ends on the heads? I also need to refurbish the Suzuki tank emblems - any suggestions on how to paint the lettering?

thanx!
Click to expand...

Looking great Wally! More nice work :D

The chrome end caps are attached to the valve cover by two screws that are accessed from *underneath*.

You'll notice the bottom half of the end cap is just like a sheet of chromed metal, allowing access to the screws.

If you need to do valve adjustments, wait until you have the valve cover off and it will make it much easier.
 
Thanx Pete, I notice the black GS has one missing and I wanted to use one from the Cafe project in the meantime to round it off, so I won't be taking cylinder heads off. But I can't see how I would be able to get in underneath there to take one off...

I repainted the front wheel over the weekend. Got the fright of my life when the paint on the cap and the actual paint differed radically! Serious bling!!!
wheel1.jpg

wheel2.jpg


Then I remembered redoing my Ranchero's dash, I sprayed some chrome trim pieces and then clear coated it and the chrome went flat. Tried the same thing here and worked a treat!

wheel3.jpg


Letting the paint settle for a day or two, then I will tackle the face of the spokes and polish the lip.

Next weekend the rear wheel and the tank emblems in between.
 
Wally, I was torn between black and gold and went black. I did, however, paint the center of my brake rotor gold. I really like the gold. I think you ought to look at doing your rotor black; Just a thought. Whatever way you go, I think it's going to look great!
Niels
 
Nice!! Those came out as good as mine!! I even painted my brake centers gold. Haha.
 
Thank you for the kind words!

It is a real sense of accomplishment...I never managed to finish my 69 Ranchero - just too much of mammoth task, plus all the other personal reasons...

My rotors are black and though did cross my mind to just freshen them up a bit to match the new paint. I think I will do just that!

Forgot to mention I still have to put the grab rail on - only once I have aligned all the body panels. :D

Can't wait to ride her again!
 
Thanx! Currently having the lip and spoke faces of the rear wheel polished - got tired of trying to get into the nooks and crannies - along with rear drum brake cover.

Looks like I went about it the wrong way. :rolleyes:

Should have first got it polished, then taped off and painted, so it looks like I will have to redo the wheel painting. Guy showed me how to tape off properly and easily.

Now I know! :p

Ordered new carb boots for the cafe project and little cushions for the rear grab rail. Need to work on the tank emblems tonight.
 
Sure - I am getting the wheel back on Thursday, then I will snap some how-tos.
 
Parts fairy arrived today!

Albeit a very expensive fairy.. :mad: the misquoted me on the parts by not saying each, just a line saying "[FONT=Verdana, Helvetica, Arial]2x carb rubbers @ Rxxx" - no ea. at the end...

Busy fighting that one, but any case.

Got new intake boots and o-rings for the cafe project. Also bought the last 2 passenger rail cushions in South Africa it seems. Found GS450 being stripped around corner from me and 2 cushions look good, so I think I will take them.

2012-06-13-176.jpg


Getting the rear wheel tomorrow, then I can start putting it all together! Will wait on the front wheel polishing for a month or so - no bucks right now... :(

Also have to find the electrical drain issue.

Then look at getting the other 450 up and running to see what the state is of the motor.
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So this is for Soyanarchisto to show the taping process. Some of you might know this (or have better tips), but this was new to me. :D

Simple, but like any prepwork, takes some time to complete:

1. You will need:
Masking tape (various widths if you really want to) - I prefer painters tape which is less tacky than standard masking tape, but I was running low on it.
NT cutter/craft knife blade
Loads of patience and some time.

2012-06-16-191.jpg


2. Taping:
I taped off the outer section first, then laid down tape over the polished spokes (thinner tape might cut down on your wastage).
2012-06-16-196.jpg


3. Rub down the tape:
So it sticks well - especially to the edges.
2012-06-16-195.jpg


4. Trimming:
Using your NT cutter blade, drag it softly at an angle along the edge of the spoke a few times, until you see it scuffing through (it goes faster the more you progress).
2012-06-16-200.jpg


Pull tape off slowly
2012-06-16-202.jpg


Perfectly masked spoke
2012-06-16-203.jpg


and not the way I went the first time by painted the spoke, sanding it down, trying to buff it back to shine! :o

That's how you learn, I suppose...

My other tape was crap and left some residue on the polished sections, so I need to wash it off and do quick buff at home:
2012-06-17-205.jpg
 
write up is great, the only thing I did differently, was I cut the tape using a brand new blade, instead of scoring it as your picture shows, I found if I got the right angle and the tape was pressed down really well, I was able to cut the excess, and ended up with a much cleaner edge

it's all trial and error, always do what works best for you.....

2012-06-16-200.jpg
 
Finally got the rear wheel back in place - getting the exhausts to co-operate was a mission, but they are on!

2012-06-23-212.jpg

2012-06-23-211.jpg

2012-06-23-213.jpg


Busy with tank emblems and a few odds end ends to finish up.

Two big things are the oil leak on the cam tensioner:
2012-06-23-216.jpg


And the electrical/battery issue. I have it on battery tender. Checked volts before turning ignition on and it was around 12.8V, switched on ignition and lights and it dropped to 11.5V or there about.

So I hope it might be a bad battery and not something else.

I also noticed the carb has no choke on it, which makes the cold starts really hard. Any way of adding that back? Not sure why it is off?
 
Looking real good Wally! Nice effort :)

As for the voltage drop with the key turning on, that could be due to dirty contacts in the igntion switch and kill switch.

I was losing 2 - 2.5v initially but after dismantling and cleaning them I only lose something like 0.5v now.
 
Will check that out Pete, I had an issue earlier in the year where I rode to work and back (around 40-odd km round trip).

Stopped off at hardware store, came out and battery was dead. Also, when I put it on the battery tender after a run it takes 4+ hours to be fully charged and back on maintenance mode...

Also looking at ordering parts to fix cam tension leak soon. :)
 
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