Ken's '82 850

[Kruder]

So, there's a handful of issues I need to address and I'm looking for some pointers.

I've read the welcome pages and wow, talk about a gulp from the fire hose!

I've done some searches (wifey is somewhat annoyed, borderline pi$$ed as I've been on here most of the day) so I guess I'm looking for things that are obvious to the experienced and to document my work as I'm doing it.

I don't know how many previous owner's exist for this bike but I'm fairly sure that none of them have done it justice. The odo shows 17k miles. Based on the age and what I've been reading on here it looks likely that it would show 117k if it were mechanically possible.

I've attached a pic of one problem: Some dingus decided to fill the tach port with RTV.

When the tach was plugged I suspect that is what led to the larger, more pressing problem: I'm blowing oil out the left side valve cover, around the #1 plug area. I suspect the same dingus didn't use a real gasket and just ran RTV around the valve cover and called it good enough.

So please, bear with me, and thank you all in advance for the help which will be given.

I have a manual on the way to help keep me on track. I'm not a gearhead by trade but I'm not scared to buy what I need for tools and ask the stupid questions when necessary.

Ken

 

[GSXR7ED]

Wow, previous owner is a dufus. Replace the valve cover gasket as well as the cam chain gasket.

Put up some pics of your bike too.


Ed

EDIT: forgot to say, adjust the valves.

 

[Steve]

See that bolt with the "Phillips" head on it? Remove it, you will be able to remove the tach drive. That will make cleaning it MUCH easier.

The leak out the left side: is it from under the chrome cover on the end? If so, it's the "half-moon", which is easy to replace. You will want to check your valve adjustment anyway, replace all the half-moons and the valve cover gasket as part of the valve adjustment job.

.

 

[Kruder]

Alrighty, I now have my Clymer manual in hand and will start tearing in to this.

Do we have a recommended source for gaskets? I've seen kits that look to rebuild the engine but I don't want to buy garbage parts and have them fail in 50 miles.

Part numbers would be helpful, if you have them.

Thanks,

Ken

 

[Kruder]

I found this on Amazon. Opinions?


http://www.amazon.com/Vesrah-Complete-Gasket-Kit-VG-377/dp/B000GV8LKO/ref=sr_1_2?s=automotive&ie=UTF8&qid=1467069363&vehicle=1982-1-18010-20-----14190------3-0&sr=1-2&ymm=1982%3Asuzuki%3Ags850g

 

[JTGS850GL]

I'd go OEM on the gasket. Much of that set is junk and shouldn't be used anyway. I know you just spent money on the Clymer manual but you should go here and download the Factory Service Manual.

 

[Steve]

I will second the vote to go OEM on the gaskets. Especially if you are wanting to do the base gasket and the head gasket. If you just buy OEM gaskets for those, and get the Vesrah kit for everything else, you will spend about $5 less than just getting a complete OEM set.

And, ... I don't think I have ever seen a cam chain tensioner gasket included in any of the aftermarket sets, so you would have to get one of them, too. There might be other small gaskets, but that one stands out in my mind right now.

.

 

[Kruder]

Ok, I'm game for the OEM gaskets but I called the local Suzuki shop and they couldn't find them in the system for this year/model.

The Suzuki web site will let me search for dealers but not for parts inventories.

So again, I'm open to suggestions on where to get the gaskets I'll need.

Thanks,

Ken

 

[GSXR7ED]

Ok, I'm game for the OEM gaskets but I called the local Suzuki shop and they couldn't find them in the system for this year/model.

The Suzuki web site will let me search for dealers but not for parts inventories.

So again, I'm open to suggestions on where to get the gaskets I'll need.

Thanks,

Ken

I've used these guys...they are in Florida.

http://www.boulevardsuzuki.com/


Ed

 

[geol]

Go to a website like Partzilla... there are plenty of them online that sell OEM parts and look at their parts fiche for your year bike and model. Get the part number. Look at the parts fiche for the tach drive and there are two parts needed to restore this. One is an oil seal and the other an oring and you probably need the drive part that meshes with the cam shaft as well. After you clean up the RTV, leave the valve cover off the bike and it will be easier to clean up enough of the RTV in the tach drive to get it out. If you can find the previous owner, buy a potato at the grocery store and stick it in his tail pipe and put a note on his windshield thanking him for his thoughtful fix of an oil leak. You will understand this type of thankfulness once you start trying to clean up the RTV bwhahaha When you remove the carbs to get the valve cover off, carefully examine the carb holders for signs of similar RTV adventures.

 

[Kruder]

Been a while since I've been able to update this.

I've been following the guide, which is incredible in it's detail.

So here's the plugs:


More pics to follow...

 

[Kruder]

And it would appear I can only attach one pic per post so....


The battery:

 

[Kruder]

And some of the mess left behind from the clown with the RTV

 

[Kruder]

So tonight I'm finally ordering the gaskets.

But I've never needed to use feeler gauges before and I'm unsure about where I'm supposed to be measuring. A MotionPro Shim tool? Buckets?

Not sure what I'm looking for here and the valve adjust guide doesn't explain too well.

Any references or pics available to explain?

Thanks!

 

[alke46]

This information is also in the Factory Service Manual (FSM). Good luck with your endeavor and welcome to the site.

Did you read Nessism's list of mistakes for newbies? Really worth while read.

 

[alke46]

http://members.dslextreme.com/users/bikecliff/ this is the site you need to visit.

 

[Burque73]

Hi Ken.

Maybe this will help. This is from a head I have torn down. The bucket and shim here are what's under the cam lobe. Slide the feeler gauge under the lobe, on top of the shim.

Getting the shim out can be tricky. Tweezers work well. If you don't have a micrometer pick one up. Got mine at Home Depot. Those shims might not be labeled correctly, if at all.

Roger

 

[Burque73]

I made one of those tools to push the bucket down. Much easier to order one. Check out this thread.

http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showthread.php?241625-Valve-shim-tool

 

[Burque73]

One more thing. You may have read about the zip tie method. That works too. Here's what it does from the inside. Just holds the valve open for you.

 

[geol]

First, get an old butter knife out of your kitchen drawer and narrow the blade end and cut the blade end off and sharpen. Makes a good RTV removal tool. The better you can clean that glop off, the more chance your valve cover gasket will work as it should. It likes clean metal to seat on. The reason for the RTV in the tach drive area was there obviously was a leak. Get a new tach drive seal and oring and that will fix that problem.

I recommend you get the Motion Pro valve shim tool. It works; there are other ways to go about this but that tool seems the simplest to me. Look at your manual. When you get ready to adjust valve clearances, be aware that your bike most likely has been neglected and you will need some new valve shims. The kit that is sold with the "assortment" is pretty useless as they supply far too many real fat shims which are typically not the ones used. Get a digital caliper from Harbor Freight or the like. It is fine for measuring the thickness of the shims you remove to measure. First time around you should measure all of them and record what you have in there even if you have the required clearance. .

Take your plugs out and put some rags of the plug holes (don't ask me how I know to do this...). This makes checking much easier. Get a 19mm socket for turning the nut on the crank end under the points cover. Rotate the crankshaft to the location specified in your manual and you will be able to check two shims. Before doing anything else, rotate the buckets so that the notch faces inward. Check the clearance and record. Then use the tool to pry down the bucket by fitting the tool to its edge. It will stay in place. Then use a dental pick or very small flat screwdriver to pop the shim up. Keep in mind that the oil under the shim will resist this but it will pop up. To fetch it out, I use one of little magnets that look like a pen and extend. The magnet is easier than tweezers but they will work as well.

Measure the shim thickness and record it. Oh, if you get into a situation where you can't spin the bucket with the cam lobe off it, this means the valve clearance is really tight and you will just have to remove the shim and replace it with a significantly thinner one (maybe 2 or 3 sizes) and recheck the clarance.

If you need to swap the shim to gain the required clearance, a member here has a chart of sorts for doing this but you can also learn to do the math in your head as you go. If you don't have the right shim on hand, order it. There are sometimes eBay auctions where folks sell shim lots where the sizes may be better than what is supplied in the K&L kit. You may also be able to find someone local to you up in the frozen North who would be willing to swap some shims with you. Follow the instructions in the manual for cam position and repeat till all valves are completed.

This would be a dandy time to take care of the nasty mess made by the RTV with the tach drive. It will probably be a bit tough to remove the sleeve since the guy who went crazy with the RTV effectively glued it in place and hopefully I am wrong. Not sure if there is anything out there that will loosen RTV or help remove it.