Motorcycle teardown

[midnightcafe]

Thought I'd keep a recording of my tear down of a 1979 gs750L for reference/advice. I've been waiting for december to take apart my bike for a good restoration, but I have a week left until school so why not now? I've searched for a specific teardown order but couldn't find any in any forums. If you know a good recommendation order or website I'd be more than happy to consider it.

go to http://www.digitalpizza.com/CBX Restoration Story/Part 4.htm for reference.

To begin I laid out a new garage setup, with a sectional-type work station, nothing too fancy. Comfort is the most important here, I hated the days when I used a swivel bar stool as a work bench! Tools are key so have them ready and go buy LOTS of zipper baggies, ranging from sandwich size to gallon size. Don't forget labels/masking tape. Get long lasting camera batteries, you'll need them if you're taking reference photos. Cardboard on the ground will collect any dirt and I've got cardboard boxes for storing parts. Write a journal recording your progress/ anything odd you'll need to remember. I was stupid back when i rebuilt my carbs, writing post-it notes in each carb baggy-avoid this, I never counted the number of turns for the pilot air screws, snapping one months after disassembling them. I'll be
Here's intial pictures:

I hate how the condition is so much worse in person than in photos!

the workspace.

 

[midnightcafe]

I started with the cosmetic parts first: seat, side covers, tank, and then the battery. After that I removed the intake setup: airbox, carbs, all the hoses, and intake boots. Here is when I went my own way in order of disassembly since I couldn't really find a thread detailing tear down. I took out the brakes but left the master cylinders. Finally I took out the exhaust, the most laborious chore yet. Really follow your owner's manual on removal using a rubber mallet and such tools when necessary since the instructions don't call for the removal of a rotten exhaust! end result:

Tomorrow I'll remove the wiring harness- would it be better to take it out with all connections remaining or remove in sections?

 

[Larry D]

Great!

Great!

This is gonna be a good one.
I'm going to be following this closely.
How far you going? Down to the frame and back up again?
Going to tear the engine down too?
Oh boy I can't wait!!

Go Man Go !!!

 

[midnightcafe]

This is gonna be a good one.
I'm going to be following this closely.
How far you going? Down to the frame and back up again?
Going to tear the engine down too?
Oh boy I can't wait!!

Go Man Go !!!

Frame up, but I won't go into the engine-that's too deep for me. I've spent about $200 so far on basics.... my spendings are: kreem tank cleaner, plugs, ignition kit, carb gaskets, one rebuild kit, oil/filter, carb/intake o-rings, intake boot screws. plan on spending the most amount on painting the frame since I can sandblast everything at my friend's. Paint I might get a deal, my roommate's dad has a setup. I'm glad I'm getting this done now so that it'll be done in conjunction with my engineering project shown here:
http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showthread.php?t=125190

which is basically a redesign of rider ergonomics- adjustable rearsets, handlebars and risers, new seat, blahblah.

 

[journerr]

I'm watching too !! Thanks for sharing the process !!

 

[1978gs550E]

This is definitely really interesting. I'm going to be watching and taking notes. I'm going to be rebuilding my bike come 0ctober/November so hopefully I can learn a thing or two from this.

 

[midnightcafe]

uh-oh!

uh-oh!

So I'm still recording my process with the wiring harness and there's a couple of wires I need to get to behind the sprocket cover. BIG PROBLEM!

There's two screws under the clutch cover that need to be removed to fully take the sprocket cover off. the lower one came off easy with the impact driver; the top one didn't have the clearance for the impact driver. I did everything I could to remove that stuck screw, only to have the head stripped in the end.... I picked up a screw extractor today and took a go at it. I had to drill a pilot hole into the screw for the extractor to grab the screw which was difficult because there's so little clearance!! I drilled little by little until finally the extractor caught. I slowly turned the T-wrench until I heard a SNAP! looked at my tool, and the tip broke off!!!!! the screw extractor is made of high carbon alloy steel so there's very little chance you can drill it out. It's about a quarter of the thread, So what options do I have? luckily this only has to do with the sprocket cover and won't cause any bodily harm, but it will still slow my progress down

I've read bout EDM in the garage section, seems like the only option for this

 

[SqDancerLynn1]

On something like that I just drill the head of the screw off. Get the rest after the cover is off.
You might be able to work the broken piece loose with small needle nose pliers

 

[midnightcafe]

Beside an initial meltdown, I'm confident that stripped screw will be dealt with sometime soon. this means I need the wheels and handlebar for transportation. I finished with the wiring harness which required taking a lot of extra components out as well. the bike is looking rather naked at the moment:

 

[1978gs550E]

Looks pretty nice. Sorry to hear about the stripped screw. I was wondering if you taking out and replacing all the electrical stuff? I just started my stripdown (I'm going to start my own thread later tonight I think) and I've almost got the engine out (1 screw left). I am going all the way down to the frame and was a little worried about the electrical aspect which is why I'm curious.

 

[midnightcafe]

success!!

success!!

I finally removed the screw behind the clutch cover and on the sprocket cover. I broke the tip of a high carbon alloy steel screw extractor in the screw head, making it near impossible to drill the screw out. The screw was about three inches in the clutch cover of the sprocket case, making it impossible to drill anywhere except the 10 o'clock position on the head. As a final attempt I drove large iron nails into the head, sharpening the tips every dozen blows. This took about an hour. Between sessions I used the drill w/titainium coated bits, literally progressing in amounts of metal dust/small shavings. About four hours total and the center of the head was a crater excluding the screw extractor. I hammered a flathead into the side, angling it counterclockwise. This was enough to move the screw a quarter turn, the light at the end of the tunnel!

here's the culprit:

rusted around the threads

there's not much material on that screwhead. Regarding the wiring harness, if it isn't broke, I'm not gonna **** with it

 

[Guest]

i sure have the experience of leaving the extractor bit tip in the head of a screw and pulling my hair out...
but then i learnt that those extractors are meant to be used only once the screw/bolt has been drilled THROUGH completely so the pressure on the threads is released somewhat - now the extractor bit works a treat every time

 

[midnightcafe]

i sure have the experience of leaving the extractor bit tip in the head of a screw and pulling my hair out...
but then i learnt that those extractors are meant to be used only once the screw/bolt has been drilled THROUGH completely so the pressure on the threads is released somewhat - now the extractor bit works a treat every time

same here, I couldn't even get at the damn screw with the correct bit, but my distorted senses thought I should just go for it

 

[asetech]

Normally I am able to get screws out with a good center punch hitting it at an angle to loosen the screw.

 

[1978gs550E]

good to hear you got the screw out.

 

[midnightcafe]

Rear end is off the bike, now I need to take the front end, stands, front sprocket/chain and motor out. I made the silly mistake of taking the rear wheel out before removing the front sprocket so I'll just have to be creative.

see that caked dirt and grease near the sprocket?...

this sums up the bike's condition.

 

[1978gs550E]

Damn that's dirty. At first from your pictures I thought the bike was in decent shape but that is filthy. I've been slacking on getting my engine out

 

[toolman]

glad to hear you got the darn screw out. i have been there many times and i found that if you get a quarter in drive torques bit set .so when you strip the screw find the bit that fits a touch too big and drive it in tapping with a hammer . the tapping loostens the tight threads and you can use all your quarter in drive stuff to remove it. the best part is that the torques bit wont break off but if it strips use the next size bigger and repeat.......toolman

 

[midnightcafe]

almost done, I would remove the front end off first so you avoid this mess...

a full week later:

the bike just barely leans forward with the front wheel off, enough to slow down the process and require an extra hand to counterbalance the frame. Anyways I just need to remove the motor from the bike. ANY ADVICE? I'm thinking about laying on the shift lever side-do I remove the motor mounts then?

 

[TheCafeKid]

On some of the frames, and i dunno about yours, the 750s for sure, but there is a welded frame mount, so the motor can only come out one direction. It has been suggested that you can put an old tire down, lay the frame and motor over, undo the mounts and lift the frame away from the motor. Never tried this method, I simply get some extra hands and get it out upright. I would suggest, that if you try this, you drain the oil completely before hand.