My 1981 GS650G Thread

[Skateguy50]

Aside from not filling up the tank or charging the battery it runs GREAT! I had no idea how much power this 650 had the capabilities for till now. It runs so smooth and with the fresh clutch springs it has no trouble hanging onto that power.

I know you 1100 folks reading will laugh a bit but I was happy with what I thought the 650 could do before, but the extra HP I found buried in carbon buildup and old rings is great.

 

[Macguyver]

That is good to hear, but now you have me wanting to do a tear-down on my engine. Must...hold...off...until...winter...hehehe.

All I know is it will be one heck of a lot easier than the Yamaha Maxim I did for a friend. Good GAWD! Whoever decided to bolt EVERYTHING on it to the backbone of the bike should have been shot! Or at least sent to learn from Suzuki how to build a bike.

 

[Skateguy50]

Yea save that for winter, it wasnt technically that hard (I survived it after all) just took a while grabbing 2-3 hrs a night as I could to work on it and waiting on parts from the dealer...

Get the bike running as it is and save that, my engine was only at 31k miles and could have gone a lot longer if it wasnt for leaky gaskets. I hope to never open the engine up past the valve cover again.

 

[AF_Bill]

Mac, looks beautiful!!!!! Get out and ride!!!! Does this mean ya MIGHT hit up the Red River Rally next year?? That would be awesome if ya could. Anyway, all the little details that you've done flow perfectly.

Skate, also followed you're engine rebuild. Glad you're up and runnin too.

 

[Skateguy50]

Mac you are on pace to make Moosehead this summer, we have some Canadian friends visit from the other side of Maine each year.

Although it would be at least a 2 day ride in and back, some folks could like put you up for a night if needed.

 

[Macguyver]

Mac, looks beautiful!!!!! Get out and ride!!!! Does this mean ya MIGHT hit up the Red River Rally next year?? That would be awesome if ya could. Anyway, all the little details that you've done flow perfectly.

Skate, also followed you're engine rebuild. Glad you're up and runnin too.

I would think next year's RRR will be a must do! Count me in.

Mac you are on pace to make Moosehead this summer, we have some Canadian friends visit from the other side of Maine each year.

Although it would be at least a 2 day ride in and back, some folks could like put you up for a night if needed.

I will do my best to make Moosehead this year, the bike will be ready. I guess I need to get my passport. The online pre-registration is supposed to be the way to go. It lets you walk in and out in under an hour from what I have heard. Let me see what I can do.

 

[Macguyver]

Quick Video Walk-around

Quick Video Walk-around

Just a quick little video I shot yesterday. I am almost done, I have maybe a good weekends' worth of stuff to finish up.

Good news, I finally decided on a headlight style! I decided to go with the 4" dual headlights, one is a 35W trapezoid pattern for low beam, and the other is a 30W spot pattern for high beam. I tried them out last night, and wow, so much better than the small dual projectors I had on there.

I apologize for the poor sound quality, my camera really doesn't like loud noises, or the rain, and there there was plenty of both.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YqUq4m63lc

I will be updating with much more soon, weather permitting of course. I still can't get over how much rain we have received so far this year! It seems like everytime I can work on the bike, I am rained out. Oh well, at least it isn't snow!

 

[Rein]

How are those airfilters working out?

 

[Macguyver]

How are those airfilters working out?

I have been considering using the stock manifold and a large cone style filter for a while, but it seems that if I went that direction, I would have to move some of the stuff I have in place now. So I took a closer look at why I was having trouble tuning the filters I have on there now. That is when I discovered I have at least a couple leaks in the exhaust connections.

I am going to pick up some more of the muffler repair resin tape tonight so I can make some seals for where the pipes join together. Then I should hopefully be good to go.

If I am still having trouble tuning the carbs after I repair the exhaust seals, I will be ordering some larger jets, and I may take another look at the manifold/large cone filter idea since I saw it done on another GSR members' bike, and it did look very sweet indeed. It filled in the open space under the seat very nicely.

I just happen to have a large cone filter soaking in vinegar right now to clean off the corrosion on the wire mesh, so we will see which direction I will jump on this. Either way, I should be done soon!

 

[Skateguy50]

Looks great, I didnt even notice the side mirrors under the bars till the video. How is the view behind you on them? I am in need of replacing mine with something better. The cheap ebay ones I got are falling apart and with the daytonas no longer give me enough view range.

If you do make it to moosehead that would be great, looks like you could do mostly a canadian trip and cross in Maine. I wont be there till Friday night but lots go for the full 5 days.

 

[Tim Tom]

Cool video. I love the look of the headlights, it looks much nicer that those vertically stacked duo you had on there previously. Seriously cool bike, but I'm not sure you have enough gauges on your dash :lol:

 

[Macguyver]

Looks great, I didnt even notice the side mirrors under the bars till the video. How is the view behind you on them? I am in need of replacing mine with something better. The cheap ebay ones I got are falling apart and with the daytonas no longer give me enough view range.

If you do make it to moosehead that would be great, looks like you could do mostly a canadian trip and cross in Maine. I wont be there till Friday night but lots go for the full 5 days.

The view behind me is excellent! I can see the entire width of the road behind me, at about 10-15ft behind the bike. Mind you, having a pillion passenger would narrow this down since they would be sitting in the field of view.

I will be doing the online passport thing this AM to see if I can get it in time for Moosehead. Coincidentally, that is right around the time I am planning to take a week or two off for vacation. :-k

Cool video. I love the look of the headlights, it looks much nicer that those vertically stacked duo you had on there previously. Seriously cool bike, but I'm not sure you have enough gauges on your dash :lol:

Thanks for saying so Tim Tom, I too am really diggin' the way the duals look compared to the stacked tube look. They "fit" much better with the style I am going for. They are standard rubber tractor light pods. This makes them very vibration resistant, and very, well, inexpensive, with my discount at work. The only metal on them is the mounting plate, which is riveted through the thick rubber. They are a real bear of a job to swap out the sealed beam lights, but extremely durable.

As far as the gauges go, I will be adding more into the instrument cluster. Just a GPS though, with an integrated rear view camera in the tail section somewhere. I will likely be doing up a mount off of the tank for the GPS since I've kinda run out of room between the grips.

I will be doing a fairly large update soon, I just need a night of decent weather to finish off a few things, and shoot some video/pictures.

 

[AF_Bill]

........I will be adding more into the instrument cluster. Just a GPS though, with an integrated rear view camera in the tail section somewhere.

Back up camera???? Hmmmmmm That seems like a pretty cool idea Mac. Might have to look into that as well. Can't watch the video or see the pics at work but I can imagine how cool it looks now.

 

[Macguyver]

Back up camera???? Hmmmmmm That seems like a pretty cool idea Mac. Might have to look into that as well. Can't watch the video or see the pics at work but I can imagine how cool it looks now.

I can't speak as to how "cool" she looks (too close, not objective enough), but she's definitely coming together nicely now.

The GPS I've ordered has an A/V jack, and will accept any NTSC signal. Wether it be from a camera, DVD player, whatever. The distributer I ordered it from couldn't tell me if I can record the input on the GPS(which has direct access to the Windows CE Operating System, btw), so I will be futzing around with it when it shows up in the mail. It would be very cool if I could record the video from the camera, easy-peasy chase cam anyone?

 

[Skateguy50]

Ahh so thats what all the LEDs are about, saving some juice for fancy electronics. I like it

 

[Macguyver]

Ahh so thats what all the LEDs are about, saving some juice for fancy electronics. I like it

Yep, bringing the bike into the 21st century with some high-end electronic gadgets that are completely superfluous to it's operation. :lol:

Now if only I can figure out where I stashed my 400W power inverter so I can get that mounted up...I think the last time I used it was up in Grundy Provincial Park, maybe it's in my camping supplies trunk.:-k

I plan on being able to work on almost anything, almost anywhere as long as I have my bike with me. Sure the 400W inverter won't power my welder, but it will power almost any of my other power tools.

I hope I am not the first to think of their bike as a portable generator that can be rode to where it is needed.

 

[Skateguy50]

Im to cheap to buy a 12v version of stuff like cell phone chargers, so I keep power inverters handy as well. I got a nice small one that even has some usb chargers for things like my ipod shuffle. The big one is actually in the entertainment center right now as the PS2 likes to overheat behind the glass. You see the big power inverter has a very big heat sink and fins, so I put it upside down and put the PS2 on it, that way I can watch a full movie without it skipping half way through... AC in the house might work too but whatever we get by.

Just remember even if you can pull that much juice, how much can it charge back up if you are not moving at decent RPM. I only charge stuff while riding.

 

[Macguyver]

Just remember even if you can pull that much juice, how much can it charge back up if you are not moving at decent RPM. I only charge stuff while riding.

Isn't that what the idle adjust screw is for? :lol:

Yeah, I know, too high of RPM + no air movement = Overheated engine = 1 very sad Mac

This is one of the main reasons I put an ammeter and a voltmeter on my bike, so I can monitor the power drain when running the inverter. It's also why I seem to have "accidentally" removed the little block on the lighting switch so I can kill the lights when I need to just run the inverter.

Heck, even if I drain the battery, I know I can bump start my bike fairly easily. I had to the other night when I accidentally left the key in the ignition, with the headlights and running lights on for a half hour. There was just enough juice in the battery to make the starter sound like a sick cat.

Two attempts on level ground and she started right up though!

 

[Skateguy50]

Any updates, you seem VERY close to having a road worthy (and legal) ride capable of the journey to Greenville Maine. The 10 day forecast is starting to show up for the camping and looks sunny and just cold enough to keep the bugs away.

If you need a place to crash (not really on your way but could be) it would be a long day here and another 5 hrs or so to the camp the next day.

 

[Macguyver]

Any updates, you seem VERY close to having a road worthy (and legal) ride capable of the journey to Greenville Maine. The 10 day forecast is starting to show up for the camping and looks sunny and just cold enough to keep the bugs away.

If you need a place to crash (not really on your way but could be) it would be a long day here and another 5 hrs or so to the camp the next day.

I am very close to being done!

I am at the point of just saying screw it, and putting the stock airbox back in since it appears that no one can get me the jets I need since they appear to be backordered everywhere.

While I am at it, I could use some time to actually work on the bike, and not be driving all over the province for other stuff.

I shouldn't be surprised, every year it ends up like this, the tail end of summer is crazy busy for me between weddings, birthdays, helping people move/renovate/work on their vehicles, attending events as tech support for the ATM company, people dropping by for an unplanned visit, etc, etc, I just can't get enough "me" time.

Maybe I should just tell people I am taking the next month off from doing favors/attending social events so I can finish what is important to me before the snow flies. Or maybe I should stop being such a grouch, and suck it up. Meh.

Tomorrow night I will be doing all of my update pics/videos, weather permitting. I would do it tonight, but I have a birthday party to go to right after work, and I won't likely get home till late tonight/early tomorrow morning.

I really do hate to say it, but it looks like I will not be able to make Moosehead this year. I did the online passport thing, and the earliest appointment I can get for picking up my passport is September 15th.
Too late for Moosehead. I will be there 100% next year though, and once my bike is on the road, I am going on a whirlwind tour of wherever the road take me for two weeks. I will see where that is, when I get there.