New Member, found an old GS650GL

[slickware]

Hey all.
New to the forums, but wanted to thank everyone in advance as I've been lurking & using them pretty heavily during my latest project.

Found an '83 GS650GL about 2 months ago on craigslist near Dallas. Guy was asking $600 because it had been sitting in his (dirty) garage for 2+ years (with 1/4 tank of gas. ugh.) and didn't start or run.

I showed up with a spare battery and got it to crank - was good enough for me. Bought it and trucked it home and went to work.

Some before pics - not the best pics, but you can see how absolutely filthy this poor bike was.

(edited due to huge images, whoops)

 

[tkent02]

Very good, welcome to the forum. Got any current pics?

 

[slickware]

First step was giving it a good home. Kids didn't care that it wasn't going anywhere - as far as they were concerned, it worked just fine.

Next step was getting the filth cleaned off it so I could work without getting covered in 2+ years of some dude's nasty garage-dust.
Took steel wool and barkeep's friend to all the chrome bits, and some fine sandpaper to the really bad ones. Starting to look like a decent bike.

Taillight and directionals are cracked. Plus, ugliest tail ever. Was this really stock? It's so unbelievably large.

 

[slickware]

Next up, while waiting for some parts to arrive, I did the regular maintenance I assumed a bike that'd been sitting for that long would need.
Drained and flushed the gas tank. Replaced fuel lines and filter.
Drained/filled oil, and rear gear oil. New plugs, new battery. A bunch of wiring updates. Had the best garage helper, too.

Some parts showed up, swapped out shorty directionals and a much smaller (surprisingly brighter, too) tail light.

Had to kill the airbox; it was essentially ruined, and I didn't feel like sourcing a replacement off ebay for $75+
Decided to go with K&Ns, even though I knew it'd mean a probable re-jetting. Ordered jets in step-up sizes of 3 and started deconstruction. Moved some electrical that had been hanging off the airbox to the new gigantic hole created behind the battery box. Cleaned even more while I was in here.

Carbs got the same treatment. Not a full teardown to individual carbs, but systematic removal of all parts and a good flushing with carb cleaner and compressed air. I decided against a full soak since they were (visually, at least) in very good condition - very minimal deposits in the float bowls, and even the gaskets were still in usable shape. Gave them the same wet-sanding/steel wool/polishing compound treatment as the rest of the shiny parts. Pretty happy with how well they came out. (again... visually only at this point... still haven't even fired it up)

 

[tkent02]

Don't know if you've done it, but you didn't mention doing it. Make sure you adjust the valve clearances.

 

[slickware]

Almost done. K&N pods installed.
Found out later that increasing 2 sizes on main jets was just going to flood the engine with gas because the K&Ns essentially don't restrict airflow AT ALL.

This was a pain to figure out. I tried going up a 3rd jet size before I realized I was dripping fuel out of the carb inlet. The bike would run, but it had zero power over 3,000RPM (due to extreme lean condition).
Finally ended up buying 4 of these from Home Depot - they fit perfectly into the K&Ns, and (surprisingly) gave the bike just enough restriction to run right again:

(if anyone needs this solution, it's listed on the Home Depot site as "DANCO 1-7/8 in. Snap-In Sink Strainer in Chrome")

Added a windshield I had leftover from an older bike, and some shorter mirrors. Also had to get a new throttle tube and grips as the old ones disintegrated during the cleaning process, which meant I had to fabricate my own starter-switch as well. Other than that, here's how it looks today - rides great!

 

[harley10]

Looks great as we'll nice job,Bian

 

[slickware]

Hey tkent,
Thanks! I didn't check valve clearances as I didn't notice rough idle, smoke, or odd engine noises. I also did a compression check on all 4 and got 140-160psi out of each (the inner 2 were a little lower because my tester is a huge PITA to screw in)
Is it worth checking anyway?

 

[tkent02]

Hey tkent,
Thanks! I didn't check valve clearances as I didn't notice rough idle, smoke, or odd engine noises. I also did a compression check on all 4 and got 140-160psi out of each (the inner 2 were a little lower because my tester is a huge PITA to screw in)
Is it worth checking anyway?

Absolutely! Usually the first thing you notice is poor running after the valves burn.

They tend to get tighter as they wear, tight valves burn up.

I keep reposting this...

Valves heat up and like anything else they expand, they get longer. The clearances are set cold with this expansion in mind, so the valves can still seal even if the engine gets too hot. Now as the engine runs several thousand miles, the valves contacting the seat eventually wear into the seat. After a while it can go farther in before it contacts the seat, the valve actually recedes into the head. This leaves the stem poking out a little bit farther, hence the clearances tighten up as the miles add up. Not always, there are other things in there wearing too, but they usually get tighter.

The only path for heat to get out of the valve itself is through mechanical contact with the seat, which is connected to the head, and to the cooling fins. Maybe a little bit by contact with the valve guides, but not much. There is no other path for heat to get out of the valve. Now if you neglect the valve clearances, and if they get tighter as they generally do, the valve eventually doesn't contact the seat as well as it should, so the valve doesn't cool itself as well as it should. It gets hotter than it should be. When it gets hotter, the valve stem gets longer, and so the valve contacts the seat even less, and the valve gets even hotter. It is a vicious circle, the valve gets hotter and hotter, longer and longer, and cools less and less...

The end result is a burnt valve. When the valve/seat contact is so poor that actual flames start to leak past the edge of the valve under pressure, the valve gets extremely hot in that one spot. Sometimes the edge of the valve gets messed up, then it can't seal so well. Sometimes a pie wedge shaped piece of the valve burns away, but even if it's not that burnt, it won't seal again as well as it should. The cylinder may still run, at least until it burns more, but it won't run right.

Anything else that makes the engine hotter than it should be makes the problem worse, such as a vacuum leak or other lean running problem, or retarded timing.

Adjust the valves correctly, then check the compression. Hopefully you caught it before any damage was done.
__________________

 

[slickware]

Good info, well explained.

I may hold off on this until the summer, though, when it's mostly too hot to ride in Dallas traffic anyway. It'd be a good excuse to repaint the engine and properly refinish the aluminum covers while I've got things apart.

 

[Crankthat]

Hi slickware,
Checking the valves is not that time consuming and could save you a lot of money down the road. Waiting on shims could take some time though. Seems it is one of the things people never do with these bikes until it is to late. Above and beyond the possible damage that could occur you will find quicker starting with easier idling and having the bike valves tuned will make it easier to tune everything else in.
You will find a tutorial on Basecliffs website to help you adjust them.

 

[Charmayne]

HI slickware welcome to the forum

 

[slickware]

Thanks!

This was my last Suzuki, about 4yrs ago. Got this one for $200 in worse shape than any bike I'd ever worked on. Got it running, but not as nicely or as fast as I wanted. Did do a paint job on it though, that I was pretty proud of. Ended up flipping it for $1,100 - so not a bad deal. I believe it was a GS550L, probably '81 or '82.

 

[Steve]

This was my last Suzuki, about 4yrs ago. I believe it was a GS550L, probably '81 or '82.

The wheels tell me that it was an '82.

.

 

[Crankthat]

Nice Flip!
Whoa, what a color though!
My Eyes! My Eyes!
I really like the idea above with the sink strainers.
That is some thinking!
Get a patent and know I am not being sarcastic.
Wonder how the air expanded going past?
Often wondered what you could do with the spinning fans off a computer cooler.
How it would affect the combustion.

 

[Crankthat]

The wheels tell me that it was an '82.

.

Was thinking the same from notice of the things pegs are attached to.
Title/frame marked 81 most likely and 82 model?
Not that that is important anymore as bike is sold.

 

[slickware]

crankthat, I do believe you're right.
If I remember correctly, those angled footpeg brackets I used on the (2004 Saab lime-yellow!) bike were from a different year model entirely.
I think the previous owner had dropped the bike and broken one. Those might even have been from a GSR of similar age; I'd have to check my ancient ebay history to know for sure now though!

~A

 

[Steve]

Title/frame marked 81 most likely and 82 model?

Production of the '82 bikes started as early as 08/1981, so that might be the date you saw on the VIN tag.

In the (lower-right?) corner of the VIN tag should have been a letter. "X" would have been an '81, "Z" would have been an '82.

.

 

[slickware]

I really like the idea above with the sink strainers.
That is some thinking!
Get a patent and know I am not being sarcastic.
Wonder how the air expanded going past?
Often wondered what you could do with the spinning fans off a computer cooler.
How it would affect the combustion.

I'm no engineer, but I can't imagine the airflow is significantly different in any meaningful way than it was from the old ruined airbox. That thing had more holes than cheese, and the airbox-manifold (or whatever the correct term is for the big ugly black rubber boot between the airbox and the carbs is) was also pretty cracked up.
If anything, I'd think the sink strainers might channel the air a bit more like a velocity stack, although probably not as precisely.

~A

 

[Steve]

If anything, I'd think the sink strainers might channel the air a bit more like a velocity stack, although probably not as precisely.

Hang on to that dream.

All those holes are not going to "channel the air" at all.

All they are going to do is add a BUNCH of turbulence, especially at higher velocities (read that as "full throttle"). :-k

.