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New Member inherited GS

B

Blooze

Forum Newbie
Hi y'all. I inherited a 1982 GS850L from my father recently (he's still alive, but can't ride anymore). It's been sitting for several years, but he was riding it short distances several times a week before that. I'm sure it was just parked and that was it. I've owned new bikes in the past so my mechanical expertise is nada, but I'm willing to give this a shot since it didn't cost me anything initially, and at 55 years old maybe I should learn something beside electronics. Again, I know next to nothing about working on bikes, or cars for that matter, beyond simple maintenance. I'm assuming new tires (these are shite), it needs new fork seals for sure, carb rebuild and sync, oil/filter, plugs, fuel lines, vacuum lines, brake fluid change (maybe new hoses there as well, shaft drive lube change, etc.... A point in the right direction would be very appreciative.

IMG_3133web.jpg
 
If you haven't done so already, enable "view signatures" here in your profile. My signature contains several links that you may find helpful. Carb rebuild tutorial, Newbie Mistakes thread, and a source for carb O-rings.

Good luck with your project.
 
Nessism said:
If you haven't done so already, enable "view signatures" here in your profile. My signature contains several links that you may find helpful. Carb rebuild tutorial, Newbie Mistakes thread, and a source for carb O-rings.

Good luck with your project.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the heads up on the settings. It's gonna be a project for sure. Most likely a yearlong project at least. Plus, we don't have any shops within 100+ miles of us, so I either learn to fix it or sell it.
 
Welcome to GSR. Thanks for intor and picture.

Looks nice.

Even if you dont like windscreens, .... with the L bars and seating you will find benifit to the windscreen.

Good news is that you have a good idea of what sort of things are likely needing to be done, and know is going to take some time.

.
 
Welcome aboard
Good check list, add valve clearance and you should be good to go
 
Welcome, dang nice looking old GS, hoping the inside of the fuel tank is O K. Seems like you've got most things already pointed out, carbs & fork seals most aggravating. Tires look good though now days folks get nervous just from the tires age. To help keep avoidable aggravations from happening, Those little oil filter cover and eng. cover bolts are very easily stripped or twisted off, a little inch lb. torque wrench will be very handy. Also the screws, they aren't aren't phillips heads, they are JIS screws, a set of JIS screwdrivers fit the heads way better. Can use phillips, but if you do an impact driver is a huge benefit, before the heads get buggered.
 
rphillips said:
Welcome, dang nice looking old GS, hoping the inside of the fuel tank is O K. Seems like you've got most things already pointed out, carbs & fork seals most aggravating. Tires look good though now days folks get nervous just from the tires age. To help keep avoidable aggravations from happening, Those little oil filter cover and eng. cover bolts are very easily stripped or twisted off, a little inch lb. torque wrench will be very handy. Also the screws, they aren't aren't phillips heads, they are JIS screws, a set of JIS screwdrivers fit the heads way better. Can use phillips, but if you do an impact driver is a huge benefit, before the heads get buggered.
Click to expand...

Yep. It’s in decent shape. The fuel tank looks OK as far as I can tell. Still got 1/2 tank of fuel I need to drain, but I didn’t see any obvious rust. Need a scope to probably see for sure I’d guess.

I appreciate the heads up on the JIS screwdrivers!
 
Last edited:
Vessel screwdrivers are great. And their Impacta jobbies are life savers.
 
Nessism

OK, I'm finally getting around to doing anything. Messed my back up late June and have been out of commission. Since this will probably be an all winter project I could use some guidance on order of operations. My thinking is that the oil hasn't been change in years (the filter probably never), the final drive and secondary gear oil never done, and it has 1/2 tank of gas with lots of stabilizer in it that's gotta be 3-4 years old (I don't see any rust in it - I'm in SW Kansas and the RH generally stays under 45% at it's worst unless it's raining. So change out all the fluids, even though it's not gonna be fired up anytime soon, (although it was running when it was parked) and empty the tank of gas. Should I put some fogging oil in the tank? At that point I can start tackling the other stuff like fork seals, new tires, brake lines, etc ???
 
In my opinion, I would forget about the fork seals, tires, brake lines, etc and get the tank removed then you can tackle the valve clearances according to the proper procedure. Since they may have never been adjusted, this is a very important step in getting the engine ready to run. The clearances are .001-.003 inches but if you can set them closer to .004 it will give you more mileage before they start tightening up again.
Then you can tackle the oil change, filter change and using an external gas supply, you can see if the engine is ready to run.
Save the tire replacement until you are very close to being ready to ride it. This will insure you have good, fresh rubber on the road.
Good luck and don't take any shortcuts as that will only let you do it over again.
 
alke46 said:
In my opinion, I would forget about the fork seals, tires, brake lines, etc and get the tank removed then you can tackle the valve clearances according to the proper procedure. Since they may have never been adjusted, this is a very important step in getting the engine ready to run. The clearances are .001-.003 inches but if you can set them closer to .004 it will give you more mileage before they start tightening up again.
Then you can tackle the oil change, filter change and using an external gas supply, you can see if the engine is ready to run.
Save the tire replacement until you are very close to being ready to ride it. This will insure you have good, fresh rubber on the road.
Good luck and don't take any shortcuts as that will only let you do it over again.
Click to expand...

You think just let the tank dry and call it good?
 
No but it would be a good time to inspect if for rust or any other debris. And yes, I would fog it with fogging oil.
 
alke46 said:
No but it would be a good time to inspect if for rust or any other debris. And yes, I would fog it with fogging oil.
Click to expand...

Thanks Larry. I’ve owned new bikes before years ago, so basic maintenance, but I’m not a mechanic so any help and advice is surely appreciated. I figure this bike didn’t cost me a dime so it’ll be worth it to learn on since I do know that it was running and all. Pulling all the pdfs off of Bikecliffs.
 
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