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new to me 1980 Gs850GL

  • Thread starter Thread starter BaconAndSwiss
  • Start date Start date
B

BaconAndSwiss

Guest
Hey everyone,

Picked up a 1980 GS850GL a couple weeks ago, and have been going through all of the basic maintenance and upgrades. This site has been invaluable on the amount of research, guides and great posts that make owning a GS better than so many other bikes weather its 30+ years old or not.

Here is my list of upgrades, if there are any suggestions on what I should work on next, it would be greatly appreciated!

Oil changed with rotealla heavy duty diesel oil
Fram oil filter
Shaft gear oil changed, now with full synthetic
Airbox cleaned and added a K&N oiled air filter
Carbs cleaned
New petcock
New fuel lines
New yuasa battery
New continental tires
Spine cleaned and oiled
Brakes bled/new brake fluid
New spark plugs NGK B8-ES

Couple photos here-
http://imgur.com/a/uLAGa

Thanks!
 

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Welcome!

Welcome!

Looks like a great starting point and you've got most the basics covered already. My recommendation would be to go through the wiring and clean all the connections - wire brush/deoxit and dielectric grease. Grounds are very important too.

Then go through the stator tests and replace that old antiquated R/R with a series unit like the CompuFire 55402 or SH-775. I also like to upgrade all of my lights to LED's but not before you do the R/R!

Download the manual from BassCliff's site if you haven't already as well. Lots of great tips and how-to's there too.
 
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Welcome and enjoy. Most obvious missed item is the valve clearances. A real important 1st step.
 
That's on my list of to do's after my manual comes in. Also need to pic up an impact driver so I can change the secondary gear oil. Screws are stuck hard.
 
Good to know, I just unplug everything clean and grease? Basscliffs site has been amazing, a huge help there.
 
Very nice looking bike. :encouragement:

Welcome to the site, and congratulations on being one of the very FEW that has provided a location in your profile and your bike in your signature ... ON YOUR VERY FIRST POST. :clap: :clap:

You asked for suggestions, I will add my comments to your list:


Oil changed with rotealla heavy duty diesel oil Good choice. "Dino" or "Synthetic"? Either one is good.
Fram oil filter Some might question that, I have never had problems with Fram.
Shaft gear oil changed, now with full synthetic Good choice. 80w-90?
Airbox cleaned and added a K&N oiled air filter Another good choice.
Carbs cleaned Hopefully using the proper procedure, along with new o-rings.
New petcock Seldom a bad move.
New fuel lines Hopefully STOCK lines in the proper size (7mm). Can't find them at AutoZone, etc.
New yuasa battery "Wet" cells or AGM?
New continental tires I have heard some good initial impressions, but no long-term testing.
Spine cleaned and oiled Please clean off the oil and install the proper Moly GREASE.
Brakes bled/new brake fluid New brake lines should have been installed, too.
New spark plugs NGK B8-ES Good choice.

As mikerophone mentioned, a valve adjustment should also be done. Even if the bike seems to be working well, it will be peace of mind to KNOW that they are set properly. A carb sync should have been done after the carb rebuild, but will be even more important after a valve adjustment.

.
 
I have been a lurker on the forum for a bit, before I started working on the bike. I saw a post about having location and bike in the signature and I'm happy to oblige.

Oil changed with rotealla heavy duty diesel oil Good choice. "Dino" or "Synthetic"? Either one is good. 15w-40 "Dino" haha
Fram oil filter Some might question that, I have never had problems with Fram. If there is a better suggestion I would try it but fram was what I always put in my 88 Suburban.
Shaft gear oil changed, now with full synthetic Good choice. 80w-90? I did 75w-90 gear oil
Airbox cleaned and added a K&N oiled air filter Another good choice. Oh yes.
Carbs cleaned Hopefully using the proper procedure, along with new o-rings. Performed by bike mechanic shop I bought it from.
New petcock Seldom a bad move. Nice!
New fuel lines Hopefully STOCK lines in the proper size (7mm). Can't find them at AutoZone, etc. Performed by bike mechanic shop I bought it from.
New yuasa battery "Wet" cells or AGM? Wet cell
New continental tires I have heard some good initial impressions, but no long-term testing. I will give updates after some miles.
Spine cleaned and oiled Please clean off the oil and install the proper Moly GREASE. Thank you, I did not know that.
Brakes bled/new brake fluid New brake lines should have been installed, too. I will look into this. Should I go standard or steel braid?
New spark plugs NGK B8-ES Good choice. Very Good

Should I do a full carb rebuild if it seems to be going strong so far? I will look into the valve adjustment, I have never done that before. Is it pretty stright forward?

Thanks again!
 
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Valve adjustment procedure for your bike is here - some say use the zip tie method others say get the shim tool. I got my shim tool from Z1 enterprises and want to say it was like 10 or 12 bucks.

Hopefully you didn't spend too much on that manual and hopefully it wasn't a Clymer because you could've downloaded your 850 Suzuki service manual on Cliff's site as well. You should anyway. One of my 850's came with the Clymer want it's nice to use it as a quick physical reference but I just keep a copy of the service manual I downloaded from Cliffsite on my iPad in the lifeproof case it's been indispensable!

I'd say see how you do with the carbs after the valve adjustment they may need to be re-synced after you adjust the valves as they'll likely be pulling air in differently through the intakes after adjustment. Morgan Carbtune is the sync tool of choice and Steve has one of every sync tool out there - be sure to email him for the valve shim spreadsheet when you get ready to do it.
 
OK, most points were properly addressed, so let's just whittle it down to the necessities. :-k

I think most of the problems with Fram filters are with the canister types, not the separate elements that we have. There was something about using improper glue to hold the filter media to the endplates. When the glue failed, all the oil could go past the media, rather than through it. As mentioned, though, I have never had a problem with a Fram GS filter.

If possible, check with the shop to see what they did to "clean" (or 'rebuild') the carbs. Too many times, they will open up the float bowl, spritz around some carb cleaner, change the parts that came in the (very expensive) rebuild kits, then put stuff back together. Depending on how long a bike sat before this process, that might be OK. Since your bike appears to be running well, you might have gotten away with it. I gave links to the proper procedure, ask the dealer if that's what they did.

Many times, fuel lines are replaced with what is available. Here, the common sizes are 1/4" and 5/16". 1/4" is 6.25mm, you have to really stretch it over the fittings that are designed for 7mm hoses. To add insult to injury, most of the hoses available are reinforced for the high pressures in fuel injected engines, making it hard to stretch them over the larger fittings. The fatter hoses also are not so easy to bend for proper routing. If you use 5/16" lines, they are just has hard to bend, but you MUST use clamps on them, as 5/16" is real close to 8mm. Stock fuel line is single-walled, making it easy to bend, and most of the time you do not need to use clamps.

A 'wet cell' battery will work, it's just that there is always the possibility of it puking acid on the bike if anything goes wrong. The chance of that happening will be reduced considerably if you install a newer series-type R/R (rectifier/regulator) that will save your stator and do a better job of voltage regulation. An AGM (that is a type, not a brand) battery is sealed, so there is less chance of a problem either way.

The spline in the rear wheel needs Moly grease. The higher the "moly" content the better. Be advised that for a grease to be called "moly", it only needs to contain about 4% molydenum disulphide. Honda sells a tube that will fit a mini grease gun for about $12 that holds enough grease for your lifetime. In fact, you could probably will it to your grandson who will inherit your bike. Since I have FIVE shafties here (and work on others), I have to buy a replacement every five years or so. The advantage of the Honda grease is that it is 60% moly. :encouragement:

In the owner's manual that came with the new bike (back in '80), Suzuki recommended replacing the brake lines every two years. Few of us have done that, most of us have gotten away with it. :oops: Stock lines would be a decent choice, but it's not that much more expensive to go with stainless. I used stainless on my 850, but covered them with black heat shrink, giving them the look of a stock line. You can also get different color vinyl covers from some of the suppliers.

Have a trip through our library, sit down a spell, browse through the valve adjustment tutorial. Enjoy your stay.

.
 
All the salient points seem to have been made already so I just say 'Welcome' from a fellow 'L' owner.
 
BaconAndSwiss said:
Good to know, I just unplug everything clean and grease?
Click to expand...

I like to take a brass bristled brush and scrub both sides of any ring connectors or male barrel connectors and then squirt with electrical contact cleaner or deoxit, let dry and then coat with dielectric grease before reconnecting. I buy the big gray tube of permatex dielectric grease at AutoZone or O'Reillys - don't buy the tiny tube that most people get the spark plugs, get the big one. I'll take any female Molex connectors and put the nozzle tube flush against the opening of the female connectors and squirt it up in each opening.
 
I've been looking on the how to for valve clearances and although I'm fairly mechanically inclined, it looks a pretty daunting task. Brakes looked pretty good for now, but I will look into the break lines.
 
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