• Required reading for all forum users!!!

    Welcome!
    Register to access the full functionality of the GSResources forum. Until you register and activate your account you will not have full forum access, nor will you be able to post or reply to messages.

    A note to new registrants...
    All new forum registrations must be activated via email before you have full access to the forum.

    A Special Note about Email accounts!
    DO NOT SIGN UP USING hotmail, outlook, gmx, sbcglobal, att, bellsouth or email.com. They delete our forum signup emails.

    A note to old forum members...
    I receive numerous requests from people who can no longer log in because their accounts were deleted. As mentioned in the forum FAQ, user accounts are deleted if you haven't logged in for the past 6 months. If you can't log in, then create a new forum account. If you don't get an error message, then check your email account for an activation message. If you get a message stating that the email address is already in use, then your account still exists so follow the instructions in the forum FAQ for resetting your password.

    Have you forgotten your password or have a new email address? Then read the forum FAQ for details on how to reset it.

    Any email requests for "can't log in anymore" problems or "lost my password" problems will be deleted. Read the forum FAQ and follow the instructions there - that's what we have one for...

  • Returning Visitors

    If you are a returning visitor who never received your confirmation email, then odds are your email provider is blockinig emails from our server. The only thing that can be done to get around this is you will have to try creating another forum account using an email address from another domain.

    If you are a returning visitor to the forum and can't log in using your old forum name and password but used to be able to then chances are your account is deleted. Purges of the databases are done regularly. You will have to create a new forum account and you should be all set.

One step closer

  • Thread starter Thread starter B Evil
  • Start date Start date
B

B Evil

Guest
Well as most of you know now I'm well on the way of getting Suzie put back together the way she should have been all along. http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showthread.php?t=120070 I have to stop by the dealership today and try to swap some shims and the hardware store for some new bolts. I ended up using stainless socket cap bolts for the carbs and was planning on the same thing for the Valve Cover and Breather Cover but a friend mentioned he thought stainless might be too soft to use in the these areas. What are your guys' thoughts on this?

Also, I had a couple other minor problems. One of the valve cover bolts snapped off while trying to wrench it out. Since I'm planning on the changing the oil before I start her up again, would there be anything the matter with soaking the bolt with some PB Blaster and clamping some vice grips on it. I'm just a little concerned of what the PB Blaster might do to the internals since the only way to do it is with the valve cover off.

And, does anybody know the size of the bolt for the float bowl drain? Every hardware store I went to didn't have it because they said the pitch was different. One place said its .75 and another said its .50 so I was hoping one of you guys knew the pitch, length, and diameter so I can order some online. The carbs look great all cleaned up with the stainless bolts but the original bowl drain bolts are a real eyesore (or at least I think so).

Don't worry I won't forget this time.

She is a 1981 GS 550 L

One last thing, any tips on cleaning up some pipes would be helpful. Finally got the new ones (new to me anyways) in and the chrome looks pretty good for the most part but there's some minor pitting and rust. I'm sure I could wire wheel it but that's going to mess up the chrome right? So any suggestions on chemicals that are safe to use here would be much appreciated.

Thanks
-Bradley
 
B Evil said:
I ended up using stainless socket cap bolts for the carbs and was planning on the same thing for the Valve Cover and Breather Cover but a friend mentioned he thought stainless might be too soft to use in the these areas. What are your guys' thoughts on this?
Click to expand...
you should be fine in these areas as the torque settings are not that high (that's what i have on my bike, no probs)
 
B Evil said:
One of the valve cover bolts snapped off while trying to wrench it out. Since I'm planning on the changing the oil before I start her up again, would there be anything the matter with soaking the bolt with some PB Blaster and clamping some vice grips on it. I'm just a little concerned of what the PB Blaster might do to the internals since the only way to do it is with the valve cover off.
Click to expand...
if you can take the cover off without removing that bolt first, you should be able to take it out easily once the cover is off
if the bolt wasn't overtightened (and you can't take the cover off) you may be able to extract the bolt with an ezy-out without pb blaster
finally, a small amount of pb blaster shouldn't be a prob
 
B Evil said:
And, does anybody know the size of the bolt for the float bowl drain? Every hardware store I went to didn't have it because they said the pitch was different. One place said its .75 and another said its .50 so I was hoping one of you guys knew the pitch, length, and diameter so I can order some online. The carbs look great all cleaned up with the stainless bolts but the original bowl drain bolts are a real eyesore (or at least I think so).
Click to expand...
take one of the screws you got for the carb covers and try it on the bowl
i'm pretty sure they're the same diameter and pitch
 
psyguy said:
if you can take the cover off without removing that bolt first, you should be able to take it out easily once the cover is off
if the bolt wasn't overtightened (and you can't take the cover off) you may be able to extract the bolt with an ezy-out without pb blaster
finally, a small amount of pb blaster shouldn't be a prob
Click to expand...

Yeah it took a little work but the cover finally came off. It appears that the previous owner used a tube of gasket sealer per linear inch. I clamped down on it with some channel locks but no luck. My vice grips keep growing legs so I have to either track them down or buy another pair. Hopefully I can get it out without the monkeypi$$, but definetely using some anti seize on the new bolts. Probably have to keep this bike forever after its all said and done.

On a side note, do you guys use the gasket sealer on the valve and breather gaskets or just a little oil or what? And also, is there supposed to be some steel wool looking stuff stuffed in the breather?
 
The steel wool looking stuff should be there to keep excessive oil going out your breather.I recently did up an 'S ,and used Zinc plated high tensile bolts EVERYWHERE with a nice dollop of antisieze.Got the bolts from the local bolt shop dude.Cheap as.Bought the correct sieze taps and die nuts from him as well.Not so cheap.It's a good idea to run a tap or die over everything before you put it all back together.For your chrome,try balling up a big piece of alfoil and rub it vigorously.You'd be surprized how it'll bring your chrome up nice and shiny.Goodluck(and don't forget the picky's because we do like our porn.Cheers,Simon.:-D
 
There are pics in one of the other threads I linked. She's in pieces right now and the pics aren't the greatest because all I had to use was the camera phone but I'll be sure to get some good quality pics up once she's all done.

OK, I'm waiting on a shim from the dealership before I can put her back together so I just want to double check with you guys and make sure I did everything right since it's always better to do it once right than single cheek it and have to do it again. If you don't have time to do it right the first time when will you have time, right?

So when checking valve clearances I need each cam lobe pointing forward for the exhaust and each cam lobe pointing up with the intake, right? I read all I could find on here and in the clymer book and they kind of confused me so I did it this way one valve at a time and I'm just hoping this was right.

Thanks
Bradley
 
B Evil said:
On a side note, do you guys use the gasket sealer on the valve and breather gaskets or just a little oil or what?
Click to expand...
personally, i use a new gasket and grease it lightly with high temp grease
have reused it a number of times with no probs
silicone i find a bit messy since it has to be removed completely and reaplied each time you take the cover off
 
Thanks to another gsr member, this is the best valve adjustment description i found. Sorry i forgot who it was to pay proper gratitude. :oops:

When checking exhaust valves, the outer cylinder's (#1 or #4) cam lobe is pointing forward, the inner lobes (#2 or #3) will be pointing UP. Do not move the crank, you can check both of them. Then rotate the crank 180 degrees so the outer cylinder on the other side of the engine is pointing forward and the inner one is pointing up. Again, you can check both valves without moving the crank.

On the intake side, the outer cylinder's lobe will be pointing UP, the inner one will be pointing BACK. Check both valves on that side, then rotate the crank 180 degrees and check the other side.

The theory here is that both valves are untensioned which makes the clearance more consistant than if #1 was depressing the valve while trying to measure #2.
 
psyguy said:
The theory here is that both valves are untensioned which makes the clearance more consistant than if #1 was depressing the valve while trying to measure #2.
Click to expand...

Thanks. That makes a little more sense. I figured that was how you guys were doing it but it didn't make sense why so I applied my own logic by having each lobe in the same position for each valve. I guess I'll go thru and check them all again. Hopefully there aren't any differences since I already ordered a couple shims from the dealership.
 
psyguy said:
Thanks to another gsr member, this is the best valve adjustment description i found. Sorry i forgot who it was to pay proper gratitude. :oops:
Click to expand...
Whoever passed that information on to you wasn't making it up. That is the exact procedure outlined in the factory service manual. 8-[


.
 
exhaust clean up

exhaust clean up

I would use x000 steel wool (very fine) with Jasco Metal etch, then you can either wax with Turtle wax chrome cleaner or in the areas that were pretty rusty, us the POR-15 silver to stop any more rusting(only is the unseen areas). Hopefully most of your rust is away from the head where it is the hotest.

The jasco will eat away any zinc plated screws but chrome is fine. See the results.

http://www.posplayr.100megsfree3.com/gs750/gs750_NewLook.pdf

Posplayr
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top