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Repairing my 1980 GS450

  • Thread starter Thread starter apopleptic
  • Start date Start date
What are you using for your black paint? Does it match up with the frame pretty well? Looking really good!
 
used Rustoleum Rust Reformer from walmart. I plan on doing the frame with it too. Possibly also covering the frame and such with another layer of regular black paint once done.
Unless I decided to go for a different paint scheme. I saw a bike that was all neon orange the other day that looked pretty cool.
 
Today we worked onthe battery box. another before/during I'll post the after pics once the paint is dry.
2011-09-15_17-00-36_683.jpg


2011-09-15_18-43-18_875.jpg


2011-09-15_21-33-07_241.jpg
 
This IS looking good, I'll have to make a point to stop back and check on your progress. i actually found this thread by searching "caliper rebuild GS450", which is what I plan to do after I finish with electrics...I'm very tempted to do the brakeline upgrade now.

By the way, what kind of shocks are those?
 
Wow I thought my battery tray was bad! Nicely done, looks a ton better already!

I'm putting my tray back in too, was originally going to do something funky with the battery but I had a different idea on stuff now, so stock tray going back in with hopefully a maintenance free gel battery.
 
Trevor76 said:
This IS looking good, I'll have to make a point to stop back and check on your progress. i actually found this thread by searching "caliper rebuild GS450", which is what I plan to do after I finish with electrics...I'm very tempted to do the brakeline upgrade now.

By the way, what kind of shocks are those?
Click to expand...

Do the break line upgrade. total piece of cake, should last longer than the rubber lines.

Did you get the info you were looking for on the caliper rebuild?

The shocks were some form of generic, no markings no box. paid $80 for them delivered from ebay. I think they might be emgo. they were just a tiny bit shorter than the 'stock' ones that were on there.
 
Man you're cruising along! I wish I had that much continuous time to do that sort of stuff, I gotta squeeze as much as I can into about one Saturday a month or so unless I take some time off work.

You'll have her done in no time :)
 
haha, one of the up sides to not having a job.
Plus I figure it's now or never really. I got tired of having my whole life on hold and this is the most productive outlet I have right now.
 
Aaah yes true! That helps as far as time goes, maybe not so for $$$ though...

And definitely better to be doing something productive! I remember years ago when I was out of work for about 8 months solid and I went nuts with nothing to do. I ended up driving taxi's just to get some $$$ in and get occupied until I found a day job again...
 
Do the break line upgrade. total piece of cake, should last longer than the rubber lines.

Did you get the info you were looking for on the caliper rebuild?

The shocks were some form of generic, no markings no box. paid $80 for them delivered from ebay. I think they might be emgo. they were just a tiny bit shorter than the 'stock' ones that were on there.
Click to expand...

Actually I never did find quite what i need for the caliper rebuild -I'm really only planning to put in new brake pads and mount the whole thing back the way it should be (and possibly do the brake line swap)

Can you point me toward a particular thread where the process is laid out?

And as for the shocks I think I got the same pair, but with black shrouds. Although I think mine are actually slightly taller than stock...
They have "MIDI" stamped in them somewhere toward the bottom and they definitely came in a EMGO box. I paid about the same thing, too.
They may not be top of the line, but I figure they've got to be better than 30+ yr. old stock...
 
Hmm, I can't really point to any one thread. I recommend that you start one and ask any questions you can't readily find answers to with the search. I sometimes find it helpful to do an advanced search so I can only search the topic, or certain forums on here. Even if you don't ask a question at first people will probably chime in with these helpful suggestions like 'replace the piston/cup in the master cylinder. or rebuild the caliper. or do the steel brake lines.

I feel like I might have one or two really good threads out there, and there are some tutorials on BassCliff's site that are helpful.
http://members.dslextreme.com/users/bikecliff/
You will need to ignore certain parts that aren't really relevant such as the right caliper on the front.

I really recommend doing a complete overhaul. at least to check and make sure all the seals are good and that there isn't any solidified fluid in the caliper or master cylinder. Also rust is bad... Just read your own signature "Make it safe, then make it go fast" then imagine doing a front flip on your bike because the piston locked up on the wheel at MPH. there are some pictures in this thread even of some of the nasty damage that can happen from old fluid. I wish I had taken a picture of how clean everything looked before I started working on it and found all the underlying damage of time.
The fluid wasn't bad looking in the reservoir and there was almost no visible buildup. then everything disintegrated to the touch. Imagine the whole thing just pouring break fluid all over while riding...
Also note that you can see if your pads are worn while still on the bike by looking through the view hole on the caliper. I removed the yellowed piece of plastic. from mine for painting and etc.
2011-09-16_19-58-50_53.jpg

and also note that the slit on the middle of the pad is the serviceable wear line. If you have that split in the middle the pads still have 'service life' left on them.
2011-09-16_19-59-16_422.jpg
 
I keep forgetting to check Basscliff's page first:rolleyes:

the tutorial there is just what I need. The Clymer manual goes into very little detail, and pretty much just tells you to turn the job over to a shop.:mad:

I actually purchased an entire front brake/caliper setup off of Ebay, as well as new pads. The caliper I got appears to be in really good shape, so hopefully a teardown won't yield any nasty surprises.

I'm sort of racing against the clock right now, the days are getting cooler and shorter, constantly reminding me that all too soon it will be time to cover the bikes for winter.

So I will probably forego the brake line upgrade until next spring, when I plan to replace the wheel bearings on both wheels.

Right now I just want to get it safe enough to enjoy one last month or so of riding!
 
Some more pictures of paint updates and some polishing
2011-09-16_00-09-29_536.jpg

2011-09-16_00-15-57_533.jpg


here's the Seat tail cover bracket
2011-09-16_09-16-09_535.jpg

Love the old bee's nest.
2011-09-16_09-23-39_464.jpg

2011-09-16_12-13-37_430.jpg


The electrical plate
2011-09-16_16-01-01_226.jpg

2011-09-16_16-07-37_518.jpg

2011-09-16_16-40-16_138.jpg
 
And the starter relay although working is broken physically
2011-09-16_16-48-04_671.jpg

2011-09-16_16-53-03_837.jpg


and here's the $12 replacement from Lowes hardware.
2011-09-17_16-12-53_749.jpg

Seems like it will fit with no modifications except the connector for the trigger wire
2011-09-17_01-19-38_907.jpg

Like the fuse holder? the original was kinda beat.
2011-09-17_16-47-18_3.jpg
 
Last edited:
here is the bracket for the front caliper.
2011-09-16_19-10-51_192.jpg

2011-09-16_19-52-19_539.jpg

Almost too cold to paint at night. this is being done with Rustoleum 2000 degree black paint. Very noxious stuff. Also says it requires baking to reach its full potential.
2011-09-17_16-37-33_808.jpg


I plan on doing the center of the disk the same color.
2011-09-17_01-32-02_979.jpg

2011-09-17_16-37-00_909.jpg

2011-09-17_16-37-10_700.jpg


Also did the battery box with a coat as I think it might hold up better if there is any sort of a leak.
2011-09-17_16-37-22_928.jpg
 
Excellent progress!

Just a tip on the high temp. paint... any high temp. paint requires some heat cycling to really bond with the surface. I had to do the same with the POR 15 Black Velvet on the crank cases and valve cover etc. and the 3M caliper paint I put on the caliper, bracket, and a few other bits.

I'm planning on a maintenance free battery so I just used POR 15 Blackcote on the battery tray like I did for the rest of the frame, swingarm, etc.

One thing with your electrics tray is I would scrape back some of that paint around the holes that will form grounding points. Don't destroy your paint job, just a few mm's extra diameter around those particular holes will do the trick.
 
Yup, I planned to do some baking in the next day or two.
might save all the stuff that needs baking and do it together.
And I was planning on scraping back a bit and running a ground from the plate to the frame and another from the plate directly to the negative on the battery.
I'm pretty sure thats how the previous (and perhaps even the original) wiring went.
 
apopleptic said:
Yup, I planned to do some baking in the next day or two.
might save all the stuff that needs baking and do it together.
And I was planning on scraping back a bit and running a ground from the plate to the frame and another from the plate directly to the negative on the battery.
I'm pretty sure thats how the previous (and perhaps even the original) wiring went.
Click to expand...

Excellent, sounds like you got it covered :)

I did the same with the baking, painted it all at the same time and stuck it all in the BBQ, making sure the flame was well covered of course!
 
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