Restoring another down and out GS - Justin's GS1000G story

[Jedz123]

So decided to start this thread to document as I go through a restoration of a 1980 Suzuki GS1000G that I traded my restored GS550E for. I guess this is a story about how 2 Suzuki's that were saved and restored to something of their intended functional states so they could be continued to be enjoyed, as Suzuki intended. I know the guy I traded the 550 for was stoked to have something near original and I was stoked to restore a GS1000G that was destined to either destined deterioration or get parted out. I made a video of my GS550E, it was probably one of my best works for restoration: GS550E review.

So here is the bike a 1980 GS1000G. Currently running but in need of some loving! (yes it's the same pic on other threads).

I rode the bike 85 miles after the swap, the powertrain is in exceptional shape minus the patina. Got it home stripped it, power washed it and have made a list of the good and the bad.

Good:

1. Engine / Powertrain - No leaks, good compression, tight solid shifting and no mechanical noises or defects, no hard starting.
2. Intake system - New carb boots, new airbox boots, new clamps, new fuel and vacuum lines
3. Carbs - Little or no choke needed on cold start, solid idle, signs of recent cleaning, no flat spots, fueling is sot on.
4. Tank - although some minor surface rust, inside is solid, Minor touch up paint all is required
5. Charging system - Looks to have been replaced as of recent but with OEM stuff. May upgrade R&R just in case. 13 -14V depending on RPM at the poles.
6. Battery - Holds charge and is old flooded type battery, will use until it's time to upgrade to an AGM.
7. Tires - A surprise to find that they were only 3 years old and in good shape. The Kenda Challengers do well on the twisty stuff and hold air great with no dry rot, rear tire is at 50% life where the front is closer to 75%. I do have a brand new IRC rear tire in stock that fits this bike so no new tires needed!!!

Bad (or fixes)

1. Brakes- Bothe front and rear are in need of serious overhaul or replacement. I have pads for this bike in stock which will go on. The hoses are beyond their service life and will visibly move, bulge and distort on half lever pull. Only when you put the lever to the bar do you get a poor response to the front brake and start to shed some speed. The rear is the same.
2. Suspension - Clapped out is the nicest way to put it. Rear shocks have little rebound and the tired springs will pogo after going over jarring holes or cracks in the road after allowing a bottom out. The front will completely fully compress on moderate braking or going over rough roads. The left front fork seal is also leaking but I think I can bring it life with a sweep of my fork saver. The boots look new so I believe they were done recently. Either way suspension needs some serious love before I attempt spirited riding again.
3. Exhaust- These stupid 4-2 side pipe exhausts are junk, rotted through in sections and severely rusted over. They are going in to the metal pile, first thing I did was order a Delkevic 4-1 megaphone system...
4. Patina and rust- Bike needs some serious paint and polish. Nothing that is structurally compromised on the bike but the bike does need some significant work on the cosmetic department.
5. Missing badge - One side cover is missing the GS1000G badge.
6. Gauge cluster - It's sun faded where everything is now white, clocks are not working properly, speedometer will snare up around 40mph and will POP up to 60mph when it feels like it. Tachometer also shakes and snags as well. Fuel gauge is also wonky in that I will watch it go down and than come back up and than go down... Also unsure if it's reading correctly (Might be a float issue) because it says 1/4 on the gauge and there is definitely over 1/2 a tanks left. Gear indicator bar is missing the numbers. I will be replacing the cluster.
7. Turn signals - the whole system is not working. I found a H4 pin connecter spliced into the harness at the turn signal relay location with a relay (I've never seen on a GS) wrapped up in duct tape. Indicator lights are missing... I will have to run the whole circuit to correct.
8. Missing caps - missing 1 cam cap cover and a few screws on others.
9. Handle bars - bike came with stupid drag bars and nothing is routed correctly, clutch is not working correctly because of some kinks in the cable. Plan to run some different bars.

So that's where we are at!
I ordered a bunch of parts to get the project under way. I'll post my progress... In fact me and my daughter are going out now to start some work!

Cheers,

 

[Jedz123]

Day 1
So walked out to the GS and found a flat rear tire. Seemed to have found a nail on my travels home with the bike. So I decided to just swap on the rear 130 70 17 tire I had in stock. My little helper approved of the decision.
I took off the crappy exhuast, I sprayed the head bolts with PB blaster everyday for a week straight and the super rusted bolts all came out (No sheered exhuast studs!). I will be getting stainless steel allen bolts to replace them when the new exhuast comes in.

Pulled the wheel off and found lubed but semi surface rusted splines, decided to just clean and regrease the splines. Everything is regreased and now looking good. I also took out the rear caliper and soaked the whole unit in PB blaster Took out the tires and dry rotted brake line and flushed the brake master. Than turned my attention to the tire.

So off with the old and on with the new. We will see how the new IRC rolls, shorter sidewall should act as a re gear for acceleration, which is fine by me as I feel the bike is a bit too tall. The IRC took 60PSI to bead but it was also nice to find tubeless rims!

So back to the back half to the bike. I decided to go with 320MM Emgo Heavy Duty shocks. They were relatively inexpensive (not the cheapest). The stock shocks were shot. The spring was easy to push down and popped right back (no dampening) and decided to go with something that was inexpensive and works as well as the stock unit. I went with black and they have already made a huge difference in firming up the rear end.

So after installing the new shocks I scrubbed off the rust and patina and repainted the swing arm and frame. I then flushed the rear caliper and installed with a new stainless steel line. I also installed brand new pads. After bleeding the system I now have a smooth rolling real wheel and the brake bites at the lightest of touch. Before it took over half the movement of the master to expand the old lines to get some action from the rear caliper. Happy with that.

Finished the day touching up the rest of the frame and cleaning / touch up painting the engine. I also replaced the plug caps and plugs. The bike is cleaning up nice! Waiting on new cam covers and bolts to land. I also ran out of parts to install. The front end is my next big tackle. Once parts land I'll continue the restore.

Cheers!

 

[Grimly]

After swapping in a pair of GS1000 (chainy) forks*, I later replaced the springs, but also fitted a GS1100E fender, with its humungous internal steel brace and topped that with an external brace. Result is something that goes where I point it.

*which are ~19mm shorter, but that was purely a fortuitous result, born out of ignorance.

 

[rphillips]

Looking good. Just a thought or 2, do you know about the molly paste required for the splines in the rear hub? Grease isn't good. Also you had good luck with your exhaust bolts, congrats. For me, studs to replace those bolts work really well, when reinstalling, the collars have something to sit on instead of having to holding them up while trying to get the bolts started straight plus next time removing there are 2 threaded connections, if one is stuck, maybe the other will come lose. Seems 1/2 the chance of twisting bolt off. Both wheels tubeless? mine came with tubeless front & not tubeless rear..

 

[Nessism]

Looking good. Just a thought or 2, do you know about the molly paste required for the splines in the rear hub? Grease isn't good. Also you had good luck with your exhaust bolts, congrats. For me, studs to replace those bolts work really well, when reinstalling, the collars have something to sit on instead of having to holding them up while trying to get the bolts started straight plus next time removing there are 2 threaded connections, if one is stuck, maybe the other will come lose. Seems 1/2 the chance of twisting bolt off. Both wheels tubeless? mine came with tubeless front & not tubeless rear..

Check the rear spline in the rear wheel closely. When Suzuki changed from the early units, that were finished in a black coloring, to the yellow chromate zinc finish, the heat treatment process went in the toilet and those splines are junk. Regarding moly paste, something with 40+% is best. Don't use regular grease or moly assembly lube, both are a no-go.

 

[Jedz123]

Thanks for the heads up on the Molly, I'm using Lucas Heavy Duty red and tacky grease, it's been super effective on my other bikes but will look for a molly based lube. Any recommendations?

 

[Grimly]

Thanks for the heads up on the Molly, I'm using Lucas Heavy Duty red and tacky grease, it's been super effective on my other bikes but will look for a molly based lube. Any recommendations?

I got a tin of this last year for ?17, it's the proper stuff and a fraction of what Honda will charge you for a tube-full.
https://www.molyslip.co.uk/as40/

 

[Nessism]

I think this stuff should work...

https://www.amazon.com/Corning-Molykote-Lubricant-Silicone-Container/dp/B00B3UUFR4/

 

[Jedz123]

Thanks! on the order. Glad I posted that spline shot!

 

[Dogma]

The stock shocks may have been worn out, but those EMGO shocks I think you will find are way overdamped. I had a set for the first few years on mine. They hold the rear end up well enough, but I wonder if they played a role in the upper shock mounts being slightly bent. That probably came from hitting potholes with Wazz on the back, honestly.

The swing arm looks good. I've never seen one that clean!

 

[GabrielGoes]

I think this stuff should work...

https://www.amazon.com/Corning-Molykote-Lubricant-Silicone-Container/dp/B00B3UUFR4/

what are the advantages of the moly grease? I always just used red and tacky as well

 

[Nessism]

what are the advantages of the moly grease? I always just used red and tacky as well

It reduces fretting induced wear.

 

[Baatfam]

It reduces fretting induced wear.

If you don't mind, please explain, "fretting induced wear?"

 

[Nessism]

If you don't mind, please explain, "fretting induced wear?"

"Fretting refers to wear and sometimes corrosion damage of loaded surfaces in contact while they encounter small oscillatory movements tangential to the surface."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fretting

In other words, the drive spline, on the final drive, is in contact with the spline in the rear wheel, and there is high pressure metal to metal contact. With on/off throttle application, these two surfaces load and unload, over and over again. The moly paste keeps these metal surfaces apart, and act as a barrier, thus reducing metal on metal wear.

 

[Baatfam]

"Fretting refers to wear and sometimes corrosion damage of loaded surfaces in contact while they encounter small oscillatory movements tangential to the surface."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fretting

In other words, the drive spline, on the final drive, is in contact with the spline in the rear wheel, and there is high pressure metal to metal contact. With on/off throttle application, these two surfaces load and unload, over and over again. The moly paste keeps these metal surfaces apart, and act as a barrier, thus reducing metal on metal wear.

OK Cool. Thank you.

 

[Jedz123]

Yes +1 on the explanation.
thanks so much!

 

[Dogma]

I had to look into dry film lubricants for work a few years back. A medical implant manufacturer didn't want anything liquid lubricating a custom vise I had designed for them. One the molecular level, molybdenum disulfide forms sheets one atom thick that slide over each other very easily. In moly paste grease, the moly disulfide gets deposited on the metal surfaces creating a low friction, low wear coating. The grease is just the installation medium. The dry film lubricants are similar, but sprayed on somehow. No grease. Also, expensive. Since the lubricant is only a few atoms think, it can withstand very high contact pressures.

 

[bwringer]

Check the rear spline in the rear wheel closely. When Suzuki changed from the early units, that were finished in a black coloring, to the yellow chromate zinc finish, the heat treatment process went in the toilet and those splines are junk. Regarding moly paste, something with 40+% is best. Don't use regular grease or moly assembly lube, both are a no-go.

IIRC, a 1980 model should have the "good" black spline unit. I believe the switchover to the soft gold splines happened a little later. But anything's possible...

I have a wee jar of Loctite 51048 moly paste. Expensive, but a lifetime supply. You can get a little tube of something called Honda M-77, but I can't verify how much moly is in it. We used to use a 60% moly paste but Honda stopped selling it.

You need something that's a much higher percentage of molybdenum (50% or more) than the ordinary black moly grease used on bearings and such.

 

[gs scott]

Hey Justin, good to see another project in the works - that looks like Harry's old bike, same color scheme (I think his was an 1100 but I could be wrong).

I'm meeting Skip Friday in Deerfield for a test flight - he wacked his hip tripping over the dog gate! It'll be a small 100 mile loop from there. My old college roommate Matt is going, and a couple of Skip's buddies might go too. It's about 120 miles south of you but maybe we could meet up somewhere along the loop for lunch. Our northern most stop is Whitingham / Jacksonville (intersection of 100 and 112) - still, 90 miles south of you.

Looks like all is well with baby Jedz, hope Mrs Jedz is well too. With any luck we'll meet up before Moosehead/Green Mtn - we have the pavilion this year!!

 

[Jedz123]

Just hoping on GSR now, Unfortunately I have been working nights and weekends because we are short staffed. Again.
Would have loved to meet up! Hopefully soon. I'm finally off my restrictions from my back surgery and have been riding my Bonneville everyday!