Rookie Rebuild. 1980 GS750

[jacobdub]

Hi. This is a great site, so much awesome info crammed into it. This is both my first bike AND my first build. I've spent a good while reading up and finally got some garage space, so I went to town! My buddy's tearing down his Yamaha, too, so we've got a pretty cool setup. Anyway, I'm going to try and keep you posted and any hints/tips/reminders to slow down are greatly appreciated!

Pretty nervous about all these wires haha!

I also got the gages off and some other assorted stuff...

There's the bike when I got it. Needed a good scrubbing, that's for sure.

I gave it a once over and some quick paint just to get through the season. Now it's time to really get going on it!

 

[cowboyup3371]

Pictures aren't showing up as Google says we don't have permissions to them

 

[Flyboy]

Yeah, no pics, check if your permissions are "public"
Would llove to see what you are up to.

 

[jacobdub]

Oops!

Oops!

Haha. There, I think I fixed it. Sorry about the pic problems everyone. I had to have someone teach me about web albums and stuff.

 

[Flyboy]

Thats better, looks like you have been busy on it already, a great improvment just with a clean up.So what are your winter plans for her?

 

[cowboyup3371]

Looks good. How did you scrape up your pipes to paint them?

 

[jacobdub]

The pipes were already painted, so I just hit them with a wire brush.

Im not sure what direction I want to go yet. Definitely a good clean and paint. Some changes here and there, maybe towards a cafe or brat style. Ive read Hoosiers thread like a hundred times! Ideas?

 

[jacobdub]

Yeah, I think Ive got the wiring down. I was careful to label everything. Going back for more take down tonight!

Specific things Im planning:

-total carb clean/fix
-new chain/sprockets
-full paint job (thinking flat blacks, silvers, gold?)
-new seat after some work on the rear end
-cone filters and hiding some electric
-new bars (drag or ultralow sportbike bars)
-black out (partial) for the motor
-cleanup the front end (headlight, gages, paint the forks)

I think thats most of it for now!

 

[Flyboy]

Cool, sounds like you have settled on an idea, will be following along with interest.
be warned, changing to cone filters is going to require re-jetting te carbs to get her to run properly...lots of patients required.

 

[jacobdub]

Another couple hours in the shop tonight. Got the fenders, wires and a few other things off. Shocking how much I'm learning just by taking some stuff apart! Tomorrow I should get almost everything else off, and then I'm gonna start sanding/cleaning and finding, scanning and photoshop-ing some images to start really planning out what I want to tweak during reassembly.

Thanks for the heads up on the jetting. I'll start reading up on how tough that is. My buddy's got way more carb experience than me, so unless it's crazy tough I'm sure it'll get done.

 

[Etcheberri]

nice project, subscribed

 

[jacobdub]

Yeah! I got a lot more done tonight than I thought I would have time for. The front and rear brakes are off. I was a little surprised to find I had to drain the front ones to get them all off. The swing arm's off, even though I'll need to reattach so I can move the bike around. The drive chain's off, too. If the specs in my manual are on, that thing was WAY too far stretched. I'd already meant to replace it, but seriously, it was bad. I got a new sprocket cover off eBay since mine's pretty busted. Tomorrow or the next day it should be all taken down!

 

[jacobdub]

And another few hours and I've got a bare frame. Haha I probably should've looked for a couple quick tips on getting that motor out, I thought I could shortcut a couple of brackets. Wrong! Some pretty bad news, though. When I drained the oil the other day I didn't notice, but coming back today and seeing some oil under the bike I realized the threads got stripped on the oil drain plug. Or rather, the plug stripped the aluminum threads. Can I just re-tap, or am I going to need to get a bigger plug or some aluminum/something to cut the new threads out of? I've tapped threads before, but not quite like this....

Other than that, mostly starting to work out a plan on what direction I want to go in. I want to do a couple more inspections to see if there's more work to be done, but otherwise here's my game plan:

- Delete side covers and the brackets.
- Come up with way to clean up/hide battery and electronics
- Clean and paint
- New seat. Undecided on whether to try and reuse seat pan or scrap the existing brackets and everything and try for an all new setup. I'm definitely going to read up on what other people have done!

 

[GateKeeper]

Looks like your having fun, keep at it, soon you will be putting it all back together...

Lots of great info here on this site, it's what got me into doing my build as well

 

[240punk]

Just get a replacement oil pan off eBay and a gasket.
If you're getting rid of the side covers its going to be a bit of work to hide everything.
I suggest checking the valve clearances and clutch while you're taking it apart.

 

[cowboyup3371]

Don't even need to do that. You can get an oversized plug at the car parts house or use a helicoil (I did). Do a search on here as this has been discussed frequently.

 

[jacobdub]

Thanks a lot for the help! I'll definitely dig through the forums more, too. I had a long weekend, so I'm really glad I got so much done. Now comes the fun stuff!

 

[Flyboy]

Wow, you sure have been busy, yes, getting the motor out by yourself is a pain, but there are ingenious ways to do it, me, I just straddle the frame, grab it and man handle it out....probably one of the reasons that my back is so fooked.
Getting it back in without scratching your shiny new painted frame is the fun part.
First thing that helps a bit is removing the valve cover to give more clearence, and the most popular way of getting it back in, is to lay the motor on its side and drop the bare frame over the motor.
Guys also use two planks across the lower cradle tubes and slide it in.
Jeeez, that sprocket cover did take a beating, wonder what happened there, maybe a chain come off???

 

[Motocrossx23]

Lol, check out my build thread, we pretty much started off the same way!

 

[jacobdub]

Yeah getting the engine out was actually a pretty funny spectacle I imagine. I'm a small fella', so I definitely tried laying it down (gently!) first, but like I said I didn't take all the mounts off I should have for whatever reason. So I stood it up again and took all the previously just loosened fasteners out. Then I went to lay it down again and the motor literally almost fell out! Haha then I got my buddy and we just lifted it out. We tried pulling the motor of his Yamaha out, too, but the bolt holding the oil filter on is stripped and without getting that off he's screwed. Nothing ever quite as it's planned, huh?