Sethro, '80 GS450L/E

[sethro0311]

Hello all,
My name is Seth aka Sethro. This past New Years I have purchased my first motorcycle, an 1980 GS450L for $200, what a deal right. The bike appeared to be in decent shape in need of only a few parts to be road ready. Well turns out it needs more than a few.
Tires, wheel bearings, swing arm bearings, carb rebuild, brake pads/shoes, chain, spark plugs, torn seat (to be repaired or replaced), petcock rebuild, shocks shot, forks leaking steering stem bearings turn signals broken, headlamp broken. But there is a shinning light under all the grime. Research revealed the motor was from an 80 gs450e, and on top of that it is a rebuilt motor, New stator, signal generator, cam, crank, pistons, the whole 9 yards.
Now, with this being my first bike, the more small things I found wrong I decided to strip the bike all the way to the frame, and start from scratch, which is where I found the more major problems, i.e. Swing arm bearings disintegrated.
As I progress with my rebuild I may try to pick a few of your brains for tips, advice and recommendations.
P.S. I will try to get some before pics uploaded. And some as I advance through the project.

 

[Guest]

Good luck with the rebuild. Sounds like a lot on the grocery list.
Welcome to the forum and I'm certain you'll learn more than enough here.

PS: L's rock!

 

[Gorminrider]

Hi sethro! Nice to have a fresh motor!

Best to head to Bass_cliff's site for a lot of useful stuff, including a manual for your bike.

You will find a lot of similarities across Suzukis of the era so if the manual doesn't make it plain, it can help to check out tips on BC's library from other bikes.

BikeCliff's Website

 

[sethro0311]

Good luck with the rebuild. Sounds like a lot on the grocery list.
Welcome to the forum and I'm certain you'll learn more than enough here.

PS: L's rock!

Thank you, I am very anxious to get this project under way and am off to a good start, I have been going through the forum, seems to be a lot of good resources. More to follow.

 

[sethro0311]

Thank you Gormin, yeah that was the first thing I did, get a Clymer manual. I am actually pretty moving along pry good so far, I have the bike down to the frame already, got New handlebars, levers grips, and read fender.

 

[sethro0311]

.
Can't seem to figure out how to get more then one photo to load at once. ?

 

[Steve]

Welcome.

Don't want to dim your "shining light under all the grime", but the motors for the 450E and 450L are the same. :-k
Either way, you have a decent base for a bike.

Definitely a long list of stuff to do. Get the mechanical stuff done first, then the aesthetics.

To post more than one picture at a time, you need to upload them to a hosting site. Many of us use PhotoBucket or Imgur. Not sure if Flickr is still in business, but you need a site like that, then copy the IMG link for that picture and just paste that in your post. No need to click on any icons or do any special tricks, just copy and paste. However, it is nice to hit the ENTER key between the IMG links so the pictures go below each other instead of scrolling off the side. In fact, if you hit the ENTER key twice, it puts a blank line between them, making a nice border.

.

 

[sethro0311]

Thank you Steve, yeah I know it's the same motor, just would have been nice if it were the original motor form the bike. Also thank you for the info on the pic posting.

Yeah I'm probably looking at the better part of a year or longer to totally finish up.

Welcome.

Don't want to dim your "shining light under all the grime", but the motors for the 450E and 450L are the same. :-k
Either way, you have a decent base for a bike.

Definitely a long list of stuff to do. Get the mechanical stuff done first, then the aesthetics.

To post more than one picture at a time, you need to upload them to a hosting site. Many of us use PhotoBucket or Imgur. Not sure if Flickr is still in business, but you need a site like that, then copy the IMG link for that picture and just paste that in your post. No need to click on any icons or do any special tricks, just copy and paste. However, it is nice to hit the ENTER key between the IMG links so the pictures go below each other instead of scrolling off the side. In fact, if you hit the ENTER key twice, it puts a blank line between them, making a nice border.

.