siamesing the twins. (one from two) 82 GS1100G

[engel]

g'day.

been a while since i screwed with a big suzi, so its about time again.

am combining the good bits of dads old 1074 shaftie and a spares bike, on a budget, and this time there's no "get ready for a birthday" one month deadline. lets just call them BLACK, and BLUE. BLUE now runs again though the electrics are interesting. i stripped its siezed solid starter motor to base components and got it working again and fitted BLACK's ignition signal generator and carbs which were clean from using on the orange GSX1100 last year. added fuel, wound over and she fires and runs after 9 years. began by oiling all 8 pots on monday and making sure they spun freely so into fifth on their centre stands they went, and with the plugs out i twirled the rear wheel for all i was worth and with an ohmmeter on the brake pedal and the oil light switch we got oil pressure up.

BLACK's bodywork is in good nick luckily except for paint condition as BLUE's tank has had the dick but BLACK's got issues of her own with non functional front brakes, wiring harness, and other bits and bobs. BLUE was dads work bike and has running gear issues with rusted fork stanchions, seat base, shot steering head bearings, and kawasaki clocks.

i got her carbs off earlier this evening and the number one float chamber is full of the same green antifreeze lookin crud that was in the identical bowl as on the GSX from sitting on the sidestand. verdigrees and unleaded, oh so pretty. biggest hurdle so far has been the rounded out 6mm signal generator bolt which refused to come out and allow me to move the sig gen from BLACK onto BLUE (or onto the GSX 14 months ago so you could say it was a long term niggle) by any normal method so i drilled the guts out then let a 3/8" bit eat the bulk of the hollowed bolt head till she succumbed and now it's mobile to use to test both motors and determine the best candidate.

the best thing is that I'M MISSING NOTHING FOR THIS BUILD! bar obvious new gear like o-rings, fork seals, and gaskets, all other items are duplicated and that cuts out searching for and buying parts, keeps my costs down, and brings the completion time down only to laziness and distraction levels (though with no deadline this time, who cares). should have some pics up maybe tomorrow evening of the congregation of dismembered items inhabiting my shed.

cheers, glen.

 

[engel]

where the situation stands at present:

and what we're aiming for from circa 87:

 

[Charlie G]

engle,

Nice to see you posting up another project. What a luxury to have a parts bike to scavange from. I'd be tempted to try to get both up and running. I'll be watching your progress. Take care.

cg

 

[SVSooke]

Go through my signature build thread for the 750,not exactly the same situation but pretty close.

 

[engel]

BLUE has her original carbs back on with new needle and seat o-rings and a good clean out. running as smooth as it can with no air filter as both the elements are rotted. have cleaned out and reasembled the airbox today and now she'll at least rev if asked beyond 6k with it in place giving a bit of vacuum. starting on the button with little prompting and settles down to a good steady idle quickly. pricing air filters and exhaust and clutch cover gaskets locally though partshark may be called upon once again, their services in the past nothing short of exemplary.

have fixed together a tacho/fuel guage from the remnants of the crushed original and the non functional item on BLACK. not tackling any huge procedures just yet but so far i've been able to get out and do something on them every night which should add up over time.

the idea had crossed my mind to build a pigeon pair at one point charlie but the bodywork is too far gone on BLUE. and BLACK's ignition and clutch parts are serving well on the GSX1100 i built for dad, which i'm pleased to say is receiving a good deal of use with him able to take runs on it quite a few sundays lately.

 

[engel]

BLACK is go. at least as far as the frame is concerned.

BLUE has a large dent in the left seat rail and a crack clear through the rear battery carrier frame spar. i fired it up one last time then silenced her off till it becomes needed if BLACK's engine proves a lost cause. on wednesday night, after arguing with my lawnmower about it choosing to not run, i transferred the rear wheel, ignition hardware, harness, right fork leg, coils, and choke cable between the two. the left leg may go across as well but the right has chrome missing in the travel region.

still to go across are the pipes, carbs, airbox then plug all the connectors together and hope she fires. BLACK has been standing longer out of the two but by dads recollection she didn't burn oil and had a far easier life at the hands of it's former owner and is the pick of the pair. still yet to be sure but if i don't need to swap powerplants i'll hardly be complaining. they aren't overly light afterall and stripping out one means refitting to both as theres no point having a spares bike in pieces or you'd simply strip and dump, and at least an assembled bike should store easier and move a lot lighter with my confined storage space.

not in any mad rush to tackle the panelwork as its still in good shape but i still can't paint and theres a few more pressing matters on my plate such as registering the CBR1000F hurricane thats taking daily drive duties over from my long suffering DT200R, and a few of the other crocks straining my finances need love.

at least by now i'm starting to get a little excitemed in the build. she's been christened Anna partially for a girl i used to know and the rest for Deborah Kerr and will likely be painted the same blue as dads came out in.

wish me luck, glen.

 

[Charlie G]

I hope Black proves to be a good runner, as I would hate to have to pull two motors. I agree it's easier to store parts on a bike as apposed to scattering them about a garage. Looking forward to seeing you sort it out.


cg

 

[UncleMike]

Looks like you should be able to put together something nice. Those bags look useful too.

 

[engel]

noel the old owner used them a fair bit and i was once tossing up whether to bolt them to my dads gsx1100 or to the vincent. i reckon they can stay quite happily were they are. they at least are lockable and strike me as practical, not the least of which being they'll save the money of a new set of rear indicators.

the new tyre for the CBR arrived on tuesday and will go on in short order when i return home from my little holiday here in melbourne on monday night. might try and have anna running shortly thereafter. theres a new stator and reg/rec to go onto whichever motor chooses to prove worthy of em so let the games begin.

gonna ask around after some basic parts for my sohc honda fours while i'm down here too, the wreckers here having better stock levels. would be nice to track down a good gs seat if i could but not holding breath on that one. may try for a filter and other new parts as well.

cheers, glen.

 

[engel]

anzyela the hurricane is on the road and i have an 8 week old puppy.

one of these is saving me time and the other is chewing it (and everything else) up at a frightening rate.

got to the shed for a little tonight however and the pipes are transferred, a few connectors are clicked into place, and she cranks over fine though the wiring is still a mess and i have no spark as of yet. same harness as i had on BLUE so can't be too much needing doin. the tyres i ordered aren't made anymore so it's back to the drawing board on that one. her rear hoop had to be transferred to tinkerbell the GSX as dad had eradicated the tread off it. not big on the left hand switchblock so might swap it out with the familiarity of my DT200. not much else in the pipeline as far as alterations planned but we'll see where the ship sails.

needed some encouragement so i fired up katrin the katana just to listen to its sweet twin mufflered idle. not as groovy as my gamma 250 but no slouch for something with valves.

 

[Charlie G]

Engel,

Nice to have you pop back in once in a while with an update. I've lost many a pair of boots to a bored puppy seeking revenge on me for being away. Take it easy on the tike, he'll settle down in three years or so.

cg

 

[engel]

she's cute as a button charl, but evil incarnate. josie is a border collie/red kelpie cross. been trying to wear her out during the day so she sleeps better but her energy knows no bounds and it's only going get worse as she grows as they are a working dog and she's gonna run me ragged. monstrous little fangs and claws yet capable of being tender, till she gets bored and then the glen becomes the chewtoy.

 

[Charlie G]

Over the years I've seen a few Border Collies and they all seem to be smart as a whip. We have a Cocker Spaniel who is the dumbist dog in California. When he's gone I think I find a Border Collie and experence the bright side of the K-9 world.

cg

 

[engel]

two new pairs of continentals arrived today. one with tubes for tinkerbell, and the other without for anna. might have sorted out a painter over last weekend, and with a little luck i'll have my switchblock here at home by saturday.

fired all four of the running girls here up today. can't hear the katana over the vincent and as it had wet sumped, after a few minutes you couldn't see it either. not a bad aroma but think i may have scared the neighbours. surprised the fireys never fronted to be honest.

scored a running L16 and a torn down RB25 DET this afternoon and the relevant gearbox and tailshaft and it's blocking the garage so i can't go anywhere. might be an impetus to lock myself in the shed with the 1100 this weekend. would love her regoed and shaken down at least a week before my 6000 kilometer round trip in november so the midnight oil may be getting burned in the near future. i have tink and anzyela the hurricane as fallbacks but want to take the shafty and its panniers. deadlines add to the spice i find so lets see what eventuates.

hope the dog can read and pass over metric spanners as a little help from my four pawed apprentice wouldn't go astray. or just let her gnaw on the old tyres to keep her out from under my feet.

 

[engel]

anna has her new shoes on. though more by luck than anything else. two hours yesterday of hunting around and five shops to find the applicable tubeless valve for the rear rim (dad has always run a tube in the rear tyre as the metzelers were a tight fit and took a ton of pressure to seat the beads). discovered much to my dismay about midnight friday that a standard rubber car type stem is not agreeable to the 82 model tubeless star pattern rims fitted. wanted to replace the front as well but in the end had to reuse it and the best i could manage was new rubber washers. then fitted the tyres by hand later that night after a very long dayand drove to a fuel station to inflate them. front went up fine but the new automatic style digital inflaters wouldn't give the rear a large enough burst to let it seat. drove across town to where a standard lever type guage and full flow air compressor were located and up she went no troubles. back home and pulled BLACKs front wheel and fitted up the replaced tyre. chucked the rear wheel back on, refitted the rear shocks, and fitted out BLACKs front wheel on BLUE swapping out my safety wheel (81 kwakka z500b. same size, disc spacing, and axle diameter though with smaller discs) in the process. thats when i realized my tail wagging apprentice had little more on her mind than bones, tennis balls, and chewing my toes while perched over the wheel with tyre levers. one new front tyre, beaded out, inflated, bolted up, and back on the ground. and running the wrong direction.

ok. joy!

jack under, wheel out, safety wheel in, deflate, break beads, strip, refit.

grabbed my house keys, the dogs leash, and the wheel and walked it and the dog the 5 blocks to the 24hour service station 5 blocks away at 2 am. reinflate tyre, walk dog home and refit to front of bike. into the shower, and off to bed.

haven't had the stomach to go out and check if i've put the rear on wrong way round. have learned the four into one obscures the rear axle and the panniers oscure the crap out of the left rear shock absorber when you go to lower the swingarm to remove it. doesn't bode well. the law of averages states that murphy was right. there's a very real likelihood that if it's facing the wrong way it may be staying that way for at least a few weeks as i lack interest in rectification right at present.

as an upside of yesterday, all the tinware is delivered off to be painted.

and, i'll be double checking any advice my puppy provides prior to implementation. mans best friend isn't necessarily mans most useful ally in motorcycle refurbishing.

 

[engel]

we have spark. fat and blue and timed. only took half a litre of scotch too.

swapped the starter switch and starter motor power leads over and ran an external earth lead to the starter relay. could have stripped down the switch and argued with it till i had a circuit but such is the luxury of a spares bike. anyway, its still there to be made functional if i need it later.

topped up the oil level a snippet as it lost a bit when her clutch centre was nicked and swapped over with tinkerbells. can't be too careful as the next trick was to throw a little juice in the fuel bowls and the last thing i want is a motor that fires and starts running only to starve for oil. fuel in, switch on, finger over the vacuum port for the fuel tap and hit the button. got a couple of pops out of it and satisfied with this and lacking fuel, a jerry can was found, the dog got her leash attached and off we went at 11:30 at night to procure 5 litres of unleaded for use today when the mood takes me to swap the carbies over between bikes.

placed two quite costly orders on wednesday night that have raped my bank account but should have all of my jap fleet maintained, functional, or safe and in a few cases even pretty. the most of it is servicing basics with camcover gaskets, air and oil filters, seals, manifold rubbers and the odd o-ring or two.

what frightens me is the disparagement between retail prices here and in the states. picked up a new electric fuel pump for the cbr as it's, even with babbitts phenomenal international shipping of 114 bucks plus 129 for the pump, still 48 dollars cheaper than the local dealer. grabbed some other basics from them as well to consolidate the freight and take some of the sting out of the shipping. was the same when i re-bearinged the gsx gearbox where i grabbed three pairs of shaft races for less than i was quoted for a single pair here in oz. as such i tend to buy in bulk through partshark and keep spares handy. takes a bit of forethought and a lot of will power not to go overboard. about the only pity is that partshark don't deal with honda too. well, it'd be even lovelier still if they did MZ, H-R-D and Chrysler bits into the bargain but you can't have it all i guess.

 

[engel]

she's runnin. and pretty smoothly too. have swapped over more componentry (horns, indicator switch and flasher unit, carbs, airbox, tacho cable) and made a few more electricals functional. still got to reroute all the harness and fix a few busted wires. unlocked the left pannier while trying to sort the rear indicators wiring and found a newspaper dated 1996. and impressively, the original factory back blinkers in near pristine condition with bracketry and insulator rubbers. chucked the housings on the front, plugged em in and they worked straight off. am holding off installing the headlight till i've done the forkseals in case i've got to swap out the legs.

selects all gears but not greatly impressed with a clatter coming from the rear shaft and a general stiffness in wheel rotation so she might be getting a final drive swap out as well if the other proves free'er as i think it is. has been stiff since i went to pick her up and i suspect the uni joint. particularly growly idling in fifth on the centrestand so might be better on it's wheels with weight and load on it but think its best i look into it first as sydney's not just round the corner.

gonna hold off on the clutch swap until the relevant gasket arrives as i'm not big on having them unsealed longer than necessary and i've an 1150 nut coming with the order too. going to pressure clean the engine tomorrow so no crap ingresses into the unit when i start doing the stator and clutch pulls. may help the roadworthy certificate too if she looks like i gave a crap about appearance and will make oiltightness proofing a bit simpler.

overall, bloody relieved that she's a runner. might treat her to a new set of plugs and exhaust gaskets but if she runs as well as i hope once i get an airfilter element in place i think i'll be able to leave well enough alone. valve clearances might get a look in if the cam cover gasket is leaking but bar that if it ain't broke........

 

[Charlie G]

" only took half a litre of scotch too." Is this your seceret for getting bikes to run properly. No wonder it's taking me so long. Sounds like your making good progress.

Do you know why it costs so much for parts in OZ? Is it a VAT that drives the price up so?

cg

 

[engel]

same reason juice is more here and even more vicious in europe charlie. some bugger has got in their heads that we all need a good screwing and is doing their damndest to see that it happens. we have VAT at 10% but 129 vs 291 is a tad more than 200% so that aint it.

my sunday was a disaster. fired up BLACK's engine again to make certain i wasn't just dreaming it all that she ranand checked the driveline noises this time in daylight. 5th sounded atrocious and had the jolts so i fastidled her to 3000 on the choke lever to see if i could suss it out from behind. the arse end was waving maniacally and not instilling much faith. thats where all the fun began.

shut off, plucked neutral and tried the tyre rotate thing again. still tight. grabbed the swing arm and checked for play and found the pivit bearings loose. could be tightened but shouldn't have needed that many turns. shocks off, exhaust down for the gaskets anyway so wheel out and pulled the three rear drive nuts and shes smooth as silkthough the drive splines are on their way out. dropped the swingarm and the uni is fine though the swing arm bearings were rusty, siezed, and the cups badly brinneled. the flexible boot around the uni is holding oil and the output seal is bulged out.

pulled the bevel drives filler plug from the crankcase and ominous vapour was underneath. gearlever and cover off and the level plug removed and nothing flowed out even though liquid could be seen in the thread. poked into it with a stick and it was gooey like caramel. drain plug out and the caramel crap barely trickled it was so thick. here was my stiff to turn rear wheel.

first things last, i later checked BLUE's bevel oil and all was good. in the interim before that i pulled BLUE's wheel, final drive, swingarm, uni joint and inspected them all. swing arm bearings are good and grease looked clean and fresh despite sitting nine years. final drive splines were perfect, uni is good, and output seal was fine. what followed wasn't fun but had to happen so i just took it in my stride. airbox, carbs, wiring, and all the crap i'd only fitted up three days ago came off and then i dropped all the engine mountings. the bloody camcover breather was next then i deadlifted the engine out and onto the floor. onto my furniture trolley and into the yard to have a set of pipes pushed into the exhaust ports, my spare carbs and airbox wedged into place and a dead tacho cable fitted then blasted the buggery out of all the joint lines to get it clean for after my holiday is over and i'll pluck the lower case off to see how bad the suspected rust is on the bearings and bevel drive gears. will need doing but i haven't the time at present. into the shed she went then i detached all the hardware from BLUE and took out her engine as well. onto the trolley, over to BLACK, and deadlifted up and in. bolted it in and knocked on carbs to stop dirt ingress and thats where we're at. have to transfer swingarms and other basics tonight and see where it leads from there.

my internet at home has died as well so all in all a great sunday. gonna head home now and finish thwe scotch bottle and burn a little midnight oil. wish me luck.

the sight that greeted me and started the debacle

BLACKS engine in the shed post cleaning, watched over by the faithful hound

BLUE, gutted and despondent.

end of day: BLUES motor beside then into BLACK and bolted up.

 

[mike-s]

the sight that greeted me and started the debacle

Looks like the engine had a big night out drinking after a fillup at a bad Indian restaurant