The rebuild has started

[timebombprod]

been ready to start the rebuild process on the bike, and finally I started today, we are down to the bottom end with the pistons still on and tomorrow the rest will be removed from the frame and onto the bench to finish the teardown. I must say for a motor that is 40 years old and has never been rebuilt it wasnt bad at all, sure theres alot of carbon buildup but my cylinder walls are very nice and clean, you can still see some of the honing, all the bolts came off nice and easy aswell as the cylinder head and wall, and most of the parts looked to be in fine shape.

on the other hand my camshaft journals are scored up so im assuming that my crankshaft ones will more than likely be the same, im not sure if they will be able to be salvaged but we will see. also being that the motor was never apart and grime finds its ways into crevices, as soon as i removed the cylinder head a bunch of crap fell into the crankcase, and when i removed the walls the same happened, it all built up on the head studs, i expected there to be crud but dang it was a good amount forsure.

i think the bike as a whole will clean up real nice and also this will be a fun project since ill be building a bike from the ground up if i still want to go that route, ill basically be doing the same thing here but everything actually is a for sure fit and all from the same bike, but nevertheless its great experience for now and later on.

im gonna post my goal list for the bike, pretty simple but im sure people like to know what exactly the goals are for a full rebuild.

-rebuild motor and possibly bore
-install performance intake
-replace exhaust cam with intake cam
-rebuild, tune, and sync carbs for new motor setup
-grease/ replace all bearings, seals, orings, and bolts that need it
-replace front brake pads
-clean up wiring harness
-organize electronics
-get rear brake working
-get dents out of tank
-possible repaint or repairing paint
-lose some weight if possible.

all of these seem to be just fine for me and itd be very nice to be able to look at every inch and angle of the bike with the tank and seat on or off and just be able to spot out everything and know every single bit of the bike. glad to start this thread.

i thought i rotated the photo but i guess not...

 

[timebombprod]

this is where we're at right now, going very smoothly, glad to be doing it.

 

[craz1]

Looks like the same seat i'm using on the on the 82 GS1100GL except black. Im waiting for a new rear cam guide so I can finish the engine. Good luck with the build

 

[timebombprod]

night 2, went and seen a movie and started after that was done, when i drained shaft drive oil it was still the same colour when i put the new oil in well over a year ago, so thats good, but i did also have some gold flakes in it, which is bad. pretty sure i know what part its from and im just hoping its servicable, also rear wheel bearings were dry as hell, and i need a new rear tire so i dont bust my behind when i get back on, didnt realise how bad it really was.

 

[timebombprod]

might take a picture later but crankcase is split, now to just inspect all i can and check the clearances/specs of everything. cleaning should be able to be done monday and bottom end reassembly aswell aslong as nothing bottom end related is needing to be replaced.

 

[craz1]

How about the seals that separate the gear box oil from the transmission oil. And the o-rings on the secondary and output shafts.

 

[timebombprod]

By transmission oil do you mean motor oil? My system is a little different I have been told, but my engine and transmission are all lubricated by the same oil and the driveshaft does have its own sperate oil, there was no mixing beforehand and ofcourse they will be replaced if needed, today is gonna be inspection day basically.

 

[timebombprod]

so, yesterday was just more teardown stuff, i have the harness fully disconnected and off the bike aswell as all the electronic units, i have my rear mudguard off the bike, basically all that's on is the front end, swingarm, and my stands.

now a couple questions have popped up during this, "do I get my rear brake working, or do i take it off completely?" aswell as "do i get rid of the middle section of my dash, or does that stay on?"

here's the thing, this whole time I owned the bike, I have never had a rear brake and I have never said "man I wish I had my rear brake working" because I've never had a reason to need it, now say if I was a more advanced rider and was well rounded in the corners maybe I wouldn't even ask the question, but as of right now I don't think its necessary. I've had a few close calls not because of me but other people on the road and the front brake has done fine, and that thing isn't even up to par....my bike is unsafe I guess is what I should say. anyways, I see me losing a good bit of weight because I also never have a passenger and I can remove those aluminum brackets aswell, and can cut off the mounts that are on the frame, if it comes to it I can just reweld them back on if I ever want the stuff back on, so I guess that one is kinda settled for now.

now with the middle section of the dash, it contains my gear indicator, my neutral light, my fuel gauge, and my turn signal light. my fuel sender unit was removed as it was rusted beyond repair, or so my knowledge from almost 3 years ago thought so, and I don't really need my turn signal light, and I can buy an aftermarket gauge for neutral and the gears. my dilemma is aerodynamics, I have a feeling that this middle section of the dash plays with the flow of air pretty well and taking it off might obstruct its smoother flow a bunch, causing the bike to have more drag, making it harder to accelerate at higher speeds, and also lowering fuel economy depending on how bad the drag is. again i could see saving some weight by removing this but its not nearly as much as the rear brake components and if the aerodynamics outweigh the weight savings then i will keep it on.


tomorrow I am going to get to clean and truly inspect all my engine internals aswell as oil them so no rust starts happening, I believe I am going to switch over to suzuki brand oil 10-w40 that is meant for the bike as the marine mechanic in me knows the best thing to do is go with what the manufacturer says. I think the biggest challenge for me will be the painting process, and not necessarily the painting but the prep work, i know that will be alot of time spent, but the end result will be great, I'm not going to say what the bikes paint scheme is going to be but in a couple posts I made you can already figure out one of the main colours.

the bore kit says it will be here by April 12th, if I can finish most of the work by then that will be amazing, I haven't been overwhelmed at all and I'm having fun doing this, so maybe this bike will be done very soon, of course no major modification is happening but this will be basically a brand new bike when I'm done, which will be really awesome considering its a daily rider, and I wont have much if any worry while riding.

PS, the engine is on the white table in parts.

 

[Grimly]

You need both brakes. Don't gamble with your safety.

 

[Rich82GS750TZ]

Agree with Grimly. Makes an argument for why maybe Florida Should have safety inspections. My understanding is that there is no requirement for any vehicle in that state to meet any kind of road worthiness inspection in order to be registered for the road. Tell me I’m wrong.

I think your thinking about the effects on aerodynamics by having or not having the center portion or your instruments is not even worthy of consideration for this bike.

And sure, you can ignore all of the 40 years of advances in and all that’s been written on this forum alone on what oil to use.

Hard for me to get on board with any of your plans except for maybe painting the frame and tank since it’s apart, cleaning up the wiring. That you would even ride this bike with only front brakes “that thing isn’t even up to par”is to me, irresponsible, at best. Dangerous, at worst. But, it’s your bike, do what you want.

I’ve tried helping you from time to time, but it’s time for someone to give you some honest opinions. Glad we don’t share the same streets.

 

[timebombprod]

well, what would be the best oil to use if I'm hard on the bike? I'm in Florida, I was looking at the Suzuki manual and it seems I should be running 10W-40 to 20W-50, I was only able to find an article from 2005 and I wouldn't say I got the clearest answer other then to not use synthetic oil.

 

[Baatfam]

well, what would be the best oil to use if I'm hard on the bike? I'm in Florida, I was looking at the Suzuki manual and it seems I should be running 10W-40 to 20W-50, I was only able to find an article from 2005 and I wouldn't say I got the clearest answer other then to not use synthetic oil.

You are kidding, correct? There are hundreds of posts on the correct oil. Reading would be my advice.
Just to get you started, here is a forum search on "oil change" for you. Only took 0.04 seconds to return 150 threads....Should have what you want.

https://www.thegsresources.com/_foru...2%3A%221%22%7D

 

[rphillips]

First, get the brakes working & learn to use them "correctly". use any 10W/40 oil & be sure it has no kind of super slick additives, just reg. oil. Forget about the aero of the instruments, hard to imagine you even mentioned such a thing.

 

[craz1]

By transmission oil do you mean motor oil? My system is a little different I have been told, but my engine and transmission are all lubricated by the same oil and the driveshaft does have its own sperate oil, there was no mixing beforehand and ofcourse they will be replaced if needed, today is gonna be inspection day basically.

So the smaller bikes use the same oil to lubricate the output gears, my 82 GS110GL has a separate cavity for gear lube that needs to be separated from the engine oil. Kinda a pain to deal with

As far as engine oil, you can use any 10w-40 motorcycle oil designed for wet clutch. You do not need syn oils. I use Valvoline in my older bikes.

 

[timebombprod]

You are kidding, correct? There are hundreds of posts on the correct oil. Reading would be my advice.
Just to get you started, here is a forum search on "oil change" for you. Only took 0.04 seconds to return 150 threads....Should have what you want.

https://www.thegsresources.com/_foru...2%3A%221%22%7D

​​​​​​Must not be using search bar right, I put oil and best oil but I wasn't able to return threads specific about the oils to use, I ended up finding a post from 2005

 

[timebombprod]

The winner is, Castrol GTX 15w40.

Will probably end up keeping rear brake I just have to get it working, I have all the parts for it and the correct pedal too. Bracket and mount on frame on the left side will be taken out though more than likely.

I figured for higher speeds aerodynamics does take a big role just because the amount of drag it creates, I figured with the middle part of the cluster it helps direct that flow alot better, so I figured I'd ask.

 

[timebombprod]

well, havent updated for a while as not too much has happened.

it took me about 2 weeks to find a place that can properly bore my cylinders believe it or not, i didnt expect that to be a challenge but i do have reasonably small cylinders.

and all my parts that i sent off are getting powdercoated, that being the frame, swingarm, wheels, forks, and triple trees. it might be a while before i see those again as i didnt pay a powder coating shop to do it but instead i did an annual service for my friends dad in exchange for the powdercoating, long story short its a favour thing but im saving alot of money and he is aswell so its a win win for both of us.

meanwhile ive been looking for a bike to keep me busy as it has really started to hit hard having no bike, i believe i have been told this by somebody here and its definitely true but you should have two bikes at all time, one to work on and one to ride while the other is being worked on.

theres an 81gs750e project for sale but the price is a bit high for what it is, things been sitting close to 10 years, it does have only 14k miles though, i know that might not mean anything depending on how it was treated but thats why i want to get it for such a low price so i can assure i dont take a financial loss on the bike. there was a pretty nice 1977 gs750 i was going to pick up for a good price that wouldve been a sweet daily but the guy was not the best seller and i didnt get the bike, oh well plenty of fish in the sea.

 

[timebombprod]

wiring harness 95% complete, all re-wrapped, anything not being used was removed, and i repaired my terrible previous repairs on the harness....where the hell was heatshrink, butt connectors, and electrical tape during this...oh yeah, i got really caught up on this stuff called marine tape...

gonna be taking a wire wheel to certain things that are rusted and need a repaint, nothing serious and wont be seen unless the seat is off but i want my bike clean all over.


for the motor, i still havent got a call from the place who took my cylinders to get bored but thats okay as i have a decent bit of other things to do, mainly cleaning if im honest, and making a parts order but i feel like it might be better to do that whilst im rebuilding as it will come alot easier as to what i need. i relapped the valves and ill be checking all the valve spring specs, not sure if im going to use a second intake cam for the exhaust side but i have time so no worries. im not sure if ill be painting the engine black either as 1) the bike is aircooled and even with the right paint im guessing it will run hotter, and 2) i feel like alot of cafe racers end up having alot of parts painted black and i dont want it to be like the majority. the good thing is i still have plenty of time to decide.

i also learned that the fairings on my bike are rare, possibly even super rare. they have a red suzuki emblem on both and i didnt realise until now that i cant find any other ones with them for sale on ebay or facebook or even looking up my bike on google! sweet!

 

[timebombprod]

got my cylinders back today, looks great and will be doing the ring clearances soon.

i also shown the guy my crankshaft and he said i wont need to get it polished but i should replace my crank bearings, i was originally just gonna use plastigauge but he said its not accurate enough and i should use a micrometer and bore gauge and i completely understand why now after watching some videos.

my question is, my clearances for my connecting rod bearings change colour every .0001" to .0002" and im wondering if this dial gauge will be accurate for this, it says it has .0005" graduations and im not sure if this will do or not as this stuff is a bit new to me.

https://www.amazon.com/Fowler-Warra...locphy=9012364&hvtargid=pla-384321570841&th=1

 

[GS1150Pilot]

Wait-there are fairings somewhere?