Time to get the hands dirty on an 81 GS1000 Restoration

[crazy canuck]

Well, after a year of thinking about it, I guess I'll try and clean up/restore my second bike. Actually bought it to have a spare motor for my L model but the L seems to be working fine. It needs a little attention this winter but I thought I'd cut my teeth on the G model first. My brother drove this bike for the first summer I had it and had some problems with gas getting into the oil. After some investigating on my part, it seemed he had the petcock on prime all the time.Did the oil and filter change and that was that. When I took this bike for a drive this summer it worked great for about 15 minutes and then started acting up. Loss of power, sputtering, sounded awful. I'm hoping a valve adjustment and carb rebuild will fix that. It has 120psi compression across the board so I'm hoping I won't have to do any cylinder work. I may throw in some rings when I have it apart if it needs them.My main goal is to get it working and looking good. As you can see from the pics it's in pretty rough shape and I'm not sure about model correct parts on this bike either. I know the exhaust was stamped 1100 and the rear air shocks are probably off an 1100 too. Paint scheme seems suspicious too and not sure about the seat either. I welcome all comments, advice, criticism and suggestions. Here goes..........
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This is the bike. I believe the only thing it's missing is the grab rail on the seat. Again, I'm not sure if this is the correct seat for this model

You can see the air shocks and missing seat rail in this pic. I think I may strip it right down to put new paint on the frame. The winters are long up here in Canada

A couple of pics of the tank. It's marked up pretty bad but no dents or dings. Again,I don't know if it's the proper tank but it bolts on okay. I already painted the tank on my L and it turned out pretty good so this one should too. It may require some new emblems.

The seat pan looks in great shape. A couple spots of rust that I'll sand blast out. I'll paint it when I'm doing the frame.

Here are some pics of the engine, forks and gauges. The covers are oxidized pretty good. I'll probably ship them to one of the guys that polishes them on here. The fins and overall condition of the jugs seems pretty decent. They may clean up fine without having to repaint the engine.

So that's what I'm up against . All in all, I think it's going to be a lot of elbow grease. I don't want to go broke buying new parts for this bike because I still have the L to do. What I'm planning to put on new is

V&H 4 into 1(I'm in the process of buying a good used one from a member here)
Stage 3 jets
Individual Pods
Stainless steel brake lines
carb rebuild
valve shims and seals
New side cover and tank badges
complete gasket kit
fresh paint
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[ratdude]

should be a nice one , I dig it !

Rat

 

[mattf]

Going to be nice....good luck!

 

[MassJosh]

Should be a nice project. Those shocks look like the stock air shocks on my Goldwing.

 

[crazy canuck]

update

update

I checked the shims before I took the head off and 5 out of 8 were out of tolerance range.I guess a big reason for the poor performance when I had a test drive in the spring. I guess I'll remove the valves and check things for tolerances. Tomorrow I'll dig out the pistons. Do these look normal to anybody????

 

[ratdude]

I don't know if its normal , but its kind of interesting how the carbon is laid out on the pistons ( its uneven ) .

What kind of mileage is on the motor ?
And by chance did you run a compression test before you pulled it apart ?

 

[crazy canuck]

The odometer shows 58,000k. I never did a compression test just before I pulled it apart but there was one done about 500 km's ago and it had approx. 120 psi on all 4 cyls. I don't know why the carbon deposits would be uneven.????

 

[ratdude]

Ok let me start off saying I am NOT saying anything is wrong , honestly I haven't had enough of these motors apart to know what's normal for them .

The carbon deposits being uneven indicates incomplete combustion . The reason I asked the mileage was just to see how long the motor had been run to create that pattern . Honestly it's more than likely part of the design of the motor , the domed pistons with the spark plug set off to the side sometimes creates stuff like that.

And I also find it curious because incomplete combustion indicates lost power , as we all know these motors are pretty darn impressive as far as making power . Just the musings of a madman , pay no attention .

What I mean by uneven carbon , see how the top chamber in the pic has little carbon build up near the spark plug ? ( snitched your pic )

As far as the valves being ok so long as they look like this one you are probably fine
they are supposed to stick out a little bit ( its called a valve margin , you probably knew that already )

You definately have some carbon to remove , but you probably opened it up to do such things anyway.

Rat

 

[Nessism]

The amount of carbon on this engine is normal. Nothing unusual at all.

I strongly suggest that you number the valves and remove them from the head so you can get a better look at the sealing surfaces and replace the valve stem seals.

Good luck and keep going...

 

[crazy canuck]

Got the head and valves cleaned up somewhat. I think these valves should be okay to go back in. Guides,springs,valve stems are all within range. That carbon on the exhaust valves came off pretty easy for all and the piston tops cleaned up with a brass wire brush..Have to get the proper tool to check the cyls..Things are looking good so far.Hmmm: I notice some discoloration on the #3 piston right above the oil ring. I guess while it's apart may as well replace them. I think I'll get this head milled too. Is there a normal thickness to take off or let the machine shop decide?? Also, should I do anything with those 4 Allen head screws in the carb ports. Anti-seize, LocTite, Are there any parts or springs or o-rings behind them??. As you can tell, I've never had carbs apart before...Yet

 

[ratdude]

Also, should I do anything with those 4 Allen head screws in the carb ports. Anti-seize, LocTite, Are there any parts or springs or o-rings behind them??. As you can tell, I've never had carbs apart before...Yet

You mean the 4 allens in the intake boots ( the rubber booties on the head )?

There is a soft metal sealing washer under them , don't lose them ( you will probably have a vacume leak if you do ). Still available from suzuki if you need them .

I suppose you could put a tiny dab of anti-seize on them .( put mine in dry )

Rat

 

[Nessism]

You might want to check the valve seat width, yours looks to be pretty wide. The seat width spec is 1.4 mm although I'm not sure how critical that is.

 

[crazy canuck]

Almost There

Almost There

I think this old thing may see a few more summers yet. Still have to source some exhaust heat shields, a new master cylinder reservoir, stator cover and points cover decals, seat grab rail, front fender and a few other things. I opted not to go with the Vance and Hines pro-pipe as it was hitting the front fender. I actually painted the wrong front fender and you can see on this one where the pipe was hitting. I think I will source another fender like the black one on it and paint it blue also..Painted the blue myself with a metallic single stage and got the decal package and seat cover in the U.K. Fresh gaskets. Cleaned the carbs and new Cycle-Oring replacement. Green Dyna-coils and wires from Z1 Enterprises. Had a tough time tracking down a bad plug. Firing intermittently. Changed that out and now works surprisingly well for not being synched yet. Plan on doing that with the Morgan Carb-Tune tomorrow.I really appreciate any and all who offered any tips, advice and criticism.Before and after shots below.Last pic is with the header on it.