Weasel's 1978 GS750 cafe racer project

[Chuck78]

Rinse out the carb chem dip with water very thoroughly before using the aerosol can cleaner. This is what the Berryman instructions say at least.

 

[Weasel]

if the screws still have paint over them as sort of a thread locker, soak in carb cleaner aerosol to break the paint, and then tighten them until gently bottoms, counting how much of a turn it gets til bottomed. Should be 7/8ths or so, some models 3/4 ish.

Ok break this down in detail for me. I saw the factory set screws with the paint over them. Obviously those need cleaned but they need to be reset to same position so I should count the turns until they bottom. What do you mean by 7/8ths or so, or some models 3/4ish? What happens if one carb already had paint removed and I have no idea if it's in the right position?

 

[Weasel]

Disregard, I had some time to search through the site and found the explanation in detail. Looking forward to some time off over the holiday to make some more progress. Carb gaskets arrived, hope my new o-rings come today or tomorrow.

 

[Weasel]

Just checked the mailbox and the o-rings have arrived. Looks like I ought to have these carbs rebuilt over Thanksgiving weekend and hopefully back on the bike and getting them tuned.

 

[Dirty Deeds]

Looking good so far, keep it up

 

[Chuck78]

Be wary of those rubber coated permanent o-ring fuel couplers and tee... if they aren't a nice tight fit after you clean out the gunk from the fuel rail inlets on the carbs, buy those z1 tees and couplers that take the replaceable o-rings like some versions came with stock...

http://www.z1enterprises.com/ItemDe...tion=Fuel+Rail+VM29+Smoothbore&item=ZSM26-268
http://www.z1enterprises.com/ItemDe...ption=Fuel+Tee+VM29+Smoothbore&item=ZSM26-269

 

[Weasel]

The couplers & tee were very tight and seem to be serviceable. I wanted to order new ones and other items from Z1 but they're not currently accepting orders, I was too impatient to wait until they resume taking orders in December. I will try to find the couplers from another source.

 

[limeex2]

If fork tubes are toast, any rust at all on fork seal area, just shop for straight leg (non-leading axle) gs850/1000 37mm forks & GS1100E aluminum triples - the models for straight leg forks, they have much more offset in the triples, leading axle models have very little offset and look like a big rectangular block (the lower triple). Cant go wrong with that setup, fresh oem or Allballs seals, racetech gold valve emulators, and racetech straight rate springs with 10wt or 15wt oil to tune the rebound. Tarozzi fork brace down the road for stiffer cornering &reduction in stiction.

Oh, & of course AllBalls conversion needle roller bearings will be needed, so it's a mandatory upgrade from loose bslls, better by far. & GS1000/850 axle & spacers may be needed. Pretty easy swap, really. Dual rotors will bolt up to your hub, just a plastic cover over the unused side currently, hides the unused rotor holes from the elements.

A single disc gs1000 fork will work also, but you'll want to do the salty monk brackets for a 310mm cbr rotor for sure, as the stock single 295mm old style big single piston setup is barely enough to stop it if ridden aggressively. 310mm with 2 piston tokico sliding calipers with 3x longer pads will make it sufficient. Dual 296mm cbr rotors and tokico ninja calipers will have far less fade and work much better on twisty hilly roads where you are braking hard and frequently, & on long downhills, the duals really shine.

Good brake combo from the guys on the ZRX forum. Kawasaki EX500 1/2 inch bore size master cylinder,steel braided lines,salty monk update with EBC HH Brake Pads. I love killer brakes. I have cleaned up fork tubes with red scotchbrite pads

 

[mikerophone]

Lots of good info in this thread, tagging along for the ride, as I have a 78 GS750 that I'll be playing with someday.

 

[GSXR7ED]

Nice thread!

Right from the get-go, the important priorities are discussed... The advice is great and the build begins.

Thanks for all the points...makes me wonder why I still have the stock R/R on my bike.


Ed

 

[Weasel]

Thanks for checking in guys. I had some time yesterday to clean the carbs and change all the o-rings and gaskets. Just have to bench sync and they will be ready to go back on the bike. The air & oil filter came in the mail so I was able to complete an oil and filter change. Walmart was out of the Shell 15W-40 that everyone recommended but they did have the Mobil brand so I went with that. It was an unusually warm and sunny day the other day so I gave the old GS a quick spray and rinse with some Simple Green. Took a good bit of the old grime off. Any recommendations for replacement handlebar switches and throttle? Mine are pretty bad looking and I was planning on going with something more low profile on the finished bike anyway. Motogadget makes some nice ones but I'd be content with a decent cheap set for now if you have any ideas.

 

[steve murdoch]

I was going to say you must be single if you used the Berrymans in the house but then i saw the shoe rack and knew you had to be married. haha.
What is the name of your faithful assistant?

 

[Chuck78]

If you do end up running your stock forks, getting new/used inner(upper) fork stanchion tubes, or if you come across a set of single 295mm front disc 78-79 GS1000C or GS1000N forks, here is reassurance of the single 310mm cbr900rr/ninja caliper brake upgrade from tkent's 550-699 build thread:

front brake is worthy of the added power, I tried out Saltymonk'e twin pot upgrade for the single brake bikes, it works very well.

Much better than the dual 650 brakes were.

 

[bikemtn]

Nice thread!

Right from the get-go, the important priorities are discussed... The advice is great and the build begins.

Thanks for all the points...makes me wonder why I still have the stock R/R on my bike.


Ed

Ed,
When I first got my bike I was having some charging issues. I picked up a SH775 R/R from a Polaris on ebay for around $40 delivered. It fit perfectly where my old one was on my T. I just changed out the wire ends from the stator to accommodate the SH775. Stator is wired directly to the R/R. Works awesome.

 

[Weasel]

I was going to say you must be single if you used the Berrymans in the house but then i saw the shoe rack and knew you had to be married. haha.
What is the name of your faithful assistant?

To be honest Steve, I have caught a little hell over stinking up the house LOL. I've got vents in the garage windows so that has helped. Our lab's name is Cody. He'll be 10 months old next week. Our 14 year old lab passed away in January of 2014. It took us a year but we realized we missed having a buddy around the house. We forgot how crazy lab puppies are! But totally worth it.

 

[Weasel]

Thanks Chuck, I've got a few more things to sort before getting to the forks. The carbs are all done, cleaned, new o-rings & gaskets installed. Throttle opens & closes smoothly now. Even changed the o-rings in the boots between the carbs & motor, pretty sure they were toast LOL

Carbs went back on the bike no problem. The airbox...not so much! Struggled with it for a LONG time. Here's the furthest I could get them on. What a stupid design. It was starting to get not fun so I walked away. Are the boots too old & not flexible? Any tips to get this thing tight? I tried some grease which helped some.

 

[Chuck78]

Wintergreen oil, I hear is THE BEST for attempts at rejuvenating old rubber parts like airbox boots. You'll have to Google or GS site search for more info on that stuff.

 

[Weasel]

Broke out the heat gun, amazing what a little heat can do. Warmed up the boots and they became pliable like new. Got the boots on and clamped.

Got the new air filter soaked in oil & installed.

Got the bike back together and it fired but wouldn't stay running. Going to sort out the electrical system next.

 

[Dirty Deeds]

Good work, keep it going. The clip-ons would be a good choice.

 

[Weasel]

Here's what the electrical looks like with the side panel off. I'll be ordering and installing a new battery & R/R before I begin sorting things out.