Weasel's 1978 GS750 cafe racer project

[Weasel]

That's it for the powder coating budget until pay day so back to the engine. I pulled the covers to check the valves. Everything looked good with the exception of the valve clearances. The manual calls for clearances of 0.03 to 0.08 mm. The valves were tight. I'll have to replace the valve shims.

 

[Weasel]

Where is the best place to get OEM gaskets?

 

[TeamNeal]

The M-Unit is nice. i wired one up real easy on my 750... though i made a custom harness as well. It also has PWM, instant voltage adjustments for incandescent/LED, an alarm that works well, easy to program...... list goes on.

My experiences; trouble free. just make sure ALL, ALLLLLLLLLL of your electrical connections are of sound mind and body( meaning super clean and greased appropriately ) and one should have Zero prollems!

 

[Weasel]

Thanks TN. I've heard good things about them. Plan to add one eventually.

 

[Weasel]

Only two of the eight valves were within spec, the rest are too tight. Was nice to have an assistant ready with the hemostats to pull out the shims as I lifted them. Time to place another parts order.

 

[Weasel]

Here's what I'm working with. I tried one of the 2.70 shims where the 2.75 shims were and they were still too tight. I'd like to take advantage of the shim trade program. Maybe someone can help me out with the math so I know which size to request.

 

[Chuck78]

I like to use Babbitt's online, Suzukipartshouse.com I think is their Suzuki site. Partsoutlaw.com also. I think they have the cheapest prices but I believe they have a minimum price of $2.70 or something, so if you are buying smaller rings then it is not a good deal. You can call and have them price match though. I think that is the place that has the minimum price issue.

a word of warning, most places that you order parts from are likely to not have a lot of it in stock, as almost everywhere will have to ordersome of the parts from Suzuki's warehouses, sometimes coming as far as Japan and taking 10 days+.

if you are in a pinch I always try to source something from ebay from a US seller if I need it quickly. I always have extra external engine gaskets on hand, and before I install them, I tried them out on a sheet of gasket paper from an auto parts store and keep them on hand with proper size leather punches and hole punches to do the holes. I will not make a top cover gasket though! Too elaborate & thin. Clutch stator top cover (x2 even, good one to have with solid lifter engines, frequent valve adjustment intervals), breather cover.

I don't even mind getting a cheap Vesrah or Athena gasket set for those, and then I have a bunch of other stuff in case I ever need it. I just don't like to use the non OEM internal gaskets and o-rings. Head and base gaskets and oil passage o-rings. too much labor involved if they fail! Oem gaskets are usually good for multiple uses. I have been trying different creases on the gasket paper when I install them to try and prolong them and make them release easier, still sometimes they don't last too long. I have had the aftermarket gaskets only last one use, didn't make it through a cover removal and reinstall.

 

[Chuck78]

try watching eBay for actions that are selling multiple shims, a lot of 8 or more in sizes near your sizes are good to have. Whatever shims you have, get some shims 1 size smaller than most of those. Sometimes 2 sizes. When the seats/faces wear, the valve needs to come up higher but a thicker shim blocks it from doing that. the seat usually wear much faster than the cam faces unless your valves are very loose clearance or you don't have good fresh oil, or frequently start the bike up and rip it wide open without letting it warm up several minutes. This is one of the biggest causes of premature engine wear and tear on these bikes. Always let them warm up plenty before revving it high at all. I don't take mine above 3500 even if I am forced to jump on it without it fully up to temperature.

I fully advocate hoarding of valve shims, I bought a full Suzuki dealer tappet shim set for myself, there is one on ebay now. They usually have 70 or 100 shims in them. Nice to have, I do have a ton of Suzuki engines & bikes around here though. For you with one bike, and not yet a fanatical Suzuki GS cult maniac like myself and many others on here who have gotten the disease, having a small bag of them well oiled so they do not rust is all you really need. Or if you can wait, join the GS shim club, I believe ghostray or ghostgs1, can't remember his name on here, he runs the shim club. Just search gs valve shim club. It is an exchange program where you just pay for the shipping. He collects them and takes the unusable thicker sizes that no one needs any more and mills them down to thinner sizes at no charge. Then has a ton of them in stock and only charges shipping and accept donations graciously for the service. What an awesome guy. he sends you shims, you send your old ones to him with money to cover shipping and a donation whenever you can.

 

[Chuck78]

I'm assuming I can lose the headlight mounts, they don't appear to offer any structural support to the forks. I plan on adding a smaller light and custom mounts anyway.

Ebay or Google image search for Tommaselli style 35mm headlight brackets. I got some from maybe AlphaMoto for like $25, sometimes they sell for upwards of 60. The actual Tommaselli brand are more like 70.these are the best kind to get by far, they have a large rubber cushion under the clamp and the ones that I see more frequently for 35 mm forks also have a rubber cushion at the headlight mounting bolts. I ran some aftermarket rigid headlight mounting ears for a while, and my halogen bulb burnt out within 100 miles and I was running the high beam only for a few rides... I realized it was from vibration, immediately got some generic Tommaselli's. very few aftermarket brackets have rubber mounts, and just a little rubber mount at the headlight bucket mounting bolt point in the bucket is not nearly enough. unless you have a Cadillac suspension on a vintage sport touring bike

to weed through all of the stuff on the internet and find out what I need faster, I typically use a Google image search, and for this I just searched headlight mounting bracket 35mm rubber.search for Tomaselli headlight bracket first so you know what you are looking for. You can also buy just the rubbers, I see them for sale in Europe more often, but if you are making your own, definitely buy those rubbers that clamp around the fork.

the actual Tommaselli brand have aluminum ears and the Tommaselli logo engraved into the back of the clamps. The ones above I see frequently especially for CB 750 and 35mm GS forks, they have the additional rubbers at the headlight mounting bolt, which is very nice, very thoughtful of the Chinese engineers to do that! Chinese parts aren't all that bad sometimes! I would buy the Tommaselli's for sure for my Rickman GS project if they only made them in 43 mm!

 

[steve murdoch]

Here's what I'm working with. I tried one of the 2.70 shims where the 2.75 shims were and they were still too tight. I'd like to take advantage of the shim trade program. Maybe someone can help me out with the math so I know which size to request.

It is great to see kids being involved with these old bikes.
Have a read through the shim club thread and if you have any questions after that i would contact Ray.
He is a good guy.
http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showthread.php?122394-GS-Valve-Shim-Club

 

[Weasel]

Thanks once again Chuck. You are the man! I agree on the Google image search. Makes finding exactly what you are looking for really easy.

Thanks Steve. Having my daughters help me in the garage brings back fond memories of being in the garage with my dad helping him wrench on his bikes.

An engineer friend of mine & motorcycle guru sent me a link to this valve clearance adjustment chart. Might be of interest to anyone trying to figure out what shims to go with.

http://www.dansmc.com/valveclearance_chart.jpg

 

[Weasel]

New valve shims are on the way, now we wait

The build budget was replenished but it didn't take long to empty it. I figured I'd do some other shopping and get a few more items on the way. Gaskets for the breather cover & valve cover, aluminum fuel tee & rails for the carbs, a spoke wrench, fork oil seals, dust seals & tapered steering bearing kits from All Balls and a new 5.75" black headlight housing with a white, halo halogen headlamp from Octane lighting.

 

[Chuck78]

hopefully you didn't pay attention to the suggested valve clearance on that chart, as the 2nd line .03-.07 mm is where you want to be according to that chart, the GS clearance specification is .02-.08mm. there is at least one member on here who has made up an Excel spreadsheet of the same information for gs clearances.

 

[Weasel]

My Clymer manual says .03-.08mm but regardless, I ordered one of each of the three shim sizes below what I have to test fit & measure before laying out a bunch of money on shims. I got the 2.65, 2.60 & 2.55 on the way.

 

[Chuck78]

My mistake, .03-.08mm is correct

 

[Weasel]

I cleaned up one of the forks and nut (top of picture) on the brass wire wheel on the bench grinder. Unfortunately, the pitting is more than just surface rust. I found a local chrome shop, waiting to hear back.

 

[Weasel]

My daughter took an action shot...in case you want to put a face with the name

 

[Guest]

Make sure your plating shop is set up to do 'hard chroming'. The finish on the fork stanchion is different to say, exhausts or mudguards. Hard chroming has far better abrasion tolerance and wear resistance, and also oxidisation resistance.

 

[Weasel]

Thanks Steve. This place specializes in auto & motorcycle chroming but I will be sure to ask.

 

[Weasel]

No luck with that chrome shop. Said they don't do tubes, can't keep them the correct size.