what did you wrench on today??

[Magnafique]

I have been tearing my 1984 GS550ES apart to renew it. I found a pair of new GSX550EF fairings and frame mounts to dzus them to. So I have the swing arm out and the shock and the footrests and have wire wheeled the frame up to the engine wiped it down with thinner primered everything and then tomorrow I will apply a coat of nice looking chrome/silver paint. I lost interest in the bike and actually GAVE it to a friend of mine two years ago. Well the old bike began to speak to me and I am remembering all of the fun I had with it and WALLA! My friend can not have it. I am going to make it pretty and ride the heck out of it.

Magnafique

 

[Blue Falcon]

1981 GS450EX, went to start it up... click click. Checked at starter 12v, took out 2 bolts, popped starter back an inch, clamped a ground wire on it, starter spun and works fine. Popped back in, no issues, bike starts up in a split second. Sticky starter?? anyone?? Time for a starter rebuild kit?

 

[Burque73]

1981 GS450EX, went to start it up... click click. Checked at starter 12v, took out 2 bolts, popped starter back an inch, clamped a ground wire on it, starter spun and works fine. Popped back in, no issues, bike starts up in a split second. Sticky starter?? anyone?? Time for a starter rebuild kit?

Might be best to start a thread on that in the electrical section, but maybe a short. Dirty or corroded connection. If you moved it then it worked that's my guess.

 

[dorkburger]

Replaced a 4 year old battery in my car....... With a 7 year old one taken out of a car I junked a few years ago- I bought it for the (junked) car, used the car for a year, but refused to junk a good battery. I've ocassionally topped it off with the battery tender. The real challenge was getting those dumb GM side terminals to work with ring types. It worked.... or I may hear click, click, click in the morning.....

 

[kerrfunk]

I don't recall the last time I posted in the "What did you wrench on" thread
but wrenching happened this week, by me. Woot.

Couple days ago I replaced my car's battery (it had about 5.5 years on it and it really didn't like the cold weather).

Then on Thursday I got around to finding the loose connection in the headlight wiring.
Okay, it was a guy named Brian who found it. But I was there.
Brian also found the turn signal relay that is kaput.
And when the replacement shows up, I'll be riding again.

Finally.

*edit: have plugged replacement relay in successfully for the blinkyblinky. Yahoo!
Last up: airfilter.

 

[bobgroger]

Cleaned up the new to me black '83 exhaust. Not perfect but pretty darn good for 34 years old. Need 2 center flanges and a right heat shield. Looking forward to the quiet....

 

[Guest]

Bloody hell Bob, those look great! job well done. And I'm super impressed you're doing that on the kitchen counter...

 

[bobgroger]

Bloody hell Bob, those look great! job well done. And I'm super impressed you're doing that on the kitchen counter...

Bachelor perks...... too cold in the garage.

 

[dorkburger]

...... and then there's my exhaust. Pulled it off today and began cleanup. A heavy serving of anti sieze made removal a breeze. I painted these 2 seasons ago, and as they say - prep, prep, prep.
Note the end pipe. That one was new bare clean steel- that section was replaced. The others were original and clearly not cleaned up as good as they should have been. The paint on the new pipe looked decent still. Overall the header is pretty bad with a lot of deep pitting. My main concern is longevity. If / when it rots out, I'll likely make a franken pipe with a Delkevic header and a fabbed mid pipe to use the Yoshi can I love so much.

Oh, and the spots where oil leaked held up fine.... no rust there.
http://

Still a lot of work to do, but moving along.
http://

 

[steve murdoch]

Spent some time today practicing my shim and bucket technique on the '81 CBX.
GS content with the 1100E headlight.

 

[wymple]

Put Stabil in all my fuel tanks, 6 bikes and a lawnmower, and a pickup that doesn't get used much. Tossed in premium gas to make sure they all mixed up well, then ran them for awhile. Put a block heater in my AC200 tractor. 2 bolts......a friggen" nightmare. One bolt has a difficult hardline in front of it, the other is buried behind the starter. The arms for my bucket in the way of everything. I got it done but was really getting aggravated.

 

[uk gs nut]

Fitted a Newtronic ignition system, I had a failed Dyna S last year and was concerned that a new one would crap out also. I cleaned up my coils and dug out the old HT leads and epoxy glued in new ones. This is on my GS1000 I had all ready fitted a cobbled up Newtronic system on my GS750/850 and it worked fine so that is why I went for the UK made system, there tech support is very good.

 

[Burque73]

I was finally able to get the braided brake lines on the GS.



With the cold temp, 36F in the garage, those lines didn't want to bend in the right direction. A heat gun sure helped, especially with the rear line at the caliper having to make a 180 degree bend.



Oh, also changed all brake pads to semi sintered EBC pads.



I took a 5 mile test run and didnt notice any significant difference in stopping power. Maybe the pads need to seat into the rotors some more. I have an extra set of rotors for if and when these are too thin since the semi sintered from what I've read will shorten the rotor life.

 

[storm 64]

Very nice Burque, but I'm surprised you went with the silver brake lines. Especially on such a original motorcycle like yours. Just my opinion, it looks great eather way.��

 

[Hayabuser]

Tossed the Bus on the lift and replaced the rear pads. Cleaned the front calipers while it was up there as well. Happiness is a 200mph bike with working brakes. :encouragement:

 

[chuck hahn]

Just got done rebuilding the accelerator pump on the bowls for the 77 KZ650B1. Shes running now with just the regular bowls off another rack of carbs. Gotta head to Orielleys for the fuel line between each bowl and then it will be remove the carbs from the bike and swap bowls.

 

[dorkburger]

Finished the header. It's worth noting that where the paint stuck properly it really held on. Some spots held on even thru the wirewheel and sanding. (Rustoleum 2000?). It was then cleaned with soap and water per directions, then dried with the heat gun. Next is the tailpipe, which should be easier.

http://[URL=http://s1285.photobucket.com/user/dorkburger/media/20170122_170626_zpsrwmhblga.jpg.html][/URL]

It's dimply, but all black at least.
http://[URL=http://s1285.photobucket.com/user/dorkburger/media/20170122_181931_zpsgq4iycsx.jpg.html][/URL]

 

[Grimly]

I took a 5 mile test run and didnt notice any significant difference in stopping power. Maybe the pads need to seat into the rotors some more. I have an extra set of rotors for if and when these are too thin since the semi sintered from what I've read will shorten the rotor life.

My usual routine for bedding in pads is to run up to 30mph, brake hard down to 5mph; do that half a dozen times to bed them in and get some heat into them and from then on the bike (even a lardy old GS) will nearly stand on its nose for a good while after that, if the lever is pulled hard enough. When you notice it can't nearly stand on its nose any more, it's time to clean them up.
The current set of pads is Carbon Lorraine (A3+ or something) and I notice they have to get some heat in them to work well - it's not that they're bad when cold, they just get a lot better when warmed up.

 

[cowboyup3371]

After installing new front wheel bearings yesterday, I drilled the damper rods today so I can put the emulators into my forks soon.

 

[dorkburger]

I took a 5 mile test run and didnt notice any significant difference in stopping power. Maybe the pads need to seat into the rotors some more. I have an extra set of rotors for if and when these are too thin since the semi sintered from what I've read will shorten the rotor life.[/QUOTE]

My experience was similar. I went to braided lines and installed used replacement front rotors using the old pads. I immediately noticed a much firmer lever, but braking improvement came only when the pads / rotors became as one. Then it was nice.