what did you wrench on today??

[KiwiAlfa156]

Yes it will. The conductivity of aluminum is about 0.6 that of copper, the the lug is also tin-plated, so how more effective the lug is in terms of shedding heat to the air flow I guess is the unknown. That being said, the 'bulb' of the thermometer is in contact with the head, and the heat path of the thermometer is in the mm, so I'm not too worried about heat loss from the lug causing a temperature differential, although the test will be if the temperature goes up after stopping the engine (removing the heat and the cooling source).

Seems to be accurate and the temperature doesn't go up immediately after shutting down the engine.

 

[oldGSfan]

I'm doing the sealing nuts in the head on my '83. My '82 Turbo leaked like a sieve from them, people think it's head gasket. I have an OEM metal head gasket in the parts stash, which was for this leak I presume. I think they are getting rare. I moved recently and can't find the o-rings that I had bought so I had to get another set. Oh well, they will turn up and go on the other '83 project bike. I will replace the valve cover gasket with a Cometic re-usable one. I got two of them for the bikes. I have read the thickness of the gasket can cause issues with the tach drive. Geez, hope not, I guess I'll find out. I'll measure to see what the difference is.

The bike has Rick's stator and SH775 but charging is not up to snuff. Maybe the wires are too long. I need to check my work, I can ride all day but the battery gets depleted. It will still start just fine, but the charger says 40% or so. Dang. I relocated to the tail section. I need to test it out,

One more task is to fix the slight leak in the clutch cover, I don't know what's going on there, I never have problems with my gasket work, but with OEM and good surfaces it drips just a bit. Another gasket in hand, and will see what I can do. Ugh hate to do it but may use Hondabond just to get it tight.

Last thing will be to put the seat cover on, the split original (of course) bugs me, been bugging me since the 80s on all my 1100Es. I am not great at such wizardry that upholstery presents but think I can get it right. The Pit Replica seems really good and a bargain at $60.

The only remaining weird thing is a jumpy oil temp gauge. It works, but testing shows it gets to 300 when grounded, not 320. Duly noted but the bike's not overheating. I have a nice oil cooler but have ridden in the recent 100F temp for quite some time and there's no problem with it stock.

 

[Burque73]

Got started tearing down the new to me GK. Only one tight valve. It had a ton of oil built up under the tank because the Breather hose wasn't connected to the air box. That smell would drive me crazy every time it stopped.

 

[Shin-Ken 1074]

With a lithium battery on board, management/monitoring of the charging system is critical if you want warning of potential problems with an over-charged battery. The battery I have is 15 volt max so it's time to install a volt meter and to keep things tidy it will sit beside the engine oil temp gauge on the left clip-on. Cut and folded the aluminium, next is prime and paint.


Volt Bracket 1 by Max Mutarn, on Flickr

Volt Bracket 2 by Max Mutarn, on Flickr

 

[Burque73]

Started on the GK carbs today. In all, they're in great shape! Only weird thing is the pilot rubber plugs were melted. After digging the rubber out, the jets all came out no problemo.

They came off the head pretty easily thanks to those original break away boots.

 

[Shin-Ken 1074]

Installed the engine oil temp and volt meter today.

volt meter 5 by Max Mutarn, on Flickr

 

[Redman]

.....
They came off the head pretty easily thanks to those original break away boots........
.....l]

I dont know what to say about the melted rubber plus in carbs, well, other than HOT.
And same for the intake boots.

Judging by the allen head screws we can say those boots had been replaced at some point. And good that you dont have to deal with the original screws.

You find some replacement boots.....?

 

[Burque73]

I dont know what to say about the melted rubber plus in carbs, well, other than HOT.
And same for the intake boots.

Judging by the allen head screws we can say those boots had been replaced at some point. And good that you dont have to deal with the original screws.

You find some replacement boots.....?

I'm blaming ethanol for melted plugs. Unless possibly some sort of fuel additive was run through it.

Waiting on parts and shopping for more still, but no, I haven't found replacement boots. The PO said they were replaced, maybe the airbox side more recently since they look great. I agree about the allen head bolts. Surely somebody didn't just change the bolts out. Who knows. I can't seem to locate the LH boots OEM. Aftermarket ones are available, and much cheaper. May have to go that route. Have you used these from MOTO1988? $62 for two left and two right, with O-rings and clamps! ChapMoto has the lowest price for OEM that I've seen, but like other places, are out of stock.

I just sent the choke plungers to zed1015 so I've got some time before I need boots. In fact, there's plenty to do so maybe they'll have the OEM ones soon.

 

[johnod]

I'm blaming ethanol for melted plugs. Unless possibly some sort of fuel additive was run through it.

Waiting on parts and shopping for more still, but no, I haven't found replacement boots. The PO said they were replaced, maybe the airbox side more recently since they look great. I agree about the allen head bolts. Surely somebody didn't just change the bolts out. Who knows. I can't seem to locate the LH boots OEM. Aftermarket ones are available, and much cheaper. May have to go that route. Have you used these from MOTO1988? $62 for two left and two right, with O-rings and clamps! ChapMoto has the lowest price for OEM that I've seen, but like other places, are out of stock.

I just sent the choke plungers to zed1015 so I've got some time before I need boots. In fact, there's plenty to do so maybe they'll have the OEM ones soon.

These guys stuff is pretty good .
https://www.cruzinimage.net/category/item/itemgenre/motorcycle/suzuki/carb-insulators-suzuki/

 

[Burque73]

These guys stuff is pretty good .
https://www.cruzinimage.net/category/item/itemgenre/motorcycle/suzuki/carb-insulators-suzuki/

Thank you!
They've got probably every model covered, except the 1100G. I'll keep looking...

 

[oldGSfan]

Replacing seal nuts on '83 GS1100E, ordered Sep 6. Never arrived (Partzilla eBay seller). Made it all the way to SoCal then in the handoff from UPS to USPS it went AWOL. Partzilla sent replacement but only one. I notified them it was two. 2nd one late. Ugh. Something bizarre is going on with USPS lately, nothing seems to make it.

Working on the Suzuki is a nice easy diversion from the Norton. The design of that 750 is so awful in some ways. They are notorious for 'wet sumping' which is draining the contents of the oil tank into the supposedly dry crankcase. OK well, that can be bad but not catastrophic, right? You can drain the oil and refill it, or take chances on starting with a lot of oil in the sump that shouldn't be there. Or take great pain to resurface the oil pump tolerance - which may fix it, or put in a shutoff valve in the oil line, which may lunch your motor... or....

So then, another wonderful design is a dry clutch inside a primary case that has a chain needing lube. So if you put oil, per the manual, in the case - that clutch slips. Using ATF type F is the way. But... if your engine wet sumps and you leave it on the side stand, the oil migrates past the main crank seal into the primary case, and fouls the clutch - which it did on mine. Norton never bothered with a longer kickstand fe desert sleds, which stood taller due to suspension mods. So it leans way over, exacerbating the problem. There is also a clutch pushrod that goes through the clutch pack to the gearbox (inside the countershaft sprocket !) and will leak into the clutch as well.

Holy mother of gawd Nortons are pretty, but an absolute nightmare to work on. The main engine sprocket is a press fit on a taper shaft and is a bear to get off. You have to buy yet another special tool. Fixing oil on clutch plates has turned into replacing several seals, figuring out a way to stop wet-sumping, and more fun. I ordered new clutch friction plates and they are so thick I can't put them all in the basket with the SS spacers - too thick. Arrrgggh.

It has been a bad month for MC work!

 

[Grimly]

All the above is why I never bothered owning a Brit bike after my first one - a BSA Starfire. It was bad enough.

 

[johnod]

Replacing seal nuts on '83 GS1100E, ordered Sep 6. Never arrived (Partzilla eBay seller). Made it all the way to SoCal then in the handoff from UPS to USPS it went AWOL. Partzilla sent replacement but only one. I notified them it was two. 2nd one late. Ugh. Something bizarre is going on with USPS lately, nothing seems to make it.

Working on the Suzuki is a nice easy diversion from the Norton. The design of that 750 is so awful in some ways. They are notorious for 'wet sumping' which is draining the contents of the oil tank into the supposedly dry crankcase. OK well, that can be bad but not catastrophic, right? You can drain the oil and refill it, or take chances on starting with a lot of oil in the sump that shouldn't be there. Or take great pain to resurface the oil pump tolerance - which may fix it, or put in a shutoff valve in the oil line, which may lunch your motor... or....

So then, another wonderful design is a dry clutch inside a primary case that has a chain needing lube. So if you put oil, per the manual, in the case - that clutch slips. Using ATF type F is the way. But... if your engine wet sumps and you leave it on the side stand, the oil migrates past the main crank seal into the primary case, and fouls the clutch - which it did on mine. Norton never bothered with a longer kickstand fe desert sleds, which stood taller due to suspension mods. So it leans way over, exacerbating the problem. There is also a clutch pushrod that goes through the clutch pack to the gearbox (inside the countershaft sprocket !) and will leak into the clutch as well.

Holy mother of gawd Nortons are pretty, but an absolute nightmare to work on. The main engine sprocket is a press fit on a taper shaft and is a bear to get off. You have to buy yet another special tool. Fixing oil on clutch plates has turned into replacing several seals, figuring out a way to stop wet-sumping, and more fun. I ordered new clutch friction plates and they are so thick I can't put them all in the basket with the SS spacers - too thick. Arrrgggh.

It has been a bad month for MC work!

Ya so much fun Brit bikes, you forgot to mention all the screwy threads that require your having to special order every nut and bolt.
I have an 69 Interceptor, and a pre unit Triton project.

 

[oldGSfan]

Ya so much fun Brit bikes, you forgot to mention all the screwy threads that require your having to special order every nut and bolt.
I have an 69 Interceptor, and a pre unit Triton project.

I had to measure and triple cross reference every nut, bolt, and stud on the bike and make a spreadsheet to get the missing ones. What a chore. There are no frame diagrams for the N15CS so engine/trans plates and mounting bolts were very difficult to figure out. Thankfully aftermarket parts supply is good, prices are not bad, and I can get the stuff shipped to CA for less than it would cost to buy in the UK, because shipping is usually less than VAT - which I don't have to pay!

I got a set of super high-quality made in England 'King Dick' wrenches for free which are worth $300 or so. What's crazy is that the Whitworth (I'm still confused as there are so many thread pitches and names but commonly they are called Whitworth) size has nothing to do with the head of the bolt or the nut, it's the size of the threaded part. An 11/16" wrench is huge, it's 1-1/4" across the span. Check it out next to an SAE 11/16 and AirPods for size reference. I know you are familiar but others may be forewarned...

So there are only a few wrenches needed, as any bolt with an 11/16 shaft will use the same size wrench. Interesting.

Later Commandos started unifying but here is the list of threads that may be found on them. Thankfully mine has less 'unification' ha!

• Whitworth(BSW or "WW")
• BSF
• BA
• CEI/BSC(BSCycle)
• ME
• BSP
• UNF
• UNEF
• UNC
• Metric (spark plugs and spin-on filter)​

 

[trevor]

Busy getting bike issues taken care....the 82 1100 got new fork seals and a oil and filter change.
The 80 750e got a total carb rebuild (thanks ethanol) and an oil and filter change.
Then today to keep myself busy away from the crap in the news I washed, detailed, polished and waxed those two bikes. That felt great!
Next up the Cooley needs an oil and filter change and a detail and so does the 83 750....oh and the dr650 needs an oil change...it truly never ends....


[/URL​

[URL=https://hosting.photobucket.com/fcb25448-f876-4776-9a78-5a1016ee3d6a/371b0e9f-9139-4fa1-8d2e-adfc25600bc8.jpeg?width=1920&height=1080&fit=bounds]


​

 

[nvr2old]

Those really are beautiful bikes, Trevor. You take nice care of them.

 

[trevor]

Those really are beautiful bikes, Trevor. You take nice care of them.

Thanks!
I did oil changes and detailed my Cooley and 83 750 today
pictures to come

 

[trevor]

Spent the entire day in my garage today
Oil changes on the Cooley and the 83 750...plus did a major clean and detail on them.



​




​

 

[trevor]

Farting around

​

 

[oldGSfan]

Stop it Trevor, you're killing me arrrrgh! Um...never mind. Keep the pics coming.