GS1100E 1982 vs 82 parts - Clacking Noise

[ika_squid]

Hi Everyone,

I've been visiting the forum off an on for over a year. Just lurking. This is great resource and a really cool community. I want to thank you (and apologize) in advance for any noob or already-answered questions that I might pose.

(I'll try to keep the preamble short. If you find it too long, please skip to the 3rd paragraph below, where I actually ask a question.)

I'm already on my second GS1100E. I bought the 1983 about 2 years ago. It was poorly treated and had 42,000 miles on it before I got my hands on it. With the help of a local mechanic, we put a bit of work into it and I actually got some good riding time in, but when a main bearing on the crankshaft went bad, I pretty much figured I had to write this one off and cut my losses. If I'm wrong, and there is a reasonable solution to this, let me know and I might be able to throw a little more money at the 83.

However, as it stands now, the 83 exist for parts for the 82 I bought just a couple of days ago. I thought about going new, going different, but, man I really like the look and feel of this model, and when one popped up on CL, I was at the guy's place within the hour...of the time the guy posted the ad. I paid the very reasonable sum of $1250 for a completely stock 82 with about 29,000 miles on it. With the exception of a dent on the tank from falling up against the house, it looks good and it runs good, but there is a noise... a clacking noise that increases with the revs of the motor, whether the clutch is engaged or not. We will be looking into a couple of potential causes for this noise, but we have some question regarding the interchangeability of parts.

1. Clutch. We know the clutch on the 82 is going. It is at the end of it's adjustments. This might be the source of the clacking noise. The first day I had it out, the noise was present, but not so loud. After we adjusted the clutch cable and gave it a bit more slack, the noise seemed to increase, but we are not sure that the noise didn't just increase from more riding. From reading the posts here, it sounds like the only difference between the 82 and the 83 are the number and the width of the plates, correct? My understanding is the basket is the same and everything is interchangeable. So, do I want to buy a Barnett(?) clutch kit made for an 82 or 83? They seem to be about the same price. Or do I want to go a different direction? We probably don't want to just swap the basket and all out of the 83, just to save $200...or do we?

2. Starter Motor. Using the stethoscope, this appears to be the origin of the clacking noise. Of course, it is difficult to tell. We will probably get into that this weekend. If we find a bad gear or something, is the starter motor interchangeable between the 82 and 83?

3. Cams, etc. As much as the previous owner took care of the bike during the 20 years he owned it, he never adjusted the cams. He thought there were shims. While we don't think this is causing the noise, we will be adjusting the cams this weekend, and inspect the chain. I mention this, just so you know we will attempt to eliminate this as a source.

Thanks for taking the time to read the above. Any suggestions or observations would be appreciated. I believe you guys like pictures. I’ll try to have some soon. And if the clacking noise persists, I may be able to even post a video with sound if someone thinks that might help.

[Baatfam]

Plenty of guys know way more than me, but I'll toss out some opinions...

1. The only way to know if the clutch is going is to measure the plates, the minimum thickness is in the manual.
And it may need new springs.
It's easy to take apart, I just put new plates in mine on Sunday, took about 40 minutes.
DO NOT get the Barnett clutch....it tears up the basket. Stock is fine.
Nothing wrong with swapping the clutch from the '83 if you want.

2. Might be the starter clutch...

3. Yes, adjust the valves...most important to get it to run right.
Easy...Basscliff should be along soon with a link to his site. Instructions there.

As for the '83...try to keep it together and fix her. Don't part her.
I find it hard to believe it lost a main bearing at 42K. I'd dig a little deeper.

Good luck,

[ika_squid]

Thanks for the reply Baatfam,

We got to the valve adjustment taken care of over the weekend. I feel pretty good about that. But, not surprisingly, that was not the source of the clacking sound which was our main concern.

We just now got done checking out the clutch and we decided to swap it out with the one from the 83. The 82 clutch seemed to be placed in the bike rather poorly. It was loose. Many of the steel plates showed brown discoloration (from friction/burning?). The basket also showed signs of wear and mashing and the spacers on the bolts for the springs showed heavy scarring. After replacing the clutch we had high hopes that the clacking sound would no longer be present. We were disappointed.

The clacking sound persists and when we go through the gears with the bike on the center stand, 5th is now squealing rather angerly. 4th gear also squeals, but somewhat less so. Our thinking is that the loose clutch may have damaged the transmission and that the new, properly fitted clutch makes this more evident. But this is just our current best guess.

As you might imagine, we are a bit frustrated and if anyone as any thoughts, we would by happy to hear them.

The bike seemed to run pretty well those first couple of days. Maybe it was just on it last legs from the ill fitting clutch. One interesting thing that we noticed tonight was that the engine case seems to have been painted and that the engine number is no longer visible. This is a bit troublsome.

I did take some video of the bike idling in hopes that someone here might be able to distinguish the claking sound. The video can be found here:

http://www.schmirk.com/motorcycle/

Thanks for reading.

[posplayr]

If the cams and chain/tensioner look good and you were in the clutch then the stator cover is the next place to look. Hard to tell from the video but I would be tempted to take the stator cover off and make sure nothing is loose. That squeeling is not good.
From what I remember clutch noise is more of a lower frequency knock.

If you have an oil presure guage it would not hurt to put it on and make sure you have oil pressue. While that may seem a little silly it is easier than pulling the clutch again to check the oil pump.

I would also drop the pan just to look for metal and clean the screen on an older bike.

As far as clutches it is best to stay with the stock steels and disks. The thinner disks chew up the inside of the clutch hub more than the wider ones.

Sound like you are making progress and will have a reliable bike soon.

Pos

P.S. starter motors and starter clutch will be the same. Looks for links for starter clutch removal if you need to go there.

[ika_squid]

Thanks Pos,

The starter clutch might very well be an (the) issue. Last weekend when I got to my friend's garage, after having the 82 1100E off for a few minutes, I went to restart it and just got a clicking sound from the starter motor. We were able to easily push start it. Once we got the bike up on the stand, we pulled the stator cover off. From what we could tell, everything looked fine. We pressed the ignition button and it started right up. We then turned the bike off and tried again. This time, no start. We rolled the large gear in the start clutch clockwise and hit the ignition again. It started fine. We continued this experiment a couple of times, and several times the bike would not start unless the clutch gear was adjusted. During this process, we twice got a puff of smoke that appeared to have come from the starter motor. We took it that the starter motor was the problem, and so we swapped it for our other starter motor. Perhaps we need to look more closely at this.

I've done some searching through the posts here and I've got some idea of what to look for and what we'll need to remove the rotor if necessary. We might not be able to get back to the bike for another week or so. I'll post my findings.

I'm more than a little concerned about the sound the bike is making in the higher gears. If the start clutch is the issue, would it make such a rough squealing sound? Perhaps I'll post some video of this as well.

Thanks.