1977 GS 750 project

[shryke300]

Ok, so I havent been able to work on the bike for a little while as i just moved from my apartment to a house. Now that i'm getting settled in, a little work is getting done. I've ordered some parts, getting ready for testing the electrical, checking the clearances with the valves, timing, and synching the carbs (They haven't all arrived yet). Since I've moved in I've gotten all the tank mounts installed properly, replaced the clutch lever, adjusted the clutch, and balanced the wheels.

Maybe Ill load some pics tomorrow.

 

[shryke300]

Ok, I set the contact breaker gaps this morning and went to attack the ignition timing. I looked through the window in the plate and lined up the top line with the F-1 line on the rotating piece. Then, I loosened the three screws (12 o'clock, 4:30 and one hidden by the red clip.) and tried to rotate the main plate and get the light to flicker. It did not, and Im not sure how it would. When i rotate it, the whole plate rotates. It does not affect the contact breaker or its gap. With the clip on the 1-4 breaker, the only time the light flickers is the line right before the F-1 line (as you rotate it clockwise) and a line a bit after the 3 timing lines for 2-3. What am I doing wrong? I followed the Haines (sp?) manual exactly.

 

[shryke300]

Common fellas... Any hints? At least let me know if I have the Light hooked to the right place...

 

[shryke300]

So... i went ahead and replaced the ignition system with a dyna-s. trying to hook it up. Now Ive got more issues! the ignition wont stay turned on... and it looks like one of my coils is bad!

 

[hjacobmiller]

Before you think about putting the Dynatek in, have you gone through and checked all your other connections?

Have you cleaned all the terminals?

Tested for ground leaks in all the connections?

Charged your battery?

The electronics are a complete crapshoot of problems and potential fixes if you don't know what conditions the connections and wires are in.

 

[shryke300]

the battery is charged, the connections have not been cleaned, and how do I check for ground leaks? What are ground leaks?

Are you saying to do this before putting in the Dyna-s ignition? or coils?

Aside from the stator papers, is there any guide to checking the other connections?

Thank you for the help!

 

[kjsamm]

Spoke wheels need tubes, air leaks out the spoke holes. The tires will be fine. Get new bearings, might as well do them all at the same time. Don't know about the fork seal question.
Spare carburetors, a beautiful thing.
Looks like the bike is mostly all there, my what a hideous seat!
You can probably sell it to an L guy, they like stuff like that.

I don't think so. I want nothing to do with that seat!

 

[shryke300]

You sure? I can't imagine anyone not liking that seat...

 

[hjacobmiller]

the battery is charged, the connections have not been cleaned, and how do I check for ground leaks? What are ground leaks?

Are you saying to do this before putting in the Dyna-s ignition? or coils?

Aside from the stator papers, is there any guide to checking the other connections?

Thank you for the help!

I'm saying that you should go through the electronics on your bike and make sure there aren't any obvious problems before you start trying to swap out ignition systems. The electrical systems on these bikes (at least mine) is not that complex, but if you don't have a good starting point to work from then chasing down problems can be a nightmare.

I don't know how much you know about electronics, but I'll try to explain how I first started looking for electrical problems .I had to replace everything electrical on my bike by the end of it :lol: Hopefully you'll have better luck!

You want to make sure that all the current is staying within the circuit. Ground leak is definitely not the technical term for it, but you want to make sure that all the electricity that starts at one end of the wire makes it to the other end and doesn't leave the wire somewhere along the way and go some place it isnt supposed to.

Get your multimeter out and set it to ohms (the upside down U). You're going to check for resistance, i.e. loss of electricity, between two ends of wires.

First, to see if there is a break in connections in a wire, put one lead of your multimeter on a wire terminal and the other lead on the other end. Your ohm meter should measure less than 2 ohms. The higher the reading (more ohms) the harder it is for the electricity to get from one end of the wire to the other. Anything greater than two means that there is a break some where in your wire. If it is "infinite" that means that there is no connection between the two ends of your wire, meaning it is infinitely difficult (impossible) for the electricity to get from one end of the wire to the other.

What I call a ground leak test is essentially just seeing if any of your wires have a partial break in them and there is a connection between them and the ground of your bike (negative). To test for this take one of your leads from your multimeter set on ohms, attach it to a wire and attach the other end to a good ground source like the engine block. There should be infinite resistance on any wires that are not the ground (negative side) of your circuit. You want an infinite amount of resistance between positive and negative - meaning you want it to be impossible for electricity to leave the wire.

Everything grounds back to your negative terminal of your battery on the bike. Essentially, the frame, the engine and the starter motor act as a big wire for all of the electricity used on your bike to complete the circuit. That means that it leaves the battery from the positive terminal (red), flows through whatever gizmo needs it, through the engine/frame, and then comes back to the negative (black side).

Cleaning your terminals reduces resistance which makes it easier for electricity to flow through the circuits. Once you know its flowing, then you can start to see where the problems are.

 

[hjacobmiller]

Oh and post a location in you signature or something. Some one may be near and be able to help you get started.

Don't let people give you crap about an L. They will, but don't let it get to you.

They're just upset because there are more of us than them

PM me if you need anything.

Welcome aboard!

 

[shryke300]

Thank you very much for the reply. It looks like I've got my work cut out for me!! What you said makes a lot of sense I will definitely go through the wiring next. BTW, what, exactly, is it the makes an "L" an "L"? And why don't people like them?

 

[hjacobmiller]

Thank you very much for the reply. It looks like I've got my work cut out for me!! What you said makes a lot of sense I will definitely go through the wiring next. BTW, what, exactly, is it the makes an "L" an "L"? And why don't people like them?

An "L" is just more of a cruiser style. It really is just the appearance of them from what I understand that is different.

People don't like them because they were the GS knock off of a Harley. Too much chrome, too lazy of a riding position, goofy bars. Just not as fundamentally attractive as some of the other models. The engines are the same, just different cosmetically from what I've heard.

Seriously though, the electronics may seem overwhelming but if you spend a lot of time at first getting to know it, then it pays because you will know your bike from bumper to bumper.

I knew jack sh*t about bikes, let alone electronics when I got here, but with a TON of dumb questions and the help of guys who know these bikes like they're own children (probably better ahaha) I can find out what is going on pretty easily with mine.

 

[althomas101]

Since I didn't see anyone tell you how to fix your out of round wheels, I'll try. You'll need a spoke wrench and a balance stand, you probably should think about a full re-lacing since those spokes look pretty rusty. Here is a YouTube link:
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=..._oHAAQ&usg=AFQjCNE23ET5Hdosew3Kt0LFHkVjlpH8_A

 

[shryke300]

Thanks for the replys! I will definately be going over the electrical next... Im learning a lot from this!

 

[althomas101]

How is you project coming along?

 

[Ledyard]

you probably should think about a full re-lacing since those spokes look pretty rusty.

Any good rules of thumb for knowing when rusty spokes are "too rusty?"

 

[bigskybldr]

Your '77 came with the same seat as mine (mine's in the garbage). You have better looking handle bars tho! If you replace your r/r unit I'd like to hear about it, I'm not finding to much info on it since they're separate units on this year bike. I may have a bad coil also but I've been cleaning connections and going thru checking everything over before I declare a dead coil.

 

[shryke300]

I finally traced all my wires! all but one are good and that one is just the indicator wire for 3rd gear: meh... now just... oh, wait... a LOT of more stuff to do. I'd take pics, but my camera crapped out...

 

[shryke300]

Ok, I have a big, very important question:

How, exactly does gas get into the crankcase? I thought there were drain tubes for the carbs...?

Also, What happens when the gas gets into the case? I read on the newb mistakes that running it with gas in it was one of them.... What happens?

 

[cowboyup3371]

It depends on the carbs if you have the drain tubes (VMs do but CVs don't) and what else is going on with them. Fuel will flow through the intake and then gravity takes over from there.