1978 GS1000 Skunk Rebuild and Mods

[ohiocaferacer]

Decided to try the Caswell tank sealer kit on my 1978 GS1000 tank that was badly rusted on the bottom with several holes. So last weekend went to Home Depot and got 2 gallons of Klean-Strip Phosphoric Prep & Etch and then dumped it into a big storage tote and placed the tank to soak for several days.

Someone left some gas in the bottom of this tank and it was rusted out. Alot of holes all over the bottom of the tank. I tried TIG welding some of the holes, but the metal was just too thin. Thus the reason for going the tank sealer route.

Put in a few drywall screws and after the first day.....we were showing progress. Rust was going away.

After about 4-5 days soaking.....all the rust was gone.

At this point I pulled the tank out of the acid bath and covered the outside and inside with baking soda to neutralize the acid. Once that was done, I used the air hose to dry out the tank....then poured lacquer thinner inside the tank to remove any leftover water. Using duct tape, I taped over the entire bottom of the tank to seal off any holes. Opened up the Caswell tank liner kit and mixed half of the kit, to get a 1st coat inside the tank.

The kit worked really good and was easy to use. The mix flowed really nice as I was doing this in about 70-80 degree weather. Majority of the tank coated with the 1st application. I'll mix up the final application tonight and finish sealing the areas missed during the 1st application.

Here are pics after the 1st application, after it had dried. The pics show the inside of the tank as brown(rust like), but when looking in the tank it is a drak metallic grey.....not sure why the pics did that.

Overall.....seems like the Caswell tank liner kit is working great. I'll update once the tank liner has several days to harden and have run some gas thru it. More soon......

 

[ohiocaferacer]

Good news on the progress of the GS1000. It appears the Caswell tank liner is working perfectly. After sealing up some major cracks and rust holes in the tank(it looked like swiss cheese).....its been holding gas for the last week, with no issues.

I've had the bike out riding it around locally and it seems to be running okay. Still need to get some K&N filters....maybe some jetting.....but more importantly, there seems to be an electrical issue. Some where its grounding out and draining the battery. Time to sort thru the electrics.

Anyways.....here is a pic from the other day.

 

[ohiocaferacer]

Caswell tank liner held a full tank of gas all winter(8 months) with no issues. Had to pull carbs off to install jet kit and found no tank liner contaminants inside the carbs. Great product and will use again for future projects.

Installed a Dynajet kit. The bike is running open velocity stacks with open Kerker 4 into 1 exhaust. Here are the carb settings that are working for me:
Main jet - 142(Mikuni 133.1)
Pilot jet - 17.5
Neddle jet - Dynajet needles set on 3rd grove from the top
Air Screw - 2 turns out
Fuel Screw - 7/8 turn out

The bike starts right up, smooth idle and takes no time to warm up(limited time on choke). Bikes pulls great from closed throttle to full, no stumbles or hesitation. The suspension and brakes upgrades were well worth the work. Front fender will soon be installed. This bike will get alot of use this summer!

 

[ohiocaferacer]

Ready to ride!!

 

[GSX1000E]

Lookin' good.

 

[ohiocaferacer]

Lookin' good.

Thank you!!

Is it me....or is this forum dead?? This thread has somewhere around 2200+ views, but hardly any replys or comments. Seems odd??? Maybe the forums arent as active as they used to be, now that there is more places for social media......maybe i'm getting old....LOL!

 

[hotrods316]

yea that thing is nice. can you tell more about the velocity stacks? u make or buy em? I like this bike and your cb work you have done. and yes i feel ya about the forums, somethimes more a help me site, not too many actually contributing to the gs family.

but please keep letting us into your projects they are top nothc,

matt

 

[ohiocaferacer]

yea that thing is nice. can you tell more about the velocity stacks? u make or buy em?
matt

The velocity stacks are from the stock air box. I just removed them from the air box and installed them on the bike. Learned that from doing vintage road racing. Alot of the old airboxes had rubber velocity stacks in them. The factory designed them for those carbs and they usually flow the best and they are free....no need to buy stacks.

 

[Morrison]

Me likey your Honda looks (.)(.)

 

[Rob S.]

Can you tell us about that swing arm?

 

[posplayr]

Yea swingarm looks nice. At first thought it was GSXR and thought whoa that was fast. Good work.

 

[Rob S.]

Is it me....or is this forum dead??

How many teeth in the front and rear sprockets, and how many links in the chain? ('82 1100e, I'm about to replace chain and sprockets.)

 

[posplayr]

How many teeth in the front and rear sprockets, and how many links in the chain? ('82 1100e, I'm about to replace chain and sprockets.)

In all likelihood he is running 530 like most of the rest of the world.

 

[Rob S.]

In all likelihood he is running 530 like most of the rest of the world.

You funnin' this old 630 man, huh?

 

[tkent02]

I guess someone has to buy the stone aged crap.

 

[ohiocaferacer]

Can you tell us about that swing arm?

I built the swingarm from a gs1100 swingarm with a brace from a CBR900RR. I welded the brace to the bottom of the gs1100.

 

[ohiocaferacer]

How many teeth in the front and rear sprockets, and how many links in the chain? ('82 1100e, I'm about to replace chain and sprockets.)

I am running a 530 chain...no clue on number of links. It a 17 tooth front and a 43 tooth rear(need to run a 48 rear to keep stock gearing).

 

[Mista M]

I've been following your buld. Have it bookmarked for reference when I start the restomodification of my skunk. My tank has pin hole leaks and I'm convinced to try the caswell kit. I was going to try brazing it.
The bike looks great. Motivating me to get cracking on mine.

 

[kochic]

Nice work onr the 1000 and the cb.
I have myself a cb350 racer, I hope to find some spare time to finish it and to do a few VRRA rounds.
Marc

 

[ohiocaferacer]

I've been following your buld. Have it bookmarked for reference when I start the restomodification of my skunk. My tank has pin hole leaks and I'm convinced to try the caswell kit. I was going to try brazing it.
The bike looks great. Motivating me to get cracking on mine.

Caswell tank kit is an amazing product. I was skepitcal about it......having never used a tank liner kit and didnt want to create a bigger problem. Its been over a year and a half with fuel in it and not one issue. I'm all for welding or brazing a tank first and foremost.....but sometimes.....the Caswell kit is a better solution. It was in my case.

Thanks for the thumbs up on the bike....appreciated!