1980 gs1000g

[BluePlateSpecial]

Hey everyone! Just picked up a 1980 GS1000G that needs some work. I wasn't familiar with these bikes until I ran across this one on craigslist. Seems like people think pretty highly of them. It is in decent shape cosmetically but it's going to need some work to get it back on the road.

The carbs are missing. It also has a pretty bad oil leak and I am in the process of trying to figure out whether or not the engine needs anything substantial before I start spending too much money.

If it turns out to be repairable within my budget and abilities the plan is to get it on the road and ride it for awhile. If all goes well when I get more space I want to eventually tear it down and at least do a cosmetic refurb or possibly turn it into something interesting, maybe a sporty bagger.

Anything specific I should know about this bike? Build suggestions? Any help will be appreciated!

 

[Rover]

Hi and welcome.Check out this site by our "greeter".
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...YQzpv8_1u4uu-NZ3JqflQ&bvm=bv.1355534169,d.dmQ
He has the 850 version of your bike.

 

[BluePlateSpecial]

Thanks rover. Looks like a ton of great info.

I am pretty good with my hands and have experience with 12v electrical but I don't have much experience with engines and such so I'm going to need as much info as I can get. One of the members of a vintage bike meetup group I am in here in Orlando is an ex Suzuki mechanic/instructor and he offered to take a look at the bike for me, so hopefully his expertise and the gold mine of info here will get me off to a good start.

 

[rustybronco]

Whatever it is it's repairable...

The headlight is incorrect so the bike may have sustained damage to the front end at some point in time, or it may have had a windjammer on it that was removed. By the looks of the headlight I'd go with the latter option.

The bike has an aftermarket exhaust on it. That could be the reason for the carbs coming up missing. Someone may have removed them at some point to rejet them and failed to finish the job.

Did the bike come with the air box?

 

[BluePlateSpecial]

Whatever it is it's repairable...

Yea, but the question is, is it repairable within my talents and budget? I'm willing to get my hands dirty but am limited on funds, tools, and knowledge.

The headlight is incorrect so the bike may have sustained damage to the front end at some point in time, or it may have had a windjammer on it that was removed. By the looks of the headlight I'd go with the latter option.

There is also some wiring that has been tampered with below the headlight. The rear turn signals are new LED's so it is possible that someone was in the process of putting some on the front as well. Not too worried about the electrical stuff. I owned an electronics shop for about a decade and did stereo and alarm installation and troubleshooting on newer cars so I should be able to sort that stuff out no prob.

The bike has an aftermarket exhaust on it. That could be the reason for the carbs coming up missing. Someone may have removed them at some point to rejet them and failed to finish the job.

Did the bike come with the air box?

The air box is missing as well. The guy I bought it from told me that it had pods on it and whoever he had rebuilding the carbs left town so he never got them back.

If I determine that the engine is repairable within reason I'm going to pick up a factory air box along with the carbs. If I ever decide to do more than just put the bike back on the road I'd like to do pods but right now it's all about getting it on the road with a small investment.

 

[rustybronco]

Yea, but the question is, is it repairable within my talents and budget? <snip> but am limited on funds, tools, and knowledge.

Yes. Minimal tools needed and you can borrow a torque wrench or buy one from HF real cheap. ($10) IF you watch Ebay carefully you can buy all the gaskets and seals (OEM of course!) for less than $125

The air box is missing as well. The guy I bought it from told me that it had pods on it and whoever he had rebuilding the carbs left town so he never got them back.

I'm going to pick up a factory air box along with the carbs. If I ever decide to do more than just put the bike back on the road.

Do yourself a favor and locate an air box. Much less trouble that way.

 

[Guest]

Ah, so your the one that stole my bike. That bike got away from me twice.
first time I couldn't get back with the money before it was sold and after the buyer backed out it was offered to me when I spent my money on gifts. guess it just wasn't meant to be. Your head light is off a vetter windjammer fairing. I have the one I took of my bike if your looking to put one back on.
I'll send you an email in a PM to someone that has extra cv34 carb sets. He might have an extra air box if that's the way you want to go with it.

PS, welcome to the madhouse.

SuzyII (second bike) in my signature.

 

[BIKER BILL]

I have an airbox i got in a parts lot i bought with a G and an L, I don't know which it is or if there is a difference, If you can use it,it's yours for shipping. I'll take a pic tomorrow, and hopefully a member can identify it.
BB

 

[BluePlateSpecial]

Wow, this board is awesome!

Rick- sorry I stole your bike for the second time I love my little Honda but after riding it for awhile I realized I need something bigger. Would have liked to have found something in the 650-750cc range but when this one came up I did a little research and it looks like these are pretty solid bikes so I thought I'd take a chance on it if I got it for the right price, so here I am!

Yea, that headlight is ugly and isn't in the best shape. I definitely need a set of carbs and an airbox as soon as I determine whether or not I can get it running. Hopefully will be able to figure out what's up with the engine next week.

Bill- Thanks, I would appreciate that!

 

[rustybronco]

Bwringer (Brian) has a set of head light ears in the parts for sale section. You'll need those to go along with a that new headlight assembly as well.

The reason your headlight wiring looks the way it does is, those wires are normally inside the headlight bucket. When mounting a windjammer, they take those same wires and cover them with a vinyl drawstring pouch. The front turn signals were removed also. No need for them as the windjammer (IV) came with integral signals.

 

[BluePlateSpecial]

The reason your headlight wiring looks the way it does is, those wires are normally inside the headlight bucket. When mounting a windjammer, they take those same wires and cover them with a vinyl drawstring pouch. The front turn signals were removed also. No need for them as the windjammer (IV) came with integral signals.

That makes sense. I had my Honda's headlight apart and it has a rat's nest from the factory. Seems like they just wad 'em up and shove 'em in.

 

[londonboards]

Welcome buddy

Here is a compilation of some of the best GS1100/GS1000 restoration threads over the last couple of years:

http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showthread.php?t=202497

And my own little blog: My GS1100 Blog

Greetings

 

[BluePlateSpecial]

Thanks London, I'll check it out.

Well, had my guy take a look at at and after a little coaxing we were able to get the engine to turn all the way over. He said that it hadn't ran in awhile but there has already been some work done to the engine and it is definitely worth getting it back on the road. There is a little squeak coming from one of the cylinders when we turned it by hand but he said we'd have to get some good oil in there and move it around before we know if that's going to be a problem. We originally thought there was no oil in the engine but when he took the plug off there was about 1.5 gallons of oily gas in there. Or should I say gassy oil?

Since I don't have a factory air box he wants to go with 26mm slide carbs with pods. Need to get some new fork seals, a valve cover gasket, oil filter and spring, front brakes, and some screws for the front master cylinder and hopefully I will be good to go. Hopefully I can have this thing on the road by bike week.

Does anyone know where to get ahold of intake boots that will adapt the 26mm carbs to this bike?

 

[Steve]

Since I don't have a factory air box he wants to go with 26mm slide carbs with pods. ... Does anyone know where to get ahold of intake boots that will adapt the 26mm carbs to this bike?

The '79 and older 1000 had 26mm slide carbs, but I don't know if their boots will work for the 1000G.

There were people offering you airboxes, why not take them up on that? That would make the bike run a lot better than trying to ADAPT some carbs that you would have to buy. And, when you add pods, you introduce the "fun" of jetting, so ... good luck.

.

 

[BluePlateSpecial]

The '79 and older 1000 had 26mm slide carbs, but I don't know if their boots will work for the 1000G.

There were people offering you airboxes, why not take them up on that? That would make the bike run a lot better than trying to ADAPT some carbs that you would have to buy. And, when you add pods, you introduce the "fun" of jetting, so ... good luck.

.

I'm all about the easiest, cheapest way to get the bike back on the road.

My guy is an ex mechanic instructor for suzuki bikes and I am just getting my feet wet with this so I'm following his lead. He's the one who will be rebuilding and jetting the carbs and he's pretty confident he can get everything set up this way. He said he's a little rusty working on the GS bikes but watching him diagnose the problems it looks like he could probably rebuild them in his sleep

 

[Guest]

I'm all about the easiest, cheapest way to get the bike back on the road.

My guy is an ex mechanic instructor for suzuki bikes and I am just getting my feet wet with this so I'm following his lead. He's the one who will be rebuilding and jetting the carbs and he's pretty confident he can get everything set up this way. He said he's a little rusty working on the GS bikes but watching him diagnose the problems it looks like he could probably rebuild them in his sleep

Your bike should have a set of 34 cv's on it, there were a few sets on e-bay pretty reasonable. You can run 32's on it but it wont have the off the line punch or the top end grunt that it should. I know this because I have been down this street with my 1000G. I did finbally find a set of 34's for mine . tuned properly you should have good bottom end and top end performance with decent fuel mileage to bootIntake ports are going to be different so it my be difficult to mate up a set of 26's vm .

 

[windcrow]

Hi BluePlate
I have the correct airbox for your bike, as I used to have an 80 1000g myself. The airbox didn't go with the bike when I sold it, so it's yours for the shipping if you want.
I'm also selling 4 sets of GS1100(e) carbs on ebay --the set that will work on your bike has the number 2 in the pictures, with #114 main jets--my seller ID is windcrow23

 

[BluePlateSpecial]

Thanks windcrow. I have to follow my mechanic's lead on this cause I don't have anyone else (that is reasonable distance) who can work on old bikes. Heading out of town next week so everything is going to be on hold for awhile but for some reason my guy decides to go with the factory setup I will get in touch with you.

Appreciate the reply, hjfisk and everyone else!

 

[BluePlateSpecial]

Just got back from vacation and I'm trying to get all of my parts in order so i can get this thing on the road.

Does anyone know the specs for the screws and washers that hold the cover on the front master cylinder? I can get OEM but I'd like to save a few $$ picking them up locally if possible.

Also, I need some new fork seals. Anything wrong with the $10 generic seals from ebay? Do I need anything other than the seals themselves?

I think I am going to keep the ugly headlight and pick up a viper cafe fairing. Saw a couple of black GS's & KZ's with the fairing and they look sweet. Any problems mounting one of these to what I am working with?

Thanks!

 

[850 Combat]

That looks like the headlight from a Windjammer IV. It probably just means that it had a Windjammer on it at some point. More often than not, Windjammer equipped bikes had the factory headlight bucket and headlight ears removed when the fairing was installed. I have removed about four Windjammers, and only one had the stock ears and bucket still there.

I am a fan of the 1000G. Nice comfy tourer for 70mph and under, especially, with stock bars. Af for the money, its probably cheaper to buy a decent runner than to fix up an unknown non-runner.