1980 GS550 project

[Steve0]

I bought this 1980 GS550 firing on two pots with one foot in the grave..................

I'm going to do my best to record the progress here as a way of keeping a record for myself and hopefully pick up a few tips, comments and points of view, feel free to chip in and warn me of impending disasters!!!

I'm no mechanic and will be depending heavily on the Haynes manual and Youtube?! Here goes.....

It looks much better in the photo, I'm already a little ahead as I've stripped the bike and removed the engine so I'll catch up on the posting...........

 

[JTGS850GL]

Rather then depend on the Haynes manual, how about the factory manual.
Go here to the link to it: http://www.mtsac.edu/~cliff/storage/gs/GS550_77-82_all.pdf

Then go here for a ton of other information you're going to need: http://members.dslextreme.com/users/bikecliff/

Good luck with the project.

 

[Steve0]

Perfect, cheers mate

 

[Steve0]

A previous owner had started a chop project, the guy I bought it from kindly re welded the frame back to where I needed it to be, my intention is still to reduce the length of the seat with a little kick at the back

 

[Steve0]

Some of the leftovers of the chop

I angle grinded this away from the wiring which in hindsight was nothing short of bloody stupid, I still have 10 fingers but only just....

 

[Steve0]

Classic fuse box work by a previous owner

.

 

[Steve0]

Mocked up what I want to achieve, took plenty of photos to remind me what was staying and what was going, hopefully captured it all. Really wish I'd spent more time working out where everything is going to go. In particular r/r, battery etc. Still not sure where they are going to go...... I just want clean simple lines with all the clutter out of sight.

 

[Steve0]

The carbs were already separate from the bike and so I set about carefully dismantling them, I took photos constantly. I'd only done this once before on a single BSA carb so I made sure everything was kept so that at least the bits from the carbs went back in the same carb. I numbered them so that they went back in the same order. I think this saved me some time but may have been a bit over the top

 

[Steve0]

The carbs were pretty gunked and when the floats were compressed they didn't all return, which I guessed was a bad thing?! There was an air jet missing from one of the carbs which I replaced. A mate lent me his ultrasonic cleaner and everything got cleaned.

 

[Steve0]

I was lucky that I picked up a spare set of carbs for next to nothing and so I chose the best diaphragms etc. I set about polishing the tops of the carbs (not sure of the real name) the lids for want of the correct word!! I did the whole 400, 600, 800, 1200, 2000 and it came up like a mirror. Now this is a personal thing but it was about then that I realised I'm not a chrome fan. I decided I wanted it to look a bit more industrial. They are not new carbs and I didn't want it to look like new carbs so no mirror finish, I can assure you this wasn't me being lazy! Cleaning these took bloody hours if not days! Don't do this unless you have cold beer in the fridge.

All the non aluminium bits got sanded down and sprayed with aluminium spray, I baked these in the oven and I'm pleased with the result. Everything went back surprisingly easy, other than cleaning, a new set of bolts and two tins of spray it was all good. The floats return and all looks good. I have no doubt that they'll be jetting issues but I'll worry about that later.

 

[Steve0]

 

[Steve0]

Next stage was removing the wiring loom, some tape and a pen to label every wire, it was clear someone or a few owners had contributed to the loom!! Silver foil around the fuses, wires that went nowhere and junction boxes that you'd find used at home.... I photographed everything and kept the loom but I can't help but think it will be easier to start from scratch. The ignition needs replacing, I'm not using the same tacho speedo, the gear selector indicator won't be there. New indicators and stop light, headlight mean I'm just turning this into a mission and some simple wiring keeping to the basics might be the answer...........
.

 

[jameson079]

Hows the build going? I got a '77 GS550 and I'm about to pull the motor our and do a head swap. Just checking in the forums to see whats new.