1982 GS450L Rebuild/Mod

[GregNC]

I know it's been a long time since I've posted anything. I've been really busy with work lately and I've had to put the project down to a minimal the past few weeks. Still, progress has been made! So I've completely torn down the bike, re-painted the frame cleaned up the wheels and shocks and forks. Painted the triple trees and handlebars. and well....I'll just show ya. Sorry about the quality of the pics, I broke my camera and have to use my laptop cam till I get another.

Started like this.

Tore it all down. Sprayed the frame.

After I got the rear suspension parts and wheel cleaned up I put it back together. I put the splash guard back on as well. It went a little too high for the tracker style seat I have planned so I chopped just the top part off it. You might also notice that I chopped the passenger support bar off as well. AFTER I painted. Bc that's whats happens when you plan poorly... Anyways, I'm gonna chop the tips off the rear frame rails and connect them via hoop.

That engine in the background is just waiting to get cracked open for a piston replacement. Or just a ring. I gotta get in there and see. The clutch side has almost no compression.

Put the forks back on and got the front wheel back under her.

She's rolling along nicely..... See what I did there?

 

[Guest]

Greg I like where you're going with this, what sort of 'bars are those?

Instead of chopping the frame rails and doing a tracker seat, why not leave them and do a flat seat all the way back? Mind you, if true tracker style is what you're after that ain't gonna work

 

[GregNC]

Thanks pete. I'm not sure what kinda bars they are. They were on the bike when I got it. I like them though. Very low key and stylish, I like that they sweep back a bit, but not too much.

This is what I'm kinda leaning towards style wise.

I love the seat/rear fender set up on the spirit. and the fork boots too. Most of my vision for the final bike look comes from this.

 

[Guest]

Aaaah I believe that's what they call brat style... no idea why...

But if that's what you want, then you could simply make a flat seat to go to the end of the frame rails and not have to trim or weld a thing

 

[GregNC]

Brat style. That's what I meant, good call.

I finally got a hold of a decent camera.

I used a cutting disc to cut off what I think was a helmet lock from behind the top of the shock. I accidentally went into the frame a bit. I'll weld over that hole and grind down all these rough spots and re-paint.

I think you're right pete, about keeping the tips of the frame rails. I do want to tuck the rear fender in more but I think I can still use the holes in the tips of the frame rails and just drill new holes towards the end of the fender to mount it back further.

 

[lmrmllr89]

The "helmet lock" was probably the steering lock....

 

[GregNC]

on the rear of the frame? I can't find it in the haynes manual

 

[lmrmllr89]

Yea.....sorry i misread. I thought you said by the fork......my bad....

 

[GregNC]

So I think I figured out why she only had half power....

 

[DannyMotor]

Sweet Jesus thats not gonna play nice with the other!

Does it line up with thr plug hole on an angle? Plug could be too long.

 

[GregNC]

Everything looks lined up fine to my knowledge. The top end has never been cracked open until now though. The previous owner switched from the stock airbox to cheap pods and never rejetted. I think it overheated and blew a hole through somehow. That's just me guessing though. I'll throw some pics of the cylinders up tomorrow so you guy can see what I'm working with. The side with the messed up piston has some very slight wear on it. I think the shavings from the hole are responsible for that. I'm thinking at this point I'll get two new piston kits from PartsShark (comes with all the top end gaskets) and throw them in. Then I think I'll just need to rig up a new exhaust and re-jet to match and I'll have a nice little bar hopper. What do you guys think? I'll have more pics to make better decisions with soon. Just wanted to see if I'm heading in the right direction

 

[bakirkwold]

Usually a hole in the piston means pre ignition. Maybe the pods and using a low octane fuel caused it.

 

[Guest]

Cheap pods + no re-jet wins the prize I reckon... too lean = too hot = holes in piston... or at least that's what I believe

Bakirkwold definitely could be onto it too

If you've got scoring on the cylinder walls, I reckon go up a piston size so you can be guaranteed to have a nice clean bore. Not sure if that's affordable or not but would probably be worth it in the long run if you're going to be buying new pistons anyway...

 

[GregNC]

Pete, I was thinking the same thing. I've been having trouble locating the right oversized pistons though. Any thoughts? I ran through most of basscliffs site recommendations, no luck so far.

 

[Guest]

Pete, I was thinking the same thing. I've been having trouble locating the right oversized pistons though. Any thoughts? I ran through most of basscliffs site recommendations, no luck so far.

Hmmmm I'm sure the 750 or 850 pistons are a direct swap but I may be wrong...

The 0.5mm oversize part number is 12111-44100-050 which actually continues right up until the '88 450L, but doesn't match up to any other models unfortunately, but I'm positive there are some that will work...

 

[GregNC]

I'll give a million fake dollars to whoever can help me find the gaskets I need to rebuild my top end. Found stock pistons and rings. These are the last parts I need to put this beast back together again. HELP GUYS!!!!

 

[Guest]

I'll give a million fake dollars to whoever can help me find the gaskets I need to rebuild my top end. Found stock pistons and rings. These are the last parts I need to put this beast back together again. HELP GUYS!!!!

Genuine base gasket $6.95, O rings $2.94 each:

http://www.boulevardsuzuki.com/fich...y=Motorcycles&make=SUZUKI&year=1980&fveh=2097

Genuine head gasket, $66.03, half moons $3.55 each:

http://www.boulevardsuzuki.com/fich...y=Motorcycles&make=SUZUKI&year=1980&fveh=2097

Genuine valve cover gasket, $18.25, valve breather cover gasket, $6.10:

http://www.boulevardsuzuki.com/fich...y=Motorcycles&make=SUZUKI&year=1980&fveh=2097

Now about those 5 million fake dollars

But seriously, go genuine... if I had've known about Boulevard Suzuki back when I was rebuilding mine, I wouldn't have bothered with the Athena crap aftermarket set... I've already replaced the valve cover gasket with a genuine one because it wouldn't stop weeping and I'll be doing the same for the breather cover next service as I just discovered it's also weeping...

 

[GregNC]

Pete you are the man. What are these half moons though?

 

[Guest]

Pete you are the man. What are these half moons though?

Hahaha sometimes

When you pop your valve cover off, you'll see two rubber plugs in each side of the head. These are the half moons. Over time they become brittle and crack and start leaking, and they're cheap enough to just replace when that happens. I put a little Threebond around the circular surface to make sure they sealed well also. Don't put sealer on the flat surface where the valve cover gasket goes though.

 

[GregNC]

Just ordered the new pistons, rings, and all the gaskets for the top end. So right now I'm touching up the frame and rebuilding carb #2 to finish the pair. This weekend I'm dropping the top end at the machinist to get honed and I'm hoping to run all the wiring back onto the bike and get the engine looking fresh again before the rebuild. Still a lot to do but now that I actually have a bit of money to play with and a few weeks off until my next job starts things are gonna roll along pretty quickly. Thanks for the help guys (looking at you pete). I'll post some new pics this weekend to show y'all whats going on.