1983 E Cleanup

[GSexpress]

Yes that certainly was a very nice place it vacated. Sharp bike you have there! How many miles on her?

I see you have the front anti-dive system unhooked. I'm thinking of the same thing. Never found one that worked they way it was supposed to - IMHO.
And is that a reflector on the front fender stay to replace the bigger round ones from the lower fork tree?

It only has 11K mi on it, but still needs a few things. The reflective tape does replace the standard ones but it also hides some flaking paint on the fender. Tipical flex flaking that is common on these fenders.

The anti dive was disconnected when I got it. I plan to reconnect it. It can be made to work. most of the problems with it comes when the fork oil gets changed. The normal upgrade is to go with heavier fork oil, bu not with thease forks. They came with lighter oil that earlier models to begin with. Then going heavier than 10 wt makes it worse. 5 wt oil, min air pressure and 3 or 4 on the adjuster with step 2 on the preload was the hot ticket back in the day. I'll be using synthetic fork oil for the first time on these and we'll see if that works the same.

 

[Guest]

A few more assemblies cleaned up during the last few weeks. One of the nicest was the arrival of an excellent set of 1985 GS1150E pipes. These are nearly mint. They came from a board member in Florida. The pictures don't do them justice.

But being 1150 pipes, I do not know if the rear mount will work as is or a new mount will have to be made. And I don't know about how it will fit at the bottom of the frame and at the rear kick up. Guess that bridge will be crossed when it shows up. Has anyone done this? Someone had to have tried it.

A few more pieces cleaned up

and the pile of parts so far

And a shot of how the poor thing looks right now

 

[Homie]

Ditto.
What magic dust did you use?

Mike,
Your ability to restore parts brought up from the Titanic to shiny gleaming like new appearance is nothing short of amazing. Like Daniel asked, we are still wondering what kind of "magic dust" you are using to turn those turds into shiny gems?? Do tell......

 

[JEEPRUSTY]

Show some pictures of the car.

 

[Good Times]

Those are some shiny bits for sure. I like it!

 

[Guest]

Yeah, I'm starting to get a handle on this old girl, and as I just vented in a PM, I'm totally upside down on this old girl and its going to get way worse yet. Guess I went in wide eyed and bushy tailed. By the time this one is done, I'll be so upside down that it'll look like the Giza monuments have flipped over. Starting to get a bit twitchy.

Show some pictures of the car.

I've posted some of the Charger in another thread. But here are a few...

1969 Charger R/T 0.030 over 440, ported, gasket matched 452 heads with 2.14/1.81 valves, 9.5:1 hypereutectic pistons, 292 degree/.509 lift ex-street hemi grind cam. Factory hi po manifolds gasket matched and opened up, same with the intake and a later 1000 CFM Thermoquad. 727 with hemi clutch plates, hemi servos, bands and springs, 2800rpm stall convertor and 3.55 8 3/4 rear. 2 1/2 inch exhaust

1969 road runner hardtop, 440 0.030 with 4.15 stroke crank - 493.4 cubic inches, again opened up 452 heads with the same 2.14/1.81 valves, comp cams solid split pattern cam 235/248 @0.050, .535 lift, headers with 3 inch exhaust to mufflers 2 1/2 inch tailpipes. 6bbl intake with mechanical opening for the end carbs. 833 23 spline (non-hemi) transmission with Hurst Competition Plus shifter and McLeod clutch. 3.91 8 3/4 rear.

And some future projects. A 1969 road runner coupe that I will turn into a 1968 coupe - like the first one I had many moons ago. Two 1971 'cudas in there one hardtop, one ragtop, both 383 auto cars. A 1968 Dart GTS - 383 car but I'll put a 440 in it and stick the 383 in a corner. And last but not least a 1969 Super Bee was 383 but I got it with a 440 in it.

Sorry for the rehash for some of you.

Mike,
Your ability to restore parts brought up from the Titanic to shiny gleaming like new appearance is nothing short of amazing. Like Daniel asked, we are still wondering what kind of "magic dust" you are using to turn those turds into shiny gems?? Do tell......

A long flesh eating process. Either an ultrasonic for starters or a bath in a chemical stew of heavy duty cleaner, over cleaner and the last bit of toluene I've got. Most of it is elbow grease and going over the same part multiple times. Get any of the chemical stew on myself and it'll eat right into skin. Not the most user friendly stuff.

It depends on the condition of the part as to what it gets. I'm trying to save as much of the originality as I can. I'm trying not to paint any of the plastic parts and so far they have all come back very nicely. However none of the body cushions or grommets have survived as they were all either already busted or missing or fell apart upon removal.

There is a very long road ahead of this old girl and every step I take it seems like two are added. Ahhh the joys of hobbies.

 

[7981GS]

The Cuda's could be a happy retirement as they are selling for their weight in gold.
Nice looking FJ1100 also.

Eric

 

[Guest]

A long flesh eating process. Either an ultrasonic for starters or a bath in a chemical stew of heavy duty cleaner, over cleaner and the last bit of toluene I've got. Most of it is elbow grease and going over the same part multiple times. Get any of the chemical stew on myself and it'll eat right into skin. Not the most user friendly stuff.

It depends on the condition of the part as to what it gets. I'm trying to save as much of the originality as I can. I'm trying not to paint any of the plastic parts and so far they have all come back very nicely. However none of the body cushions or grommets have survived as they were all either already busted or missing or fell apart upon removal.

There is a very long road ahead of this old girl and every step I take it seems like two are added. Ahhh the joys of hobbies.

Wow, those parts look amazing! That chemical concoction is obviously pretty paint-friendly.....I did wonder if you had touched up/repainted some of them, before you posted. Great work!

 

[Guest]

That chemical concoction is obviously pretty paint-friendly..

Oh good God no! The plastics take a very thinned version of it and it can't sit at all or it will burn the plastic. But worked with a cloth it will remove a bit of the surface layer each swipe. Get the dead plastic off the top and its all good. Scratches and chunks out of the piece are there with you forever. If you're really determined you can get the scratches out but guaranteed by then the **** has found a hole in even new gloves and is working on skin just as well as paint.

But the straight up stuff on paint surfaces takes the metal right back to the surface and will eat and loosen up a lot of the rust. A go over with a smooth wire wheel and the parts look as just cast to hit with paint. Leave it sit on metal 1/2 hour or so and the paint just wipes off. Then its to ensure you get all that crap off the part as if there's any present, it'll start to eat the new paint put onto the metal. Gotta get it all off.

Here's some updates.
A few more parts cleaned up. The arm has new needle bearings from Suzuki which really weren't priced too highly. Don't know of any aftermarket sets and didn't look. The stock ones will more than suit me.

A few of the electric parts.

The harness is nearly perfect and unbutchered.

Operative word - nearly.

The bike has Dyna 3 ohm coils and a Dyna - S ignition system. How these parts came - in one swoop and miswired or coils first and the draw drew too much heat. Whatever the reason there was some intense heat generated for a short while over something it wasn't too pleased with the situation as it stood. The newly located ignition wires were right across the regulator connector when they melted. The three ignition wires themselves aren't too bad - a bit stiff, but the regulator's plug was melted and two of the wires fell off as soon as I tried to remove what was left of the plug.

Here's the harness area. The harness connector shattered and fell away, the wires have melted plastic on them, Two of the three ignition wires can be seen burnt - the longer light green(? -I'm color blind) and the orange on top of the green near the cover.

And how she stands now. I've pretty much gone as far as I can without attacking the exhaust. Its been soaking since I got the bike in hopes of freeing up some of the bolts that looked bad. They are bad - real bad. The bolts are Allen head and the sockets just slowly snapped chunks off of the inside hex. Can't even get a good grip to break them off and deal with them later. I'm into a grinder in a tight area. Not good.

 

[Homie]

A long flesh eating process. Either an ultrasonic for starters or a bath in a chemical stew of heavy duty cleaner, over cleaner and the last bit of toluene I've got. Most of it is elbow grease and going over the same part multiple times. Get any of the chemical stew on myself and it'll eat right into skin. Not the most user friendly stuff.

OK, so it wasn't "magic dust" but a "chemical stew" instead. So what exactly is the recipe to the stew? I would like to attempt to replicate some of your resurrection of parts but I don't want to randomly go mixing hazardous "flesh eating" chemicals together and come out looking like "Two-Face" from Batman. Care to share the recipe, or are you in the process of patenting it?

 

[Guest]

Not at all. Get some heavy duty all purpose general cleaner and get it into a spray bottle. Hit whatever part you want with a good dousing. Then hit the degreaser area with a few blasts of oven cleaner. If you're onto plastic not a lot of oven cleaner is needed. Mix the two as best as possible and quickly work that area with a toothbrush (one you're not going to use again. You'll get used to how long and how hard to rub. Bottom line - starting off don't let the stuff sit on plastic without moving it around. Rub with a cloth and then clean it with fresh water and soap like nuts. Dry it and see where you are. Its better to go weak and slow until you get the hang of how long to let it sit. Too long and you've eaten into the part like Alien's acid blood.

After you wash this stuff off real well, hit the plastic part with some tire cleaner and let it sit a bit before wiping off.

For aluminum and steel first degrease the part pretty well. Then hit the degreaser and a good mix of oven cleaner. Mix the two with the toothbrush and let it sit. After a while (up to 1/2 hour) of sitting remove the stuff and see where you are. If no movement add some Toluene (used to be in the good carb cleaners, burt it seems to have disappeared on shelves here. Degreaser, oven cleaner and a shot or two of toluene and mix it and let sit. If that doesn't take everything off - you're going to an acid bath.
Seriously, I haven't met anything yet - up to some serious rust, that this stuff won't help you along. Sometimes I stay on the weak side and repeat the process 3, 4 or 5 times. Get too bold and it will etch/ leech into metal.

Any part you're going to paint after soaking it in this has to be really cleaned afterwards or the paint will bubble up as long as this stuff is present. Soak in soap and water, rinse well, dry and then brake cleaner - works pretty well.

If you are also referring to the nuts and bolts - those are all wire wheeled on a bench grinder and then polished with metal paste. Cleaned off and then cleared to save them for a little while. The chrome ones are just polished and hit with chrome cleaner to keep them.

 

[GateKeeper]

Cool, gonna hit the engine with this mixture as a final attempt to get it all nice and clean, wash it all off, and hit it with some paint thinner or similar to make sure all grease and oil is off, dry really well, and then paint....

sounds like a good plan to me....

 

[Guest]

Engines take repeated applications. Just keep hitting it and the gunk will come off layer by layer if you go easy. Hit it hard and it'll dig big chunks of the gunk off and be messy - but it will get back to pure metal - patience and repeating is the key.

Three cans of oven cleaner, quart of heavy duty degreaser, 1/2 pint of toluene, some clean up and paint......

 

[GateKeeper]

What's the address, I am sending my engine too, so I can get it as nice and shiney as yours....

WOW, very nice....


by the way will this kill any gaskets ?

.

 

[Guest]

by the way will this kill any gaskets ?

Nope, unless you leave it on and walk away for a few days or something. 1/2 hour is the longest I've left it on. When I see it seep into the metal, its on too long. You get a real nice dark spot on aluminum and a busy time to get rid of the stuff. And it'll leech out and work on removing new paint as long as its in there.

 

[Guest]

Here's the process on a front caliper.

The first two shots are of the caliper as it came off the bike. This is actually the left caliper, I didn't take any before shots of the right one, but it was in the same shape.

The next two are of the caliper parts before any paint.

And the last two are it all done except for one grease boot.

 

[GateKeeper]

Very nice.....your concoction does a very good job....

I guess you used some caliper paint ? And I am curious, do you find the paint chips or cracks easy, say if it get's hit on an edge or once you start to tighten down the brackets and such....this was the issue I have come across, and then I end up having to do some touch ups...

 

[Guest]

Very nice.....your concoction does a very good job....

And I am curious, do you find the paint chips or cracks easy, say if it get's hit on an edge or once you start to tighten down the brackets and such.....

For sure. I have a small heater that I place parts on two shelves in front of it and try to Mickey Mousely use heat to cure the paint. It seems to work okay, but it is nowhere near as tough as the factory stuff. The stuff on the caliper is a basic Krylon hi-heat semi-gloss black. The only true engine paint I use is on the engine and again the Krylon Engine Enamel semi-gloss black. For a stock restoration it would be a bit too flat for the engine but unless I can find something in a Krylon black a bit glossier, that's what it'll be. Their stuff works great.

But yes the repainted parts will chip easier than the factory. But with the combination of the heater for six hours or so then around 30 days to set - its not too bad.

 

[Guest]

Here's the end of week six. The closer you get to the heart of the matter, the seemingly longer it takes to get tasks performed. That and there may be a bit of running out of steam. I've been at this most nights and weekends for the last six weeks. Its not a race and I like to clean up the parts as they come off the bike. But it seems to be slowing. I've burnt through what I had allotted for the project and am still a long way off. So that also has dampened the effort. Rubber, suspension,paint, powdercoat - a lot yet.

Here it is now.

The header really didn't want to give way so it was a taste of the angle grinder to get rid of it. Every time I tried a nut, it would just flake off from wither the outer or the inner hex. It's gone from a 6mm to somewhere around a 7 something. And nothing to grab on the outer for enough grip. When the engine drops out I'll get them then. Hopefully. I really don't want to pull the head off of her.

And what came off. Several prior "repairs"

And the pile of parts increases.

Although the brake hoses have been cleaned up, it is doubtful that I would want to use them. I haven't looked into the Suzuki inventory yet to see if factory ones are still available. If not it will have to be braided steel with the rubber covering to partially look stock. Check out the reflectors. At least they work.

And what it currently looks like.

 

[spyug]

Hey GK did you ever see my solution to curing paint on calipers and such. I think it might appeal to you being as how you "play" with computers too. May I present the "Easybake Oven": http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showthread.php?t=153723&highlight=easybake+oven

Works a treat for small batches and saves you getting in schtz using the boss' oven.

Cheers,
spyug