1983 GS 850G: She waited for me, but can I wait for her?

[Corporal91]

Greetings all! I have enjoyed reading through the posts on this site for most of the day and feel rather encouraged to get my bike back up and running. I bought a 1983 GS 850g in decent shape before being deployed and ran the hell out of it for a year or so. It is sitting on 56,000 miles, which is incredible, and seemed to run pretty well. Right before I left, it developed an oil leak on the right side of the motor, and seemed to come from the head gasket. I started disassembly but did not have time to complete it before leaving, and have come home to see my beautiful big yellow banana bike in the same sorry state as I left it. (inside a garage at least, but still half disassembled).

My question to the readers is as follows: Are these puppies worth investing the time and money into with so many miles? I have seen around my area an assortment of the GS bikes in decent condition for about $1100 or so, and the broken bikes for about $600.00. I just want to get back on the road and RIDE and it is killing me looking at the baby in the corner. And NOBODY PUTS BABY IN THE CORNER!

Any advice?

 

[Steve]

"That many miles"? :-k

With 56,000 miles, it is just fully broken-in. :-\\\

You sure the leak was head gasket, or maybe the valve cover gasket that was dripping down to the head gasket?

.

 

[Corporal91]

"With 56,000 miles, it is just fully broken-in. :-\\\"

Well... that says something for the GS, doesn't it?

Am I sure? Absolutely not lol. I plan on buying a couple cases of beer and tearing into it this weekend.

What are the recommendations? I would love to tear down at least the top and take a look at the valves and such. With it having sat for so long, is there any reason to go any deeper than finding the leak? (i.e. pulling heads, replacing seals, soaking carb, etc) I pulled most of the wiring off before I left, which was incredibly smart because now I will have to fumble putting it back together.

 

[gustovh]

Thank you for your service.

Do indeed do a complete carb tear down and soak, new O rings and gaskets and carb mount O rings as well. Unscrew the spark plug caps and Clip about 1/4" off the plug wires and re screw the caps back on. Without knowing where the oil leak is coming from, I would start with a new valve cover gasket and maybe rubber moons as well, and I would check my valve clearances while the cover was off as well. That should get you started.

V

 

[Guest]

Hi. Welcome to the forum.

My GK is over 100,000km (62137.1 miles).

Ask Flyboy how many his bike has.

Frabjous day:

 

[Corporal91]

Ha, that's awesome. I will try to upload some photos tonight. What are some good sites to order our GS parts from? I have a local store that can order, but they are third party'ing me and the wait is annoying to say the least, let alone the price.

 

[eil]

If your bike was working fine and just needs a top-end rebuild, you should come out well ahead by finishing the rebuild versus buying a new bike and peddling the existing one as a basket case.

Lots of us use partsoutlaw.com because they have decent prices. They might have a promo code "BANG" that can be used to get free shipping, but I'm not 100% sure it's still active. If you can't stand the wait, order from your local dealer, but you'll pay more. All OEM parts come from a Suzuki warehouse somewhere, so there's always at least a week's wait between order and pick-up, unless you're talking about very common items like washers and oil filters. If you order online, there's at least a two-week wait. It definitely pays to do your research and plan ahead. If you just jump into the rebuild without a plan, it will take a lot longer. Many of us here have had a major rebuild project held up because of that one stupid oddly-shaped o-ring or seal that only Suzuki makes.

Also check Z1 Enterprises for some of your aftermarket parts. Only use Suzuki OEM for the base gasket and head gasket.

 

[Grimly]

It is sitting on 56,000 miles, which is incredible, and seemed to run pretty well.

Come back when there's another 2 in front of that.

<edit>
That reads like I'm being dismissive, but I'm not - my point is, that these engines will just keep going until Doomsday if they're fed oil and filters at regular intervals and not have the living daylights thrashed out of them every ride. In those circumstances, 50K is nothing, 250K is more something.
The late 70s saw the introduction of engines that would do that - yet the popular conception still remains, that 30, 40, 50K is a high mileage for a bike engine.

 

[JJ]

By the way, happy birthday!

 

[mikerophone]

This is great!

 

[Corporal91]

Well, I got her out over the weekend. This is what she looks like. I will be sure to update the thread as often as possible. I thank everyone for the advice.

 

[Corporal91]

Sorry for the small pics. They blow up nicely though.

 

[Corporal91]

A few more dings in it now that I remember...

 

[Corporal91]

The red is where the leak seems to originate from. The yellow is a spot I located with a cooling fin that seems to have been dinged off. I did not see any other damage around that area however.

 

[GS1150Pilot]

That is a very cool 850. Please do the world a favor and bring her back to life.

Cheers to you for even thinking about it.

 

[Corporal91]

Unless I have grown in the last 18 months, I will have to drop the height on it about 2 inches. Just taking a little cushion out of the worlds most plush motorcycle seat should get me most of the way there. I have been searching the forums for a quick guide on that this morning as well.

 

[GS1150Pilot]

How tall are you? Inseam?

 

[Corporal91]

65" flat footed, usually a minimum of 1" heel on my boot. Inseam right about 30"

 

[GS1150Pilot]

Careful how much you cut that seat down: It's legendary as one of the best saddles ever put on a motorcycle.

 

[Guest]

Is it worth bringing back to life, heck yeah, it's a GS. Your also lucky, because you can upgrade to a 1000 or 1100cc engines if you have a need for more. Not that there is anything wrong with the 850 engine.

"I pulled most of the wiring off before I left, which was incredibly smart because now I will have to fumble putting it back together. "

No worries, all multi-pin connectors has it own mate and where there may be others with the same wire count they will be of a different color and location. With single wire bullet connectors, just match up the wire colors. As far as I've seen Suzuki only changes wire color when they pass through a multi-pin connector.

You may try shaving the sides of the seat foam to give a little leg room. I had that done to a 550T I had reupholstered to make my wife's legs longer. lol It allows you to keep that seat nice and cushy for when your legs are on the pegs, which is 95% of your time on the bike.