1983 GS1000G - One for the road

[ART]

So.

I guess this will turn into a project. It is kind of inevitable as my primary goal is to achieve perfect reliability from a 30 year old Suzuki with 75000 km on the clock.

I've had the bike for a couple of weeks now and used it as my daily commuter. I have not been disappointed, I get there and back. Every time.

I haven't gotten down to the basics yet; so far all I've done is remove one AirHawk, two homemade exhaust blocking devices (yeah, it was REAL quiet -- but wouldn't rev beyond 6k ... better now) and replaced the tach wire.

Anyway. Needs-to-be-done-pronto:

* Rear tire. It has turned into a very hard slick. Shinko R230 arrives tomorrow.
* Clutch springs. Had clutch slip going home from purchase, mostly gone now after proper clutch adjustment but still there sometimes at WOT around 5 krpm. Have gasket, spring and kevlar plates but will do only springs right now (I assume the full operation to require filing of splines and an oil change ... and winter has so many long evenings for such things).

Soonish:
The usual stuff. Brake fluid, brake caliper overhaul, brake lines, pads. All the oils and and the filter (done according to PO, and I trust him ... but I trust myself more). Retorque of cylinder head (very slight weeping at head gasket). Valve settings (have paperwork showing them done 20000 km ago and promises that they are ok ... the papers I trust). Charging system is going to get inspected and get a series R/R. Electrical system needs at the very least to be overhauled ... works, but I'm sure there be horrid oxidation going on.
And get new clutch in.

After that:
Well. I'm thinking new rings, cylinder honing, valve seals, some seat work, new exhaust (current one is a) sawed off and b) leaking like a sieve ... I like the popping, but...). Ah, and rewiring. I'm a firm believer in separating into signal paths and power paths. And in way better connectors than what I've seen so far.

Finally:
Well. After that, I can go on to the real project. At the moment I toss dreams and ideas about but refuse to nail down what I want. After the maintenance is done. Then I will know.

Oh. And I'll snap some pics as I go along. Haven't quite done that yet. Just imagine a G with a Windjammer V and Krauser bags. Poorly painted sparkly purplish. And with backrest (for the driver), footplates and a terribly uncomfortable buckhorn bar...

 

[eil]

Haven't done it myself, but I've heard that you can open the clutch with the bike on the side stand and not lose any oil.

What's the reason for the top-end work? Poor compression?

If it were mine, I'd put a priority on going through the brakes before much else. Only because I've seen first-hand what a neglected (but still mostly working) brake system looks like.

Hope it goes well, put up some pics and keep us up to date.

 

[Dogma]

Congrats on bringing home a great bike. We didn't have the 1000G after '81. You have the right ideas about catching up the maintenance. Lose the fairing and the floorboards, swap on some Daytona or lower handlebars, and you've got a great sport tourer.

As eil points out, you can open the clutch cover with the bike on the side stand. Be ready for some drips. If you're changing the springs, you can just pull the plates out too. If the bike wasn't abused, you shouldn't need to file anything.

Eil is also right about rebuilding the brakes as soon as possible. Clean hydraulics in braided stainless lines makes an enormous difference. I didn't measure, but I thought I cut the stopping distance in half. Before the rebuild, I could pull the lever all the way to the grip. If this is going to be a project bike and not a restoration, look up Salty Monk's twin-pot caliper upgrade. Invest the time and money into those calipers. With that upgrade and HH pads, you get all the stopping you can use with two fingers.

 

[ART]

Brakes are superb! Wonderful! Unbelievable stopping power available at any speed, and a rear brake that does not wear out a drum made of unubtanium.

I am, of corse, accustomed to the brakes on my BMW. The R80 G/S had ABS already in 1981. No way that puny, slippery single disc will lock the front wheel ... so you are probably quite right about performance. Besides, I actually enjoy working on brakes. Upgrading would be fun, too.

Glad to hear clutch is as easy as I thought. And as for top end work. Well. 30 year old valve seals are ... past their prime by any standard. I do have oil consumption. I also have the idea that head gasket really ought be replaced. And that cylinder foot gasket might be a good idea to do at the same time. Top off being half way there. And with the cylinders off, makes sense to do the rings. New rings means honing. That kind of logic.

Ah. And I forgot to mention carb cleaning, right? Which will be done. And orings ... and ... well.

Oh! And, this is important! Today I took the dremel to the rear end of the bike. Cut away with great gusto!

So. Now it is a caf? bobber survival ratbike?

Or do I need to cut more than the (cracked...) rear fender tip off for that?
Was broken, so no loss. And made getting the wheel out for tirechange soooo much nicer. Looks good, too.

Regarding getting the rear wheel off and back on again I have just one thing to say. The monolever on the BMW rules. Three bolts, lift off sideways. Like on a car. Piece of cake.
Suzuki G with bags? Not so much piece of cake.

Changing tire (first time I've done that myself) ... as predicted a bit of a PITA, but also great fun.

And I am glad to report that I do not have the rear wheel splines made from butter on my bike. Perfect square splines with plenty of pitch black molygrease all over them.

And now ... a shower!

 

[Steve]

And made getting the wheel out for tirechange soooo much nicer. Looks good, too.

Probably not so bad, since it was damaged anyway, but by simply placing a piece of 2x4 lumber (or whatever you use for wall studs) under the centerstand, the back end is lifted enough to roll the rear wheel out with no problem at all.

.

 

[ART]

Probably not so bad, since it was damaged anyway, but by simply placing a piece of 2x4 lumber (or whatever you use for wall studs) under the centerstand, the back end is lifted enough to roll the rear wheel out with no problem at all.

.

This is a city, not a lumberyard.

After an uneventful weekend of viking reenactment (ahem) its time again. I do the small stuff. Like yesterdays bleeding of the brakes. And enjoy every ride more and more.

This is going to be a slow thread indeed. Oh, and I removed the driver backrest. Yay! No longer looks like grandpa smurfs bike.

 

[ART]

I haven't died or anything. Been working day and night for a while, and meanwhile this project has suffered from scope creep.

Somewhere along the line I decided this is a frame-up-job. And started looking for a good garage to do the work in as what I have here is really just a parking slot and people would be

a) very annoyed with me for exploding a motorcycle all over the place
b) carrying of any loose parts they fancy

So. Today, milestone! I found a good place to work on the bike (which has been surprisingly hard to find anywhere near the city center O ). Moving in there start of January I hope. When, incidentally, I will also no longer work around the clock but rather more normal hours.

Very happy I am today. Wheee!

 

[tkent02]

Valve settings (have paperwork showing them done 20000 km ago and promises that they are ok ...

20,000 km is WAY past time to check them again.

 

[ART]

20,000 km is WAY past time to check them again.

Done as in new shims mounted. Not done as in measured. That supposedly happened last spring. But we shall see, trust is a good thing but making sure is better.

 

[850 Combat]

I never noticed any difficulty with a tire change. Good luck with your project Photos would be nice.

The R80GS is pretty collectable here. Probably even more so there. A lot more rational in size and weight than the current BMW GS in my opinion. In the USA the 1000G was replaced by the 1100G in 1982.

 

[ART]

The 1000g vs. 1100g is a hassle. I'm using the hypothesis that what I have is essentially a 83 1100g with a 1000g engine. When ordering parts that is. Then I measure and verify.
So far, so good. But then I mostly have a parts list, and a growing pile of not-yet-mounted parts (january 5 is that will start to change). Currently ebaying, which makes my cheap soul cry.

Tires. Never done one before. And spoiled, too. The G/S? Loosen three bolts and just lift the rear wheel off, with meters of clearance. Then take to shop and go "New tire on that one, good sir!". Goldwing? Have a look at the mountain of tupperware obscuring everything. Drive it to the shop and go "That thing needs new rubber. I'm sure it is in there, somewhere?".

I've done a fair bit of wrenching, but most of it on cars. Japanese cars. German cars. A couple of old american cars. Plus routine maintenance on the bikes, naturally, but nothing much and never a tire.

Plus, next time I'll have tools around. Such as a jack.

EDIT: Yeah, the G/S is becoming more valuable by the day. Damned thing. I think I'll have to let it go.

 

[ART]

He is back! And he has pictures!

Day two in garage completed now. Nothing exiting yet and sadly the pictures suck (especially since I'm not at liberty to upload images depicting the wondrous vehicles of the other occupants of said garage). But.

Lets see. This fall I brought this home:

Then I worked and had the hardest time finding a garage. Yesterday I moved in.
Still in a sad state. Dirty. Bodged paintjob(s).
More or less all of it is in a state corresponding to this:

Anyhow. Getting the plastics off presented no problems. Soon we had one *gasp* nekkid bike:

At this point I decided to pull the exhaust. I still am. Two of the bolts have gone buddhist and attained unity with their surroundings, and are ever so stubbornly refusing to be good socialist bolts and obey their Great Leader.
Soak in penetrating oil. Warm them up with the heat gun. Apply impact wrench. Curse. Apply more of the rustkilling goo, and call it a night.

Heatcycle, soak, impact again today. No luck. So I pulled the carbs.
Impact wrench sure got the (very pilable!) rubber boots off.

Carbs:

Back to subjegating Tibet! Without luck. At this point I was glancing at the angle grinder, let me tell you...

Anyhow, I can always pull the electrical system? Certainly! No buddhists there, surely? Bah! Only one, admittedly, but such a sad one.

This connector will never ever come apart:

It is not the only melty part on the harness, either. I will not reuse. Easily removed, though, and all the expensive parts are actually intact:

How hard could it be? (Well, I have a double master including systems containing electrickery far more complex than this ... it is the welding that will be the problem )

Thats pretty much where we are as of now. Next, I'm gonna drill me two buddhists...

 

[ART]

Ah. Forgot to mention, cam chain tensioner is utterly unmovable (as in the knurled knob).
Won't budge no matter how hard I try.

Is that typically fixable or will I need a new one?

 

[Charlie G]

Ah. Forgot to mention, cam chain tensioner is utterly unmovable (as in the knurled knob).
Won't budge no matter how hard I try.

Is that typically fixable or will I need a new one?

Art,

The tensioner, if you have a stock one, isn't set properly if it can't turn. I don't have the procedure memorized and I assume you have access to a manual or at least Basscliff's site. http://members.dslextreme.com/users/bikecliff/ Don't attempt to turn the knurled knob while the bike is running.

cg

 

[ART]

Bike has no carbs nor any coils at the moment, so running it is not. It could faulty installation ... though I doubt it has ever been touched. Rusted solid is my guess... :/

 

[Charlie G]

Art,

It's common for them to not be set right.

 

[ART]

Good news that, then. Renovation of tensioner remains the plan. Shouldn't be a big problem, the howto writeup is excellent.

 

[ART]

I officially hate drilling out stainless insex bolts.
I also officially suck at it. Almost as much as I suck at sharpening drill bits.

I've spent ages on them bolts. Feel free to laugh at me, I know I do. =)

 

[londonboards]

Nice Bike

Nice Bike

You mentioned possible 1983 and I would concur with that. In that year they factory painted the engines black and put on the rear air shocks. You might also have the front air shocks with the little balancing tube between the stanchions just under the headlamp shell. If you have all this then I would say 1983 is a cert. Engine and VIN number will verify that.

Have a look at my Exhaust Bolts Out blog posting on my GS1100G Restoration. They take time. Keep sloshing on the concoction.

Greetings

 

[ART]

Yup, black engine. Rear shocks are aftermarket ?hlins and fork seems to have no air nipples whatsoever.
Sold in Sweden as 1983 model, so I guess there be parts list at the swedish Suzuki places. They are to expensive for my taste though...

I still hate them bolts. But time is on my side, I agree. Soon they will be no more and I will still be around. Glad to see you got yours out!

Plenty of other things to fiddle with meanwhile. Today was carb day.

Swedish uncapped pilot screws on very dirty carb:

No drilling? No drilling! Yay!

No holes in the diaphragms either, except this on all four at the very edge:

It is smaller than the image shows, and this is the worst one. From what I've read here this is nothing to worry about (it is far inside the clamp zone and cannot possibly leak air), but I will dab some glue on it regardless. I think.

Other than that I had zero problems. Took my time, followed Nessims fantastic guide step by step. Ground a set of screwdrivers to perfect fit, that is one key to success.

Speaking of grinding I had a sad loss. My trusty bench grinder died. Made in August 1986 it must be the longest surviving powertool I have ever owned.
Bought new one for $30 and hoping that will last me another 27 years.

Anyway, the second key to success, aside from perfect fit when it comes to screwdrivers is seen on the far right in this picture:

Would never have gotten all the screws out intact without it ... and that is despite the fact that I've been dousing them in penetrating rusteating oil every time I've been in the garage.

And here they are, resting on a shelf awaiting dip:

All in all a good days work.