'79 GS 425E - First build

[midnight_marauder]

OK guys. so I bought a 1979 GS 425E off ebay for $260 and a slab of beer. My first bike ever, and my first try at anything mechanical. Well actually, I took apart a carburator once when I was about 7, but it never got put back together...

It had been sitting in this guys garage in boxes since the late 80's. Open boxes. The carbs, the cylinder heads and even the petcock. Rusted solid. But I'm pretty confident that they are all mostly salvageable. Except maybe the petcock. That's no biggie.

All types of rust, sediment from fuel left in the carbs, rotting gaskets and places where rubber used to be. Caking, flaking and coating every surface to be seen, and every where in between. It's a good thing that I'm not an actual mechanic. Otherwise I'd probably be ****ting myself and cursing all at once.

With a constant back and forth from out back to the kitchen to jump on the computer and consult the manual pdf and the GS forums told me what was what and how I should go about cleaning it. I'm already indebted to BassCliff, as I'm sure every single one of us here is. My experience on here, as brief as it has been so far, has been greatly enhanced by members such as he.

So thank you, who ever you are and who ever you will be, for helping me along the way. Three days in and I'm knee deep in bolts, oil, grease and rust. And loving every second.

I promise pictures will be up shortly. The battery is still charging...

 

[spyug]

Welcome......now run like hell with those boxes of junk to the scrap yard!

Seriously man you are taking on a major project and you're likely to drive yourself bonkers. I'm going bonkers myself right now with a 550 project and I've had the benefit of 40 + years of wrenching and have done 6 restorations in the last 8 years.

If you can pull this off you're a better man than I Gungha Din!

I'll be watching as this could be real interesting.

Best of luck.

cheers,
Spyug

PS Whats a slab of beer. Sounds like something the Eskimos drink i.e. a brick of frozen beer.

 

[Tim Tom]

As soon as I saw you bought a bike for a slab of beer, my first thought was "he must be an Aussie "

Good on ya! I agree with Spyug you have a huge task before you, but projects can be a lot of fun.

I wasn't ever a 'mechanic' before I started my first resto project but I like to think I'm a fairly capably wrencher now. The best way to learn a skill is to do it, I think you'll be just fine. The trick is just to keep at it, and take breaks when you get frustrated.

Ohh yeea... I wanna see some pics!

 

[Guest]

Aaaah good stuff, got your rebuilt thread up! Will be following along...

 

[nvr2old]

I used to be terrified at the thought of taking a bike down to bare frame, but after doing it many times now, the fear goes away quickly. I suggest taking many, many..many pictures of every component before it's disassembled. Bag and tag all the parts and where they go. It's amazing how easily one forgets how something goes back once it's in pieces..ask me how I know...

 

[Guest]

I used to be terrified at the thought of taking a bike down to bare frame, but after doing it many times now, the fear goes away quickly. I suggest taking many, many..many pictures of every component before it's disassembled. Bag and tag all the parts and where they go. It's amazing how easily one forgets how something goes back once it's in pieces..ask me how I know...

Good call!

I didn't take anywhere near enough pic's when I was dismantling mine and I didn't do the right thing by bagging parts and keeping them together properly, so even though it's all coming together nicely now, moving house and getting organised and again was quite, well... interesting.

 

[Flyboy]

Good post, looking like an interesting thread to follow.
It does sound like you have your work cut out for you, enjoy the ride...so to speak

It's a good thing that I'm not an actual mechanic. Otherwise I'd probably be ****ting myself and cursing all at once

Hahaha, sometimes ignorance is bliss, but don't sweat it, you have more help and expertise right here than you could ever wish for.
A bike in boxes looks a lot more daunting than it actually is, just break the tasks down into bite sized chunks, one small job at a time, and small job by small job the whole big picture comes together.
Like Tim Tom said, don't push forward regardless, then you will turn it into work and not enjoyment, when you get frustrated or tired of something, take a break for a few hours or a few days.
I don't get to work on my rebuild much, only one day a week really, so for me it is like therapy, I put the radio on, make sure I have a few cold tinnys in the cooler and just enjoy working on the bike with no interuptions and no worries.
The 400 and 450 were pretty prolific and can be found most anywhere, the 425 not so much, so it is also pretty cool that you will have a bike that ir pretty scarce if not totaly collectable, the forgotten redhead stepchild of the GS family. I would not mind one, I have always had an attraction to the lesser selling less popular bikes.
And yes, we like pics......lots of them.

 

[midnight_marauder]

Appreciate all the feedback guys, I really do!

Spyug, I hear what you are saying mate, but I'm too stupid or too stubborn to run from this one.

Nvr2old, I probably would have ben scared too! But the fact that it was already in pieces I think helped.

Also about the bagging and tagging. I've kinda been doing that. I have all the screws and bolts that came off the body to hold everything on in one jar. I have all the screws and bolts and nuts and washers from the carbs in another, and so on.

Sort of approaching it via the little task attack. Right now my main focus is on getting the carbs cleaned. Replacing all the parts that need to be replaced. Gaskets, springs, the little things. I think I need to get a couple of cans of carb cleaner, empty them out into a tub and give the bastards a long bath. They need it in the most drastic way!

I finally managed to get the throttle plates open this afternoon and I couldn't even see right through for all the gunk in one of them!

And yes, I promise, pictures will be up. Just found the cabe to recharge the camera. Give it a few hours and I should have something up.

Cheers.

 

[midnight_marauder]

So, here it is.

Where the fuel first enters the carb.

And the throttle plate..

Beautiful sight ain't it?

 

[mike-s]

Dear God, I just threw up in my mouth a little.
It looks like someone has thrown the partly disassembled carbs into a vat of cookie dough.

 

[midnight_marauder]

Dear God, I just threw up in my mouth a little.
It looks like someone has thrown the partly disassembled carbs into a vat of cookie dough.

The guy I got the bike from said he had rebuilt it once already. But something tells me he never got near the carbs..

 

[Guest]

Wow that's bad! In all the dodgy carb threads I've seen here I don't think I've seen one quite like that... I think Mike's got the nail on the head with the cookie dough...

Get yourself down to your local Yamaha dealer (yes I said Yamaha) and get a bottle of their Yamalube carb cleaner. Good stuff and will clean those right up...

 

[midnight_marauder]

Here's her story if any body is interested. Straight from the eBay page.

"I bought the bike in 1984 from a guy in Kalgoorlie. She and a Z500 travelled the west coast up to Darwin. The Z500 found the going a bit tough off the bitumen and was replaced with a KLR 600 in Dampier on the North West Coast. The GS was more than up to it. From Darwin she headed to Alice Springs, then across to Brisbane via the Plenty Highway and down the coast to Ballarat for christmas 1985, where she came to rest and was to be rebuilt. Work and other stuff, not to mention i bought another bike meant it never got finished.

So maybe someone out there would like to write another chapter in her life.

Cost of bike will be bidd price plus slab of Melbourne stubbies."

 

[Guest]

Hahaha what a classic ad! So a slab of VB hey?

 

[midnight_marauder]

Wow that's bad! In all the dodgy carb threads I've seen here I don't think I've seen one quite like that... I think Mike's got the nail on the head with the cookie dough...

Get yourself down to your local Yamaha dealer (yes I said Yamaha) and get a bottle of their Yamalube carb cleaner. Good stuff and will clean those right up...

Cheers Pete, I can use all the help I can get with this! Ha Ha. If I wasn't able to get my hands on a dipper, my idea was to soak them in petrol. Since the residue is basically petrol anyway, it should be able to dissolve itself. Then hit it with a can of spray carb cleaner, which has already helped me get the moving parts moving again...

But using something that is properly formulated and all. Sounds like a proper plan. I'll head around to Yamaha tomorrow to pick it up and give it a go. Thanks again.

 

[midnight_marauder]

Hahaha what a classic ad! So a slab of VB hey?

It worked perfectly too. I was in the market for something that just needed a spit shine. But when I read this ad I was sold. Accepted the challenge and picked up a slab of beer.

And away we go.

 

[Guest]

Landshark had another solution which was half fuel and half metho.

Here's my original thread on the topic:

http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showthread.php?t=170181&highlight=cleaner

You don't have to boil it like I did, but leave it for a lot longer. I boiled it because I had a really short amount of time to do it.

Also, be sure to follow up with a good hard spray down with a hose, followed by blowing through all the passages with compressed air, followed by the same but with carby cleaner, then compressed air again.

 

[Guest]

It worked perfectly too. I was in the market for something that just needed a spit shine. But when I read this ad I was sold. Accepted the challenge and picked up a slab of beer.

And away we go.

Nice! Perfect price for a bike

 

[midnight_marauder]

Landshark had another solution which was half fuel and half metho.

Here's my original thread on the topic:

http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showthread.php?t=170181&highlight=cleaner

You don't have to boil it like I did, but leave it for a lot longer. I boiled it because I had a really short amount of time to do it.

Also, be sure to follow up with a good hard spray down with a hose, followed by blowing through all the passages with compressed air, followed by the same but with carby cleaner, then compressed air again.

Went down to my local Yamaha today and ordered the 944mL bottle of carb cleaner today. So hopefully those bastards will be clean by the end of next week.

The weather this week has been so good. I've been doing all my work outside. Here is where I'm set up:

A little cramped I know.

This pile of junk is stuff that is salvageable. They all also need a major overhaul.

And following is the the rust I have to deal with once I'm done with the carbs.

This is the front fender (rear is plastic) with some of the rust removed. I'm sure you've all seen this shot before but I'll put it up anyway.

And another shot of the carbs just because I know you all love them so much.

Enjoy.

 

[Guest]

Aww man you got some work ahead of you for sure! The only bit I see there that's really worth mentioning is those camshafts. You wanna be real careful with how you deal with any rust on the cam lobes and bearing journals etc.

I unfortunately left mine out of the engine for about 5 or 6 years before I got to putting them back in a gain and they had a minor touch of that on the cam lobes but I decided to just leave it and see if the oil + friction takes care of it, but I think yours will need some more attention than that...

Most of the rest should be fairly straight forward though...