80 gs1100e teardown/rebuild

[7981GS]

Love it!
I use a similar high capacity fuel tank on all of mine only it is orange.
She sounds great and everyone knows that red calipers stop much harder.

Eric

 

[loud et]

They sure put a lot of wires in the headlight bucket on these 80 and 81 models

 

[loud et]

Maiden Voyage!

Maiden Voyage!

Ok, it was not much of a voyage, but I took my first first ride EVER on this bike. I bought it around may of 2011(thats when I joined the forum), it took me 3 months on and off to actually do all the work I have done to it.
Right after the rebuild, and comlete and proper carb cleaning/o rings, it fired right up.
I got my chain put on today after work, when I bought it there was no chain, just the PO's word it was a good bike. lol
It was quite a thrill as I rolled down my hilly driveway and pulled onto the road and gave it some throttle for the first time. It shifted smooth into all gears, up and down. Neutral is a little hard to find, but thats nothing new with a GS.
I took it back and forth on my mile long road a few times. It pulled nice, instant throttle response, and felt pretty good for a rebuilt bike with no tuning done yet and just a carb bench sync. There is some popping when I let off the throttle, and the fact that this Kerker 4-1 is really darn loud, doesnt help and probably makes it sound worse than it really is. Hopefully tuning/jet review will smooth that out quickly.
So the fourth time on my way back home, I gave it a little romp and the bike just went dead. I went over every wire/fuse I could imagine while on the side of my country road and ended up pushing it home just over a half mile! lol ....It wasnt getting spark as I discovered from pulling a plug wire. I got it into the driveway and pulled the gas tank , and started looking at wires. ....my drive is 125 feet long, UPHILL....so it sat at the bottom...I must have a bad wire/connection somewhere because I hit the starter and it fired right up. Rode her up to the garage with a smile on my face and sweat dripping from the pushing. Caution will be in order till I find the spark culprit.
The bike is still not roadworthy, new front tire being the main item needed. Also, the po put dragbars on it, so the clutch cable comes out of the perch at a bad angle, so I will be working on that.
Many pictures and updates to come as I finish a few things on this bike and get it truly ready for full time riding.
....and additional and continued THANKS to all the guys n gals that responded to my questions on here, and just the fact that this forum exists for these bikes and owners. This is a top notch forum with true experts on the GS line. I have learned sooo much on here and even though my bike is not finished, I am a proud papa!
ps, being a rebuild, I did not rev her too hard, but let me just say, holy cow, this bike is powerful happy happy joy joy:clap:

 

[Good Times]

I join you in the happy dance.

 

[7981GS]

Me too!

WTG!!!!

Eric

 

[loud et]

Yeah Rich, between work, the kid, and always waiting on parts and time, it seems to take forever!
Plenty more to do, but its coming together.
I was sitting there on the bike taking a break from PUSHING.....a guy on a Maxim stopped to see if I was ok. Got my first public compliment on my bike. ha ha Aside from the obvious fact that I was BROKE DOWN!

 

[loud et]

Maiden Voyage II (better)

Maiden Voyage II (better)

So I took the bike out after work for the second official time . I stopped and got a new battery on the way home....(Oldschool, you called it, my old battery was fine) turns out, the reason I was losing spark and the bike was dying was my coil relay mod was ran with an inline fuse to the extra screw terminal on the fuse block....the terminal is loose and faulty. Jiggle it one way, spark. Jiggle it the other way, no spark. Problem solved.
My new battery is sealed tho, so no worries about boiling over or any of that jazz...its a much better class of battery , so I am happy.
SO, after leaving the house, it stalled out from no spark 2 times within a mile, and on the side of a tree lined country road, I found the culprit.
I rode a zig zag 30 mile loop around my county . The bike ran great, when I stop, it idles perfectly, when I accelerate it is smooth and even.
The bike is very damn loud, upon deceleration, when letting off the throttle it is just rumbling/popping like crazy. I am sure it needs further tuning with jets/needle position and a true sync. Regardless if all the popping goes away or not, it will still be a a noisy mother. We will see how long I can take that.
Only real bad thing on this trip is that my valve cover gasket is leaking pretty good. It s either that or the tach seal blowing back. I will wipe it down tomorrow and let it idle a while to try to detect the source and re torque the cover bolts.
Other than that, it is a great ride. More tuning/tinkering to be done.
One picture from my ride(still waiting of my friend for a seat cover) and one of my son playing drag racer.....he looks like a natural!

 

[7981GS]

Did I already tell you that I probably have the four missing side cover pieces for your bike? :-\\\

Eric

 

[loud et]

Did I already tell you that I probably have the four missing side cover pieces for your bike? :-\\\

Eric

Yeah, I went into "experimentation mode" with my side covers....being crazy orange, I just went for a different look on this bike. Personally I think its ok, the side covers dont blow me away, but they are different.
Yes, thats my R/R sticking out the side. I think I went too far with that move, ha ha, it looked better with the full aluminum mesh. Oh well, just scrap from a job, I am a sheet metal worker, so I couldnt help but try something.
I will definately ask you about that set if I change my mind....I have some high temp engine paint that is a pretty darn good match to the body.

 

[loud et]

Before Pics

Before Pics

It was just a typical dirty, un maintained, leaky GS that had not run in a few years.

And although It is basically a stock bike, it has its own look to it. I cleaned it up nice, rebuilt the engine and made numerous repairs. I am not done yet, but am very happy with things so far. I learned a ton on this clean up and rebuild. Lots of trial and error and I look forward to another project when I get things wrapped up here.

I wanted to see it sort of "side by side" for comparison.

 

[7981GS]

I like the unique color myself.
It helps to personalize it.
Life would be boring in a Sea of Cooley's and Skunk's IMHO.
EVERYONE seems to have one or both of those.

Eric

 

[ptexotik]

Yeah, I went into "experimentation mode" with my side covers....being crazy orange, I just went for a different look on this bike. Personally I think its ok, the side covers dont blow me away, but they are different.
Yes, thats my R/R sticking out the side. .

looks GREAT!!!

 

[loud et]

Well, put another 65 miles on the new engine after work. Very happy with the smooth running and the nice idle even after quick stopping after medium aggressive riding.
5000 rmp at 75 mph. not sure if that is good , bad or ugly. But it sure is a smooooth ride. I want to say my speedometer is off, but I think I just have not gotten the feel for this bike yet. It truly is powerful , the fastest bike I have ever been on, so it seems wrong to be able to get up to 85 so quick. I have barely even been past half throttle. It just gets up there so easily as compared to other bikes I have ridden.
Biggest bummer so far is the breather vent is smoking a lot. Just like before the rebuild. I did a search and read to go at least 500 miles before that may clear up. And I guess if it doesnt I am not gonna worry about it. NO smoke (that I have seen ) out of the exhaust, where as before the rebuild there was black smoke (carbs I bet) and a serious leaking head gasket.

 

[7981GS]

Just keep varying the rpm's and try to load the rings up by going up and down as many hills as you can find.
Accelerate up and compression going down. On and off with the throttle up and down the hills.
You are trying to load the rings by putting pressure on them upward AND downward.
They will seat in nicely.

Eric

 

[7981GS]

It was good to see it running in person, after you take care of your last few gremlins, we'll have to go for a real ride!

Two very different thirty year old bikes cruising the streets is a good thing.

Eric

 

[loud et]

Two very different thirty year old bikes cruising the streets is a good thing.

Eric

Rich rode with me for a while when I left his place, we were following some pirates for a couple miles. The one pirate gal passenger kept looking back at us over and over. I think she secretly wants to be on the back of a UJM
Silly pirate lifestyle

 

[7981GS]

Following?
You DO realize just how easy it is for those bikes to pass all H-D's don't you?

Eric