83 750E light restoration

[SailorJack]

Okay, I'm a new guy here. Told about myself in the "owners" section so I'll leave that there.

The Plan:
My hobby, aside from bieng a gym rat and riding my moto as much as possible is finding older 80's and 90's motorcycles for cheap or neary dead, restoring them and moving on. Projects is all. This will be my second Suzuki to tinker with. Former projects have been an 85 VF1000R, 86 VFR 750, 93 VFR 750, 82 KZ440 and a GS400 Bandit. All were either resto-modded with modern wheels/suspension/brakes or just refreshed and left original.

I plan to keep the GS750 original. It's in too good of shape to mess with and I don't want to make this into a 2 year project.

About the bike, pretty clean, 3 owner '83 GS750E. About 28K miles. Looks to have been down at low speed on the left once in it's life. Otherwise, nice shape. Tires are showwing low tread and weather cracking. Chain and sprockets were bad about 5000 miles ago. Front brake feels a lil squishy but I'm used to modern radial 4 pots so they may be ok but I've ordered new pads and will flush the M/C and lines. Maybe get some SS lines. Oil and filter will be changed.

So, once the chain, sprockets, tires and brakes are changed out I'll go from there. I'll post pics along the way. This may be a very boring thread. You'll have to subscribe to find out!!!

Here's the starting point.

 

[GateKeeper]

Subscribed......

Waiting to see how it turns out...

If you need any ideas, have a look through my rebuild project thread and or blog..

 

[SVSooke]

Even in top shape those brakes will feel "squishy".Grab the brake lever and watch the calipers move.

 

[Crankthat]

Welcome to the forum!

 

[SailorJack]

Subscribed......

Waiting to see how it turns out...

If you need any ideas, have a look through my rebuild project thread and or blog..

Wow!! I checked out your rebuild, got to page two and realized there are over 70 pages!!! Good Lord! I'll be looking for Cliff notes! Hahahahahah. Your's was in pretty rough shape. With that many miles I don't think I would have jumped in like you did but you pulled it off. It looks great.

 

[GateKeeper]

Wow!! I checked out your rebuild, got to page two and realized there are over 70 pages!!! Good Lord! I'll be looking for Cliff notes! Hahahahahah. Your's was in pretty rough shape. With that many miles I don't think I would have jumped in like you did but you pulled it off. It looks great.

No, there are only about 35 pages......you have not changed your settings...

go to and click on User CP

then on the left side click on Edit Options

then part way down, change

Number of Posts to Show Per Page Use this option to set the number of posts to show in a thread before splitting the display into multiple pages. Number of Posts to Show Per Page:

to show 40 posts per page

and just above that change

Thread Display Mode Here you can choose the display mode for threads. For a full explanation of the modes, please view this help page. Thread Display Mode:

to show Linear - Oldest First

you will enjoy the site much more.....

if you go to my blog, there is less chatter, and just the pics more or less

.

 

[SailorJack]

Yep, I have the linear but I put it at 20 posts per page. Even that is more than I can handle. I have to keep it simple.

So, I got some work done today. Since no parts have come in yet the only thing I had to tinker with that I new wasn't working was the horn. I broke out the voltmeter and ested the wires and they were hot so I tested a good horn I had laying around and it was beeping so.....I just threw the old one in the bin and put on my spare. Done deal.

Looking over the bike some more though I realized the brake lines have at least been changed once. But, they anti-dive lines aren't there. Here's the pic.

So, what should I do about lines?

If I get the Apex kit with the anti-dive lines and hook them up could this open a new can of worms? Never dealt with anti-dive. Or, should I just get two lines (1 for each caliper) and run them straight to the M/C?

Open for input on this one.

 

[Guest]

In my experience the anti-dive fitted to early 80s bikes had no perceptible effect. If it were my bike I'd just run two lines from m/c to calipers and either leave the anti-dive alone or remove it altogether and fit a blanking plate.

 

[Guest]

Just run one line to each, braided lines will help the squish.Here is mine.

 

[SailorJack]

Yeah, after your suggestions and the numerous posts that say the anti-dive is a pain to bleed and isn't all that great I think I'll just put some bolts in the anti-dive holes and order up two lines to the M/C.
Time to measure the lengths.

 

[GateKeeper]

make you pictures a bit smaller, and a space between each one would be nice as well

have a read here

http://members.dslextreme.com/users/bikecliff/images/how_to_post_pictures.pdf

it will help


.

 

[SailorJack]

Little update today. Got my new tires (Bridgestone BT-45) and the chain and sprockets came in from Z1 last weekend so I got them on this week during the Christmas break.

note how someone introduced the left side to the pavement in the last 30 years.

Polishing and cleaning years of stuff off the lips of the rims took some muscle but they cleaned up well.

Unfortunately when I took the rear wheel off to put the tire on I found that the hub is missing one cush drive rubber (where the hell did that go?). So, no riding until the new cush rubber comes in from Bike Bandit.

More waiting. Hopefully I'll have her on the road within a week or so to see how she runs. (aka, what else is needed). She starts up easy in the cold (30's) and idles smooth once warm so hopefully I won't need to mess much with the carbs.

I'm still up in the air with the brakes. The lines look pretty new and the pads have a lot of life left. At a minimum I'll run new fluid through and see how they perform. I'm still leaning towards new SS lines in the month(s) ahead.

 

[GateKeeper]

If your going to do SS lines, have a look here....

http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showpost.php?p=1549077&postcount=225

lots of us use this guy for complete lines and such, and since your bike is the same as mine he already has the set dialed in to fit right....

http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showpost.php?p=1620270&postcount=827

.

 

[SailorJack]

Yeah, I read your thread on the subject and saw how you used the stock set up (5 front lines). I want to try just two straight lines from the calipers to the m/c. Skip the splitter line and the anti-dive lines.

Two reasons for this, 1) the anit-dives haven't been hooked up in a long time (so it seems) and I don't want to deal with any leaks or problems with bleeding them.
2) from what nearly all say, the anti-dive doesn't really work and if it does at all it is very inconsistent......why pay the money for that?

Anyway, that's my 2 cents. Not saying anyone's setup is better or worse, in fact your's looks very nice and I think for cool points, I would do the full 5 lines. Honestly I don't have the money right now for this build (mostly cause I'm cheap).

 

[SailorJack]

Update

Update

So I found the missing cush drive, Must have fallen out when I took the wheel off. Put that in, adjusted the chain and took her out for a lil 12 mile shakedown ride.

Good:
-Rides really well, the the engine pulls well and is really smooth. No bad sounds our cct clatter.
-temp stayed at 210 while sitting at lights and putting around town.
-No smoking or issues shifting, smooth from 1st on up
-all gauges and lights work
-suspension is tight, no bottoming or weaving at highway speeds

Not so good
-Idles at 2000-2500 rpm when warm. Guess I'll start looking at the carbs (is there a idle adjusment screw?)
-Not so smooth fueling under constant throttle around 2-4K rpm. Again, carbs.
-Stator cover show's a slight leak when parked after being run. We're talking about 5 drips of oil. I'll look for a new gasket.
-Brakes, WOW!!!! They are not anywhere near my 4 pot radial brakes on my ninja. Going from 2 finger easy lock up to 4 finger grab with all your might is an eye opener. I forgot how bad 1980's brakes were. I don't remember my old VF's/VFR's being this bad but it's been awhile.

So, I'm gonna start with the carbs and gasket and go from there. Anything I should be on the look out for aside from a regular clean an synch (carbs).

 

[GateKeeper]

change all the O rings on the carbs, dip them, clean them and then put them back...

there is a idle adjustment screw, see in pictures, the big knob in the center

 

[SailorJack]

So, I put another 40 miles on today. More highway cruising this time. I lowered the idle to about 1100 rpm and it purrs nicely. It's actually very impressive for a 31 year old bike.

A few issues;

-temp gauge does an off and on thing while riding. 0 degrees to 210 degrees when warm. Not a big issue but I'd like for it to stay working.

-fueling is ****ty between 4-5K rpm. Cruising between 55 and 70 with constant throttle it hesitates and feels as though one of the cylinders are not getting fuel. If I run it up through the gears shifting at 5 or 6K rpm it's smooth and pulls hard.

Cruising though it misses at highway speeds. Seems to be a pretty lean condition. I'll know more when I pull the plugs.

I plan to change the oil and plugs before I go for another ride. I'd like to get through this tank of fuel to see if things clear up before I pull the carbs.

 

[SVSooke]

You can try using another tank but you will almost certainly be pulling the carbs.My 85 750 ran pretty good before I did new O rings.Ran WAY better after a set of Mr Barr's http://cycleorings.com/ O rings.It's just worth doing IMHO.

 

[SailorJack]

Yeah, I know it. I like to tell myself it'll be easy and work itself out but that's never the case. Thanks for the link to the cycleorings. I'll probably be looking them up.

 

[SVSooke]

Think of it this way those O rings are 31 years old,they need replacing.I can guaranty you'll be happy you did it.Get some new boot O rings while you're at it,even the most pampered bike I've worked on(BCCap's 83 750) needed new ones.