83 gs550L rebuild...any common issues I should look out for?

[castheandra]

hey GS folks! My mechanic and I have been working on this 83 550L for far too long, I picked up the bike from a friend who said only the carbs and fork seals had to be done but it turned out the engine was seized and endless other issues needed to be addressed. Instead of turning away from the bike, I followed through with a rebuild of it and so far this is what has been replaced:

-stator
-regulator
-starter
-battery
-head gasket
-brake pads & shoes
-new cluster
-fork seals
-oil & fuel filters
-carbs cleaned & rebuilt
-tank cleaned

Is there anything else I should replace? or any common problems I should be watching out for?

Only the head gasket was rebuilt and we replaced two of the input valves. I'm wondering if its common for the base gasket to have issues along with the head gasket?, am I going to be stuck on the side of the road kicking myself for not tearing apart the base gasket too?

I'm also hoping to change the mufflers to some 16" shorty slashcuts from dimecity, but im not sure if they will easily fit my GS. Is it a huge pain in the butt swap these or re-jetting the carbs? My current mufflers are rusty and not looking so hot, trying to locate a relatively easy swap!

I'm still learning about bikes & know very little about mechanics (slowly but surely learning!) so any help would be super grateful & beneficial! I've been waiting for this bike to come together for a year now and just want to ride

 

[castheandra]

i should mention i did browse through the forum looking for common issues, and i tried to check out the "top 10 common issues" but it seems to be under construction :/

 

[JEEPRUSTY]

Hmm the geeezer gurus here seem to recommend replacing the base gasket when you do the head.

 

[castheandra]

thanks! that's what i have gathered too :/

Best to get it all done at once, im surprised my mechanic doesn't hate me OR the bike by now!