84' GSX400 Back to life

[eran_k]

Today i finally got the bikes A 84 GSX400 and another 87 for parts bike.
The 84 bike is complete less the side panels, the motor is supposed to be in a fair condition and was started and worked (and held idle) in the past 6 months.

Still not sure about the final look, but it will be cafei'sh\scramblerish of some kind, i'm after a clean minimalistic look.
any way, and this is kind of embarrassing - how do i remove the seat? there used to be a lock but it's just hanging there not connected to anything.
I will keep posting here as i progress -which won't be very fast im afraid
Thanks
Eran

 

[JEEPRUSTY]

http://www.cmsnl.com/suzuki-gsx400-1984-se_model13625/partslist/

Is a quick and easy fiche resources

My seat uses a cable attached to the lock. If yours is the same One hopes you can access the cable.

Actually it looks like a solid bit of linkage for yours.

Can you see andthing like in the fiche at:

http://www.cmsnl.com/suzuki-gsx400-1984-se_model13625/partslist/FIG37.html#results

 

[Guest]

Hey Eran, keen to follow along on your project as I'm a bit of a fan of these GS twins.

I like the idea of the scrambler too... for obvious reasons if you look at my thread

Can't help on the seat though I'm afraid as I haven't any experience with the GSX's...

However, looking here:

http://www.cmsnl.com/suzuki-gsx400-1984-se_model13625/partslist/FIG36.html#results

I suspect part numbers 9, 11, and 16/17 are the key to the answer...

 

[eran_k]

I'll figure it out, it was late and dark yesterday and I didn't set-up a proper work light yet.
Thanks for the help

 

[eran_k]

got it. all it took was a little tinkering with seat lock lever

 

[M.A. Jacques129]

i'll stay tuned to your rebuild!

 

[eran_k]

i Only got couple off minutes to work today so i started to tear it down.
i don't have the key to the fuel cap, any ideas?
as you can see, it's a mess. it was sitting in a garage for years and it's coated with dust

 

[Guest]

Wow she's dirty alright! Nothing a bit of elbow grease won't fix though...

As for your tank, the same key should fit the ignition and tank. If it doesn't, they've been swapped at some point.

Some of the locks have the Suzuki code on them and if it has that obvious you might be able to buy replacment keys from Suzuki... or so I've heard. I'm a little vague on the details of that one...

 

[eran_k]

I continued my tear down today, got some work done.

The harness went through "Modifications" during the years

Piles of unsorted (yet) parts

I got 2 issues and a question:
1. can't lift the exhaust off the bike, everything is disconnected and i cant pull it away.

2. the caliper piston is severely seized inside the caliper.

3. how do i pull out the motor (i don't have any help)

Cheers
Eran

 

[Guest]

First thing I'd suggest is getting some baggies or boxes or something and start labelling stuff you remove. It gets really difficult when putting it back together if you don't.

The exhaust will have a cross piece under the frame which joins the two halves. This may or may not have been corroded in place.

My stock exhaust was toast from rust and instead of the two halves of the cross piece coming apart, one end broke off one half due to rust...

Get lots of penetrating oil on the caliper piston and then with the bleed valve shut, get a compressor and blow the piston out via the banjo bolt hole. Make sure the piston faces away from you and into a pile of rags or something so you don't damage yourself or anything else. When it finally releases it will do so with some force.

You should be able to get the motor out yourself by laying the bike on the right side and lifting the frame off.

 

[Gorminrider]

eran, pretty common the gas caps being lost and replaced so keys don't match.
Hopefully, you can follow Pete's instruction!

Last resort :
I put a screwdriver in my 1981 GSX400 gas cap (looks to be the same)..and turned the shaft with vice-grips. It opened. No key required again. It still functions as a secure cap, albeit not keyed but you can't tell looking at it-looks just the same. I just put the tip of the ignition key in and turn to release the catches.

 

[eran_k]

Ok so i removed the engine today, that thing is heavy to haul by yourself.
I will leave it in a rolling frame state until i'll finish making the seat i want, swapping for a more old style tank and maybe swapping to a different fork. after all the mods are done i'll de-tab,clean and send it to be powder coated.
how complicated is to put on a different tank?

 

[koolaid_kid]

It depends. It can be pretty complicated if the front and the rear tabs are in different locations.
Define "older". Do you have a particular year in mind?

 

[eran_k]

well my tank look like this:

and since i'm not going to use the side covers i want a tank that looks "cleaner"
i think a regular GS 400 tank will be fine, should it be easy to fit?

 

[Guest]

As George says, all depends on the mounting points etc. how hard it is.

It will also depend on the tunnel width and height for the frame as to whether the tank will even fit too. Another 400/450 tank will likely work without too much drama.

However, it shouldn't be too hard to get some fibreglass to cover over the sidecover mount area and blend it in with the rest of the tank. Some body filler to smooth it out and it should look like a natural part of the tank.

 

[eran_k]

more teardown

more teardown

while i'm still looking for another tank i went on and took it all apart and started to de-tab the frame, yeah it's not going back to stock.

Priorities are:
Fit a tank, either stock or not.
fabricate a under seat tray for all the electrical bits
fabricate Seat pan - still haven't decided on the type of seat
finish frame prep and send to blasting+coating
in the meantime go over all sub assemblies i'll be putting back and check\fix\clean\rebuild

and a question for last, did someone removed the coil mounts? - seems their in the way when trying to fit other tanks

Good night
Eran

 

[Guest]

My coil mounts are different to that... they hang off the centre back bone rather than the sides like yours.

The Dynatek coils make it a bit tight as they're larger than the stock ones, but this is how the mounts are on the '82 450E frame...

 

[eran_k]

I guess i can remove them, shouldn't be a problem to put the coils somewhere else

 

[eran_k]

I did a little "mock up" with my tank and a cafe seat borrowed from a friend (it's to narrow for my frame).
Does it looks good with the tank?

If i'll stay with this tank, i'll cover those mounts at the side with metal or fiberglass.

 

[Guest]

Yep, that'll work! Cover those mounts up to blend in with whatever seat pan you go with and you should be all set...