GS(X)-250E Motarding.

[Sunburn]

Sunburn, i've considered that, but unfortunately to get that happening i would need to spend money on a new exhaust, heat guards for my leg and the various bits of plastic on the side. The cost of the exhaust itself totally negates the benefits i would gain due to how obscenely expensive it would be to make. The self-fabrication method is negated at this point as although i may have a stick welder, i certainly wouldn't have the skill needed for a very very long time. .

Well, perhaps down the road you can make these mods, things change. Keep up the good work, I plan to keep reading your thread!

 

[Guest]

Have already gone to "my local" whom have a bunch of cables as well as the local wreckers, neither of whom have anything that can help. I figured showing pictures & measurements to ebay sellers with dozens of cables was likely my best lead as any other bike shop i know just doesn't keep a lot of "old crap" in stock and it's an order in "as needed" basis.

Sunburn, i've considered that, but unfortunately to get that happening i would need to spend money on a new exhaust, heat guards for my leg and the various bits of plastic on the side. The cost of the exhaust itself totally negates the benefits i would gain due to how obscenely expensive it would be to make. The self-fabrication method is negated at this point as although i may have a stick welder, i certainly wouldn't have the skill needed for a very very long time.

Also I would have a number of other concerns like ease of access to the battery, which is removed via the right hand side under the side cover. The choke would also be an issue if i was to move it to the left side as i'm yet to convert it to using a handlebar item like on more modern bikes, although I guess it is totally achievable. However It also increases the cost & complexity of the whole thing by another order of magnitude if i go down that avenue too, another reason I've not ventured down that path. Though i don't have any plans to go down that road, at least not yet.

If it helps you Mike, my Tranzac should be somewhere in the vicinity of $700 for a complete scrambler style high pipe, and I have made a bracket to mate the choke actuator up with my GSX600F left control with the choke lever built in so I can still use the choke with the pipe on the left side of the bike...

 

[mike-s]

I knew it'd be about 700, thats how much it set me back for a formula-1 system for my gpx 5 years ago, so was kind of expected to be around that price.

For that kind of cost on a bike like this, it's worthwhile learning how to weld properly and do it myself

 

[Guest]

That's cool... I was expecting in the vicinity of $1200 - 1500 which is why I'm going ahead with it... half of what I thought initially! And my welding ability I now know for a fact is crap and I don't get anywhere near enough time these days to be able to hone the skill to do something like that. I reckon if I was to get pre-bent exhaust pipe and cut and weld it would take me at least a year just to do that with the way my time goes...

You can still move the choke lever though, sum total was about $US20 - 30 to get the left control from the US and a few bucks in steel for the adaptor, and of course the help of John to do up the little round bit for the centre... and it uses the standard throttle cable too...

 

[mike-s]

Well i'll see how i go with welding, it was more of a hypothetical "if i had enough opportunity to learn well enough" than "i will one day ...."

As to the choke relocation. The later model gsx250's had a handle bar choke, I just need to buy the parts to slot onto the current carb and figure out which cable to go with, the gs500 cable i have, or one from a newer gsx and then get the parts to re-add to the gs500 switchblock which i sacrificed to replace a spring i so cleverly lost on my RF *applause for self* when fiddling with cable lubrication..

I've also gotten feedback from a guy in Melbourne that is willing to take my speedo cable ends and add them to an extended length cable for $75. I'll see how i go a little more locally as i need to send it to him for him to measure and he admitted, most likely cannibalize for parts. I'll have to wait 'til payday to do this, but this also gives me a few days for the half dozen other places i emailed to get back to me. At the very least i can't see a reason not to have a correct length cable in the next 2 weeks .

 

[Guest]

Well i'll see how i go with welding, it was more of a hypothetical "if i had enough opportunity to learn well enough" than "i will one day ...."

As to the choke relocation. The later model gsx250's had a handle bar choke, I just need to buy the parts to slot onto the current carb and figure out which cable to go with, the gs500 cable i have, or one from a newer gsx and then get the parts to re-add to the gs500 switchblock which i sacrificed to replace a spring i so cleverly lost on my RF *applause for self* when fiddling with cable lubrication..

Aaaah I see! Even easier... I had to cut pieces of sheet metal, make spacers, grind them down to be roundish and not so sharp so they don't fray the cable etc. Happy with the result, just a lot of effort compared to having one already there...

I've also gotten feedback from a guy in Melbourne that is willing to take my speedo cable ends and add them to an extended length cable for $75. I'll see how i go a little more locally as i need to send it to him for him to measure and he admitted, most likely cannibalize for parts. I'll have to wait 'til payday to do this, but this also gives me a few days for the half dozen other places i emailed to get back to me. At the very least i can't see a reason not to have a correct length cable in the next 2 weeks .

Excellent stuff

 

[Woodsy]

I can get a pic of the choke setup on my bike if you like? It has the bar mounted lever.

 

[mike-s]

Nah that's alright, it's not something i'll be concerned with for a fair while yet anyway.

I'm now starting to get a bit of an iffy tummy feeling about this whole rogue nut situation and that is one of the things i'd prefer to sort out before i start worrying about the choke setup. Now i think about it it should probably just drain the sump, take the oil pan and the filter mesh off to see what it's caught, reassemble it and then take the motor out.

That in itself should be straight forward with it being a matter of taking the exhaust off, drain the sump, unplug a few electricals, take carbs out, undo retaining bolts on left side, lay the bike it on its left side and lift the frame off. Then i can just degrease and lightly wire wheel the frame and give it a few coats with the enamel.

However before all this can happen i still need to get out to the garage with the multimeter and find just what the hell is wrong with the indicators on the RF.

 

[Guest]

That there could be a grand idea... I really don't like the thought of a stray nuts floating around the cases...

Just remembered actually that many years ago I got a 70-something Yamaha XS750 that had what the PO believed was a seized motor. While I never ended up doing anything with it (was supposed to be my first project bike, gave it away to a mate instead), I did at least discover the source of the problem, which was one of the bolts for the points had come adrift and wedged itself against the end of the crankshaft. Removing that bolt had it spinning...

And yes Mike, getting those indicators going will be good, you'll have something to ride until the 250's sorted

 

[Woodsy]

i thought the round wire mesh was where the oil got sucked up stopping any foreign material from being circulated into the motor?

 

[mike-s]

For some reason i thought there was a mesh that sops the big bits hitting the bottom of the sump, at least there is in my haynes manual.

I'll double check that when i get home.

 

[Guest]

I'm not sure if it's to stop them getting sucked in or to stop them getting to the sump, but either way I definitely know there's a round mesh trap on my 450, so I imagine the 250 is the same...

 

[mike-s]

After i put the plastics back on the RF, it's back to the GSX!
With the RF i think i was making things too complicated by putting a load independant relay in there as i thought i'd have problems thanks to the LED lights on the rear, apparently it isn't a problem. Amazingly just using a old tin relay has worked, i just have to get a replacement one for the one pinched off the GSX.

All i can deduce is that for some reason the current feed wasn't clean enough for a fancy electronic one to work, and i suspect the hiccup was deep in the wiring loom. Meddling about with a multimeter, contact cleaner, a spare LED indicator and a length of wire showed the problem to be deep in the loom or with a connector i wasn't able to get to easily. If i can avoid having to deal with it, i'll happily settle with the knowledge that this bike doesn't like "fancy". Now to put the plastics back on there and to look at other bigger issues.

 

[Woodsy]

I had a ute that had led tail lights on it, when i bought it there was another set of blinkers wired up and put in the engine bay because the leds didnt draw enough current to make the flasher work, you can get a led flasher for about $30, i just left the blinkers wired up in the engine bay as i sold it now long after buying it.

 

[Guest]

So... RF is sorted... now can you get back to the important stuff please? I believe there's a GSX in need of some love...

I take it there's incandescent indicators on the front and LED's on the rear? Or vice versa? With a mix, I would've left the relay alone to see if the pair of incandescents loaded it up enough anyway...

 

[mike-s]

Yeah incandescent's on the front. I put the LED ones on the rear as they were lower profile and the panniers i slung over were hitting the old ones as they stuck out a further 3-4 cm. I'm also considering getting these and throwing them inline with the rear indicators to make sure there's sufficient load so i can keep using the tin can relays.

The plastic is half on the bike, though I'm slightly behind on reassembly as i took it as an opportunity to try and fix up some fairing cracks and that took a bit of time for it to cure before reassembly (I'm using plastex, it semi cures to a soft state in 5 minutes and is hard enough to consider fully cured after around an hour and a half).

Also I'm considering while i'm at it to take the tank off and check out the carb diaphragm's etc to make sure there's no cracks, etc. Shouldn't take too long. Then again I've had the bike off the road due to small problems for a long time and i might just put her together to ride. I can easily get the RF completed this weekend and assuming it doesn't go to crap weather wise take it for a spin and then hopefully make progress with the GSX this weekend. The problem with my garage is i have a lot of stuff in there AND even without that it's still too damned small to have two partially assembled bikes in there simultaneously.

Payday cannot come soon enough!

 

[Guest]

Cool, they should the trick.

Getting the RF done and getting back into the GSX sounds like a good plan to me

 

[mike-s]

Aside from refitting the tank the RF is sorted out. One of my problems was likely related to 2 of the 4 clamps on the boots/carbs were loose, and i mean move-with-your-finger loose. A drop of loctite ought to do the trick to keep them together, I hope.

Crappy weather has held me off from doing any garage work (especially getting the arc welder out and having a crack at it as the garage is just too cramped to do it in there safely, so have to do it outdoors) for the last week or so unfortunately. I got a reply back from someone a lot more local to do the speedo cable. Will give him a call in the morning in case he is there. I'd like to find out what kind of turnaround there would be, especially as all i have to do is just drive 25 minutes to drop it off/pick it up rather than post & wait an extra week for there & back.

 

[Guest]

Aside from refitting the tank the RF is sorted out. One of my problems was likely related to 2 of the 4 clamps on the boots/carbs were loose, and i mean move-with-your-finger loose. A drop of loctite ought to do the trick to keep them together, I hope.

Crappy weather has held me off from doing any garage work (especially getting the arc welder out and having a crack at it as the garage is just too cramped to do it in there safely, so have to do it outdoors) for the last week or so unfortunately. I got a reply back from someone a lot more local to do the speedo cable. Will give him a call in the morning in case he is there. I'd like to find out what kind of turnaround there would be, especially as all i have to do is just drive 25 minutes to drop it off/pick it up rather than post & wait an extra week for there & back.

Except for the weather that's good news! Lookin' forward to seeing this thing on the road and hearing how it handles etc.

 

[mike-s]

In good news. the rf is on the road and seems mostly ok. that arseache of a problem is still there and ill deal with it later. likely clutch springs, possibly shot basket. It mostly works so i'm going to ignore it and ride it in the short term. In gsx things, got the Speedo cable dropped off to be lengthened today, likely ready tomorrow I'm told! Will play around with preload and maybe finish the spacers once i get home.

Ps apologies for life and weather getting in the way of build progress.