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GS1000 restoration

  • Thread starter Thread starter tfb
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tfb

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G'day all,

Picked up what will be a great GS1000 before too long, from my mate Pete. Account of the proceedings here: http://www.theflyingbanana.com/gs1000s3.htm

Check back every few weeks for the latest update.

These are great motorcycles and none of them deserve to be left to rot! ;)

Cheers,
Mike.
 
Very interesting project, tfb... and great editorial content. Subscribed!
 
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Very interesting project you have there and it looks like you are well on your way already. This will be an interesting build to follow.

Cheers,
spyug
 
Man, that's a whole lotta or work, but a GS1000 is a great bike to restore.
 
looks like someone didnt knwo what they was doing trying to..."fix" things...but they were so close...

looks like a fun project
 
That there is some nice work Mr Banana... I enjoyed the read muchly.
 
Wish I was so mechanically inclined! My wife would have killed me if I brought that few parts home and told her it was going to be a motorcycle again! Great work and can't wait to see it done.
 
Amazing amount of work for sure;)
I wonder if your bike is not one of the original "skunks"?
I'm saying that because the swingarm looks like it came from a 1978 Skunk model.
It's easy to check that if you measure the diameter of the swingarm tubes:cool:
42 mm: it's a skunk, 39 mm it's a later model!
 
That looks amost as bad as the 86 KDX(see sig thread) we brought home.The crank on that didn't fare nearly as well:(
 
No, it's not one of the original black & white "skunks", I'm afraid... Definitely says '79 on the compliance plate at the steering head. But the tailpiece and sidecovers are off a '78... so I guess that's in skunk territory. ;)

But just checked the swingarm... and it is indeed a 42mm jobbie. The thing is, though, here in the mighty Antipodes we got Suzukis that were a bit different to Europe and the USA, etc. Odd combinations of camshaft sprockets, different colour schemes, some bikes with grabrails, some without... so you can't reliably extrapolate from the Northern hemisphere to the Southern at all.

This bike being an Australian '79 (GS1000SN), it would have originally been blue & white, no 'fluting' along the tailpiece or the tank, and the full 'dashboard' including the clock. Ah, those dashboards... I have several boxes of hens' teeth here that I'd be willing to exchange for one!

The flat handlebars, in fact, were an aftermarket item off my first GS1000S (a '79 N model). I've had them sitting on the shelf for the last 20 years (can't believe I just typed that... where HAS the time gone?!) and with a tinge of nostalgia I decided to put them on this bike, as the ones it came with were fairly bent. I think I will stick with the flat bars because I already have the Katana with its clip-ons... so as I move into my 50's next year, it would be nice to not be in a "racer's crouch" all the time!

I've started cleaning out the tank. Yesterday the inside was filled with warm detergent all day to remove old fuel residues, etc. This afternoon it was the tank prep. stuff and some rust converter. And right now there's a small fan blowing air through it to dry it out. Tomorrow arvo when it's thoroughly dry, it will be time for the POR15 resin. Then I can get on with doing the final coats of paint for the tank. Heaps of stuff to do after that, though... but I'm enjoying myself immensely. :D
 
tfb said:
No, it's not one of the original black & white "skunks", I'm afraid... Definitely says '79 on the compliance plate at the steering head. But the tailpiece and sidecovers are off a '78... so I guess that's in skunk territory. ;)

But just checked the swingarm... and it is indeed a 42mm jobbie. The thing is, though, here in the mighty Antipodes we got Suzukis that were a bit different to Europe and the USA, etc. Odd combinations of camshaft sprockets, different colour schemes, some bikes with grabrails, some without... so you can't reliably extrapolate from the Northern hemisphere to the Southern at all.

This bike being an Australian '79 (GS1000SN), it would have originally been blue & white, no 'fluting' along the tailpiece or the tank, and the full 'dashboard' including the clock. :D
Click to expand...
Here in France, very often the bikes were sold a year later than their manufacturing date.
My GS 1000 EC (?) has 1979 paper work but I determined it's a true skunk after checking many distinctive features beyond the fluting of the tank and tailpiece.
In fact, I believe there were more distinctive features ( allthough hidden) between the skunk and the later models than between the GS 1000 SN and the normal version:cool:
Take the fairing, the tank, the dashboard and the 28 mm carbs off the SN and you have the normal GS 1000 as far as I know?
 
Great thread. I did almost exactly the same thing as you are doing almost 20 years ago. It was also a GS 1000S (N). Still have it and although there are many things that need my attention again to get it back to a show room bike, it is still running as good as ever, and is such a pleasure to ride.
 
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