GS450 Cafe / Fighter Style

[Collo]

Good stuff! Glad you found those spiders now instead of later

I discovered once that I'd ridden from my house at Wishart to a mate's place at Ipswich (good 40 minutes) with a redback camped under the battery tray... that was an interesting discovery!

Yellow and green wire sounds familiar... kill switch maybe? Not sure... but glad you found it either way

Thanks Pete. It's coming along and should have it all wired and finished tomorrow. It's looking much cleaner now. Just wiring the battery worries me a little. Photos to come tomorrow though!

 

[Guest]

Thanks Pete. It's coming along and should have it all wired and finished tomorrow. It's looking much cleaner now. Just wiring the battery worries me a little. Photos to come tomorrow though!

Good stuff! Take your time with the wiring and double check every connection.

With the main battery wires, it's pretty easy with red and black for positive and negative, but remember the lead from the starter motor to the starter relay is actually black even though it carries 12v.

 

[Collo]

Good stuff! Take your time with the wiring and double check every connection.

With the main battery wires, it's pretty easy with red and black for positive and negative, but remember the lead from the starter motor to the starter relay is actually black even though it carries 12v.

This had me stumped thanks for clearing it up. So the starter cable that is black is actually positive fed? It's also too short now and I need to buy a new cable tomorrow, I haven't seen cable like it though, its no thick but has thick strands.

 

[Guest]

This had me stumped thanks for clearing it up. So the starter cable that is black is actually positive fed? It's also too short now and I need to buy a new cable tomorrow, I haven't seen cable like it though, its no thick but has thick strands.

Yeah it got me too! I had it apart for so many years I went to put it together and thought I'd lost it...

I've also had to lengthen mine and I just got some cable rated at 50 amps (continuous) from the local auto store, and that's good for short duration cranking on the bike.

If you look at the starter, you'll see it's grounded by the bolts holding it in place and it only needs 12v from the starter solenoid to kit it over.

 

[Collo]

Todays update:

All the wiring is done and seems to be working okay (as in charging). The only problem is the brake light does not get brighter when applying the rear brake pedal...but that's something I can live with for now.

As you can see from the photos, it is much more tidy under the seat, I just wish I could get rid of all the hoses etc - oh well.

If anyone has suggestions for the seat that would be much appreciated as it's the next project. I would prefer to keep the seatpan and maybe those side bits but open to any ideas - what works best?

If you haven't figured me out yet - I like photos.

 

[Guest]

Mate she's looking very tidy! Well done!

I'd say your brake light is either always on, always off, or not hooked up right

The brake light should turn on when the wire attached to the brake pedal is pulled and there's a ground coming out of the harness along with the two wires for the brake switch, so make sure that ground is good too.

 

[Collo]

Well it's 2am here and obviously busy at work.

Came up with something maybe a little inspiring; although, I'm not so good with altering photos.

From my last set of photos - to this!

I'm open to criticism... but I don't always listen.

Actually what I was hoping to know is:
How hard is it to match a preferred paint colour to high temp heat coloured paint? I like the burnt yellow but finding that in high temp will be next to impossible right?

 

[Tim Tom]

My advice would be to ditch the yellow on the engine. It looks out of place there.

I think 'color' should be reserved for body panels. Engines and what not should be a simple black, or silver.

Personally I always liked the look of black engines with the paint filed off the tips of the cooling fins. Gives it that cool black and silver look.

If you would like I'd be happy to do some photo mock up work for you. It's something I enjoy doing and have done for several GS members before. Just send me a PM with the un-edited picture and your ideas for it. It'll give me something to do this afternoon at work

Cheers.

PS I do love the stance you got going on, it looks mean.

 

[Collo]

My advice would be to ditch the yellow on the engine. It looks out of place there.

I think 'color' should be reserved for body panels. Engines and what not should be a simple black, or silver.

Personally I always liked the look of black engines with the paint filed off the tips of the cooling fins. Gives it that cool black and silver look.

If you would like I'd be happy to do some photo mock up work for you. It's something I enjoy doing and have done for several GS members before. Just send me a PM with the un-edited picture and your ideas for it. It'll give me something to do this afternoon at work

Cheers.

PS I do love the stance you got going on, it looks mean.

Thanks for the comments and offer. I'll take you up on that...
I tend to agree about the engine paint, only that I feel it needs a highlight somewhere, maybe a valve cover, some BLING! lol

 

[Guest]

Well it's 2am here and obviously busy at work.

Came up with something maybe a little inspiring; although, I'm not so good with altering photos.

From my last set of photos - to this!

I'm open to criticism... but I don't always listen.

Actually what I was hoping to know is:
How hard is it to match a preferred paint colour to high temp heat coloured paint? I like the burnt yellow but finding that in high temp will be next to impossible right?

Personally I don't like the colour, but it ain't my bike so if you like the colour then go for it

I'm with Tim Tom on the cylinders though, black or silver... I got mine and the head wet blasted by a guy up here at Jimboomba and they look spectacular, no finishing required and it's non-abrasive so is safe for cam journals and things, I just needed to get the cylinders honed which I had to do anyway.

So disregarding my colour comment, I love the stance also and the style of the stripes on the tank, should look good!

And glad you took up Tim Tom's offer, he's awesome with that stuff and was the inspiration for my paint job as a result (thanks again Tim Tom!)

 

[Collo]

Todays update:

Today was fibreglassing day and it seem to all go really well. The seat tail section moulded perfect and fits tight with the original pan. I'm yet to cut it out properly and do the underneath part but happy so far.

Question for you experienced builders...

Do I now sand before adding the body filler or just throw it on? I bough fibreglass body filler is that okay?

Here is a photo with the new (not finished) tail section added.

 

[jwhelan65]

Great job! I like the lines, you did a great job making everything flow well. Can't wait to see it completed.

 

[Guest]

Mate that looks like a good job! How many layers did you do?

I'm far from an experienced builder, but I'll tell you what I did for my tail piece, although it's not structural...

I did two layers of fibreglass over the wire mesh I had down for shape.

I gave it a reasonable sand at that point so everything going on top of it would have a nice surface to bond to.

Then I made a fibreglass filler of sorts (as suggested by Dale/rustybronco) which was basically chopped up matting mixed in with resin and hardener. That let me fill the really big low spots before putting the body filler on.

After that came about four layers of fibreglass reinforced body filler to get it all nice and smooth. Note I sanded each layer.

Then, finally, I used a touch of putty on the little odd bits here and there that still weren't quite right.

Most of what I did is probably avoidable if you have a better base to start with than I did...

 

[Tim Tom]

And glad you took up Tim Tom's offer, he's awesome with that stuff and was the inspiration for my paint job as a result (thanks again Tim Tom!)

Aww shucks guys . Although I do have to say I'm looking forward to seeing Collo post up the images we collaborated on. I think we've got a wicked fast looking bike in the works. Can't wait to see the real thing.

The glass is looking good. I'd follow petes advice on how to finish it. His glass tail came out looking great.

 

[Smokinapankake]

Personally I like the color you have on the tank already. No need to screw up an already good paint job. The rest of it is looking really good.

 

[Guest]

Aww shucks guys . Although I do have to say I'm looking forward to seeing Collo post up the images we collaborated on. I think we've got a wicked fast looking bike in the works. Can't wait to see the real thing.

The glass is looking good. I'd follow petes advice on how to finish it. His glass tail came out looking great.

I only speak the truth, you do good work!

Come on Collo, I wanna see them!

And cheers Tim Tom, I found a few dots here and there after painting that could've done with a spot of putty but only one is really noticeable as it's right in the middle of the white stripe... oh well, I'm still happy with it

Personally I like the color you have on the tank already. No need to screw up an already good paint job. The rest of it is looking really good.

Actually I gotta say I love that blue too...

 

[Collo]

Thanks for the comments guys. I'm not so good at using the 'quote' tool yet for multiple posts so I'll try and answer any questions.

I used a whole large bucket of the fibreglass repair kit from Bunnings, it might have been overkill but is super strong and quite thick. I think it was 1m2 in total - worked out to about 3/4 layers. Thanks for the tips on body filler too, I'll be doing that soon, maybe even today.

And yes, a big thanks to Tim Tom for his help in colour scheming the bike. I don't know how you do it, but it looks great in either colour. So here they are:

The original blue is nice, but it's quite chipped and I would need to pint the tail anyways then have to match it... It just seemed easier to start fresh.

 

[Guest]

Cool, Tim Tom certainly knows how to wield a mouse!

Both schemes look good, but of course I'm biased and would pick the second one because blue is one of my favourite colours... haha

I used the same kit from Bunnings except I used about a quarter of it.

The body filler will add extra strength as well.

 

[Steve]

I'm not so good at using the 'quote' tool yet for multiple posts so I'll try and answer any questions.

Doing multiple quotes is just as easy as single quotes.

Instead of hitting the QUOTE button, use the smaller button beside it that only has the quote marks. When you press it, you will see it turn red to show that it is selected. Move to the next post you want to quote, do the same thing. When you are done selecting posts, hit the Post Reply button, you will see all your selected quotes.

Note that you don't have to use the entire statement. You will see at the top of my post that I edited out what was not relevant. Just make sure the stuff inside the brackets remains intact, both before and after the quote.

By the way, you are doing a FINE job on posting pictures. They are a convenient size and you are putting a blank line between them as a border. :clap: :clap:

.

 

[Guest]

Doing multiple quotes is just as easy as single quotes.

Instead of hitting the QUOTE button, use the smaller button beside it that only has the quote marks. When you press it, you will see it turn red to show that it is selected. Move to the next post you want to quote, do the same thing. When you are done selecting posts, hit the Post Reply button, you will see all your selected quotes.

Note that you don't have to use the entire statement. You will see at the top of my post that I edited out what was not relevant. Just make sure the stuff inside the brackets remains intact, both before and after the quote.

By the way, you are doing a FINE job on posting pictures. They are a convenient size and you are putting a blank line between them as a border. :clap: :clap:

.

Ha! You learn something new every day... I didn't know that either Steve! Just used it for this single quote

I've been hitting the Quote button to open in a new tab and copy/pasting all my multiple quote replies... thanks