GS850 Fix-up

[Triam]

Good stuff mate, looks like she really needed a new top! You'll probably be surprised with how well she goes after this.

I'd certainly recommend dropping the oil pan and cleaning that out, too, both before and after you get her fixed up again. It'll get rid of any residual flecks. I tend to buy my filters in bulk for this reason, never know when you'll need a fresh one.

Cheers - boingk

I already did, and man was the thing full of sludge. Here's the picture I took.

That's after a bit of cleaning. There was more to start with.
Thanks for the good advice.

 

[Triam]

When you get her running let's get a group of guys from the Salt Lake area together and go for a ride. I have personally met one guy from the forum who bought my airbox. He has a GS750 and I know there are one or two more around with GS's. Mine should be running by the end of August

Awesome. I'd love to.

 

[Triam]

Wow, that head is hammered.

Seems like you have a pretty good idea about what to do so good luck. One warning: only use OEM Suzuki gaskets or you are very likely to have head gasket and/or base gasket problems. This info has been learned the hard way by myself, and a bunch of others around this forum.

Good luck.

Can I just buy high quality gasket material and make my own? If it's really really high quality?
If not, where do I just buy that gasket not in a kit?

 

[Triam]

One question for you all: I just got the new head, and it appears that it came of an 850 that ran the other carburetor. Can I just switch out the intake boots, or do I need to return this head and find one that took the same carb?

 

[Triam]

One question for you all: I just got the new head, and it appears that it came of an 850 that ran the other carburetor. Can I just switch out the intake boots, or do I need to return this head and find one that took the same carb?

I just tried it. The intake boots aren't interchangeable.

 

[Triam]

I was looking for head gaskets. Am I crazy or is it cheaper to buy a complete gasket set for my engine than buy a head gasket by itself?

 

[cowboyup3371]

The gasket sets are usually cheap ones and most of the people on here have major leaks when using aftermarket head gaskets Yes, they are expensive but using an OEM head and base gasket will save you more heartburn later.

 

[tkent02]

You might look for a set of the later CV carbs which fit your new head... You would need the airbox too. Since you live in Utah, the elevation compensating ability of the CVs will be worth it's weight in gold.

 

[Triam]

The gasket sets are usually cheap ones and most of the people on here have major leaks when using aftermarket head gaskets Yes, they are expensive but using an OEM head and base gasket will save you more heartburn later.

My wallet just cried out in terror.

 

[Triam]

You might look for a set of the later CV carbs which fit your new head... You would need the airbox too. Since you live in Utah, the elevation compensating ability of the CVs will be worth it's weight in gold.

I ordered a different head and returned the one they sent me. I've got CV carbs now, and would have had to regress to the earlier carbs. I've got pods that came with the bike. I'll just use them.

 

[Steve]

I was looking for head gaskets. Am I crazy or is it cheaper to buy a complete gasket set for my engine than buy a head gasket by itself?

I recently did a quick price comparison. I don't remember the exact numbers, but a generic "complete set" was about $90. An OEM head gasket was about $75, a base gasket was about $15. That is a total of $180. I then looked at an OEM complete set, saw that it was about $200.

For the extra few bucks, next time I will just get the OEM complete set and skip the generics.

.

 

[Triam]

K, so I have the new head and I've taken it all apart to lap the valves. My question is can I tape off the stems and sandblast the end of the valves to clean them or will I regret this?

 

[Triam]

I'd certainly recommend dropping the oil pan and cleaning that out, too, both before and after you get her fixed up again. It'll get rid of any residual flecks. I tend to buy my filters in bulk for this reason, never know when you'll need a fresh one.

Cheers - boingk

I got it running today. Glad I followed your advice. After a bit of running I dropped the pan and this is what I found:

Sure glad I took the time to get those shavings out of the oil pan. That was brand new oil, and you can see what a few minutes of riding did to her. This engine was full of sludge. I added about 1/4 can of seafoam to the oil and ran it just to get it hot, then drained the oil to make sure I got the maximum amount of sludge out.

This is the oil pan after I had cleaned her:

It looses power and almost dies at or above 3,000 RPM, but I still have a few valves that have almost no clearance, so I'm waiting for my new shims to be shipped to me before I mess around with anything.

 

[Triam]

Newest update: The bike still waits for valve shims from Z1 enterprises. I finally got the fairing off and the headlight installed so it doesn't look fugly. This is how she turned out:

Hopefully tomorrow the shims will be in and I'll be spending more time riding her instead of talking about her.

Next project is to repaint her and get the dent out of the tank that I expertly hid with my camera angle. I'm pretty sure I don't want to keep the maroon, but I'm still thinking. I really like the color on the bike of this month's Cover-Photo-of-the-Month. Painting the plastic on the back is something I'm kinda scared to do, but I guess there's a first for everything, and if I end up having to do it more than a first time then it's just a learning experience.