My 78 GS550 Projects

[1978gs550]

After a lot of dealing with life I finally got some time to myself so I started working on the New to me Carbs I got from Witttom,

To start, old carbs, was nice to have the bike running but I knew something was very wrong by the way it was popping

and this was the reason,

So some time and money's later Witttom sent me this:

Which had these in it:

Externally and internally they were a lot dirtier than the original set, but so far have come apart 1000x easier

so here is my mess, the old carbs are lined up on the window sill, I'm mostly re-using the internal parts from that set because they are a lot cleaner, no varnish etc.

Everybody out of the pool!... ok, wasn't funny

I did notice one difference that almost got me confused, insteadof having the single bleeder screw (which is pictured in the PDF posted on basscliffs site for the VM carb rebuild tutorial) I have these guys... left goes in first and the right goes in over it in the same hole.

but I figured out the difference, and decided to assemble the first carb with the new o-rings and some oldy time non-gumming lubricating oil on the threads and o-rings, I left the tops on the slider assembly's together because the action pre-disassembly seemed pretty good to me, I'll likely do it for the rest too, but in the mean time, carb #1 is done

I just figured with my time being at a premium lately and the tendency for other people to misplace things for me when I'm not around it would be best for me to tackle them one at a time. I'll take more pictures on the next go around too, I just wanted to do this one as a test run and wasn't sure how much time I actually had either.

Oh, Also I moved the needle jet up one slot, I know it's not rejetting, which I should do, but for now, it's a little extra breathing room, until I get everything else that I need money for sorted out, including a registered frame >.<

I'll ad other projecty things to this thread later too, carbs just happened to be first.

 

[1978gs550]

Finally got some time this weekend to get a bit more done on these carbs took a few more pics and ran into a few interesting things.

first up, I noticed this on #2 barrel slide of the carbs from witttom,

then while assembling I realised the needles were different, on top 5dL35 (bought carbs) and 5DL37 on the bottom (came with the bike),

then I got in a groove and assembled #2 and put it on the rack for safe keeping

2 down to 2 go

so I started on #3, externally dirty, but so far internally the cleanest,

there's even a little ding on the barrel from this one too, I'll be swapping it.

now that everything is out, down to the basement for a scrub and blow out then:

not perfect i know, but the passages are clear, so I'm happy

I forgot to take pics of the parts cleaned up and ready to go in with the new o-rings, but that's as far as I got today anyway, so I'll post that next time.

 

[1978gs550]

Finished the carbs, thought I'd throw this up.

 

[1978gs550]

Well it's been a while since my last post, and my intro thread is gone, so I'm going to post up some pics here from start till now. I did manage to get a hold of some people and there is a good possibility that I'll be getting the title for my original frame, *fingers crossed*

Here we go:
The day I bought her - missing parts, "siezed" and generally not fun to push down the road in neutral.

First pic I took after I started to pull it apart and figure things out - most modified bits are pretty obvious at this point so I won't bother listing them.

Close up of the tail light, with the glass lenses in them these things go for up to 200 bucks on ebay, but mine is plastic, so I shined it up with plastX and modified the internals to have the daytime running capability.

Next I built these, still need to be drilled and tapped for vacuum sync connections, but it ran enough for me to take it around the block last year, and as it says above, the carbs ended up being the issue

How it sat before winter kicked in

Couple things I added for safety and personalization and total cost for 4 led signals and those mirrors came to 30 bucks free shipping!

Thats it so far, in the works, sh775 R/R, home made mufflers, and finish the front brake re-install, I'll take pics of the front cyl, piston was siezed, but when it came out it was spotless, (happy dance) still need to replace lines, and will need new rubber :/

 

[1978gs550]

Decided to put the new battery together today to test the signals, which I now have to dig through and figure out why they're not working, but instead of throwing things I decided to put the carbs on and give them they're first test run since the rebuild. Success! running way better than before, only issue is they're running lean, which is to be expected with pods on, but no backfiring like last time and it's smooth acceleration through all gears, looking into the wiring after i post this to see if I'm missing anything for the signals, I'll post up once I've got them working, and maybe put up a vid on youtube the next time I have it out.

updates to come, hopefully sooner than later

 

[1978gs550]

not that anyone is paying attention but I was contacted by motor vehicle and they're sending someone to look over the bike and 99% I'm goingto get the papers I need to get my registration! so pumped!

 

[Nessism]

Thought you said you were making mufflers?

 

[witttom]

 

[1978gs550]

still going to make the mufflers, it's ongoing right now,

Short story is: I put this on hold for a truck, truck went to scrap for various reasons, ended up with a car for $100 to flip to make the money I needed to finish the bike, my other car crapped out so the slow fix on the new car went into hyper gear, so that I could sell it for a grand and buy another on-road car for 400 and fix my first car, and still have money to finish the bike (not so short but there is a lot of other crap in between) the $400 car was sold out from under me so i got a little upset so I decided instead of being ****ed off, I'd focus on the project I wanted in the first place, so I made some calls, and viola!

As it stands I've ordered a solid state flasher for the new LED turn signals, still looking into localized r/r sources, trying to decide what to do about the mufflers because I don't have the equipment to use stainless, and I'm not sure if I want to paint the entire exhaust black all the way to the head. I might do wrap, but it's not cheap either, and over done in my circle of jap bike friends. probably just go with the black paint though.

Anyway thanks for letting me know people are still watching! I'll be around more now seeing as even if I don't get the reg it will be due to something that needs fixed or changed based on the inspectors requirements.

 

[kimjay]

At my elevation here in Kimberley BC I put 120mains with the needles on the 4th clip down, I have oiled Uni filters. This thing screams and is way faster than i ever thought it would be. Love it. Hopefully will help you a bit.

 

[1978gs550]

thanks for the tip kimjay, lots to do just yet, but the best news possible came today, the motor vehicle inspector showed up and ok'd me to get the registration! little bit of money and I'll be Dancing all the way to SNB (my equivalent of DMV)

 

[kimjay]

No problem, upon some riding time now I am definetely rich. Will be dropping to 115 mains first then will raise needle 1 clip. Keep you posted.

 

[1978gs550]

Well after a short battle my electronic blinker is on it's way, I started on the mufflers today as well, I cheated though my fiancee's uncle gave me a cherry bomb a little while ago and I decided it would be easier to split it and work with that since it's already packed. Pics soon.

 

[1978gs550]

mufflers build:

Not much to say at this point, had to go buy another adapter to cut and I still have to take the headers off clean up the ends and weld everything together. more to come in part 2

 

[1978gs550]

Messed around a bit tonight made a little progress, and also I got some goodies from a local flea market that packs this town picked up a helmet and some good riding gloves for 15 bucks definitely helps on a low budget build!

 

[1978gs550]

oh ya also taped up my pods a bit to see if I can get some better mix without changing things in the carbs for now.

 

[1978gs550]

took a while to get back here to update >.< I ended up buying a car that was a steal of a deal, and the exhaust is on hold until I can get that sorted, hopefully I cn still get the time in to finish welding, but it's looking like next year before I can get it on the road. will update as things happen

 

[1978gs550]

ok so nothing new on the bike atm, bought and sold 2 cars, and bought a truck that ended up being half project half drive-able. Although I had a dream that I'd taken the bike out, parked it somewhere, took my helmet somewhere else and forgot where either of them were -.- twas weird. I do have some work to do on a friends 73 honda 550 over the winter but until it gets above -30C (windchill) I'm going to stay inside, where it's warm .