My . GS1000GL Rebuild

[norman1950]

I picked up the bike from a guy that was in the process of making a bobber out of it. That isn't the style that I wanted to continue with.

After doing some research and finding this site I decided I wanted to make it a cafe racer style. I was inspired after seeing the Wes Cooley GS. Yes I know it has been done many times, but it isn't going to be an exact replica. Going to put my spin on it.

This is going to be a very budget build. I am going to build knowing that I am going to sell it later down the road, so nothing too crazy or personal.

Here is the bike from the craigslist ad...

And the day that it was brought to my shop...

And this is my inspiration. Would like to go close to the colors. But we will see what paint job I with when the time comes

**Build went a different direction once I did my research, so it is going more of a cafe racer style.**

 

[norman1950]

I am going to fix the frame where the guy hacked at it pretty good. Clean the frame parts and smooth where brackets where cut off. Clean the motor and paint certain pieces. Got real lucky that the tank is in great shape and won't need much bondo work. Going to build my own rear tail section with the hump. Relocate the battery and electronics to the tail.

Thanks to MotoMike I just recieved these excellent carbs to replace my PO screwed up carbs.

I just picked up this front fairing on local craigslist for the right price. Talked to a great guy who had a KZ1000 and an older Kawasaki 850(?)

 

[norman1950]

Well I finally found time to work on the bike. First up was to correct the shock mounts. I bent up some 3/4" pipe to make the bends in the rear. I left them short of one another as I am going to put an arc piece in there to house the cateye brake/turn signal light. I still need to order it so just left as is for right now. On one of the pictures they look way off, but that is the angle of the camera.

Thanks for checking it out.

What I started with from previous owner...

Cut the homemade cross brace..

Cross brace gone...

Put "frame slugs' in the frame and new pieces
(they are lined up better then the picture)

Ready for the gussets now...

 

[eil]

Hmm. This is the first time I've seen a frame get unbobbed. Good job.

 

[norman1950]

Hmm. This is the first time I've seen a frame get unbobbed. Good job.

Thanks. The "custom" shock mounts just looked scary and unsafe. Had to fix it for my own sake of safety.

 

[Chum]

Great resurrection you got going. Thanks for the pictures and keep them coming. Good luck on the build.

 

[norman1950]

I was able to do a little more work on it tonight. Went to the shop to put the new allen socket bolts in the carb bowls and top. And then what the heck started on the gussets for the shocks.

 

[norman1950]

Made a little progress tonight. Got the taillights mounted and the shocks mounted and gussets all welded up.

 

[norman1950]

Got some more time to work on the bike. Went and made my own tail piece and frame cover.

Started with insulation stryrofoam from lowes and built up and glues blocks together..

After some sanding and a big mess..

Put some masking tape and turtle wax on the tape for mold removal and ended up with this...

Now just need to put another layer of fiberglass mat on and fine tune the fitting.

 

[norman1950]

Another update...

Got the tail to sit like I wanted and did some de-tabbing to clean up the look under the seat. Now just have to find a gel battery and relocate the electronics in the tail.

I put a skim coat of bondo over it and put a light coat of primer over (basically to see what it will look like)

And here you can see my frame cover below the tank...

 

[cowboyup3371]

What do you intend to do with the space between the tank and the seat? If that's staying as it is now, I would think it's going to hurt

 

[norman1950]

What do you intend to do with the space between the tank and the seat? If that's staying as it is now, I would think it's going to hurt

That is why I made that fiberglass piece that covers that part. Thinking I was going to put some foam pad on it and upholster it in some way.

I hear ya tho, been trying to think of something that didn't look too horrible.

 

[boingk]

Nice project mate, I really like where you're going with this.

- boingk

 

[norman1950]

Nice project mate, I really like where you're going with this.

- boingk

Thank you very much. Slowly getting there.

 

[norman1950]

Well good news..... bad news...

I was dreading taking off the headers thinking the bolts might be stuck and didn't want to deal with that headache. Well to my surprise all the bolts where barely even "tight" and no problem getting them all out...

Now the bad news... the header is crunched on the bottom!! And found out is is a kerker. Anyone know if any other bikes headers are interchangeable with the 1980 GS1000GL?

 

[norman1950]

Got some more work done on the bike lately. Got all the brake calipers off and cleaned and ordered the parts that I need to replace. They are in the process of being painted at the moment and forgot to take pictures of them. Also got the tank stripped of paint, and then sand blasted off the stubborn parts. Put a couple of coats of primer on it so it wouldn't rust. Here are some updated pictures.

How the tank started

After the aircraft paint stripper

After wire wheel and sandblasting

And primer

 

[norman1950]

Made a little more progress tonight, got the calipers all painted and now just waiting for parts for them, just have them loosely mounted. Also got the engine cleaned and detailed up. Here are pictures of the calipers.

 

[boingk]

Looking sharp, great colour!

- boingk

 

[norman1950]

Looking sharp, great colour!

- boingk

Thank you.

Here is a picture of how well baking soda through a sand blaster works on getting rid of pesky grease.




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[Duece]

Nice work so far, interested on how its gonna come out.