Old/new bike tune-up

[julien]

Me again,

I have insured and registered the bike today (I picked it up on Friday) and I am planning to take it to a mechanic to get the carbs cleaned and the bike tuned-up. It is a GS650G. with 11646 miles on it.
I know some of you may say that it is something that I can do myself, and you are mainly correct, however this is my first bike and although I do the general maintenance on my cars (oil change, plugs, filter, etc) I don't feel comfortable with the bike yet. Mainly because I want to make sure (and hope) that the mechanic will advise me on what needs/should be changed. I have read the great carbs tutorial but still think I may do that the next time around.
My questions to you all are:
1. For the carbs clean-up, what should I ask (if anything) specifically? He quoted me $250 for that (take them apart soak them and back together).
2. For the tune-up, what should I ask specifically (I know that includes oil/filter). He said $150-$200 for that depending on parts.
I am pretty sure that I will need a new front tire (the walls on mine are cracked) - I saw an early post to check the age of the tire and will do that to see how old this one is. How much does a new tire cost?

Thanks for your feedback.

Julien-

 

[waterman]

For about one tenth of the money, you can tune up your bike better than any wrench turner at the motorcycle shops. These bikes are not that complicated. Many here had never worked on motorcycle before and will attest that it isn't really that difficult.

Even if you bought that best tools you could rebuild and tune this bike cheaper than your shop and still have the tools for later.

Read almost any thread in this tech forum and you will see the same advice, just follow it, it will work.

 

[Dave8338]

Well it sounds like you could be spending $500 or better at the shop with no more likelyhood that they will get it right any more than you will. :hand:

This (if you can turn a wrench...is no big deal. The carbs are simple.

 

[supergrafx]

Don't make the same mistake I made in being intimidated by the bike. $575 later my bike probably is worse then when I gave it to the mechanic (look for my thread: gs550 crashed). Plus you will learn more by disassembling the stuff yourself. I'd get yourself a new battery, o-rings, intake boots, a morgan carbtune, a honda reg/rec from Duanage on this site, and clean up all the electricals. You'll probably have 300 left in your pocket plus a better bike than what a shop will do (they just want to take your money and see you back in a couple of weeks or so; maybe even less) Your bound to run into issues but you will find that if you do it yourself, everything will be sound. I might let a shop replace your tires, but would never ever let a shop touch my carbs forever ever ever again.

 

[Steve]

And all of this only applies if the shop will even work on your bike.

Many shops now have a 10-year rule, that is, they won't touch anything over 10 years old.
Too many problems with rusted/broken fasteners that take too much time to straighten out.

.

 

[C.V.]

+1 on what these guys are saying. 250 dollars to do something you can do yourself for $40 and a half a day? 200 hundred to change oil and plugs? Do it yourself for $30 and hour of time! Please, don't waste your time and money on the "professionals"...they will not do the job right, and they are guaranteed NOT to know anything about a bike as old as these (see steves comment) You will end up doing it yourself anyway, so don't be afraid and just jump in, its easy. there is an endless amount of help available here for any contigency.

 

[nisom512]

hey man glad to here you got a GS and that your excited to ride but please listen to these guys I had the same thing I didnt even know how to ride a bike I had driven a motorcycle twice before I bought my bike.

I got it home(mu buddy drove it) and then it wouldnt run so I only had the money to do it my self and so I jumped right in(having only changed oil, wheels, filters and plugs before) and it was a peace of cake plus it was a 550(what some people concidar to be one the the hardest bikes to get the carbs off of). but I did it with help from every one on here. so do it your self and save the money.

Good luck
Jake

 

[BassCliff]

"The horror!"

 

[gearhead13]

I have to agree with everyone here. Even though your bike is low mileage, there will be times when you wish you knew more about how it works and where everything is. First step: get a manual. Plugs, oil, filter you have done on cars, your bike is no different, they are just in different places.
Cheers and welcome!
Richard

 

[julien]

I think you guys have convinced me...

I think you guys have convinced me...

Ok... pressure is on... sounds like it is something I can handle... so I have decided to go ahead save some money and do it myself.:clap:
I have ordered some oil filters and O-rings and a few other parts that are missing from my bike (battery band, etc...) from flatout motorcycles.
I will order the O-rings from cycleoring tomorrow along with the intake book O-ring.
I will also order the gasket from Z1 tomorrow.
I should be able to get the cleaner and oil from my local shop.
Anything else am I missing?:-k
I do have one question (maybe it is obvious but I haven't looked into it too much yet) but although there are a few great "how-to" clean/rebuild your carbs manual (including the good one from this great website) I don't see anything regarding how to remove the carbs from the bike.
I have the service manual for the gs650g and they also go through the taking apart the carbs but nothing about taking the carbs from the bike.
Thanks again for your help.

 

[paintmann111]

Carbs are easy. The ebst way to do it is to take only one of them apart at first. That way when you are done cleaning you can look at the other carbs to see how it all goes back together.

(I know, straight out of the carb rebuild guide, but its true!)

 

[lilbilly]

I am in your shoes too Julien...Just recently bought a gs650g and I have been debating about the carbs.

My concern is what happens if I damage a part - from what I have been told there are some extremely delicate parts. And on top of all that, I am not very mechanically inclined.

I'm leaning towards doing it myself, but am a little apprehensive about it.

 

[gearhead13]

To remove the carbs from the bike you need to remove the seat and gas tank first, then unbolt the airbox so you can move it back a couple inches or so. Next, undo the clamps on the front and rear of the carbs. The throttle, choke cable needs to come off next. With the clamps loosened real good, wiggle the airbox rearward as far as it will go. Then pull the carbs of the front intake boots and procede to wiggle and muscle the carbs off to the right side. Dont worry if the rubber boots get deformed, they will return to being round again. Once your carbs are out, first thing to do is drain the bowls into a coffee can or such, by removing the drain plug under the bowls. Note the color and any sediment in the can you drained them into as this will give you an idea of the condition inside the bowls. Find a clean space to work on them and lay down paper towel to put parts on that you remove, keeping parts from each carb in a seperate area. I used stuff called Gunk hydroseal on mine, it cleaned well and it is not so nasty as to discolor the aluminum or brass. One large coffee can held 2 carb bodies as I remember, with smaller parts in other smaller containers. As they sit in the solution, give them a stir once and a while.
Generally, soaking overnight cleaned them pretty well.

 

[waterman]

To remove the carbs from the bike you need to remove the seat and gas tank first, then unbolt the airbox so you can move it back a couple inches or so. Next, undo the clamps on the front and rear of the carbs. The throttle, choke cable needs to come off next. With the clamps loosened real good, wiggle the airbox rearward as far as it will go. Then pull the carbs of the front intake boots and procede to wiggle and muscle the carbs off to the right side. Dont worry if the rubber boots get deformed, they will return to being round again. Once your carbs are out, first thing to do is drain the bowls into a coffee can or such, by removing the drain plug under the bowls. Note the color and any sediment in the can you drained them into as this will give you an idea of the condition inside the bowls. Find a clean space to work on them and lay down paper towel to put parts on that you remove, keeping parts from each carb in a seperate area. I used stuff called Gunk hydroseal on mine, it cleaned well and it is not so nasty as to discolor the aluminum or brass. One large coffee can held 2 carb bodies as I remember, with smaller parts in other smaller containers. As they sit in the solution, give them a stir once and a while.
Generally, soaking overnight cleaned them pretty well.

On the 650g, it isn't necessary to unbolt the airbox, plus it isn't easy to do like other models. There is a hose clamp that secures the air plenum to the airbox, simply loosen this and the air plenum will then have room to move towards the rear tire.

One recommendation is to use a good quality philips screwdriver, I use ones that I can replace the tips as they wear. Since these hose clamps that secure carbs in place are reused, try not to booger up the screwheads with a poorly fitting screwdriver.

Another tool all motorcyclists must have is a good hammer driven impact driver. This tool is essential to remove the screws of the carb and early engine covers. Without it you will have real difficulty in removing any of the cheesehead philips screws that suzuki used everywhere on these bikes.

I don't generally soak the carb bodies any longer than a hour, then thoroughly rinse with water hose and blow dry passages with air compressor. Reassemble with new orings and set floats.

 

[C.V.]

a good hammer driven impact driver

+1 here also. I tried to avoid it, but never would have gotten my intake boots off without it. If you dont want to spend a lot of bucks on one, harbor freight has them for less than 10 bucks. Got mine for 6.99 and it worked perfectly...this time...

 

[Larry D]

As other have said the carb cleaning is pretty easy. Just take your time and stay organized. I used some egg cartons to keep the little parts seperated and labeled.

When it comes time to remove the floats, be very careful with the float pins. More specifically the float pin posts. They have tendency to break when trying to remove the pins. Try to grab the head of the pin with a pair of small pliers or even a pair of small wire cutters. the tutorial says to tap them out, which you may have to do to get the head of pin out enough to grab it. Be very,very,careful when tapping on it. Then grab it and remove carefully.

Other than that it's a matter of organization and taking your time, don't get in a hurry.

It also provides a excellent chance to check the float heights. Mine were 5mm off and was one of the biggest reasons my bike ran like poo-poo when I first got it.

Most of us here have cleaned carbs....if we can, I'm sure you can pull it off.