Resto 98% complete Need your help for the last 2%. long post, have pics though!

[zuki1000]

First off let me say THANK YOU! Everyone on this forum has had a hand in building this bike, every time I got stuck, every time needed help, you guys were there. I didn't even have to ask any questions since they were all answered in previous threads. I feel like I know some of you guys personally as many times as I have read some of your posts.

So now to the meat and potato's.

I bought this non runnning 78 GS1000 as a winter project and boy has it turned out to be just that, A PROJECT! You can see what I started with below, not much to look at. Here is a list of everything that was done.

Major Cleaning
Carbs rebuilt & Synched, new boots and O rings.
New Points & Condensors
Fresh oil, oil filter, air filter.
Valves adjusted
New Battery & Battery Tender Installed
New Plugs
SS Brake lines
Rebuilt Front and Rear Master Cylinders
Rebuilt Front and Rear Calipers
New Avon Roadriders
New Fork seals and oil
New Sprockets and Chain
Tank de-rusted and sealed with POR-15
All the aluminum hand sanded, and polished
New Paint (pro job)
Pin Striping (did myself, still wating for the white to come in the mail)
Spent months tracking down little bitsy odds and ends to keep the beast as original as possible
Side cover emblems, should be in today.
Needs final polishing.

I think thats the majority of it. I did all that pushed the starter button and low and behold this beautiful machine roared to life, after setting the idle she ran like a charm. She would idle and take blips of the throttle like she just rolled of the showroom floor.

Now keep in mind, every time I would start it i would only let it run for 5 minutes at the most sometimes 10 when fine tuning the carbys. So Wed, night I finally got her all together, together enough to were she was road worthy, it was about 10:00pm lightly sleeting a brisk 37 degrees (gotta love MI weather) but I couldnt resist. I tapped the starter button sat and listened to her purr for a minute, dropped it in first and steathily (no plates, or insurance yet) creeped out into the neighborhood, I was literally shaking with excitement. Everything worked perfectly, the clutch, the trans, she was smooth and powerful. I couldnt beleive it, I had done it! So I get around my sub about 1 mile and just as I am pulling into the drive I notice the lights dimming and she was starting to miss, I got in the garage and kerplunk, she died. I plugged in the battery tender and she fired right back up, unplugged the tender, let her idle for a few and same thing, lights would dim, start to miss and die.

Beleive it or not I was not dishartned at this point. I knew I still needed to go in and replace all the connectors and check all the wires and GROUNDS< I figured it was just a bad connection or ground somewhere. So yesterday I had about an hour in between my two jobs, so I ran home, pulled the airbox, and began checking my grounds, the ground from the R/R to the battery box, was loose at best, I can't imagine it was grounded at all. I moved the R/R ground up to the negative post of the battery, cleaned(no time to replace at the moment) all the connections, lubed the contacts with some dialectric, buttoned it all back up, hit the starter button and...........Nothing . She would just crank and crank but not catch. Every once in while she would attempt to catch, but only on the first few cranks after letting her sit for a minute, but not near enough to start her up.

So guess what, now I'm disheartend. Electrical is my only downfallwhen it comes to motorcycles. You might as well be speaking another language when it comes to this stuff. So tomorrow I am going to go in and replace all the connections I can find, hoping this will solve my problem. I have a sneaky fealing in the back of my mind that it will not though. This is the reason for this post, I am just forwarning you guys that I am finally going to need your tutolage, hopefully personalized specifically to me and my major lack of elctrical knowledge.
So I will let you know how things go tomorrow with all the connections, I am going to pick up voltmeter as well, even though I don't have the slightest idea how to use it. Its finally warm enough to ride, and I can't! I need to get this sorted quickly, so if anyone has some ideas for the time being please let me know.

Thanks again, you guys built a great looking bike, now we just need to finish her off.

 

[salty_monk]

Check you're getting a strong spark from each plug (by grounding each one in turn near the head), hold with pliers...

It's possible that your condensors have gone.. not unheard of. Could also be coils not firing, also check plug wires, one could be "leaking" & grounding out somwhere. Check plugs are not fouled.

If that all checks out check fuel delivery. Try to start it with a full charged battery on Prime, make sure the fuel is flowing.

To check the charging circuit get the "stator papers" & follow the instructions, it's actually quite easy even for someone with no experience.

Dan

 

[zuki1000]

Thats where i'm miffed. First thing I checked was fuel, flowing freely, just ask my garage floor. Then spark next, spark seems good. So how can I have a spark, fuel, air, compression and a non running bike. I have to beleive it something electrical. Right? :-k

 

[82Shafty]

Step one like mentioned above is to ensure you have spark.

If you have spark, ensure you have fuel.


When starting with a problem, never refer back to well it was just running a minute ago, start with the basics and work your way forward.


How do the plugs look after you crank and crank it, They could be fouled out from all of the said idling that has taken place.

 

[82Shafty]

Thats where i'm miffed. First thing I checked was fuel, flowing freely, just ask my garage floor. Then spark next, spark seems good. So how can I have a spark, fuel, air, compression and a non running bike. I have to beleive it something electrical. Right? :-k

Is fuel coming out of your air box?

Are the plugs wet?

 

[zuki1000]

I didnt notice any fuel around the airbox while i was taking it in and out messing with the wires. I didn't actually open the lid of the box though. Plugs are in good shape, a bit of fouling but nothing that would keep it from running( I think). I did'nt notice if they were wet or not though. I will check that tonight, maybe throw in some new sparkys for the hell of it, even though they are only a few months old.

 

[Guest]

Hi Zuki1000,

+1 on all of above.
Pardon me for asking, but did you leave choke on? (personal experience). Check fuel level (is tank full or almost empty?).
Next, drain float bowls, floats could be stuck.
Did you replace petcock?

 

[Guest]

Oh I forgot,
If you have original contact breaker points, maybe srew got loose and you lost your timing.

Gorgeous bike by the way :clap:.
Funny how people are asking us why we spend so much time and money fixing these. Hard to explain the feeling after the first VROOOOOMMM...

 

[pontiacstogo]

maybe throw in some new sparkys for the hell of it.

That's where I'd start - if the bike was running on battery alone, the spark got progressivley weaker and the plugs are probably carboned up or fouled now. Throw in a new set and try again.

Nice bike BTW.

 

[Larry D]

That's what I call a resurrection !!

Great job !! You're getting very close. Silly thing to ask, but, how much gas is in the tank ? If it's dang near empty, you may need to be on reserve. I couldn't get mine to start one night, only to find the tank was empty.......

 

[zuki1000]

No pardon needed. Choke was off for my illegal test ride around the sub. Choke was on for dissapointing start up the next day. Tank is full. It is the orginal petcock. The petcok seems to be functioning fine though, does not leak when in the on position, flows freely in the prime position.

I think what I am gathering here from these few replys thus far is a suspected fuel problem? I guess it would be a fair assumption since I do have spark, then it must not be getting fuel. I just can't get over the feeling its something electrical since fuel seems to be flowing freely.

Forgive me ignorance on this question, but is it possible to have spark, but still have a problem in the elctrical system that will allow the bike to crank but not start?

 

[zuki1000]

Thanks for the Kudos on the bike too. It was a long tedious process that almost sent me to looney bin more more than once. We had our fair share of arguments and knock down drag out fights, but after numerous times of taking a week or two off to let our tempers settle down we got through it. Now I just need to finish it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and Enjoy it

 

[Dave8338]

No pardon needed. Choke was off for my illegal test ride around the sub. Choke was on for dissapointing start up the next day. Tank is full. It is the orginal petcock. The petcok seems to be functioning fine though, does not leak when in the on position, flows freely in the prime position.

I think what I am gathering here from these few replys thus far is a suspected fuel problem? I guess it would be a fair assumption since I do have spark, then it must not be getting fuel. I just can't get over the feeling its something electrical since fuel seems to be flowing freely.

Forgive me ignorance on this question, but is it possible to have spark, but still have a problem in the elctrical system that will allow the bike to crank but not start?

Not that I'm aware of. If you have spark, fuel and air...you will have fire unless the ratios are way out of wack. Have you checked the kill switch lately?

 

[twinapache]

Since you said the bike was running good before you had the airbox off, and moved the ground, it makes me think it is something simple.
Did you reinstall the airbox when trying to start it. These bikes can be VERY picky about the amount of airflow. If the airbox was still removed, lid was off, or boots not secured to carbs and clamps tight, that would cause it to be hard to start. Also, if you had the tank off, check your vacuum line that goes from #2 carb to tank petcock. If that line was left off, or had a split, it causes a huge vacuum leak on that cylinder, making the bike really hard to start (and it'll run like crap).
Also, if you have spark, and think it may be fuel related, try squirting a SMALL amount of starter fluid (ether) into each cylinder thru the spark plug holes, then see if she'll fire up for a second.
Good Luck.

 

[Guest]

It is the orginal petcock. The petcok seems to be functioning fine though, does not leak when in the on position, flows freely in the prime position.

I wouldn't trust a 31 yrs old petcock.
So it boils down to 2 issues IMHO:
Plugs wet= timing is off
Plugs dry= vaccum or stuck floats
(I could be wrong, and hopefully someone here will correct me)

 

[Big T]

Since you said the bike was running good before you had the airbox off, and moved the ground, it makes me think it is something simple.
Did you reinstall the airbox when trying to start it. These bikes can be VERY picky about the amount of airflow. If the airbox was still removed, lid was off, or boots not secured to carbs and clamps tight, that would cause it to be hard to start. Also, if you had the tank off, check your vacuum line that goes from #2 carb to tank petcock. If that line was left off, or had a split, it causes a huge vacuum leak on that cylinder, making the bike really hard to start (and it'll run like crap).
Also, if you have spark, and think it may be fuel related, try squirting a SMALL amount of starter fluid (ether) into each cylinder thru the spark plug holes, then see if she'll fire up for a second.
Good Luck.

Good idea, but it's the #3 carb on a VM carb bike.

+1 on the kill switch

 

[twinapache]

Good idea, but it's the #3 carb on a VM carb bike.

+1 on the kill switch

Oops. Yep, you're right. #3 carb. The CV carbs use #2.

 

[salty_monk]

Timing coming loose is definitely something to check....

Also try running on prime or suck a vacuum on the vacuum port & throw more gas on the floor to check operation of that

 

[Zooks]

.....................................She would just crank and crank but not catch. Every once in while she would attempt to catch, but only on the first few cranks after letting her sit for a minute, but not near enough to start her up................

This answers it for me. You have a carb issue. You may have fuel flowing but is it in the bowls, is it enough and is it getting to the cyclinders? In your other posts you mention fuel 'flow', not fuel 'supply' actually in the carb.

Pull the drain plug out of the bottom of the carb (connected to the petcock) and see how much comes out. Put a tin or large rag under it so you don't get fuel all over your nice bike. It should be a fair amount that comes out if the bowl is full. If not, pull the carbs, take the bowls off and check for a blockage. I'm guessing that the float is stuck.

That's why it 'almost fires' after a minute or two - a tiny amount of fuel is managing to trickle into the bowl past the blockage.



BTW - Top job on the rebuild. Nicely done. :clap:

 

[Nessism]

This answers it for me. You have a carb issue. You may have fuel flowing but is it in the bowls, is it enough and is it getting to the cyclinders? In your other posts you mention fuel 'flow', not fuel 'supply' actually in the carb.

Pull the drain plug out of the bottom of the carb (connected to the petcock) and see how much comes out. Put a tin or large rag under it so you don't get fuel all over your nice bike. It should be a fair amount that comes out if the bowl is full. If not, pull the carbs, take the bowls off and check for a blockage. I'm guessing that the float is stuck.

That's why it 'almost fires' after a minute or two - a tiny amount of fuel is managing to trickle into the bowl past the blockage.



BTW - Top job on the rebuild. Nicely done. :clap:

I'm with Zook, remove some drain screws on the carb float bowls and look for fuel inside. Pull a couple of plugs too, if they are dry you are not getting fuel into the engine.

Killer nice job you have done by the way. Another nice GS returned to service!