stripping my 1981 gs450l

[81gs450l]

I started digging into my 1981 gs450l. so far i have taken off the side covers and mounts, rea fender, and seat. I plan on relocating the electronics under the seat pan. i plan on running my speedometer only. once i remove the tach and cable, what do people use to fill the tach cable hole? i am in the process of deleting my shift lights and neutral indicator lights, but keeping the oil idiot light. what wires do i remove to delete the shift lights, neutral indicator, high beam indicators? i also plan on cutting and drilling my front fender to lighten it, would drilling my chain gaurd lighten it any? my goal is to see how stripped down i can make this thing. with the mufflers gone and the parts i have taken off this past sunday, i have weighed 15lbs in weight loss. any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[robinelwood]

How much does the Tachometer weigh? What's the advantage or removing it?

 

[81gs450l]

the reason for the tach removal was to clean up the controls/bars, not actually save weight. i was just planning on cleaning up the bars by mounting the speedo and an oil idiot light only. i am going to clip ons and bar end mirrors. then creating a new mount to center the speedo, but if i remove the tach and cable. how can i successfully delete the tach and cable? the weight savings was coming from other things.

 

[Guest]

Look on the parts fiche on Alpha Sports.

Somewhere around 1983 there's an 1100 model that has a blank off plate for the tacho drive. I can't recall the exact one now, but it should be on the cylinder head fiche.

Get that and the oil band that goes with it. You can take the drive out without pulling the valve cover off but be careful and gentle about it.

That's what I did with mine after going to the Acewell as the tacho signal comes from the ignition coil and speedo comes from a magnet on one of the front disc bolts.

 

[jeffasaurus2]

I actually just ordered the block-off plate after finding it in the depths of your build thread Pete! The Suzuki part number for that is 26442-45000, you'll need to order the O-ring oil seal as well, look on a parts fiche.

Why no neutral Light? I feel like that would be much more helpful than an oil light; especially since, as far as I understand, once your oil light is on you're toast.

 

[81gs450l]

i have actually been thinking about my idiot lights and everything else. i think i am just going run the speedo and nothing else up there.i just need to figure out what to do with all the left over wires. i am going to button up the rear frame and moving the electronics under the seat. i have the chain guard off and plan on drilling it at work. if i have enough time this weekend i am also going to cut my front fender down also.

 

[Guest]

Good stuff Jeff, glad it was useful

As for idiot lights... seriously I wouldn't do away with any of them.

The oil pressure light is going to tell you if the pressure drops. Even if the oil pump fails and the pressure drops, the motor won't seize instantly and it will give you enough warning to pull the clutch, hit the kill switch, and pull over before anything further drastic happens.

If you really want to make it all minimal, I would do what I have done and go with an Acewell gauge.

It has speedo, tacho, and all idiot lights in one round gauge that is about the same size as just your speedo.

I went fancy and put it on a custom dash etc. but you could just run the Acewell gauge and it will be neat, minimal, yet give you all the functions you really need.

And, as a bonus, you don't have to run a speedo or tacho cable either.

A neutral light is very handy to have, and high beam and indicator lights are also handy to have. You don't want someone to cut you off because you left your indicator on and they thought you were going to turn...