The $150 GS550

[Napoleon047]

As you can see above, its in very rough shape. For example the rear brake pedal was seized in the hole so badly that I could stand on it and it wouldnt budge. The throttle cable is rusted to its sleeve, etc. The most recent registration on the plates is 1989 :shock:.

It came with two sets of carbs, the throttle cable is in different locations on them, anyone know which is the correct set?

The rear master cylinder, are these generally rebuildable or do I have to buy a new one? Whats the best place to get the parts I need? bikebandit.com?

Thanks

 

[seuadr]

both the front and rear are rebuildable as long as the inside of the cylinder isn't pitted. i'd check ebay and the parts section here before buying it new thought.

 

[Griffin]

Scour ebay for parts. Most parts (other than carb parts and ignitions) from the 1977-1982 models will work on your bike. You're better off repalcing the master cylinder with a good used one (should be able to find one for under $20). You do have the title, don't you? Don't put any money into it without the title.

I can guarantee the rings are stuck. Squirt some penetrating oil (marvel mystery oil or Kroil) into the spark plug holes and let it sit over night. Turn the engine over by hand a few times, then do it again for several nights.

Get a shop manual. The Clymer one for this model is pretty good.

This one's going to be a lot of work, and probably need $1,000 or so to get street ready. If you decide to finish it, by the time you're done you will have learned a tremendous amount about these bikes, and will have a great sense of satisfaction every time you ride it, or just look at it.

Good luck.

 

[doctorgonzo]

Worst case scenario:

I see enough there (including carbs) to part out for more than $150.00 not what you want I know, but if engine turns out to be trashed, etc.... fall back position.

 

[Nessism]

I'd take a look inside the master before buying some unknown piece off ebay. If the bore is clean, I recommend you rebuild the one you have.

You can download the factory manual for your bike for free from repairmanualclub.com, or from BassCliff's site (do a search to find the link).

My 550E carbs have the throttle linkage between carbs 3-4 - see photo below. If the slides are stuck, use a heat gun on the carb bodys to loosen the varnish - worked great on my carbs.

BassCliff should be along pretty soon to provide his MEGA welcome. Lots of good links there including one to a guy that sells carb o-rings. If you need some O-rings for your rubber carb boots, drop me a message - bought a huge bag and have a ton of extras.

Good luck.

 

[Steve]

BassCliff should be along pretty soon to provide his MEGA welcome.

Let's see if my trick from last week still works.





Hey BassCliff. Another newbie, aisle 3!

8-[

.

 

[Napoleon047]

Thanks everyone. Yes, it came with the title and a Clymer repair manual as well as a new battery. A previous owner had planned on getting it running, but never even took the battery out of the packaging to install it. It definitely needs a new rear tire, and I'll probably put a new one on the front while I am at it. The engine does turn smoothly by hand.

I was going to order an o-ring kit from cycleorings.com.

Once (IF) I get it running, Ill probably do the cafe racer thing.

 

[onchiman]

Rebuildable? Yes but if it were me, I'd call it a parts bike and go find another in better shape. There are tons of them and I bet if you advertise locally you can find a similar model just waiting in someones garage. Just my 2 cents.

 

[Nessism]

Thanks everyone. Yes, it came with the title and a Clymer repair manual as well as a new battery. A previous owner had planned on getting it running, but never even took the battery out of the packaging to install it. It definitely needs a new rear tire, and I'll probably put a new one on the front while I am at it. The engine does turn smoothly by hand.

I was going to order an o-ring kit from cycleorings.com.

Once (IF) I get it running, Ill probably do the cafe racer thing.

Intake boot O-rings are VERY prone to leak on old GS bikes. Change them while the carbs are off.

 

[BassCliff]

Hee Haw Howdy!

Hee Haw Howdy!

Hi Mr. Napoleon047,

Sorry I'm late. 8-[

Dear fellow GS rider,

Let it be known that on this day you are cordially and formally welcomed to the GSR Forum as a Junior Member in good standing with all the rights and privileges thereof. Further let it be known that your good standing can be improved with pictures (not you, your bike)![FONT=Arial, sans-serif] [/FONT]

Perhaps you've already seen these, but I like to remind all the new members. In addition to the carb rebuild series, I recommend visiting the In The Garage section via the GSR Homepage and check out the Stator Papers. There's also a lot of great information in the Old Q&A section. I have some documentation on my little BikeCliff website to help get you familiar with doing routine maintenance tasks (note that it is 850G-specific but many tasks are common to all GS bikes). Other "user contributed" informational sites include those of Mr. bwringer, Mr. tfb and Mr. robertbarr. And if your bike uses shims for valve adjustments, send an email to Mr. Steve requesting a copy of his Excel spreadsheet that helps you keep track of clearances, shim sizes and other service work.

These are some edited quotes from one of our dear beloved gurus, Mr. bwringer, with ideas on basic needs (depending on initial condition), parts, and accessories.
***********Quoted from Mr. bwringer************
Carburetor maintenance:

Replace the intake boot o-rings, and possibly the intake boots. Here's the procedure:
http://bwringer.com/gs/intakeorings.html
Here's an overview of what happens with this particular problem:
http://cycleorings.com/intake.html
You'll also want to examine the boots between the carbs and the airbox. There's a good chance these are OK, but check them over.
And finally, if things still aren't exactly right, you'll want to order a set of o-rings for BS carbs from the GS owner's best friend, Robert Barr:
http://cycleorings.com
Once you receive these rare rings of delight, then you'll want to thoroughly clean and rebuild your carburetors. Here are step-by-step instructions that make this simple:
http://thegsresources.com/gs_carbrebuild.htm
***********************************
Every GS850 has (or had) a set of well-known issues that MUST be addressed before you have a solid baseline for further troubleshooting. It's a vintage bike, and it's quite common (as in, every single GS850 I have had contact with) that there are multiple problems that have crept up and slowly gotten worse over the years. It's not like a newer vehicle, where there's generally one problem at a time.

These common issues are:

1. Intake O-rings (install NEW OEM or Viton only - common nitrile O-rings will quickly deteriorate from heat)
2. Intake Boots (install NEW -- these cannot be repaired)
3. Valve clearances (more important than most people think)
4. Carb/airbox boots
5. Airbox sealing
6. Air filter sealing
7. Petcock (install a NEW one)
8. On '79 models, install new points or Dyna electronic ignition (or at least verify that the old points are working correctly)
9. On all models, it's fairly common to have problems with the spark plug caps. These are $3 or $4 each, and often worth replacing if you're keeping the stock coils/wires.
10. Stock exhaust with NO leaks or holes -- good seals at the head and at the junctions underneath.
***************************************
OEM Parts/Online Fiches:

I would definitely double and triple the recommendations to use Cycle Recycle II and Z1 Enterprises as much as possible. These guys are priceless resources. Z1 tends to have slightly better prices, CRC2 has a wider range of goodies available. If you're near Indy and can bring in an old part to match, CRC2 has a vast inventory of used parts.
http://denniskirk.com - Put in your bike model and see what they have.
http://oldbikebarn.com - seems to be slowly regaining a decent reputation, but it's still caveat emptor. They don't have anything you can't get elsewhere at a better price anyway.
http://www.babbittsonline.com/ - Decent parts prices. Spendy shipping. Don't give you part numbers at all. Useful cross-reference if you obtain a part number elsewhere. Efficient service.
http://bikebandit.com - Fastest. Middlin' prices. Uses their own parts numbering system to obfuscate price comparisons -- can be very confusing for large orders. Cheapest shipping, so total cost usually isn't too bad.
http://flatoutmotorcycles.com - Slow. Cheapest parts prices, crazy shipping costs. Don't expect progress updates or much communication. Real Suzuki part numbers.
http://alpha-sports.com - Exorbitant parts prices. Different type of fiche interface that's quite useful at times, especially with superceded part numbers. Real parts numbers. Shipping cost and speed unknown due to insane, unholy pricing.

Stainless Bolts, Viton o-rings, metric taps, dies, assorted hard-to-find supplies and materials, etc:

http://mcmaster.com - Fast, cheap shipping, good prices. No order minimum, but many items like bolts come in packs of 25 or 50. Excellent resource.
http://motorcycleseatcovers.com - Great quality, perfect fit (on original seat foam), and available for pretty much every bike ever made. Avoid the textured vinyl -- it's perforated.
http://newenough.com - You DO have riding gear, don't you? Great clearances, always outstanding prices and impeccable service.
***************End Quote**********************
Additional parts/info links:

GSR Forum member Mr. duaneage has great used upgraded Honda regulator/rectifiers for our bikes. Send him a PM.
New electrical parts:
http://stores.ebay.com/RMSTATOR or http://www.rmstator.com/
http://www.ricksmotorsportelectrics.com/index.php
http://www.electrosport.com/
For valve cover and breather cover gaskets, I recommend Real Gaskets (reusable silicon):
http://www.realgaskets.com
The Rice Paddy (salvage/used)
http://www.ricepaddymotorcycles.com
Carolina Cycle
http://www.carolinacycle.com
Ron Ayers Motorsports
http://www.ronayers.com
MR Cycles
http://www.mrcycles.com
Moto Grid
http://www.motogrid.com
If all else fails, try this:
http://www.used-motorcycle-parts.org/
Used bike buying checklists:
http://www.amadirectlink.com/roadride/Riderresc/checklist.asp
http://www.clarity.net/~adam/buying-bike.html
Lots of good info/pictures here:
http://www.suzukicycles.org
http://www.cyclechaos.com/wiki/Motorcycle_Wiki

Thanks for joining us. Keep us informed of your progress. There's lots of good folk with good experience here.

Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff
(The unofficial GSR greeter)

 

[Napoleon047]

The wiring is a complete mess. I do not even see where the battery is supposed to be hooked up. I assume I can just ground the chassis, but where does the positive go?

 

[Nessism]

Don't you have a manual? If not, you can download one for free from repairmanualclub.com. It has tons of information about the wiring and such.

 

[Napoleon047]

I have a clymer but the wiring diagram is poorly printed.

Also, is this bike supposed to use tubes in the tires?

 

[makenzie71]

The positive cable goes to the started solenoid (gold cylinder with the bolts sticking out of it in the upper right of pic above). One side of the solenoid goes to the starter motor, the battery ties to the other.

 

[Nessism]

I have a clymer but the wiring diagram is poorly printed.

Also, is this bike supposed to use tubes in the tires?

Yes, tubes.

 

[Guest]

yikes

yikes

If you have rebuilt bikes this bad before, (and want this bike) go for it.
Otherwise, part it out and make a few bucks on EBAY.
You can buy a really nice condition bike for way less than you are going to put into this one.

imho
~John

 

[Napoleon047]

Can someone tell me where hoses 1-3 hook up?

 

[Suzuki mad]

2 is the to the fuel tap.

1 and 3 are overflows.

Suzuki mad

 

[makenzie71]

vac hoses. They should merge and connect to the petcock...I think. That's how my 750 was set up..which apparently was wrong. Thanks above^!

 

[TheCafeKid]

2 is the to the fuel tap.

1 and 3 are overflows.

Suzuki mad

Really? Must be a 550 carb thing. On the bigger GSs with VM type carbs, you have the big line to the fuel rail, a vac line to number 3 carb, the rest are vents. Never played with a 550 tho, so i dunno for sure.