Wirelessguy's GS1100E purchase and setup

[wirelessguy]

Hi guys,

I thought I'd start a thread that shows some deals on the condition of the 1982 Suzuki GS1100E bike when I purchased it and the mods it will go through while I own it. All in all, I bought the bike fairly cheaply and don't want to put a fortune of money in but my current vision is to make this ride into something of a poor man's BMW sport-touring bike.

As it stands, the bike does start and run, I've replaced a dead battery and removed the headlamp in order to replace the bulb. Atthis time, I don't know of anyhitng else she 'needs' though I might opt to swap out brakes or as stainless braided lines if she's not up to par. Last note, THIS IS MY FIRST BIKE.

First let's start with some photos...

(I'm not sure what those loose wires are in there???)

Rear Brakes

Front Brakes

Rusty V&H Exhaust

Fuse Box and Clarion Honda Goldwing Stereo (one headphone jack in plastic side panel at left leg and one for pass next to whip antenna)

View with seat off from batttery box

Cam chain tensioner

 

[Turtleface]

That's a lot of machine for your first bike! Be careful with that throttle, these old beasts generate a LOT of torque. She outta be able to nearly pull your arms out of their sockets. My 82 1100EZ is my first bike as well, and I've stayed out of trouble so far. The rider is the biggest variable in any safety equation.

There are a few known issues with these bikes, but thankfully, they've all been addressed in the past. This board is THE place to be for GS info. The electrical system is probably the worst offender, especially with your touring aspirations. The stock electrical system is inadequate at best, and any additional load (CB/Radio/Heaters/etc) is only going to make things worse. Providing the bike will start and idle, I'd first go through the Stator Papers, and test all the electrical bits. Replacing all the connections with new ones is also recommended (all the connections in the entire wire harness that is), since these things corrode over time. After all that's done, then it's on to the normal maintenance items that everyone should be posting in your other thread.

 

[bonanzadave]

Holy black rattle can !! That musta been a 2-3 can paint job. Looks like you have all the parts. Thats a plus. I would ditch that radio now ! Dont need the distraction, bad for the electrics, looks like arse !

Youre missing the aft airbox. Thats why you have the home-made air filter. If it ran the PO musta have been inside the carbs to do some re-jetting. I would lean toward finding a stock airbox and filter, Clean and re-jet the carbs, then go through the entire bike and clean every electrical connector. Follow up with the fuel delivery petcock, fuel and vac hoses. Pop off the valve cover and do a valve clearence adjustment.

That should get you back on the road. Most everything else can be a work in progress.

Did you say it ran ? Have you heard about the dreaded EZ twisted crank ?

 

[wirelessguy]

GS 1100EZ project update...

GS 1100EZ project update...

We last left off with some basic info on my new ride and I thought I'd take a moment to log some updates to this thread.

#1 - I replaced the dead battery and see came to life easily which gave me a big sense of relief.

#2 - Head light didn't seem to be working. This was frustrating b/c I opened the lamp up and had voltage on the terminals, tried replacing bulb but nothing doing. I checked fuse and finally traced the ground wire only to find that there was a hidden kill switch for my bike. Flick the switch and light works fine. All's well that ends well.

#3 Checked stator voltage, looks fine - no drop.

#4 Oil change. Sadly this did not go as easy as I'd hoped. Oil rmeoval was easy enough but couldn't get last acorn off the oil filter cap - just spins in place. Argh. Had to retighten all other acorns and just leave for now. Will have to cut and replace both acorn and likely stud over the winter.

#4 a - While looking under the bike I noticed that there was a big rusty gash in my 4-1 header. :-( Had to purchase a used sidewinder and will have to wait to inspect, clean and install that one.

Pics of problem header:

#5 purchased new center stand and thought I'd try out some soda blasting before I get my new tank in. Mixed results so far but given enough time it should work out nicely.

Before I forget... My center stand originally had the bolts and spring but I never quite received my spring b/c Fedex delivered the box like this and left it at my front door. :-(

Ran the bike today for a bit with some Seafoam inside. At this point it looks like I may order some more parts soon, try to get that center stand on and find a good spot to park the bike so I can begin the winter dismantling and storage in preparation for doing all my mods & tuning.

 

[wirelessguy]

Ditched the soda blasting for now...

Ditched the soda blasting for now...

So the soda blasting had limited success.

I have an old bottle of KS-3 paint stripper from the fellow who owned my place before me. Thick gel-like stuff. I threw the center stand into a metal painter rolling tray and slathered it with the gel and let it sit for close to an hour. A lot of the paint bubbled off and could be wiped away. I tried one more coating which didn't seem to get much else, so I grabbed out the orbital sander and have it a fine work over.

Some spots are tight on a piece like this so I did have to grab out the Dremel tool and try to get into some of the smaller areas. I do have some places inside the feet that still have some muck and paint but are very hard to get to. Overall I'm pretty happy with the turn-out and hope to get this thing primed and repainted soon. With any luck, my replacement tank will arrive some time this week and I can get started with the 'real' job.

Here's a quick photo of the center stand...

 

[wirelessguy]

Victory against the Mikuni Carbs!!!

Victory against the Mikuni Carbs!!!

I hereby declare victory against the Mikuni Carbs!!! (and damned airbox too!)

Images...

To those who have yet to attempt a carb removal I may seem childish but this is indeed a celebratory day on my front.

About two weeks back I finally got the bike into the shed for the winter and began the disassembly of the tank and other bits in prep for the winter restoration and repainting. I was able to loosen the carbs off the airbox boots but there was no way that airbox was coming out. Had the boots been much softer perhaps I could have tried to wiggle the airbox down under the carbs but I decided to just try and free everything first.

What worked for me was losing the airbox and moving as far back as possible. Wiggling the carbs free (read that as yanking and tugging like no tomorrow) I then loosened the rubber boots that go into the engine and removed those first giving me room to work on the carb cables.

I soaked some paper towels in DW40 and left them in the engine intake ports for now I do hope that's OK over the winter and that the paper towel fibers don't deteriorate over the winter. (Perhaps I'll get some rags and soak in oil instead).

Originally I was going to look for the rear airbox that was removed from my bike but now that the airbox is finally out ther'es no way in hell I'm going to try putting that sucker back on. Def going to throw the K&N pods on my parts list even if they don't quite breath uniformly at cruising speed (as some here have mentioned).

Anyhow, at this point my bike should be able to sleep through the winter while I do the carb cleaning and parts painting in prep for springtime. With any luck I'll have more photos to share in the coming weeks.

 

[oldbutslow]

I am so damn proud of you!!!!!!! Picking up an old GS for your first bike, and showing the patience to bring her back to life. Extremely impressive in my book. Thanks, BK

 

[hampshirehog]

Keep plugging away - you'll get there and you'll learn loads of new skills and tricks as you progress.

Your airbox will fall back on now you know how it comes off - might save you lots of pain rather than trying to rejet. The 1100 airboxes are easy compared to some of the other models.

By the way and as you've found out, soda blasting isn't that great on stripping paint and rust. You can afford to use a much more aggressive blast media on steel parts (that aren't part of your engine - you don't want any hard media getting in there).

 

[wirelessguy]

I am so damn proud of you!!!!!!! Picking up an old GS for your first bike, and showing the patience to bring her back to life. Extremely impressive in my book. Thanks, BK

Thanks, I appr. that.

I got the bike b/c it was fairly alive to begin with. She ran on the bike stand but died out went put into 1st on the pavement. Hopefully the carb cleaning with do the trick. Other than that and replacing the exhaust I'm hoping that there aren't many mechanical ghosts keeping me from riding next season.

 

[wirelessguy]

Keep plugging away - you'll get there and you'll learn loads of new skills and tricks as you progress.

Your airbox will fall back on now you know how it comes off - might save you lots of pain rather than trying to rejet. The 1100 airboxes are easy compared to some of the other models.

By the way and as you've found out, soda blasting isn't that great on stripping paint and rust. You can afford to use a much more aggressive blast media on steel parts (that aren't part of your engine - you don't want any hard media getting in there).

Question - I believe that because I replaced the V&H street exhaust with the sidewinder that I may in fact need to rejet anyhow. Can anyone confirm this?

I suppose I could put the airbox back on but it all depend on how much muscle it really takes to get everything re-mounted. In general, I find that the demolition phase is far easier than the rebuild but perhaps I'm wrong in this case.

I was planning on trying the soda blasting on the carbs. Was that what you were suggesting or were you saying that there was coarser media that would be worth trying?

Thanks.

 

[Bad Kaw]

Keep it going!

 

[bigbill808]

hang in there brother!! it is well worth it in the end. you will own a bike you will be very proud of and very satisfying to ride!!

 

[wirelessguy]

Thought I'd revive this thread with a small update.

It's been quite a while since my last posting and sadly I couldn't get my local shop to really give the bike the attention needed. With any luck a GSr here will be stopping by tomorrow to help me square away my remaining issues.

For now, here's what she looks like...

 

[Tech73]

I like the look of the red and black. Looks much better than when you got it.