what did you wrench on today??

[MisterCinders]

After several cycles of vinegar and flash rusting, I finally tried the phosphoric acid method with some Kleen Strip Etch 'n Prep.

That stuff rocks. Cleared out the rust in a few hours (instead of a few days) and did not re-rust before my eyes.

Rinsed out with some water, then blasted it with WD40. Used some old gas I had drained from the bike some time ago (no lawn mower to use it up with) to flush it out again. Then installed my new petcock on that tank, mounted her on the bike and fueled it up with good gas.

She is ready to rock.

Pics soon.

[Steel Toed Tank]

First Post.
Bought a GS750T yesterday for $250 in NOT running condition. Got it to turn over last night but wouldn't catch, not even a pop.
Looked in the tank, full of rust.
So today I pulled the tank off, drained it, filled it with water, a handful of gravel and shook the living hell out of it. After the first "scrubbing" the water came out like MUD. 10 gallons of water and a dozen rinses later I finished beating the rust out of it and moved on to carbs.
Took the bowls off, removed and cleaned all the jets, put it together and slapped it on the bike.

Fired right up first try. Took it for a spin down the country road I live on and it was a whole lot quicker than I thought it would be. I had a GS850L a dozen years ago that wasn't nearly as fast.

Couple more things to do before the safety inspection later this week, but nothing difficult or expensive.

Best $250 I ever spent.

[Doby]

Almost finished with my previously wrecked RF900R now. This weekend I replaced my fuel pump, repainted it, installed my "custom" red decal set that arrived from Mexico on Saturday. Last thing will be to put a black stainless or carbon fiber exhaust can on it. Suzuki had the most garish colors on these bikes and I have always thought they were one of the ugliest so-called sportbikes ever made. Toned down with a semi-gloss black paintjob and some red, I don't think it is as bad as it was. I even kind of like the way it looks now. At least it is no longer the single ugliest bike I have ever bought, LOL.

The paint on this one had been sun faded, and the grease pencil insurance numbers on that weird maroon tank had marked it up pretty badly. Hopefully the previous neglector/owner will regret selling it so cheaply.

The seat vinyl cost $20. Paint was about $25. Decals were $15. Pinstripes were $5. Fuel pump (Geo Metro) $39 - versus a Suzuki OEM one for $310...Total recon price - $99 plus a set of tires that I bought but may not have needed. I spent maybe 10 hours on it. This bike performs better than my 2003 Z1000. I am a pretty happy camper tonight. I have owned this one for about a year, but other bike projects kept getting in the way. I should have done this earlier, since I think I am going to have some fun with it this summer.

Here is a pic taken this evening at my local Starbucks where I took it for a celebratory cup of coffee:

[Doby]

First Post.
Bought a GS750T yesterday for $250 in NOT running condition. Got it to turn over last night but wouldn't catch, not even a pop.
Looked in the tank, full of rust.
So today I pulled the tank off, drained it, filled it with water, a handful of gravel and shook the living hell out of it. After the first "scrubbing" the water came out like MUD. 10 gallons of water and a dozen rinses later I finished beating the rust out of it and moved on to carbs.
Took the bowls off, removed and cleaned all the jets, put it together and slapped it on the bike.

Fired right up first try. Took it for a spin down the country road I live on and it was a whole lot quicker than I thought it would be. I had a GS850L a dozen years ago that wasn't nearly as fast.

Couple more things to do before the safety inspection later this week, but nothing difficult or expensive.

Best $250 I ever spent.

Just a small suggestion: If you don't already have one, put an inline fuel filter on it. You will probably continue getting rust out of that tank for a while. I'd rather have the rust in the filter than the carbs. Don't ask how I learned this, lol. Congratulations on the find - and the deal!

[pete]

More Cucciolo cleaning tonight, and I got that pesky fuel cap off with the help of my house mate this avo'.

[wes cooley]

cleaned up this old nail. 10,000 mile 75 moto guzzi 850t. been sitting for twenty years. put a battery in it and a bit of gas, fired up and rode up and down the street. not road worthy yet, but a good start for $1000.00.

[7981GS]

cleaned up this old nail. 10,000 mile 75 moto guzzi 850t. been sitting for twenty years. put a battery in it and a bit of gas, fired up and rode up and down the street. not road worthy yet, but a good start for $1000.00.

Gorgeous!
I would LOVE to have that bike!

Eric

[Steel Toed Tank]

Just a small suggestion: If you don't already have one, put an inline fuel filter on it. You will probably continue getting rust out of that tank for a while. I'd rather have the rust in the filter than the carbs. Don't ask how I learned this, lol. Congratulations on the find - and the deal!

Yup, it had one on it that looked brown, until I rinsed it with a little gas and compressed air, found out it was clear amber! I wouldn't run anything without a filter, and because the rust will come back in about 6 months I'm going to get a much better filter for it.
The rust scrubbing trick I learned from bringing old three wheelers back life, usually I use a handful of nuts n bolts so I can get the last ones out with a magnet, but I had none. I did have a driveway covered in rocks though!!!!



WES!!! Very nice! She's a beauty.

[rustybronco]

The 80 850G had a 1.1 volt drop between the battery and the upper three fuses in the fuse panel.

I pulled the fuse box off and soldered all the connections and cleaned all the fuse holders. Pulled the solid orange wire out of the hard shell, coming from the ignition switch, near the fuse panel and tightened it up as much as I could. After that was back together, I removed the windjammer, the gauge cluster so I could remove the ignition switch to check the drop across the ignition switch contact's. It had only a .1 volt drop across the contacts. I put that all back together and checked the drop at the fuse panel once more. The voltage drop is now down to .5 volt. Tomorrow I will bring home a few bullet terminals to the replace the connectors on the two red wires, along with male and female spade terminals for the orange wire in hard shell connector. Hopefully that will take care of much of the voltage drop that's still left.

Need to clean up the little odds and ends that's left, then I can get back to working on the Skunk.

[cowboyup3371]

Tried to replace the airbox tonight and discovered the one I bought back in December is correct for the bike. So, I'm thinking my side mounting bracket messup is what's keeping this thing from staying on the number one carb correctly. Gotta figure out how to fix this up correctly now but the bike will be down for a few days until then as I was too tired tonight to put it back together.

[wally]

Took the 450's back wheel off to clean up and paint over the weekend.

[cowboyup3371]

Put the old airbox back on and really cranked down on the outside clamps to hold it to the carbs. So far so good but I'll let it sit overnight before trying to start the bike and see what happens.

[airbornespud]

nutzenbolts

i took the seat and tank off (first time i have not gotten a gas-bath when pulling the tank, thanks to the vacuum petcock) and re-torqued the head and valve cover nuts and bolts. hopefully this will stem the drips of oil from the left side. checked the plugs too. all in good shape. this 30 year old machine with 26,000+ miles continues to impress me.

[kingpin1958]

my gs550l

Well today I got the shims all swithched around and still need two shims (I already ordered then from Ray) I also got carb #3 put back together and #4 tore apart and is soaking overnight. Hopefully tomorrow get carb #4 put back together and brench sync the carbs. New plugs already installed and 4 new plugs gapped and ready to go.

[pete]

More Cucciolo cleaning and dismantling tonight...