what did you wrench on today??

[handkphil]

new o-ring and brake hose

I had a very, very minor oil leak coming from the oil filter cover on my '83 GS450GA, so I ordered a couple of washers to replace the two that were missing, along with a new o-ring thingy. After replacing that (and curing the leak), I opened my mailbox to find two new front caliper bolts to replace the ones that mysteriously disappeared whilst I was replacing my 30 year-old front brake hose.

I bolted the front caliper on, bled my brake, and everything took about 10 minutes. Brake pedal feels good and everything seems to be working correctly. I suspect something must be seriously wrong with my brake now, as that went way too easy.....

[bbjumper]

So today I did the back tire. Some people say this is a hard bike to change the rear tire on, but I just took the top bolts off of both rear shocks, lifted the swing arm/rear tire up with my hand until the axle bolt cleared the mufflers, and kicked a couple of bricks under the rear tire. Tire was off in 15 minutes, and that's counting taking off the brake adjuster mechanism and the little castle nut on the torque arm.

While everything was apart I polished up the rear shocks, cleaned the brake dust out of the hub with compressed air and brake cleaner, cleaned the brakes themselves, cleaned up the swing arm and the back side of both mufflers, re-greased the splines on the final drive unit, and generally tidied up everything in sight. Wheel bearings looked and felt like brand new.

Just like yesterday, the guy I found on Craigslist mounted my tire, trued it, and balanced it - all for $20. Now it's all buttoned up and looking like new.

I'd like to know what kind of mileage you get out of that Shinko...

[Rob S.]

1982 GS1100e choke

Does anybody know the size of the screw that holds the choke lever to the left handlebar? (1982 GS1100e)

The guy I bought it from told me backwards - pivot it RIGHT for cold starting, he told me. The local shop (NYMC) straightened me out, but the handlebar lever strained, and benefited from a helping finger down on the carbs. Then the lever popped off the handlebar altogether.

Well, it's Christmas Eve (actually 12:30 AM Christmas Day) here in New York City and it's not raining or snowing. That means it's time for this Jew to warm up Suzi, put on the long johns and go for a short spin.

Any help on the choke lever screw size is greatly appreciated. And remember - air-cooled superbikes (and their owners) ROCK!

[Rob S.]

15 degrees

P.S. Fifteen degree windchill - shouldn't be a problem. Neighbors, get ready to be rumbled out of your beds! Merry Christmas everybody!

[Rob S.]

My first year in college I wrestled my CB350 down the stairs into the dining room. By the next year, my roomie had one (CB 500t) and we had a bigger apartment with a back (kitchen) door. Kitchen table, or two motorcycles indoors? It was a no brainer.

[handkphil]

More maintenance

Today I cleaned a few electrical connections and replaced my air filter. I also replaced the brake light switch in my master cylinder, and did a little cleaning of my starter.

I've been refreshing this '83 GS450GA in my living room for the last 6-7 weeks. Every other day or so I work on it, catching up on maintenance or making small improvements here and there. The only real issue left is that the bike seems to have a slow starter. It doesn't crank super-slow, but I'd say it only cranking about 80% as fast as it should.

Today I removed the starter cover, unbolted the starter, disconnected the lead from the solenoid, and attempted to remove the starter. This was not going to happen without removing the cam chain tensioner, so I just cleaned the solenoid wire connection and the bolts that hold the starter in (I think this must be where the starter grounds to the engine case) I also cleaned and greased the gear on the nose of the starter. After putting everything back together the starter does not crank any faster or easier than before. I'll keep thinking about this issue, but meanwhile, heres a picture of my bike:

[cowboyup3371]

Can you angle it up and out? I did the same thing with my bike last year and was barely able to get it out without removing the tensioner.

[handkphil]

Starter

Nope, I tried wiggling it and angling it and rotating it, but it wasn't coming out. I think the larger engines (having a taller cylinder) must have a little more room in between the top of the starter and the bottom of the tensioner.

If I eventually rule out all other reasons for my starter cranking slowly, I guess I'll have to take the tensioner out so I can remove the starter. I don't think that will be a huge deal, but we shall see.

The guy who owned my bike previously was not a mechanic - but he thought he was. The bike had a sticking float, and was filling one carb with gas. Eventually gas ran into the cylinders, got past the rings, and into the crankcase. He didn't know what was going on, so he just kept trying to start it periodically, and I'm guessing he damaged the brushes by cranking the starter continuously. As soon as I get another set of hands I'll check the voltage across the battery while cranking the engine, but I suspect I'm going to find a larger than normal voltage drop.

The bike starts now, but not as quickly as it should. It seems to run good so far, though my test drives have been no more than a mile at a time (I've had the front caliper off for a rebuild).

I'm just afraid that when summer gets here and engine running temps go way up, the bike will be even harder to start when really hot. Right now I'm making sure the engine is in the best possible tune, and cleaning all of the electrical connections to minimize current draw.

[Roland5color]

My high beam went out on me the last time I was out riding at night so I figured the switch was the problem since that was the one thing that I hadn't taken apart and cleaned yet. So I pulled it apart today to clean it up. To my surprise it wasn't that bad but the horn button sure was. So cleaned everything up and horn was twice as loud as it was before but still no high beam.
Turned out it was the bulb that was bad even though it checked out ok with my multi meter and showed no signs of being burnt out. So I purchased one of those ultra fancy bulbs and wow what a difference. Same watts as the old bulb but it sure lights up the road a lot better both straight ahead and to the sides of the road.
I also finally got around to adding another washer under the needles in the carbs. So they have been raised 1mm now. Final carb setup for my 1100 with stock air box and Vance & Hines 4 into 1 is 120 mains, needles raised 1mm and pilot screws turned out 3 1/2 turns. Bike pulls hard and smooth from off idle to redline. Bike is almost two smooth actually. I ran the old girl a little hot into a curve tonight because i had no idea I was going 70 . I had to push the bike over hard mid corner and actually felt my alpine star drag the pavement. Bike use to have a vibe to it at that speed now it's just as smooth as it use to be at 55. Good thing I learned a long time ago to trust my tires in those situations and focus on finishing the curve or I would have went for one hell of a downhill off-road excursion lol.

[StubbornDutchman]

After a week of penetrating oil, heat, impact drivers, and more oil and heat I finally got my pilot jet out with an EZ-Out. Already sourced a new set of carbs that i'll go pick up tomorrow.

[GSX1000E]

I suspect something must be seriously wrong with my brake now, as that went way too easy.....

LOL! Keep up the good work!

[handkphil]

Clean Your Oil Pick-up Screen!

I took my new-to-me GS450 on it's first serious shakedown cruise a couple of days ago. Went around the block at least 15 times first, testing the brakes, steering, bouncing up and down on the shocks, scrubbing in the new tires, etc. After that I went on a ride of maybe 15 miles. About 200 yards from home I noticed the oil light come on. I babied it home and shut the engine off. I could smell the old crud on the cooling fins cooking off, so I knew the bike had gotten pretty hot.

I felt the lines going to the oil cooler and they were both cold. I drained the oil and disconnected the oil cooler from the sump casting. Cold oil dribbled out of the cooler. I used compressed air to blow out all the sludge from the cooler, but this got me thinking about the oil pick-up screen. I suspected it was partially clogged, and boy was I right.

I just got done pulling off the oil sump casting, and it was full of thick, black sludge. Some of you may recall that when I brought this bike home a couple of months ago, I found about a gallon and a half of oily gas in the crankcase.

I have changed the oil on this bike four times since then, so I thought the engine would be cleaned out by now. Man was I wrong.

The oil pick-up screen was so clogged that when I took out the three screws that hold the screen to the engine case, a big slug of oil came pouring out all over the place. It was so stopped up that oil could barely flow through the screen. There were three pieces of gasket material in there that were each at least two inches long. There was also a bunch of rubbery scraps, and about a teaspoon worth of very small granules of aluminum (probably casting flash).

I cleaned the oil pan and screen out with degreaser and brake cleaner, and now everything looks as good as new. I'll re-fill with fresh oil and take it for another ride tomorrow, weather permitting.

Check your oil pick-up screens!

[GreatDane]

No wrenching in the garage...Wife is getting ceramic tile in the kitchen, so have spent the past few days on my knees laying tile.

Motorcycle riding sure seems pretty good about now!

[Gorminrider]

Good heads up,handkphil...you scared me good!

[trevor]

Well no wrenching but I did work on my garage to get it ready for the new addition... I'm am only going to be parking my wifes car in the garage from now on! So I will have tons of space for the motorcycles!
And set up my xmas present from my awesome wife..a 32" flat screen TV for my garage.