what did you wrench on today??

[turbojonn]

Nice! That's the funnest part.

[Gorminrider]

Rewound the stator for the New 650. That spool of winding wire was a wonderful investment since I don't count the time.
That's 3 I've done. ah, Suzuki! I wish I could say I'm getting better at it, but I tend to experiment....this time, I thought to wind all legs at once from 3 spools to help get the turns in nicely....and miscalculated on the spools -oh yeah! ran out of wire before the last poles were wound-hawhaw too funny unwinding perfectly good wire.' Guess I can electrify a fence with it or make a lot of lovely Garottes for the CSIS Xmas craft fair...

[Ecklund]

Replaced the brake line between the master and the front brake manifold/splitter.

Why? Because while swapping out the handle bars I did not get the wires coming out of the kill switch housing where they are intended and pinched two of them causing a direct short.

When I turned on the bike it completely melted the brake line.

Picked up a new one today and the bike is back on the road.

The phrase dvm azz kept coming to mind...

[Grimly]

Finally turned the corner on the front-end re-assembly of the 80 bike and came within a gnat's breath of having it running again. Probably tomorrow.

... and it started up fine, after a bit of reluctance caused by me not using the enrichment pull to its full extent. Doh.
Which was useful, as it made sure the oil was up and around before it fired.

[dorkburger]

Screenshot_2015-11-29-19-38-27.jpg

Got some work in the garage done today.
First was the folly of hydronic heat in a cold garage part 2..... When we bought this house 5 years ago, renovations left us with a spare heater. I put it in the garage and connected it in parallel with the kitchen baseboard heat loop where it poked into the garage briefly to clear a door opening, and valved it to run water thru the heater or bypass it. I had intentions of sealing up the garage. It didn't happen soon enough, it froze, and I was left with a few hundred pounds of scrap cast iron.

Last week, I was at a job where an office was to be demoed. The GC allowed me to take a heater if I wanted, so I cut one out, humped it into the van etc,etc. Piped it in today, and added drains this time so it can easily be drained if needed.

Also the garage door has had about an 1-1/2 gap at the top since I installed it 2 years ago. Took a look today and swapped the top roller bracket side for side. It allowed the door more adjustment and closed the gap.

Between the new heater and a little electric heater I'm hoping to keep it warm enough to work in.
Along with some work on the GS, there is a lot of window trim work on the house upcoming. (New windows coming)
.....not looking for miracles, just hoping to be able to get the space in the 50 so I can paint the trim

[Grimly]

Got the last of the auxiliary wiring feed and returns done and was able to utilise Vetter's cunningly-contrived spare ways that won't be used for the optional horns in the fairing (the bike now has a pair of very Mercedes-sounding Teutonic K-Series honkers that will have hapless peds and drivers scurrying out of the way).
I'm taking it out for a run up the road tomorrow (weather permitting), sans fairing, sans headlight cover, just to see if it's handling right with the new front end and before I plonk the extra weight of the fairing on it. I'm surprised at how relatively little the fairing weighs, each time I pick it up, so I don't expect it to affect handling much, especially compared to the hongking great Acrybre fibreglass fairing I had on it 20+ years ago.

[Ray916MN]

Got around to doing the definitive test for rod knock on the GSXR1100 and #3 is bad. Pulled the motor.



Noticed the steering head bearings were bad too and pulled them while I was grungy.



Took off the rear wheel too since it needs to be painted.

[Grimly]

Another bold step towards the 80s. Or, the Vetterisation of the World.

Finally got the WJ IV fitted, only to discover an annoying slight unsymmetry in the bracket and / or fairing. It's only obvious in the spacing twixt fairing and fuel tank, but it might be the bike the bracket came from was laid down and the bracket pushed over to the left a bit. It will do for now though, and I simply am not going to take it off and mess around with it any more. When the valve clearances next need done, I'll do it then.
Anyway, the fairing sits well enough on the bike for now, complete with the shorty screen from the other WJ IV (the blue one).
That's a Koito 7" headlamp in there, replacing the awful sealed beam. The Koitos were fitted as standard to Mitsubishi Pajeros / Shoguns of the late 80s, and are reckoned to be one of the best H4 headlamps around, and for extremely small money, too, which suits me fine. Initial beam tests with it show it to be fine, but not had it out in the dark yet.
I've enabled the amber running lamps, but seperately switched, so they'll only be on when I want them to be. There will be a white LED DRL doing that job, and two auxiliary 7" hi/low headlamps, one either side of the fairing, for serious illumination. Those will have Hella units and contain a couple of cheep 'n cheerful LEDs to start with, but will be replaced with more upscale (and better controlled) LED bulbs later.
Three or four times the standard amount of light for no more than the original power consumption of the single headlamp, and none of that crappy eye-adjustment nonsense needed when going from main to dip. That's always something that's bugged me - dropping from a good high beam output to a relatively crappy low beam of one lamp. Who needs that?



The lowers are from an unknown source, but they're identical to the Pantera ones that came with that fairing. They needed a bit of trimming, but will fit ok, once I drill a couple of new holes and get new well nuts from ebay.

[kvillebuckeye]

Pulled the rat's nest of wiring out of the headlight housing and got about halfway done pulling the main wiring harness off the frame. Trying to make sure I label as much as possible for when I rebuild a new harness!

[fred smailes]

Grimly, I too have a Suzi (81-850g) dripping with Vetter stuff the latest addition being a pair of Hippo Hands.
The reason I replied to your post is your observation of the fairing being offset to the tank.
My fairing has the same issue being maybe, 1/4 to 3/8s inch to the right.
I thought the same thing maybe bumped at some point, but if anything the fairing should probably be a little left as it has a little road rash on its right side. I think the jig the mount was welded in was the problem.
You need the BIG UGLY Vetter trunk next,,, lol
Fred

[Grimly]

Grimly, I too have a Suzi (81-850g) dripping with Vetter stuff the latest addition being a pair of Hippo Hands.
The reason I replied to your post is your observation of the fairing being offset to the tank.
My fairing has the same issue being maybe, 1/4 to 3/8s inch to the right.
I thought the same thing maybe bumped at some point, but if anything the fairing should probably be a little left as it has a little road rash on its right side. I think the jig the mount was welded in was the problem.
You need the BIG UGLY Vetter trunk next,,, lol
Fred

I think you're probably right. I had a good look at the bracket and can't see any sign of damage or kinking of the support tubes. This isn't the first time that the possibility of jig misaligment has been brought up, and I wonder if the dealerships have any recollection of badly-made brackets and fairings being difficult to fit because of them. Certainly, as a new owner, having just shelled out many dollars for a new bike and new fairing, I'd be quite pee'd off if it didn't sit right and left a large gap to the tank on one side.
It might be that some of the brackets on the used market now are the rejects that got returned, or thrown to the back of the dealers' shelves, 40 years ago. Their history would have been long forgotten by now.

[Gorminrider]

Re: Vetter fairing mount- I have the same thing going on with a bracket made for a Honda Silverwing! I thought it was just me...And, it's got VETTER stamped on it, so I'm assuming it's the "real thing". Exact same fairing as yours,Grimly.
But there is no bad effect noticed from it at 120kmh- quite the opposite versus this bike naked.. I think I would notice too, because I've swapped naked->faired in the same day....curious, eh wot?

[Buffalo Bill]

Been stuck on carb tuning for the last 2 weeks, I hate it.

[lurch12_2000]

Been stuck on carb tuning for the last 2 weeks, I hate it.

Get a used fuel injected SV650 and do a lot more riding. It may not look as cool as the old vintage GSes, but it's more reliable, quicker on the streets, handles better, is lighter and costs less factoring all the work($) for the old stuff. Press the starter and no matter how cold it fires right up and ready to take off in a few seconds without the sputtering. Then you can ride more, later come home and tinker, and tell everyone you still like the old stuff and show off pics of the vintage bikes that mostly sits in the garage.

[WolfworksCustoms]

Just modded my Russian SKS to cleanly accept a 30 rd mag.....and yes, its fully legal....grandfathered under "historic"....a lil welding, a lil Dremel....smooth as silk now.....almost as nice as my .303 Brit....
I should get an FFL....be easy enough for me....

I also made my own sidestand for my GS700ES today.....that was cake....I cut off the kickdown part from a Vulcan centerstand. Piece of steel inside, and weld her up. Too cold to paint it today though.