what did you wrench on today??

[Guest]

Installed new OEM throttle cable. Attached ignition switch position decal. Installed four chrome OEM acorn nuts and brass washers on the head.

Here's a link to a new album on Flickr of today's work...

https://www.flickr.com/photos/129480799@N07/albums/72157682303172496/with/33554098170/

And here's an image with "before" and "after" shots of the left side of my engine. Making progress!

Progress.jpg

[gustovh]

Took the 919 off the charger and got her ready to ride.

V

[GSXR7ED]

They were in fairly good shape when I bought the bike. Only thing I did was degrease, and thoroughly clean em. The brake dust and years of neglect made it a bit daunting. Even after I thought they were clean, they'd dry and have more film on them. The pics don't reflect, but even during re-assembly I had to stop and continue removing additional dirt. and they're still not completely clean, but enough for me. I'm not into resto work. I just want the bike 100% mechanically, but when I have to disassemble sections, I just take some extra time to buff things a little, and remove years of dirt. After my last ride, which was during a melt after a snowstorm, I really dirtied up the bike. Not looking forward to cleaning the engine again, and the exhaust is covered in road grime too.

I find brillo pads cut through the initial stuff, then its up to you how far you wanna go to renew the rims. I just lucked out. Mine were decent looking after the brillo took the initial grime off.

PB

another pic

Pete,

I love that you have the same bike I do. Any maintenance you do, I am immediately interested.

Looks good bro!


Ed

[Pb9717]

Well then I guess you'll enjoy this good news....

Front end is DONE!

the job is finished with the final addition of:
- Fork Brace
- Steel braided brake
plus the
- Rotor resurface
- New Pads
- New Tire(s)
- New Fork springs/oil
- Polishing and paint to acceptable levels

Can't wait to take her on the expressway and compare it to its condition before the work was done. The last expressway ride was what prompted this whole maintenance job.

and of course, the mandatory pics of the finished job.


I took the liberty of repainting the fork brace to cloud silver vs its original black finish, as I've been changing a lot of the black trim to silver as I work on the bike.

I totally get it, why folks add braces on these older, lighter duty forks. I had one on my Seca 750, and it really makes the front end feel like a "single unit" vs an assembly of parts. On newer bikes with heartier, modern suspension it likely makes little sense, but on our 35 year old bikes, Its a great addition.




Now its just valve clearance, carb sync, and polish the balance of the polishable surfaces, and its done. ( sure it is )

[pete]

Serviced the 450 over the weekend... done 64,000km's since the rebuild now so I'm really happy with that!

And I've been back on the Kat project and have decided to do something I can actually do... paint all the brake components.

I got the paint finished up on Saturday, then left it well over 24 hours to cure and unmasked it last night.

I'm a happy camper!

I ended up doing 3 coats... the directions say 2 for fastest cure but I want longevity.



I just need to figure the best way to give the bores and things a bit of a final clean up before assembly, can't remember how I did that last time. I won't be assembling just yet though, don't want the new seals sitting around in brake fluid for months on end.

[earlfor]

Have the Bandit 12 in the shed getting new brakes, sprockets and chain, oil change and filter, new tires, fresh spark plugs,
and a valve adjustment. Probably do a bit of paint touch up while I'm at it. heh

[Guest]

Hi Pete. Those brake parts look fantastic. What kind of paint did you use, and how did you prep the parts? The front brake master cylinder on my 850G needs to be done.

[bobgroger]

Hi Pete. Those brake parts look fantastic. What kind of paint did you use, and how did you prep the parts? The front brake master cylinder on my 850G needs to be done.

And is the paint brake fluid resistant? I have not had good luck painting brake parts, maybe because I am a messy bleeder

[ddaniels]

Carbs all done and wrestling match getting them back in finished and I won. Runs pretty good now.

[kerrfunk]

It was Sunday, not today, but I replaced the starter without much trouble and with success. Rollin' rollin' rollin!

[steve murdoch]

Carbs all done and wrestling match getting them back in finished and I won. Runs pretty good now.

Any bloody knuckles or new swear words invented?

[Baatfam]

Again, not a bike, but the riding mower gas tank needed to be replaced. Thought it would be easy and quick, but nope....pretty much an all day job.

[mcycle-nut]

Dragged my wife's '82 GS850G out from winter storage. Aired up the tires, put in the serviced battery and it flashed right up! I DID fill the tank before I put it away and put in fuel stabilizer, so I'm sure that helped. She's picking up insurance on the way home from work so it's back on the road for her!

[Guest]

Dragged my wife's '82 GS850G out from winter storage. Aired up the tires, put in the serviced battery and it flashed right up! I DID fill the tank before I put it away and put in fuel stabilizer, so I'm sure that helped. She's picking up insurance on the way home from work so it's back on the road for her!

Glad to hear about your wife's bike starting so easily. I have an '81 850G that as far as I can tell sat for a LONG time before I bought it. It had pretty major carb and intake issues, but now that those are (mostly) cleared up, it seems really eager to start. I bought this one because it's the twin to one I bought new in '81, and I'm rediscovering why I had such fond memories of it - 36 friggin' years later!

[pete]

Hi Pete. Those brake parts look fantastic. What kind of paint did you use, and how did you prep the parts? The front brake master cylinder on my 850G needs to be done.

And is the paint brake fluid resistant? I have not had good luck painting brake parts, maybe because I am a messy bleeder

Sorry guys, missed the questions!

The paint is Eastwood Extreme Chassis Black, two coats of their primer first, then three coats of the black. I know it's not caliper paint but I have a mate who's used it with good success and it is resistant to brake fluid.

http://ppcco.com.au/eastwood45.html

You guys will be able to get it a lot cheaper over there too.

As far as prep goes, paint stripper followed by a wire wheel and then sand paper for the areas I couldn't get the wire wheel into. Some brake cleaner and then wax and grease remover before painting. (A few more pic's in my Kat build thread too)

And on another topic, spent some time looking at the Kat on the weekend after getting my seat back from the upholsterer finally... lovin' it!





(Yes the project still has a long way to go)