Bought a 1980 GS1000G, needs work, help please

[SeattleGS1000G]

To make a long story short, I bought a beautiful 1980 GS1000G from my aunt, her husband(my uncle) has had it since new. I heard the bike needs engine work but since he is not alive and no one else knows, I have no idea of what exactly it needs done. Does anyone know a mechanic that specializes in these engines around the Seattle Tacoma metro area?


Regards,
Mathew

[rphillips]

Welcome Mathew. To make a long story short, You have very little info. for even an expert GS mechanic to go from. Those eng. are known for not having problems. If it sat for a couple of yrs. someone may say it needs eng. work & it may just need the carbs cleaned & reg maintenance. Nice looking bike, as a start how many mi. showing on odometer & any idea appx. how long has it been since last running.

[SeattleGS1000G]

He parked it a year or so ago, telling my aunt that it needed engine work. Otherwise it seems to be in great shape. I believe it is 58k miles. I was more-so looking for a recommendation on a shop or personal mechanic in the pnw who specializes in these bikes who could save some time verses a mechanic who is not familiar with this engine. I am mechanically inclined and work on all sorts of cars, trucks, and bikes, but never a bike this old and I don’t know much about it besides it’s a Dohc online 4, carbureted engine. Is there something I should do with the bike to get more information to you to be more helpful?

regards

[alke46]

Your best mechanic for this bike is looking back at you in the mirror.

Look up any posts or threads by Nessism and in his signature is a link to the top 10 newbie mistakes. There's also links from other members that will get you started in the right direction. They will be along soon to set you straight. Do yourself a favor and wait for them to come along --- it won't be a long wait, believe me.

Finally, welcome to the forum and the bike looks to be a very nice one.

[Rob S.]

Welcome!

Get the shop manual. If you can't locate a hard copy, it's available on line (Basscliff).

[Phred]

Alke46 is right. the best mechanic is looking at you in the mirror. You would be hard pressed to find a mechanic that knows about these bikes, and if you did find one you would have to take out a mortgage for it. I rebuilt my bike a dozen years ago by studying this forum, everything you need to know is here and if you have a problem someone will chime in. You can check out the tutorials on Bikecliffs website as well. Be sure to check the valve shim clearances as this is related to engine work. Easy enough to do and not as daunting as you might think. Most of us are cheap and shudder to think of paying a mechanic to tinker on our machines, especially one who thinks he knows what he is doing but has no experience on these bikes. You may have to invest in a few specific tools and some time in studying the problems that arise, however the reward of doing it yourself is priceless. It took me several hundred hours to rebuild my bike and a mechanics rate must be around $100 an hour now. Do the math!

[Rich82GS750TZ]

Welcome, ditto what my friends above have already said. This bike looks like your uncle took good care of it and even modified at least the intake, and not the typical cheap pods most throw on these bikes then wonder why it won’t run. I would guess that he properly set up the carbs to run with that set-up. but impossible to tell from a picture.

All the answers are on BikeCliff’s Website or this site, already in the archives if you search. When you use the search function on this site, always use advanced, and after you enter your keyword(s) set it to search Titles Only. This is the only way to get any meaningful search results.

“Engine work” could mean anything from an oil change, to valve clearance check/shim swap, to ring job, valve lap/valve guide job. We just don’t know. But all that and more is doable for someone even mildly mechanically inclined, with the knowledge base we have here.

It’s going to be important to first check that the engine does in fact turn. That’s an easy one and we can walk you through it or just search the archives. Once that’s determined, you can move forward. Some of the resources mentioned above are linked in my signature. Start with the Top Ten list. Go to BikeCliffs and get a manual.

You’re in the right place.

[Pete Wrigley]

Welcome to the forum.

As someone who sounds to be of similar mechanical abilities to you I find shop manuals to be great sources of info....

https://haynes.com/en-us/suzuki/gs1000g/1980-1983-0\

Also... I'm new to this forum and everyone here has been very helpful so no worries.

BTW... great looking bike.

[Nessism]

You can download the real deal factory manual here for free. It's much better than the various aftermarket manuals...http://members.dslextreme.com/users/bikecliff/

[ddaniels]

I would start by pulling the carbs and doing a thorough inspection and cleaning. Then go through all the electrical connections and either clean them or replace them with spade connectors. Then take the top off and do a valve clearance inspection and adjustment. Check the airbox and replace filter if needed, or clean it. Seal the air filter housing up good. Then try and start it and listen to the engine to see if there really is other work needed. You can find all the info you need to do all of this here in this forum. Just do a search. If you run into problems, give us a shout.

[salty_monk]

Welcome to the madhouse.... By the way we need more photo's.... Big ones!

More than enough info & advice here to help you get that thing running smoothly.....! It's a good model too & he obviously spent some time on it from the mods visible in the pic.