New Old Guy from Arizona

[Guest]

Greetings from sunny Mesa, Arizona where we don't shovel heat, don't mow cactus, don't slide around corners in January and just shoot the rattlers when they come around.

I recently picked up an '83 GS1100e that needs a bit of work. It is almost all stock with the stock exhaust and even the stock air box but has a different front fender, a $1.79 paint job and different or redone seat.

It had a cheap back rest that when installed bent the seat release levers and I doubt the seat was pulled off since whenever the back rest was poorly added. Therefore the battery was no good and the wiring shows lash-up that I haven't figured out. By jumping the starter solenoid I find the engine turns over - I pulled the plugs and will spin her over ever day to put some oil to the top end that probably hasn't seen any for some time before adding gas and finding the carbs full of dead bugs encapsulated in hardened 85 octane.

I pulled the oil filter and drained almost a half a cup of crude oil out.

I installed a new battery - one with the sensor probe and am in the process of trying to figure out the wiring without a readable wiring diagram. The one diagram I have doesn't show a battery light on the panel and with a couple of mystery wires in the harness birds nest, I haven't got the bike running as yet.

This is our hot season, so I don't spend much time in the shop. Home builders down here don't insulate garages and at my age and health status I don't see spending the several thousand it would take to insulate and possibly air condition the shop. Don't you agree that the term shop sounds much larger and more professional than just a garage?

So, I'm here to learn a little more and to have some fun. And yeah, I do tend to ramble on a tad.

[dorkburger]

Welcome. An abused 83 1100e was my first GS back in the 90s.... one if my favorite GS bikes. Good luck.

[alke46]

Welcome to the site. What part of Mesa are you in? I have a sister there that I visit on a fairly regular occasion. She's out towards the East near Sossaman Rd. and 72nd.

[GS1150Pilot]

Welcome from next door ...

[tkent02]

Home builders down here don't insulate garages and at my age and health status I don't see spending the several thousand it would take to insulate and possibly air condition the shop.

Greetings, I just found a $50 window box air conditioner on Craigslist for my shop. Works great. Mine would be too small for you in the Valley of Eternal Sun, but there were bigger units that would probably work for you as well. Maybe not all day long but if you fired it up in the morning you could probably work a good part of the day before it got too hot, especially if you insulated the garage door. Dozens and dozens of them were available on Craigslist for under $100.

Good luck with the bike.

[bonanzadave]

This is our hot season, so I don't spend much time in the shop..

So you can set up shop in the house. Small carb parts can get lost in the living room carpet and I wouldn't put berrymans in the kitchen sink.

Welcome to the GSRs.

[Doug]

Thanks all for the welcome.

I'm in SE Mesa - SE of Guadalupe & Crismon

Hello neighbor in Gilbert. GS1150 is definitely my favorite bike. I had one over 10 or so years ago.

Over the years I've had a '79 GS1000 shaft drive and three GS1100e's and the GS1150. My first bike was '62 Triumph Bonneville that I bought in '62. I haven't ridden on the street in several years, but did drag race in Colorado for about 15 years. First with my GS1100 that got stepped to where I had to trailer it.

Then I bought a TracDynamics frame and put together a 1396cc motor that ran 9.90's the first day out. They called me down to see my NHRA license which I didn't have and so I throttled stop the bike into the low 10's to avoid the cost of the license. I am not a fan of the NHRA which since Harley paid Byron Hines several million to get HD into racing, NHRA has stood for; No Harley Rules Anticipated.

So, until it cools down or I decided to throw an air conditioner through the garage wall will keep me from doing much past nine or ten in the morning .... plus I'm lazy.

Today,I spent a couple of hours at the Mesa library using one of two 3D printers to make a choke lever for the 1100. There must be a learning curve involved because the Makerbots they have are just not that accurate. I didn't one lever then scaled up my drawing and still didn't nail it. I'll keep trying. I can always get close and drill holes to finish size.

Oh by the way, I once pulled the 40mm Mikunki flat slide carbs off my drag bike and ran them for a week on my 1150 and they really perked it up.

Take care,

[GS1150Pilot]

40's are a lot of carburetion for an 1150!