Just bought My First Motorcycle 1981 GS550L Could use Advice

[Guest]

Hey guys I just bought a GS 550L. It is my first Motorcycle and I got it for 300 dollars. It needs a few things and I think this forum is just awesome for people to help one another and give advice is just great. What my bike needs is a new wiring harness.

For some reason the Main Line fuse does not have power and the only way to start the bike is to jump the fuse in between the fuse below the main that is not going to work long term thats for sure. So I just bought a Wiring harness on the ebay used that im going to put on. I bought one a week ago and the seller got it off of a 83 and told me it would work but it has a couple of connectors that are different. So that is that.

I also tore off the carbs because when I took it for my first ride it started leaking gas out the carbs I assumed that the needle valves were stuck and took the carbs apart and everything was great I cleaned them all up and decided to take the floats off too and the hinge pin on #3 carb was seized on and I broke the aluminum post... So I just got a deal on a used CV carb on ebay for $85 bucks which I talked him down from 100. That was my First Screw up.

If somebody can please post and help me to tell me how to sync the new carbs I am getting I am worried I am going to have trouble after I clean them and put them on the bike they will not be synced for my bike.. That would be a HUGE help.
Or tell me if I should take the new carb I have and take the carb off of that to replace the one I broke the post or just use the new one and start over I was thinking option two.

A few other things I plan on doing is Putting single air filters on each carb. Much cleaner look and a lot more room without that big old air box and could be easier to service later down the line.


Another huge thing that I noticed after the guy sold the bike to me (kind of a schyester move) he hard wired the battery to a relay and ran the wires from the coils to the relay to basically say oh yes this is a running bike so I'm hoping that I wont need a new relay when I put the new wiring harness on and connect the coil connectors on the new harness it should be fine? Correct me if Im wrong and need a new relay

The oil Pan gasket is leaking that is something that needs doing.

Could use new Tires, Rotors are scored ( Can I get them surfaced ) I will put how thick they are on here. I want to clean the petcock and update newer better looking turn signals maybe on the back a turn signal and rear brake light all in one would be cool.

And last but not least my seat is all tore up maybe re-upholster or just get a new one. Definitely after the other bugs are fixed.


Do you guys think I got too much to fix for my first bike or was that a decent deal for $300 knock on wood that I don't have too many surprises but so far I have about $300 give or take in the Carb, Harness, Regulator/Rectifier, Spark Plugs, LOF, Clutch Handle.

Great to post my first post, I'm looking forward to getting advice from you guys and helping where I can. Heres one picture I will add a bunch next time I make it down to my garage
IMG_1604.jpg

Sincerely,
Brian.

[mnferwerda]

Brian,
Welcome! Take a look at bikecliff's website for some of your answers. There are some good tutorials there.

Pods are convenient but wreak havoc with carb settings. The general consensus is to get it running correctly with the standard airbox and go from there.

[Nessism]

Please check my signature for a carb rebuild tutorial and the Newbie Mistake thread. Both should help you.

Good luck and welcome to the sanatorium.

[kerrfunk]

Awesome first post. Welcome. I started on a 82 550L eight years ago and loved it. You're way ahead of me mechanically but this site is full of gold in terms of sharing knowledge and experience. Plus we know how to have a good internet fight. Stick around!

Last thing: do you know how to post pictures here? People love pictures.

[boles412]

Let me Try I only have one or two pictures I have taken so far Ill try and post them right now

It would only let me post one picture for some reason in each post I added the other picture I have in the original post, More to come I promise!

First night bike came home.jpg

[Phred]

When you get to the seat check out PITREPLICA. I think I paid $79 for a new seat cover with Suzuki embossing, piping, French seaming, and the grommet for the seat lock. Shipped from overseas, takes about 2 weeks or so. You will have to do the foam yourself but that is easy. If you have the metal tabs on steel seat pan, be careful when removing the old seat cover. A few of the tabs were rusted off on mine. I ended up gluing part of it with contact cement - the stuff that shoemakers use and gluing a strip of leather around the inside lip. Good luck with the bike. It looks in better shape than mine did when I first started.

[Redman]

Welcome to GSR.

THe fuse below the main fuse is the fuse for the auxilary terminals there on the bottom of the fuse block.
THe main fuse and the aux fuse GET power from the same wire (the bigger red wire) coming into the fuse block.
Reason I say all this is : IF you have power on the Aux fuse but not the main fuse, the problem is not the wiring harness, since the power for both of them are both from the one same wire in the wiring harness. THe problem is internal to the fuse block. Replace the fuse block, not the wiring harness. Actaully, you can dissasemble the fuse block, there are lots of clips and connectors inside the fuse block, but is kinda hard to get it all back together.

.

[Redman]

The relay to put power to the coils is a common modification to get full battery voltage to the coils. THis is oftern done if is some voltage drop thru the normal circuit which is thru the main fuse, some connectors, thru the ignition switch, some connnectors, thru the igntion fuse, thru some connectors to the coils.

.

[Redman]

I would say to leave the airbox on untill later. Seems that you have a few other things to work on already.
Taking off the airbox and using pod filters instead can lead to a lot of fussing around with rejetting to get it to run right.

.

[Redman]

You didnt say anything about learning how to ride your first motorcycle.

.

[Redman]

The better way to post pictures is to first load them into some photohosting site such as photobucket or flicker or something. THen copy what is called the "IMG code" and paste it into your posting.

[boles412]

Thanks for the advice RedMan, I noticed that the dash was working when I replaced the fuse panel because I got one with the wrong 83 Harness I bought but I figured for safe measure since the previous owner cut into the harness that I would install a new harness, I will still have to solder those connectors that he cut off of the coils. You said that is a mod and could be worth keeping that way? or will my new harness which is in amazing shape be good enough for that maybe go around and file all my ground connections and keep the connections good with dielectric grease. Ok with that next... haha

I agree with you guys if those pods will jack up all the carb settings Id much rather stay with the regular air box it was just a little bit fiddly getting the carb on and off with that thing such close quarters

And about my first ride it was great! Ive never rode a motorcycle never rode a dirt bike anything! and in the alley where my garage is, is a really long alley like a quarter mile long I took my time and got familiar with the clutch and slowly let out and taught myself that balancing on the motorcycle is just as easy as a regular bicycle so that was great and a relief that i knew how to balance on the bike and use the clutch which i thought was going to take some getting use to!

One other question I had is I bought a stock R/R off ebay because I wanted to keep with the originality and stock connectors but the PO put a Honda R/R on it that is hooked directly to the battery and he taped up the red wire that comes from the fusebox ( which was another reason i thought that the fusebox igniton switch wasnt working.) so I bought the stock R/R which is really tiny and i did some reading up and noticed that the whole reason the stators go is because the stock r/r sucked. what should i do?? The stator on this bike was recently replaced aswell.

Thanks for your help!

[850 Combat]

In 1983, the GS550 was a whole new motorcycle compared to the earlier models. Suzuki used the same basic wiring architecture throughout the range, but components and locations changed a little. You didn't mention what year your motorcycle is.

[850 Combat]

The Honda R/R is an upgrade. I normally hook the sense wire on the Honda R/R to the battery, and the power into the harness in the normal way. Check out the wire connectors on the three yellow wires on the R/R and see if they show signs of overheating. They generally do, and the red wire often does as well. That overheating contributes to electrical system death.

[boles412]

Hey guys Tonight I took most of the night to figure out my carburetor problems. The one I got on ebay came today and when After I cleaned the tops where the diaphrams were I went to the bottom and noticed this one I bought had a broken post too! no need to send the sucker back im just going to make the best of it and take the two good ones off of the one I already have and the good ones off of the one I just got worked out okay, I got everything together tonight still have to bench sync and stuff. I had a really hard time getting these bolts off that hold all four together It was so bad that I had to grind part of the metal off so I could get vise grips in there to tighten them onto the bolts to get them loose.. man was that a hassle but after that everything went smooth! here are some pictures for you guys, Glad to be one step closer. Lets hope syncing them goes without major issues...