Proud to make my first project a GS

[FlordiaMan]

Hello everyone, my names Jon and im 19. Im a bit of a car enthusiast and always wanted a project of my own to work on, but of course living with your parents means no big expensive builds. However after scrolling through facebook market place for a while i found a decent looking 1982 GS1100GLZ for sale and decided to pick it up as my first offical project. She is a bit run down and in need of some extreme TLC, but i think with some elbow grease i can get her into amazing condition.

[FlordiaMan]

Here is a picture of the project

[rphillips]

Little more info. please. Needs extreme TLC, cosmetic, eng. running, rideable? Got pictures, it's been said without pictures it didn't happen. Congrats. & Welcome.

[Rob S.]

A shaftie without fairing, windshield or saddlebags. I like!

Welcome to the site. You have definitely come to the right place.

[FlordiaMan]

Little more info. please. Needs extreme TLC, cosmetic, eng. running, rideable? Got pictures, it's been said without pictures it didn't happen. Congrats. & Welcome.

She is running, but she needs all her electrics rewired. It has this weird problem where if I sit in the bike the engine will die, I think it’s grounding out because it sounds like the engine just stops.

I also am trying to go through and replace certain parts in order to make her more road worthy, like replacing the old rubber brake lines with sturdier steel braided lines and replacing all the shocks with more updated springs.

And then there is also the oil leak. I’m fairly certain I might have to rebuild the top end because there is quite a bit of oil on the engine, it looks like the cam housing is leaking as well as the head gasket. I’m really afraid that the oil pan might be leaking too but I’m gonna try and do a thorough cleaning the the engine so I can pin point actual leaks.

All in all I have some work cut out for me but I’m glad she Atleast runs!

[Rich82GS750TZ]

Great tip for finding the leak. Clean the engine fairly well and dry it or let it dry thoroughly. Spray all the gasket areas, tach drive and tensioner with powder foot spray (Desenex or other). Start it up. Leaks are super easy to see as soon as they appear. Could just be a tach drive seal or a valve cover gasket. If you haven’t checked valve clearance, you’ll want to do that as one of the visit things on your list of things to do.

also read and follow:
Top 10 Newbie Mistakes

[Redman]

Welcome to TheGSR.
Good to see a 19yeasrold that didnt think HAD to have a crotch rocket. (but, you can still kill yourself on this).

First mechanical task to learn will be to take off the tank (to get access to most things, in this case the ignition coils).
REmove seat,
remove the two bolts on back of tank, retain the rubber parts before they roll away,
prop up back end of tank, take off the gas line and the vacuum line from petcock,
disconnect the two wires connectors near backend of tank for the gas guage sender,
lift up backend of tank and pull back and up, set tank down somewehere with edge propped up so not setting on petcock,
Some drian lines will come with the tank - take a look at where they came from so know where to putt back.
go back and retain the rubber cushion mounts near front before they roll away somewhere.

Look at the orange/white wire going to the coils (that is the power from IGNtion fuse and kill swtich).

If something was "grounding out" it would blow a fuse (which you didnt mention). I suspect you are looking for wiring/connection that is comming apart ("going open").

Is it you sitting on the seat, or is it turning handle bars that kills it??
Try poking around the wiring harness up near the seat and around the fuse block.

[Burque73]

Since that's an L with a G tank, the mounts will be different. Hopefully the forks don't hit the tank when they are turned. It also looks like there is tape over the tank's filler cap which may suggest it has the tiny vent hole blocked. I think that vent is underneath the cap, but worth looking at.

If that hole is blocked, it will run for a bit, then die when it starves of fuel. Pull the cap off and see if it runs better.

[FlordiaMan]

Welcome to TheGSR.
Good to see a 19yeasrold that didnt think HAD to have a crotch rocket. (but, you can still kill yourself on this).

First mechanical task to learn will be to take off the tank (to get access to most things, in this case the ignition coils).
REmove seat,
remove the two bolts on back of tank, retain the rubber parts before they roll away,
prop up back end of tank, take off the gas line and the vacuum line from petcock,
disconnect the two wires connectors near backend of tank for the gas guage sender,
lift up backend of tank and pull back and up, set tank down somewehere with edge propped up so not setting on petcock,
Some drian lines will come with the tank - take a look at where they came from so know where to putt back.
go back and retain the rubber cushion mounts near front before they roll away somewhere.

Look at the orange/white wire going to the coils (that is the power from IGNtion fuse and kill swtich).

If something was "grounding out" it would blow a fuse (which you didnt mention). I suspect you are looking for wiring/connection that is comming apart ("going open").

Is it you sitting on the seat, or is it turning handle bars that kills it??
Try poking around the wiring harness up near the seat and around the fuse block.

So actually I was gonna write it but just didn’t take the time, I’ve already bought and painted a new tank for the bike. It looks way better than I had planned and isn’t rusting away like the current one. Tomorrow I plan to start rewiring the bike and also looking through the electrical components to see what might need replacing.