My obsession begins Here.... (Caution bad spelling/grammar likely) Part 1

[andrewclaycomb]

at least you got to ride your running bike for a while. I had my "completely rebuilt" and "like new" bike running for maybe 2 weeks before it went to the shop for months and months of repairs. (I finally decided to start doing the bulk of the work myself after a year of getting screwed around by different shops.) I swear there is no such thing as a perfect GS. There's always something in the back of your mind that you know you will need to deal with sooner or later. You can only wish for later. For instance the thing right now is I know I will need to replace the gaskets in the motor. I'm hoping to put it off until this riding season is over.

[Kcwiro]

...For instance the thing right now is I know I will need to replace the gaskets in the motor. I'm hoping to put it off until this riding season is over.

when you do get to them definately take your time and clean everything... I'm serious... clean the **** out of it... then hopefully you do not have to crack it again and it will look really good and you will know it and not have to do much more than general maint after that...

I will get the next edition out soon... I had a crappy day and I just cannot type any more today...goodnight

[Kcwiro]

...I will get the next edition out soon...

Yikes been dealing with the bike and some other issues Keep in tune next edition will be out before this week is up stay tuned...

[Kcwiro]

Check...Check....and Double Check!

My Obsession Part 4

Lets get right into things shall we...WHERE's my Beer!?!? (gives Tmwnni a beer) ... 'ok now we can work....' 8-[

I will add a funny story of rejection here for my bike... my parents having not seen my bike were definately shocked to see me ride up on it...father did think it would be cool to sit on it not noticing his feet did not reach the ground.. the bike fell over and hit the ground tossing my dad onto the lawn... after just getting the bike semi-running this was a heart sinker...DAMMIT... fatehr was ok but I take it simply as my bike did not much interest in a 'non-believer' insulting the bike and took it upon itself to in this case... 'reject the operator' apparently that includes sitting on it LOL ....*pets bike*.. nice bike... no real damage that was not already there...my father just had his pride brused....moving on...

Well after parking the bike for the winter I am ready to start the work. the teardown I would think would be the easiest part of things...har har har... this can be challenging on its own.

First we strip the tank, seat and airbox (the part under the seat)....YOINK. Now onto the carbs after working all the cables loose and more than gentle encouragement the carb rack comes out and off the aged boots. Chain tensioner followed.....pulled the pipes out and discovered my problem with echaust.. one of them anyway... RUST HOLE about the size of a quarter the metal was just gone...

Now on to the valve cover...loosen the screws *dam* + heads to hell... Those are so going buh bye...all the screws off tapping with a mallet would not budge I mean vulcan death grip not budging. More aggressive hitting with mallet still yeilded no results...*yes I verified I had all the bolts out but sitll this son-of-a would not come off.

Worried about hitting any harder Tmwnni and I sided with using rope between the openings of the valve cover to get a more upwards angle combined with more tapping as upward pressure was applied..*Success* Take a few pics of how the cams looked and where they were then on with screwing them out...bagging....tagging everything...pulled out the cams and placed them in a cozy box. now onto the head...

More frustration with a sealed gasket not wanting to move. once again verified the bolts were all gone... they were...using a piece of wood wedged under the head and more hitting got the head to come free....Almost there now for the cylinders....These proved the hardest of them all. I had to spray PB blaster down the engine studs hoping it would help break it loose.... no go... this went on for a couple nights to no conclusion....it did finally come off with more pulling with rop and lifting with wood... the gasket just shattered into pieces when it litterally broke free..but it was off none the less.

The cleaning and scrubbing began here... I mean four hours of scrapping spraying and rubbing...I stopped couting the time after a few nights of just cleaning. I wanted these surfaces super clean so there was no chance of leaks... period... to clean the head I used a soft acorn shaped wire brush on a a air drill to get all the grime out of the head worked like a charm.

Now that parts are cleaned up I am ready to see what has to be replaced/machined/etc. I was not comfident in doing this myself had I lacked the measuring tools and I really at teh time figured it would save me frustration if I had the stuff checked out by a shop. I foudn a local one that had a nice older mechanic that was actually had a GS when he was younger... knew enough that I was put at ease for him to check things out. Took a couple days but turns out my exhast cam was way out of spec and the head springs were also worn, block was needing machining but was level so new pistons and rings incoming. I opted to go all or nothing on this so I ordered a new cam, rockers, springs and had the shop machine everthing....I had a lot of other work I needed to do while this was going on.

That included being all over ebay and requesting information. Found replacement stock exhaust, crash bars, gauge clusters, carbs, body components *missing* damaged and otherwise toasted. I even foudn a wiring harness....just for good measure.

....Best to say I stopped adding up the prices and was well on my way to draining a lot of savings into this thing. I got used to hearing the classic 'your crazy... why don't you just get a new bike' i would have none of that talk and learned to ignore it and just keep working. By time I was going to be done with this it would be a much better and smoother operating bike....or as some put it.. the most expensive non workign piece of crap that ever rolled the streets... i was young....careless....dedicated....heck I think I even wanted to make a game of proving those telling me all this negative things that I would succeed regardless of what they say hardly any word of encouragement instead just ... your crazy... blah blah blah... they were preaching to the wrong person* I was determined...enough said...

Stay tuned...