A GR650 Overhual!... And Improvement!

[dorkburger]

Jedz, I looked up the GR as per your recommendation in a different thread. Pretty decent looking ride, but the steel rear fender does nothing for me. I think it would look cool with some kind of gs-e based tail adapted to it. Ill be watching your progress.

[Jedz123]

Chuck
So I decided to tear into the front end today and do some measurements... Here's my findings


The front rotor is trashed, It feels likes it's warped and is grooved badly but it is a 275mm disc. Good news? I say yes!
ON the other side my rim is drilled for twin discs. The spacing was drilled at 37mm(as it looks)

Not sure what the pricing would be to upgrade to a twin stock GS stoppers vs upgrading to a huge single but that's my finding on my front wheel
The space on my front fork is 70mm... Not sure if this means anything. to braking upgrades but it looks like I have a half twin setup stock.


I did line up my exhaust pipes and try to figure a new manifold out with the stock bits. I'm half tempted (no pun intended) to try to fab a 2-1 out of a GS500 system or a GS450 Mac system. Just the heads are so much higher off the case on the GR650 to a GS450, so the GS450 system is not long enough in the heads to accommodate the clearance of the case... Maybe cut and extend the head pipes and it would work.

If I go the route of building one up with the current bits I will need an exhaust wrap for the pipe out of cylinder 1 is touching the frame. Any input?... I prefer not to us a wrap due to water rusting the pipes out if I ever get stuck in rain...

What I've done so far:



Glen
I'll be doing an early GS450E rear end on the tempter. I need to gather the bits from my buddy (also a member on here) I believe the L fenders are bit too heavy for my liking as well... I'll be sending the rear piece out with the tins for a fresh spray in January.
The seat back will look like this:


I also don't like the look of the GR650 seat. IT'S HUGE! Very fat, Very wide and Very thick. I will be slimming out the seat. The bike will look very nice when set.

[Chuck78]

Here is a GR650 forum from the Netherlands that you might find quite useful:

http://gr650.messageboard.nl/forum/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=1306&

That topic started by Big R seems to be Big Rich on here from my best guess. Says the GR rear hub is exclusive to the GR, but a GT550 uses the same diameter hub in an 18" rim, therefore if you wanted to lace up a 3.00x18 rim to properly run a 130/70-18 or 140/70-18, you could just find some GT550 spokes on ebay instead of going with custom length stainless Buchanan's spokes and a 17" rim. The front hub is the same shell as the GS1000, so you are good there if you decide to swap forks. I'd check chain to tire clearance first, and if that was plenty. I'd find a 3.00x17 alloy rim for a 130/80-17 or a 3.50x17 alloy rim for a 140/70-17. Heck, maybe with the lower profile, you could step up to an 18. check tire diameters for these sizes.

[Chuck78]

The 275mm measurement is excellent, as I found a spec online saying the GR had a 260mm front rotor. Here are the options I would say are best for you now, please confirm with Dan aka Salty that my rotor specs for his brackets are correct.

#1 - I believe the dual disc four cylinder bikes used two 275mm rotors. Salty_Monk's brackets will very likely work on your setup to give you a single 296mm Honda CBR/etc rotor with the 2 pot Tokico Ninja/GS500 caliper. Easy bolt on to your existing forks. Get a used rotor off ebay. with a stainless line and fresh pads on a good smooth rotor, you will have a rotor 1mm larger diameter and half the rotor weight of a base model 78 GS1000C or 79 GS1000N, and a better/stronger caliper. That was a very fast superbike that weighed 130-140lbs more than yours, for comparison. I felt that my mostly stock at the time and 100 lbs heavier 520lb GS750 had *just* enough power with the stock rubber line and the single 295mm rotor for riding in the hills and twisties like a bat outta hell, but always felt a little more would have been quite in order, hence my upgrade to dual 296's (and in the process dropping the bike to about 483 lbs with 3 gallons gas). Plenty adequate for racing down mountains even. downhill on mountains is where you benefit from duals the most, less brake fade with 4 smoking hot pads vs 2, but more unsprung weight to mess with your suspension's response.

#2 - Tried that and/or just wanting more? buy a 310mm rotor off ebay, one with a 17 or 17.5mm offset. Ditch salty's bracket and spacer, and get some 5mm or so plate steel. With wheel bolted into fork. take a left side Tokico twinpot caliper and position it with the pads making the best contact patch you can at the outside edge of the rotor (the rotor surface is slightly taller than the pads that fit these calipers). Now on the inside of the fork's caliper mounts, you will have the plate steel drilled/tapped and bolted to the fork, and you will see where your plate needs two more holes drilled in it to bolt the caliper through to it. trace out where the caliper bracket fits onto the adapter bracket, trace out the mounts on the alloy fork leg, and trim off all excess and drill some holes in it to lighten the plate up and make it look more trick. Throw a scalloped angle cut in there on the exposed bottom rear side. There you have it, your own adapter plate that will make those calipers work on the 275 single rotor fork.
I think this is what Suzuki_Don did, and he said the caliper is closer to his spokes, but still adequate clearance.
With your forks in the 310 setup, the top hole on the caliper bracket is only aligned about halfway into the fork hole, so without a bunch more metalwork, you will have to run the caliper back off the fork towards the rear of the bike a slight bit enough for the bolt head to clear the side of the fork mount that is bolting the adapter plate to the fork.

#2B - if you can weld, you can run the 23mm offset 310mm rotor (and/or most likely the 21.5mm offset version) and just weld more 5mm plate steel to the Tokico caliper's steel bracket without having an adapter plate that spaces the caliper or rotor over 5mm one way or the other (what I did except I couldn't find used 23mm offset 599 Hornet rotors so I went with the 17mm offset + rotor spacer). I would save this option for the proper forks that came with a Suzuki GS 295mm single disc, as it's a bit more work for a very nice final product, best to have the higher up mounts to have less force/stress on the fork mounts.

#3 - if you tried the above and/or really think you want duals for the downhills in the mountains, you have the left caliper already, buy another and get a set of 35mm GS750 or GS650 forks (or 37mm GS1000 or 79 GS850 forks) and a second (or both ) 296 rotors! Dual 310's makes for the bigger bracket for starters, and also is way way overkill and will probably end with you locking up the front wheel accidentally and putting the bike down, especially considering the light weight of your bike.

I think I'd go for 2B with the 295mm rotor'd GS forks if you could weld or have someone weld that bracket up for you with an extension similar to mine but larger. Try it out with your forks if you want, with just a bolt on adapter bracket. If you get the 21.5-23mm offset rotors, you can do like Salty's and mount the bracket on the outside of the fork and space the caliper over to the same plane that the original caliper mounted on, but this one will be out only bolted to the adapter bracket.

Or if you aren't concerned at all about giving it a trial period to get the pads bedded in and testing out it's performance thereafter, Just go for the 78 GS1000C or 79 GS1000N base model single disc forks, make an adapter bracket nearly identical to mine (the caliper will be 1 or 2 degrees further out than mine), and there you have it, monstrous lightweight 310mm floating rotor two piston caliper brake! I think this may be your best bang for the buck. You could do it with your stock fork as well but the caliper will be 10mm higher than the original caliper, and the bottom mount will see a lot more rearward force from the arcing angle of the braking forces pivoting the top mounted caliper from above the top mount's axis.

If the single 295mm was just enough to stop a 550lb liter sized 135mph superbike "good" for 1978 standards, then a lighter 400-some pound bike with only 2/3 the power should stop amazingly well with a single 310.

[Grimly]

If I may throw tuppence into the ring - I wonder if any of the many thousands of aftermarket 2-1 XS650 exhausts might yield some useful bends and straight bits. The Yam cylinders are vertical, but if the port sizes are close, you might be into an easier route, if something can be picked up and offered up for a trial fit.

[Chuck78]

On the forks, the ultralight BiMoTa SB2 and SB2/80 were GS750 based race chassis from 1977-1979. the bikes weighed 75lbs less than stock withthe horsepower of a GS1000, & had 35mm Cerrani forks and dual 280mm discs. Then the GS1000 based SB3 came out in 1980 and upgraded to 38mm Marzocchi forks but downgraded rotor size at least to dual 260mm fronts. Those vintage limited production superbikes handle nearly as good as many of the top sport bikes of today even. Something to think about.

The 77 gs750 forks I have measure798mm center of axle to top of fork tube (not top of cap), with me pulling it fully extended against the top out spring.the 81 GS650G forks I am running are around 788. if yours are much shorter, I can try & measure the 77 gs550b with some help. If nearly 800 is too tall, its a good excuse to run clipons on top of the triples if you wanted the 37mm forks.

[Jedz123]

Thanks Chuck for the information over load. I'm currently looking into a couple options right now. One being I keep the stock 35mm forks (for they work fine) and upgrade to a big single stopper. 296mm or 310 mm. I can weld ok but I'm going to price out all my options to run. I think a 296mm with a twin pot caliper and stainless lines will bring me to my goal of the 33% increase of stopping power from the front end and eliminate the mushy brake lever.

My FZ1 is the next to go in the shop. Once I decommission her from daily ride duty when the big block Suzuki comes in, she will be my knee dragging lightweight bike for those aggressive days I want to go out and be a hooligan. Already looking for a Train 11550E circle light for that project and R1 inverted forks... Naked gen 1 FZ1 with a modified 05 motor... Ivan kit, advancer, hooligan gearing, reinstall my full Muzzy exhaust system... Yeah now that's what I'll be using for the twisties...

The goal I have for the GR is to have a decent ridding machine that functions as a day cruiser but looks great. It will be set for an occasional spirited jaunt if I decided to wring the throttle out, I'm not looking for a full on performance bike, because lets face it... it's not. I want it to run perfect, upgrade bits that need replacing (rear shock, front brakes, High tinsel chain, lighting), it needs to perform well when I need it to but most importantly look GREAT!(most of the budget is going into cosmetics and paint job)... The bike will only be used on nice days (avoid rain) for long day cruises (mostly 2 up) and will not be a duty or hard ridden bike. Likely only put a couple thousand easy miles on it a year...

Dave
Thanks for the idea. I plan on looking into XS 650 pipes. Never even crossed my mind. As long as the ports match it should work. Might be bent a bit up but that's OK for I plan on running a Yoshi muffler anyway... didn't even cross my mind...

Thanks Guys.

[Jedz123]

Beauty is in the DETAILS!

Yesterday I spent a good chunk of time restoring bits before they went back on the bike...

First Items were the coils. Typical corrosion after 33 years...

Broke out the bench grinder and ran it for hours yesterday but every bolt, every screw is getting refurbished before she goes back on the bike
here's the polish of the coil bolts

Coils are done and ready for Install

Horn Was something to be desired... Thought about just replacing it but notice it looked to be a high quality unit...

With some brass paint on the top piece the rest polished right up nicely. It's actually a really nice Nikko Horn

The Starter Solenoid had corroded terminals... All the bolts were rusted, caked with grim and dirt


Polished everything Right up and cleaned the whole unit out Looks like new again!

Carbs are cleaned inside and so I Just decided to do a topical polish and I will be replacing all the 33 Year old rubber with new...
Dirty rack


NOW they look good! All the brass fitting and nipples are polished up, Removed all the gunk, grim and varnish... Polish and Ready for me to install the new jet kit.



Sorry picture quality sucks some... Lighting isn't the best in my shop.

Next I need to refurbish the Battery box for there is allot of corrosion and grim on it.

I'm also going to clean out the wiring harness, all the pins and connecters then re-loom it with fresh wire loom plastics. Think of swapping out the black [plastic loom with red.

Still intend on buying the R6 shock this Friday... I have a buddy who is going to try to custom build an exhaust for me (welder) for a decent price. I'm going to see how much it will cost and report when those findings come in.

It's going to be fresh for Spring!

[eil]

Looking good! I need to do this to my 850 in the worst way.

Random question: after cleaning/polishing the little steel bits (bolts, carb brackets, etc), how do you keep the surface rust away? Light coat of clear? Polish/wax/happy thoughts?

[Jedz123]

I use a combination of chain wax and K&N filter oil... LOL It's odd but it sticks to the parts, gives them a sheen then dries and stays.

[Jedz123]

MOre bolts being touched up today...
Before



After

Next is to tackle the battery box.
Coating it now with spray on DIP IT. Pics tomorrow after it dries.


It's looking nicer every day!!

[Jedz123]

Well Had a rough day today. I started to button up the bike and noticed that the shifter lever failed to move... IT was jammed and I couldn't figure why it would do that... So since time is really in abundance on this project I decided to follow the shifter shaft under the the oil pan and into the clutch cover to diagnose what went wrong.

Along the Way I found a PO boo boo... Oil pan has no gasket and red ATV sealer had made it's way into the oil pan. Luckily the bike never leaked oil but I hate thought of that sealer getting sucked into the oil galley and starving a crucial component of oil... So I will be looking for a new oil pan gasket if possible... Hoping it is the same as some of it's brethren GS twins....

I'm not sure what happened but the retaing spring that gives the shift shaft it's spring action slipped off it's seat. (say that 10 times).
I had to fully disassemble the clutch system and the oil pump drive gear to correct the simple issue.

With the clutch out and the basket in pieces, I was reminded that the contact plates were looking a bit sore when I did the clutch job on it. It originally slipped in 5th gear while 2 up or under hard load. I ended up replacing with post factory EBC GS500F springs and new fibers. That corrected the problem. I decided in the sake of the new components I'd do a once over on the contact plates.

Here is what the plates looked like, not the prettiest in fact pretty bad:

After refurbish the are restored back to normal, cleaned off with a rag soaked in 10W-40.

Reinstalled the clutch basket and plates but I'm going to need another gasket on the clutch cover for it ripped... BUMMER!

So the bike will sit apart for a bit till I get new gaskets... A precaution that seems reasonable.

Oh, The battery box came out awesome! It should last a good amount of time.

[Jedz123]

Started to button the GR back together... I installed the sprocket cover and shifter to ensure that the shifter shaft won't move on me after fixing it. Cleaned up some oil around that area and ensure the clutch was 100% set.

I also installed the coils.

Incase anyone wanted to know what a GR looked like without it's clutch cover


So the bike is awaiting the gaskets for the oil pan and clutch cover. The ONLY place I could find them was PartsOutlaw.com $27 shipped... Not the best price but it's the only place that has them.

The 2006 R6 shock is also on it's way in. I'll do a measurement comparison once it arrives before the install.

Bored so I decided to tear into this...
Looks like the rings were the cause of the oil consumption.


Until the Shock comes in I'm at a stand still for I can't install the battery box and other bits until that shock is in and done.

Budget was tighter because of the gasket's. Tins get sent out in less then 2 weeks!!!

[Jedz123]

So I received my 23 year newer rear shock to replace the old and tired (not so functional too) "floater suspension" rear shock for my GR today.

I decided to show anyone that wanted to see the differences in the units, I figured I would measure (for measuring is to know) each unit.
Firstly the stock unit has a total length eye to eye of 325mm where as the R6 units has a total length of 290mm this should drop the GR down from it cruiser-ish posture to a lower sportier bike posture. I'm sure the R6 shock will also perform 10X better then the old stock shock.

Eye to eye measurement of the stock GR shock:


Stock 2006 R6 Shock eye to eye:


Another reason to swap out the stock shock is weight alone...
Coming in at touch over 10lbs is the stock unit:

The R6 is a feather weight at a measly touch bellow 5lbs!!!


NOW THIS IS NOT A DRIECT SWAP! So the top bushing of the R6 shock has a race bearing where the stock shock does not. Both share the same 10mm bottom bushing size. I had to manufacture a race for the top bushing so it would accept the stock GR sized 10mm bolt without movement. I used an old castle nut I had in the junk pile to fashion the race for the R6 shock.
Top Bushing without race:

The bolt assembly with the cut castle nut to be the top race for the R6 shock.

The new race installed to make a GR650 ready roller bushing in the R6 shock.

With my new race installed I measured to find the shock was too wide (where the eyes are on the R6 shock there is a wider flange, where on the stock shock there wasn't). So to mount the R6 shock into the top bracket of the GR650 sing arm assembly, I had to grind the shock down so it flush with the rest of the pillion. The goal was with the bushing ends installed on the shock the unit would fit flush in its proper positon on the GR650. I got everything machined so it would fit perfectly... It did take some shaving of the bushing ends but everything was flush and perfectly matched and fit like a glove.


I cleaned everything up and installed the unit successfully onto my GR650. Looks really nice with that newer R6 shock on there. Extra perk is my FZ1 spring adjuster works on this unit too!!! It's set at mid level for now... I will know which way to go when Spring comes and I ride it.


So as for the gaskets... I got an email from Partsoutlaw.com saying they had my items and they are now on their way. It just took a bit to get them into inventory on their end. Hope to button up the rest of the bike in the next couple of days. Christmas and an unexpected expensive car repair has dwindled the GR budget for the next couple of weeks. So I may have to think about creative ways to finish the project without dipping too much into my savings. I did find some oil filters at a steal; 3 for $12 shipped, so I bought them... Fits the GR650.

They are Volar's, I think I ran this brand once on my GS 750... Should do ok I'd think.

I'll keep you guys posted as progress continues.

[Jedz123]

BRAKES!!!!
OK so because of a huge budget crunch from an unexpected $700 repair bill for my car I had to re-access on what my GR650 budget is... I have to say it is going to receive some cuts. I decided that I will be utilizing the stock brake to keep this project in it's budget. I will be augmenting the bike's stock stoppers with a new rotor (the stock one is grooved and warped) and a stainless steel brake line.
Today I restored the caliper and master for they were looking pretty tired. They function fine but decided to dress them up so they look new.
Caliper when it came off the bike:

I broke the unit down completely. The rubber bits were still in great shape and the piston showed no sign of rust or pitting. No rust in the brake fluid and the pads are still looking in good shape.
I polished the bolts, decided to paint the caliper body gold and put the restored and clean unit back together. It's ready for service!


The master also worked well but looked horrid... Here's a pic of it on the machine.

Luckily most things on the bike are still in good working condition. I inspected everything and it was all in working order. Broke it down to clean every bolt every facet for restore. Upon removing all the bits it was nice to see clean and well lubricated parts...

I detailed cleaned everything and decided to strip the paint off the master and give it a nice polish. Took more time then I thought it would but I say it turned out very nice.


So I will order the stainless line and rotor once Christmas is over and I can spend a little more on myself. I know Chuck flooded my rebuild with lots of front disc conversion info (and maybe it will be useful to others) but I won't be budgeting out of a front disc conversion now during this rebuild however if I'm not satisfied with the stock stopper with the stainless line I will likely upgrade in the spring...

So next items to grab is the stainless line and rotor. I will also be looking and pricing out my new tires. Tins will be heading out soon, since this rebuild is mostly a cosmetic one I will still be planning to spend money on the tins.


Keep you Posted!