What have I done wrong now?

[JimmyR]

Thanks for all the replies guys - much appreciated. I am in Perth, Western Australia, and rarely see a bike from 1982, much less a Suzuki GS around here! We live in the most isolated capitol city in the world. Adelaide is the next capitol city and it's easily two days drive from here. So I don't hold my breath that someone near me will know GSs!

Well I got one thing sorted out today. Yes it was the timing. I am completely baffled. I know I lined everything up with the crank at TDC, but when I pulled the exhaust cam out I could move the crank again and they were miles out. I just don't understand it. Anyway, it's all fixed now. Everything lines up - once it was all torqued down I checked by turning the crank a few times and everything is spot on. I am an anal person by nature so how the cams could be so out compared to the crank is a mystery to me. I blame my Harley Davidson.

So I buttoned everything up meticulously and started it up. Still seem to have an exhaust leak - that is really hard to fix - but it's running ok. It's a bit rich but that's easily fixed. What is more concerning is the smoke. I would expect a little smoke on startup after this, after all, oils has been sloshing everywhere. But there was rather a lot of white smoke on startup, and a little when I revved the engine.

The exhaust is quite a problem. I have a custom exhaust because I wanted a 4-2 and none was available for my bike. The only guy I could find in Australia who knew the bike was in Queensland and has an excellent reputation, so he made one for me. But he used really wide flanges on the headers and it makes attaching the pipes very difficult and leaks extremely hard to cure. Oh well, I'll sort it out.

Any clues on the smoke?

[Badooka]

Smoke out of the pipes or where they connect to the head? Did you use a new set of crush gaskets when you re- connected the pipes?

[JimmyR]

Out of the end of the mufflers - esp the right hand one. Yes to new crush washers.

[Badooka]

It's normal to burn oil after a ring change- keep an eye on your oil level- Change at 500-1000 miles and by then the consumption should begin to stop and you will be on your way to many miles of good riding. If it seems to get worse then there are issues.

[JimmyR]

Thanks! That's a relief! I found that after testing with 27.5 pilots it felt like it was running lean but checked the plugs and they were very black. So I redid the exhaust trying for fewer leaks this time as I think that's why it behaving as if lean and went back to #25 pilots and sure enough it's running a lot better now with no smoke.

So big improvements. I still have to fix the exhaust leaks (long story) and then I think I will be able to finalise the jetting. Right now it runs really well above 4000rpm, idles very well but just off idle is quite poppy and rough. I think the pilots are pretty close to being right, and the plugs looks black but grey around the tips. So I might try dropping the needles a notch and see what happens.

[Charlie G]

[QUOTE=JimmyR;1699058] " I blame my Harley Davidson."


QUOTE]


Made me laugh. Now don't pick on the poor Harleys . Overhead Cam envy, I guess?

[Badooka]

Great! That can be the nature of the beast- you have to trial and error sometimes until you find what you want. Keep notes on what you do so you can eliminate mistakes- it's just too easy for me to be in the middle of something only to have to go to something else- at least with some notes you won't lose your place.
Make sure to take it easy on your RPM's until you break the rings in- after your first oil change you should be able to wring it out and do what ever you want!