My 1980 GS850L nearing road readiness..

[havoc]

For those of you that have seen my rebuild project over in the "in the garage" section, I posted my first update in a long time tonight. I've been working on her again pretty
steadily for the last month or so. She still needs a lot of work; but, within 2 weeks (hopefully) she'll be rolling under
her own power again and road ready. She won't be finished at that point; but, near enough to it to put a smile on my face.

I'm still debating the issue of what paint scheme she'll wear. It won't be stock. Link to my website below or you can check out the pics via the link in the garage. Cheers!

http://home.insightbb.com/~havoc/

[j.w.napier]

wow

you've come a long way from the wally world parking lot. :shock:are you going to do any custom work or is it more of a full resto project? let us know how it's going. j.w.napier

[Fanning]

Yes, curious minds want to know... Looking good man. Keep it up guy.

[BassCliff]

The home stretch

Mr. havoc,

It must feel great to finally start to see the light at the end of the tunnel. All that hard work and patience is about to pay off. Well done.

Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

[havoc]

you've come a long way from the wally world parking lot. :shock:are you going to do any custom work or is it more of a full resto project? let us know how it's going. j.w.napier

LOL. Yes, I have

I've got a bit of custom work planned. She's not going to be stock when finished. At this point I've already deviated a bit from stock.

The Bike is an 80, rebuilt on an 82 frame. The engine is from an '80 G model. The airbox is L model and is, this far, not lining up even after changing out the boots. So I may be modding it or changing to pods.

She'll have a Gloss black coat for the time being. That will be modified as I get the graphics designed.

The long term goal is to put a modded larger tank on her with custom single seatpan, harley rear fender and mounts with passenger pad on the fender. I've seen this done on other bikes and I really like it. But, the seat I have in mind will be more like that on the 2000 Marauder, which, incidentally, looks quite good on the bike. For now, I'm just trying to get her rideable so I can start enjoying the bike and get rid of my last Honda.

[havoc]

Mr. havoc,

It must feel great to finally start to see the light at the end of the tunnel. All that hard work and patience is about to pay off. Well done.

Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

Feels fantastic. I haven't updated my website yet; but, I've done more work since the last posted update.

I ran through and snugged all the bolts from axel to axel. The top clamp has finally been tightened down to the forks. Carbs were mounted two days ago. Throttle and choke have been situated accordingly. Topped the fluids; but still need to bleed the brakes. Mounted a G model exhaust on her last night - snug fit. And it looks better than I thought it would. I think the lower profile bars and mirrors may help that; but, we'll see. They'll eventually go in favor of something else unless they grow on me.

Major hangup right now is the airbox. I may have to go to pods though I don't want to. The engine and carbs are early 1980 G model modified to do away with the kickstart. Kinda wish the kickstart were still there; but, not gonna start whining about what isn't there lol.
Anyway, the L model airbox doesn't want to line up to the g model carb rack. I swapped out the boots and still no dice. So, I may have some mod work to do, or there's the pods. I don't like the look of the pods. And I don't want to rejet the carbs lol. On the other hand, when I get around to making the custom sidecovers I want, the stock airbox is going away anyhow. Decisions...

[havoc]

Well, poop! Ok, after analyzing the situation, it seems I was correct in my assumption. The G model carb mounts at an upward angle from the intake boots. The angle of attack is high enough that the stock mounting position of the L model airbox will not let the boots match to the carbs. Looks like it's only off by 1/16th - 1/8th inch; but, that's plenty enough. I can just get them on and they'll hold long enough to tighten the clamps, then they all pop right back off. If the boots were longer, that would solve the problem. They arent. But, I may have a solution that will work.

Don't know if anyone has tried this; so, I'll post it and see what you all think. The way the boots sit in the L model airbox, there are four steel tensioners that hold the boots in place in the airbox. My thought is to pull the boots from their normal positions, use the tensioners in a different place to seal the boots to the airbox and seat the extended boots onto the carbs in a non-stock fashion.
My instinct is that it won't hold and I'll end up with garbage in my carbs. Any thoughts?

[havoc]

She started tonight!

Got some problems to work through; but, she started tonight for the first time in more than a year. Doin the
basic walkthrough from plugs back to the CDI and from
the tank to the carbs. Got fuel flow, Got fire; but, she won't start on fuel alone or stay running.

[havoc]

Ok, folks, she ran and idled normally tonight. Used 87 octane for testing so she coughed a bit; but, there it is. Going back to work on the tank and sidecovers now. I'm
a tad behind my projected schedule; but, If I had a tank
ready, I could take her out tonight for a road test. Time for a beer!

[Mike_H]

As A fellow "L" model owner who has struggled with the stock airbox, I think the box will fit, but its a real B_tch! You may wanna try rotating the intake tubes to match the angles of your carbs better. They are pretty easy to move, though be careful with the steel rings. They're a pain to put back in too. Seriously though, getting the airbox on the carbs is the worst job I ever do on my bike. I tore it right down to the frame, and that is still the worst part...Struggle, Struggle, and Struggle some more and then, like magic, they will be on. I can't for the life of me figure out the trick though. Good Luck!