a little further along on my project

[jed.only]

my 79gs1000 has come a long way since it was given to me. it had sat in a barn for a number of years before i got ahold of it. alot of what i do on my free time is read, and this place as well as service manuals and anything GS i can get my hands on occupies alot of that reading time.

today we are loading the bike up and taking it to my inlaws, where i can work on it. i have alot of parts here and on the way for it. i had the bike running before winter hit, and now im tearing it down to freshen it up.

ive purchased 2 tanks to replace the one that came off of the bike, and im beginning the think my frame is a stupid "L" frame, because neither of them fit over the bars going from downtube to the neck and tie into the hoops, and the rubber discs the tank slides into are too wide.



today i installed my 4-1 drag pipe off of an 83 1100 (yes, 1100 stuff will fit a 1000), and my clubmans with new Oury grips. im currently rebuilding the rear brake caliper and will be replacing the front master cyl with a 03 GSXR piece. after the first of the year, ill be rebuilding my carbs and replacing everything i can. cycleorings had alot of stuff for me, so i got everything i could for this bike. i have a jet kit on the way, and will likely be putting that in during my carb rebuild.

i was giving everything a once over, making a list of things to look into and/or replace due to lack of care and chopping from the PO. im probably going to be rewiring the bike it looks like. im looking into going with a monoshock swingarm, but thats on the back burner.

here is where im at.




upon further inspection of the wiring harness, looky what i found left by a previous owner:



its going well, and i hope to be riding by the time the weather stays above 50.


questions? suggestions? all welcome.

[po-boy]

Unless the PO changed out the front end, it's deffinately an L (axle is in front of the fork lowers). I believe a 750 or 1100 L tank should fit. I have an 81' 750L if you need any parts (frame or suspension, controls, etc.). The tank probably wouldn't be worth the cost of shipping, pretty far gone. I'm no expert like some here, but the L part I'm sure of.

[jed.only]

Unless the PO changed out the front end, it's deffinately an L (axle is in front of the fork lowers). I believe a 750 or 1100 L tank should fit. I have an 81' 750L if you need any parts (frame or suspension, controls, etc.). The tank probably wouldn't be worth the cost of shipping, pretty far gone. I'm no expert like some here, but the L part I'm sure of.

that explains why none of the tanks have fit. i was dreading hearing i had an L frame. bogus. i bought a rad little gs450 tank (boxy style) and want to use it, but the frame is too wide at the front.


mine is an 8v since it has round cam cover caps, right?

[po-boy]

That's right, 8 valves, 1-intake and 1-exhaust per cylinder. The 16 valves have the rectangular cam end covers and 2-intake/2-exhaust valves per cylinder. I have heard that some of the lower-end parts will interchange, not positive though. You can go to bikepics.com and search by year and model to see the various tanks on their respective bikes. The L frame also has a different seat mounting arrangement, not sure what your plannin for seat/tail. What direction are you plannin on takin w/ it? Cafe/streetfighter kinda thing, if so be prepared, you'll get beat on for those forks. LOL. Don't let the nay-sayers stop you from makin it "yours", do it the way you want it, as long as it's safe, and then ride the ball's off it, smilin the whole time. Good luck and keep the pics comin man.

[jed.only]

yup, cafe/fighter style, somewhat. cant i just flip the forks left to right?

and boo on the 8v, i thought my valve adjustment was going to be easy and not require shims.

[jed.only]

motor is out and the frame is stripped. im painting the frame when it warms up. looking for GSXR running gear at the moment.

[Tarbash 27]

Valve adjustments are easy with an 8 valve. Also, just look for a regular GS1000 gas tank, it will fit. The frames are the same in between models. Just different mounting tabs for the tank.

But then your forks would hit it. So you have to get regular GS1000 straight forks.

[jed.only]

ah, i guess i forgot to mention, i got the sweet cafe-ish gs450 tank and clubmans.




sorry for the BS cellphone pic.

[Craiger]

Tank looks good, dude. I'll enjoy watching this build.

[jed.only]

that tank dropped right on my 1000L frame after moving the forward tank mounts from under the spine to the neck gusset (after removing the covers) where there are already provisions for mounts for other models.

ill be sanding the frame down this coming week and repainting, but only after it goes to the carwash to get 30years of grime buildup blown away.

[jed.only]

frame painted and engine out for maintenance.

[Gimpdiggity]

Frame looks good man.

I hope to take mine down to the frame this winter and clean it up nice and good then get it painted. I love the way they look with the frames something other than black!!