Rebuilding the '80 Wes Cooley

[russr33]

Well I had pics of when all the parts came in and other progress but they are on another camera that's at a friend's house so screw it, on to the good stuff. The covers and fork legs came back from the polisher and as I said the new parts came in and everything went back on and she started to look pretty nice.





Engine cover emblems were obviously different than stock, and that was kind of a bummer but not too big a deal. I'll search for those, but in the mean-time the ones flatout had actually look pretty good.

[jwhelan65]

Nice!

Looking awesome Rus!..another Cooley saved! great work so far, whats next?

[80GS1000]

Wow, very nice! Have you ridden it yet?

I'm putting a replica "S" fairing on my bike soon and need a paint template - would you mind taking a pic of your fairing head-on to see the blue part of the fairing? Kinda like this pic but looking straight at the headlight. Much obliged...!

[russr33]

Last was the exhaust. The V&H got sandblasted, then treated to 5 coats of VHT exhaust paint. I had actually bought some of that Techline coating paint and bought a detail paint sprayer, but the fact is I'm going to get some type of new exhaust soon and couldn't justify the close to a hundred dollars for the techline and sprayer. I'll return them unless someone on the forum wants them. The techline is supposed to be great and have a closer to gloss finish. I was quite pleased however with the VHT.

[russr33]

Wow, very nice! Have you ridden it yet?

I'm putting a replica "S" fairing on my bike soon and need a paint template - would you mind taking a pic of your fairing head-on to see the blue part of the fairing? Kinda like this pic but looking straight at the headlight. Much obliged...!

Be happy too. I'll PM it to you shortly.

[russr33]

So finally it was time to fire her up for real. Put a gallon of gas in...



Then hit the starter. Turning the key on usually helps . The smoke is from the VHT curing. For those not familiar with the "S" model, that's the choke I'm holding up with my left hand. Kind of different. Holding the camera is my good friend David, who is one helluva mechanic/teacher and a great friend. Thanks mate!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X*@%^$*@%^$*@%^$DCb0FIc

[russr33]

So the video was shot just a few hours ago. I was all psyched and threw it in the back of the truck(it was at david's house) and on the way home stopped to fill her up so I could take her for her maiden voyage. Had about 3+ gallons in and looked down and disaster! Gas pouring out. Leaking fuel sending gasket/seal. ^%!$^$#!#! Fuel all over bike,truck,me. Drove the block home and got the tank off and drained. We'll try and put some sealer on it and see if it will hold while I order a new one. We're going for a good ride tomorrow so I hope it works. If not I'll be on the '78. Nothing is ever easy.....

[Nessism]

Good deal Russ! Glad you got it started and will soon get a chance to ride it. I'm jealous.

[steve murdoch]

Russ, that is outstanding!
The whole package looks great and i really like the look of the seat. Slightly stepped and level with the rear cowling.
A few pics of the rest of the fleet in the garage would be nice as well.

[reddirtrider]

Looks and sounds great. I've always liked the Cooley bike.

[russr33]

Russ, that is outstanding!
The whole package looks great and i really like the look of the seat. Slightly stepped and level with the rear cowling.
A few pics of the rest of the fleet in the garage would be nice as well.

Thanks Steve; here you go. The Kat is a new addition. Picked up Friday from Astroman. Came with all the bits for gsxr/bandit conversion. Front end, wheels, swinger, rotors, brakes, etc. I'll start a thread on it soon.

[drhach]

Wow, the world's fastest motorcycle rebuild. Either you are currently unemployed or you have a very understanding wife. Nice job.

[russr33]

Wow, the world's fastest motorcycle rebuild. Either you are currently unemployed or you have a very understanding wife. Nice job.

Ha! No wife and self employed so they can't fire me. I was just lazy with posting during the rebuild. Has acually taken about 4 months.

[first timer]

Awsome work Russ! You have a kill fleet there!

[nisom512]

Well I haven't been good at all in keeping up to date on the rebuild, so I'll start now; better late than never. I bought this 1980 GS1000S back in October, a non runner that had been sitting for almost 20 years. Good news was it was low mileage (a little over 11,000) and was in decent shape cosmetically. Bad news was engine was locked up tight and tank was in pretty bad shape. Here's how she was when I got her home:



First thing I did was to get tank cleaned and repaired and seat recovered (seat wasn't really high on the list it just turned out that way).



When I pulled the carbs off, ugh.... (a sign of things to come). Yes that is a pile of rust that came out when I pulled the bowls off! So carbs are absolute junk but the good news was Nessism needed some carb parts for his Cooley rebuild so off they went to him. Also good that the bike came with another set of carbs which were in good shape.

waht that thing under water?