1982 GS550L Project

[Nessism]

Checked #1 and #4 (so I didnt have to take carbs off bike) and there is plenty of fuel in them.

The plugs are very wet with gas.

I dont know what afuel level gauge check is? I'll speak of what I do know- The gas tank is full.

The engine turns over, there is just no ignition. Should I go buy new plugs? Will they just get wet again?

Okay, fuel flow sounds good. Next is to check voltage at the coils and check for spark by removing the plugs, sticking them back into their sockets, laying them against the side of the engine to ground them and then cranking the engine over while looking for spark. No spark means fouled plugs. Low voltage at the coils leads to weak spark and fouled plugs.

Oh, and I agree with Josh that you might not need those fat pilots. I'm not a jetting guy though so not positive. I'd just go with the Dynojet recommendations since they are typically sound.

[Demonthrall]

First of all, thank you so much to both you and Ness. I answered what I can below:



What's the voltage on your battery? if it's not turning over your battery is probably dead. I technically do not know, since I dont have a working voltometer. I can tell you that the engine turns over nice and strong, and the battery was new as of last summer. I fully charged it before trying to start it.



Secondly put the stock pilots back in. You do not need the larger pilot jets. The stock ones are stripped, as I had a bit of trouble getting them out before cleaning the carbs the first time. I can certainly order #40 mikuni's if you think this is something that I really need to go ahead and do. Does one size up really cause that much difference? I figured with Pods (and much forum browsing), it would be safe to move up one step.


Have you adjusted the valves? Not to be an ass but this happens so many times. Yes, all are between .05 and .08, with the exception of Exhaust #2 which is .10.

Before you start sticking pods and pipes and a that on your bike you need to get it running well in stock or as close to
stock form as you can. If you don't have an airbox then obviously you can't put it back to stock but you need to start with the basics. I never put new pipes on, but the PO drilled out the stock ones. As far as the pods, I basically had to put them on due to the extreme deterioration of the airbox and boots. I searched craigslist and ebay for airboxes all winter and found nothing. I decided to give pods a shot, in an effort to ride this thing this summer.


If you're sure you've cleaned the carbs well and I mean well I dissassembled, dipped and replaced intake boot O-rings, fuel needle valve O-rings, fuel inlet/vent O-rings, choke O-rings. I learned a bunch from Bass Cliff and a couple of you other guys.

then set the adjustment screws to three turns out and leave them.
They are not your problem. Done

Also if your jet kit didn't come with instructions find some on line. You should have had to drill your slides which you wouldn't know without the instructions. Yes, I found a couple of other directions on the forum, as well as a Z1 rep emailed some to me. I think I drilled the slide correctly, it wasnt too difficult.

Your battery needs to be at fully charged voltage and you need to assure you're getting spark at the plugs. I dont have a working voltometer (I blame my fender tube amp ) but I did fully charge it, and the bike was turning over a few days ago before I set out to rejet. I will check when I buy a new voltometer, but from everything I know, I doubt this is the problem. It turns over strong for a long time before it dies.

If you've fouled the plugs with gas get new ones. This may be the key. I will pick some up tommorrow morning. Will the new ones get fouled again? I bought the current spark plugs mid summer last year, I'd hate to think theyre ruined already, but it would make a lot of sense.

Your valves also need to be adjusted before you even bother with adjusting your carb setting. Done

Go through everything on basscliffs site. Do them. Failure to do them will leave you where you are now. It's that simple. There are no shortcuts I agree very much so. I would have never touched the jets/airbox if the drilled pipes and deteriorating airbox wern't causing the thing to run extremely lean. I am not some young kid looking to get 90hp out of my 550 by the way, so I do know why you are asking some of these questions the way you are!

Please let me know if pictures of anything would help.


I will buy new plugs tommorrow, a voltometer, and I'll take it from there. Thanks again

[Demonthrall]

Okay, fuel flow sounds good. Next is to check voltage at the coils and check for spark by removing the plugs, sticking them back into their sockets, laying them against the side of the engine to ground them and then cranking the engine over while looking for spark. Is this dangerous, being that I probably have unignited gas inside the sparkplug hole? Should I take the gas tank off before doing this?

No spark means fouled plugs. Low voltage at the coils leads to weak spark and fouled plugs. Makes sense.

Oh, and I agree with Josh that you might not need those fat pilots. I'm not a jetting guy though so not positive. I'd just go with the Dynojet recommendations since they are typically sound. I had to go with a Stage 3 jetkit, since it was the only one available for my bike, from anyone. My big fear is that I spent $100 on a jet kit that is too radical for my little 550. Can I safely assume that the main jet as well as needle/needle height dont have much to do with this thing not starting?

[Demonthrall]

UPDATE----

I got a voltometer (is it called something else?) and measured about 9-9.5 volts at the coils. Based on this, I went to O'reilly's and picked up stuff for the Coil Relay mod, as well as 4 brand spanking new B8ES sparkplugs. I figured why not, at $2.49 a piece. Installed the mod and plugs, with little trouble, however it did take me about 2 hours, not like the 20 minutes some claim.

Well fellas, you're questions pointed me in the right direction.

She fired right up and revved to 7k before I could hit the kill switch. After some brief fiddling with the idle screw and throttle cable, I got her idling. I still have to dink around with the throttle cable though. revved her a bit, it doesnt hang nearly as much as it used to. It still does not drop immediately down after, which I desire, like some GS's on youtube. I decided to take it out for a quick spin.

The first gear pops a bit, like its still a little lean, but 2, 3 , 4th gear pull nice and hard. I assume that because I have the needle with the clip on the top groove, I could lower it down 2 and take care of the lean first gear. This is what I'll try tommorrow. I did take out plug #4 just to peek, and its a little white, which confirms my thoughts. mixture screws were about 2 out.

The last time I took it out for a spin was before a valve adjustment, stage III jet kit, k&N filters, etc... what a difference. wow

[Demonthrall]

So I adjusted the needle, and found that I actually had the clip in the second to top groove. I moved it down two, to the 4th from the top.

Attached is a picture explanation of my results, since I want someone to look and make sure my thinking is correct.

The idle is much smoother, but when I rev the engine or come to a stop, rpm drops from 1200 down to 800 or so and threatens to quit. Could this be because of the pilot jet being one step up from #40 to #42.5? I always heard that erroring the pilot a little bit on the rich side is somewhat safe, but Its only what I have heard.

The idle is also a little funky due to the way the throttle cable is routed, but I see BassCliff uploaded a picture of the correct routing another thread. Thanks YET again Basscliff.

Tommorrow, I figure I'll try the 3rd groove on the needle and see what that is like. After that, I really need to take care of this idle issue. I hate that the bike is unreliable in that manner.

[Demonthrall]

I put the needle clip in the 3rd spot, as well as rerouted the throttle cable, and ziptied the hell out of it. It's too late to do a test run, so I will let you know how it turns out tommorrow night.

It's funny how fast I can get in and out of my carbs now. Shame is that I probably won't need to for a long while now. lol.

[Danjal]

I put the needle clip in the 3rd spot, as well as rerouted the throttle cable, and ziptied the hell out of it. It's too late to do a test run, so I will let you know how it turns out tommorrow night.

It's funny how fast I can get in and out of my carbs now. Shame is that I probably won't need to for a long while now. lol.

Have you been brain washed into thinking that no matter what you do on your 550 that you have to remove the tank first?

[Demonthrall]

probably...

I moved the clips to the middle position and took it for a ride. I was very dissapointed to find that it was still sputtering due to being rich. But wait! Air mixture screws! I forgot that after I bench synched the carbs (again) I left the screws at 2 turns out. I promptly adjusted the screws based upon the highest idle. My fiance's cousin came over to pick up his computer which I fixed, and I took it out for a spin while he watched.

SUZIE RIPS! I took it up and down the street a couple of times, and really wound her up. There is still a little bit of flat spot around the 1/4 throttle, but 1/2 throttle to full simply rips.

The idle, while steady, changes a bit when the engine is hot vs. cold I noticed. I think there might be some air issues where the pipes meet the engine. I noticed one of the screwholes where the exhaust comes out is cracked. How much of an issue can this be? I thought most air issues that mess with the idle were around the carbs? The valves were adjusted, carbs cleaned twice, new spark plugs, coil mods, and a full O-ring set from Barr. I also ziptied the crap out of the throttle cable. By process of elimination, there is not much else that can be affecting the idle, right?

[Demonthrall]

Took her out for a spin this morning, and realized that I definitely need to go back to the #40 pilot. The gurgling sound is purely under the 1/4 throttle mark, she rips above that.