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Hey guys, I’m a newbie around here, and I was hoping you could help me out getting my newly purchased bike going. It’s a 1982 GS550L. I am going to try to describe my situation in great detail, while remaining concise as possible.
So I bought the bike about a month ago for $800 on craigslist. It has been sitting in a barn of sorts since 1994. The guy who sold it to me pulled it out and tried to get it going, but never could get it running right or consistently. So I get the bike, and decide that it is time for me to learn how to fix motorcycles (this is my first).
So the PO changed the plugs, air filter, oil, and messed around with the carbs but “could never get them right”. I found basscliff’s site, and decided to have a go at them myself. Get the carbs off, and notice that they have been removed fairly recently. They are dirty, but not what they should have been considering how long the bike sat. WELL, I cleaned the carbs to the best of my abilities WITHOUT unganging the individual bodies, (somebody told me not too). I noticed three things were wrong with the carbs… ONE of the pilot needles (fuel mixture screw) was screwed all the way down, and completely stripped. I ultimately had to cut the housing around the screw down with a dremel, and use a torch to get it to unscrew about 2.5 turns and then I just left it there. Okay so the SECOND problem was that I couldn’’t get the really tiny pilot jets out. One was already stripped from a PO, and the others weren’t doing too much better either. THIRD problem was that apparently the PO didn’t get the memo to use a socket to support the metal float post. One of them was already busted, and they used a JB weld or something similar to put it back together. Currently, whatever they put it back together is holding up pretty good, so I didn’t want to risk breaking it again by removing the float pin. I also bench synched the carbs to the best of my ability, and adjusted the floats.
So I got the carbs back on the bike, (not easy on the 550), and I still have the same damn problem I had before I even started with the carbs. Here is what happens…. Bike will only start when it has been warming in the sun. It usually starts on the first try, and then it will idle pretty good for about 1 minute. Eventually it will start to sputter out, and will die. After that it will have a very difficult time starting again during that “session” of trying to get it going. If I wait a few hours the cycle seems to start over. I got it running on a really hot day one time, and rode it around the block and it seemed to be running half way decent, but I never got it going very fast.
I also sealed the filterbox with weather stripping, and changed the boot o-rings and replaced with the recommended steel screws. The boots are in good shape. One last problem that I am aware of is that the inner most two air box boots (I think they’re called?) that connect the carbs to the air box, do not seem to want to go all the way onto the carbs. I have tried everything I can think of to get them to sit snug on there, but the inner two will only get about 95% on with a very small gap near the bottom. The outter most two boots are well sealed. Again these are between the carbs and the airbox.
So I am really at a loss here, and pretty bummed out. Should I remove the damn carbs again and try to ungang them and clean everything and risk breaking stuff? I actually have the oring kit, but never even used it since I didn’t take them apart. The bike is completely back together right now, so if there is anything you can think of to try before I take it apart again that would be great. Thank you so much guys.
So I bought the bike about a month ago for $800 on craigslist. It has been sitting in a barn of sorts since 1994. The guy who sold it to me pulled it out and tried to get it going, but never could get it running right or consistently. So I get the bike, and decide that it is time for me to learn how to fix motorcycles (this is my first).
So the PO changed the plugs, air filter, oil, and messed around with the carbs but “could never get them right”. I found basscliff’s site, and decided to have a go at them myself. Get the carbs off, and notice that they have been removed fairly recently. They are dirty, but not what they should have been considering how long the bike sat. WELL, I cleaned the carbs to the best of my abilities WITHOUT unganging the individual bodies, (somebody told me not too). I noticed three things were wrong with the carbs… ONE of the pilot needles (fuel mixture screw) was screwed all the way down, and completely stripped. I ultimately had to cut the housing around the screw down with a dremel, and use a torch to get it to unscrew about 2.5 turns and then I just left it there. Okay so the SECOND problem was that I couldn’’t get the really tiny pilot jets out. One was already stripped from a PO, and the others weren’t doing too much better either. THIRD problem was that apparently the PO didn’t get the memo to use a socket to support the metal float post. One of them was already busted, and they used a JB weld or something similar to put it back together. Currently, whatever they put it back together is holding up pretty good, so I didn’t want to risk breaking it again by removing the float pin. I also bench synched the carbs to the best of my ability, and adjusted the floats.
So I got the carbs back on the bike, (not easy on the 550), and I still have the same damn problem I had before I even started with the carbs. Here is what happens…. Bike will only start when it has been warming in the sun. It usually starts on the first try, and then it will idle pretty good for about 1 minute. Eventually it will start to sputter out, and will die. After that it will have a very difficult time starting again during that “session” of trying to get it going. If I wait a few hours the cycle seems to start over. I got it running on a really hot day one time, and rode it around the block and it seemed to be running half way decent, but I never got it going very fast.
I also sealed the filterbox with weather stripping, and changed the boot o-rings and replaced with the recommended steel screws. The boots are in good shape. One last problem that I am aware of is that the inner most two air box boots (I think they’re called?) that connect the carbs to the air box, do not seem to want to go all the way onto the carbs. I have tried everything I can think of to get them to sit snug on there, but the inner two will only get about 95% on with a very small gap near the bottom. The outter most two boots are well sealed. Again these are between the carbs and the airbox.
So I am really at a loss here, and pretty bummed out. Should I remove the damn carbs again and try to ungang them and clean everything and risk breaking stuff? I actually have the oring kit, but never even used it since I didn’t take them apart. The bike is completely back together right now, so if there is anything you can think of to try before I take it apart again that would be great. Thank you so much guys.
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