850G getting a little TLC

[Burque73]

Looks like I'm finally going to take care of those nagging oil leaks and a few other maintenance items. I pulled the trigger on an order I had been putting off for too long. Hoping to get this list of things done in a timely manner. I'll be learning a lot going through this list and will likely have to ask for help here and there.

This '83 850G has 52,000 mies on her now, give or take. I replaced the speedo and am not sure of the new odometer's accuracy.

I've noticed the steering getting a bit wonky over the last year or so. Looking at the steering head and how smooth it turns left to right, there's no notchy feel. Also, with the front off the ground, there is enough resistance to keep from flopping over to one side so I'm thinking maybe the problem is in the rear. I've never removed a swingarm on a shafty but it seems a good place to start. New bearings are on order. I cannot find a propeller boot though so I'm hoping this one doesn't fall apart in my hand and I can reuse it.

Some of the oil leaks are clutch cover and pinion seal
Cam end plugs, cam cover (real gasket silicone gasket ordered)
Will check vallve lash while in there

Stator cover (used Caltric gasket two years ago and it leaks now)

Tachometer seals and various O Rings

This is an ambitious list for me. I may try and strip the clear coat off the case covers and polish them, we'll see.

The only leak I'll let go for now is a slow weep at the base gasket. Hopefully it stays as just a slow weep for a while longer as I really don't want to do the whole top end just yet. It runs great and last time I checked had decent cmpression.

That's my list for now.

[Steve]

See if you can get a refund on the Real Gaskets. Yeah, they promise to seal every possible kind of leak, but the effort to make that happen is way to high. I tried one, my bike leaked more than before.

One of the things that needs to happen is VERY low torque settings on the screws. The effort to get the gasket to seal is VERY low, meaning that you likely need to use LocTite on the screws or go through the effort of checking them every week. An OEM gasket is FAR better, and likely cheaper. Z1 occasionally has an aftermarket gasket available at a VERY reasonable price.

.

[Burque73]

Good to know, Steve.

I have a pretty new OEM gasket on there now properly torqued down and it's leaking. It was pretty deformed when I got it so I had to stretch it out in the sun. I used thumb tacks on a board through the bolt holes, not the gasket material itself, and it regained it's shape. It started to deform again when it cooled, collapsing in on itself. I wonderif that's causing the leak? It was NOS from an ebay seller.

Parts places are starting to list them as discontinued now. Are any other after market gaskets worh messing with? Athena? Nippon?

[Steve]

Don't know anything about Nippon, but ANYTHING but Athena.

.

[tom203]

Get a oem Suzuki camcover gasket and invest in a 1/4 inch drive torque wrench...HF has a cheapie. The cover bolts need 7 ft-lbs....I do it in two goes and have had no leak issues. But last time one corner cover bolt stripped out on me, so I had to retap and use longer.

[Burque73]

I know the half moon plugs are leaking, maybe the recent oem cam cover gasket is fine and oils just blowing around the sides. Probably not, but that would be cool.

I do have a 1/4" drive torque wrench and am careful to only give it 7 ft-lbs. I'm just surprised it leaked. The last three oem ones did not.
Guess I could cut another one out of cork. That lasted a while,
but I didn't really trust it. I'll check ebay when I get a chance. Turns out the clutch cover is back ordered so I'll have to search around for it too.

Do those gaskets ever get too old? NOS aren't too hard to find.

[Burque73]

Found the breather, cam cover and clutch cover gaskets on fleabay. $51 and change shipped. I was trying to avoid having multiple packages delivered by ordering them all from onlinecycleparts.com. They sent an email right away to let me know some parts were backordered. I called and they refunded them and I should see the rest next week. Fingers crossed.

I'm going to look for some aircraft stripper for the aluminum case covers. The local auto parts place says they have it for $20 / quart.

[cowboyup3371]

You can get it in the spray can at OReillys or Walmart;

The one on 501 Coors Blvd has it for $17 and you shouldn't use it all

https://www.oreillyauto.com/detail/c/aircraft/klean-strip-aircraft-15-ounce-15-ounce-paint-remover/kln3/ear2000?q=aircraft+stripper&pos=1

Oh, and wear some good heavy duty gloves - that stuff is caustic to your skin. Also be sure to do it outside and nowhere near an open door/window into the house

[Burque73]

You can get it in the spray can at OReillys or Walmart;

The one on 501 Coors Blvd has it for $17 and you shouldn't use it all

https://www.oreillyauto.com/detail/c/aircraft/klean-strip-aircraft-15-ounce-15-ounce-paint-remover/kln3/ear2000?q=aircraft+stripper&pos=1

Oh, and wear some good heavy duty gloves - that stuff is caustic to your skin. Also be sure to do it outside and nowhere near an open door/window into the house

Thanks Scott. Looks like the store around the corner has some.

[Burque73]

Moved this thread to a more appropriate forum since it's more maintenance than rebuild.

See if you can get a refund on the Real Gaskets. Yeah, they promise to seal every possible kind of leak, but the effort to make that happen is way to high. I tried one, my bike leaked more than before.

One of the things that needs to happen is VERY low torque settings on the screws. The effort to get the gasket to seal is VERY low, meaning that you likely need to use LocTite on the screws or go through the effort of checking them every week. An OEM gasket is FAR better, and likely cheaper. Z1 occasionally has an aftermarket gasket available at a VERY reasonable price.

.

They refunded the real gasket just before it shipped.
Thanks again for the heads up on that.

[Burque73]

Good news, all parts for the GS have arrived!

Bad news, car totaled in a wreck. Dad had a heart attack, but after five stents and two rounds of angioplasti is feeling better. Mom needs constant care since dad is out of commision.

Seven weeks till our road trip to the Brown County rally so I need to get crackin' on this list. At least the garage is a decent temp to work in now. Not too cold and not blazing hot yet.

[alke46]

Good news, all parts for the GS have arrived!

Bad news, car totaled in a wreck. Dad had a heart attack, but after five stents and two rounds of angioplasti is feeling better. Mom needs constant care since dad is out of commision.

Seven weeks till our road trip to the Brown County rally so I need to get crackin' on this list. At least the garage is a decent temp to work in now. Not too cold and not blazing hot yet.

Geez Roger, when it rains it pours huh?

Hope things start going better for you and your family.

[Burque73]

Geez Roger, when it rains it pours huh?

Hope things start going better for you and your family.

Thanks Larry. No kidding! Looks like my Pops is on the mend though. Another health scare last week turned out to be a false alarm.

[Burque73]

I finally had some time to get going on this stuff.

I gave the GS a good degreasing this morning and went for a nice ride to dry things off. While it was still good and hot I checked the compression. 112-115 on all four cylinders. Kinda low considering the manual says 128-171. Service limit is 100 though so I'm not worried. In 25k miles that hasn't changed a bit, plus it pulls just fine.

Seems like it may be easier to loosen bolts and separate parts with some heat still in the engine, so I drained the oil, and started pulling things apart. The clutch cover was very stubborn! Prying and tapping with a rubber mallet wasn't doing jack. I needed a puller of some sort, I thought. I ran a 2X4 from the case guard to the rear shock mount and hooked a clamp in the oil filler hole.

Clutch cover removal by Roger, on Flickr

Giving a few, ok many...many... taps with a rubber mallet all around the cover, while the clamp had tension on it, things started to loosen up. I could only find two pry points. Behind the sight glass is a small flat rib thing that I could pry aginst. Also, under the front next to the ignition cover was a hole just large enough for the end of a rubber coated handle on my oil filter wrench. Prying.... tapping.....tightening the clamp...tapping...and POP, success!


Clutch cover removal by Roger, on Flickr

Since the half moon plugs were leaking and it was time to check valves again, it was a convienent time to do it all. This was after a good 12 hours of cooling off. All the valve clearances were the same as 4k miles ago, .064mm- .076mm. I'll check again tomorrow when it's really cold. Not sure if it'll matter, but I'm curious.

20210501_200208 by Roger, on Flickr

I'm really excited to strip this crappy clear coat off and shine these up.


20210501_202759 by Roger, on Flickr

[Burque73]

I've had little bits of time here and there to work on the bike, but am making progress.

I got the tach O-ring and seal replaced last night. Double checked valve clearances and all is well.

Worked on stripping the clear coat and shining up the case covers over the weekend. Not perfect, but good enough. The stripper is very good at what it does so the original black lettering wiped right off. Re-painting the letters and black ring around the perimiter has been challenging. Still a work in progress.

Polished covers by Roger, on Flickr