I'm not talkn just carbs, THE WHOLE BIKE!

[BriTXbike]

I won't lie I'm a newbie to Motorcycles in general but glad I'm a GS owner to say the least. I've decided that this bike will be with me for some time to come and I would like to do a rebuild to make her look and run like new again. This will probably be a winter project but I figure I would start asking now so I covered all my bases.

I've read countless threads and I wanted to pose this question:
Take your average kept running bike (mine being a 83' GS850G). The farings and tank have been repainted so this is one small part that has been addressed already.

My idea of rebuilding a bike would be to strip down every part and build it back up in theory but I'm new to this.

How and in what order would you go about striping a bike and rebuilding it. Kinda like 1,2,3,4 processes. Also as a rebuild overall what are the most important parts of doing this. The given here would be any part that needs to be replaced due to wear would be done but what parts would you replace fundamentally, say gaskets as an example.

[gspaul]

Well, you have asked a big question! If the motor,gearbox & shaft are ok it make's it easy .
There is no magic about it, record every action you take,keep althe part's neatly together,take photo's as you go.
If your going to repaint the frame at least change the steering head bearing's,and maybe the one's in the swing arm.Any one can do this it just take's patience,time,money,and something to hit when thing's go wrong.

[HiSPL]

If you think of it in stages it makes things a little easier. Once you get it down to a bare frame, you can start reassembling everything in small stages. Before anything goes on the bike it should be cleaned, inspected/repaired, and painted if needed. It helps if the frame is elevated on a work table but it doesn't have to be.

Start with the center and work out. The engine is easy to tear down and clean and regasket while it is out of the bike. reinstall engine, then swingarm/rear wheel, front end and wheel, electrics, body, and anything else I forgot. Pictures and organization help alot. New stainless screws are cheap and will not rust in a year too so I would replace every thing possible with stainless, and treat the rest with some rust inhibitor.

Look for Swanny's post about his GS1100E rebuild. It is quite helpful....

Good luck!

[jimcor]

Why?

In your fork post you say the bike has 29 grand on the clock. It's been repainted. Get the seat recovered. Spend some time buffing the aluminum and the chrome, polish it up! She'll be beautiful

Only fix the mechanicals or do upgrades where needed, but why tear it down for a rebuild it doesn't require???

For goodness sakes, ride the thing, mate. It's not a Black Shadow or Black Lightning. It's a Suzuki GS, made to ride! It's only original once.

[jpaul]

I wouldn't take the engine apart unless there was a specific reason to, like low compression or oil seepage around the gaskets. If the frame needs painting due to rust spots, then strip it down and go from there. If the frame doesn't need painting, just take one area of the bike at a time and clean and polish the snot out of it. If you spend 2-4 hours a week doing this, in a couple of months you'll have a really nice looking machine.

[BriTXbike]

Cooling fins painted

ok next question then is the Gasket on the head probably needs to replaced b/c it leaks a little oil (not a big deal for now) and the fins on the block have been painted black. I would prefer to bring these back to a chrome finish. Anyone have any ideas on how one can strip and then have them re-chromed or polished?

[Cajun Cycler]

Aircraft paint stripper or Dad's paint stripper from Walmart will remove all the paint. Mask everything you want to keep painted before you start. Follow the directions, wear nitrile gloves. brush it on and let it sit for the time it says on the can then rinse it with hose.

[Macmatic]

Loose nuts

If you plan to take off more than ONE thing think about doing what I've done in taking down my GS750EF to the frame:

Buy some cheap sandwhich bags with twist ties
A small pad of paper
Some of those paper tags on string.
A pen, pencil or crayon (if they won't let you have sharp objects. I like blue)

Take off one thing at a time and BAG the hardware! Then note where it came from and which screws/bolts go where and seal the note up in the bag with a twist tie. I like to diagram the hardware locations when there are several lengths of screws or bolts and it isn't clear just from looking where they go.

Use the paper tags to make hoses and wiring connectors so you know what they are once you have the harness off.

I also took a ton of digital photos along the way....I figure it'll help save the days when I can't read my own writing.

/\/\ac

[bwringer]

If that's an '83 GS850, the engine was painted black from the factory. Best off to leave it that way. You can clean and polish the very edges of the cooling fins with a scotchbrite pad for a little easy touch of bling.

If you really, really must remove the paint or you'll die or something...

...it is just paint and not some exotic powder coating, so it comes off with a good paint stripper. I definitely would NOT do this with the engine in the bike.

Also, are you selling the bike, or did you just buy it? A link to an online ad featuring the photo in your avatar was posted a few days ago in another section of this site. Or do you just have an eerily similar bike and driveway?

[BriTXbike]

The gentleman I bought it off of has not removed the bike from cycletrader.com for some reason. That's my bike though. At least the new title does

So about the black paint. Ok so it's factory, I'm fine with that but it's fading off and I would like to at least make it uniform again. What kind of paint does a person use to get it back?