fresh start

[littlerope]

hello again forum members. i'm eagerly awaiting the weekend when i put back my freshly rebuilt carbs onto my newly bought `80 gs750E and try to fire the beast up. this bike has not been run in some time ( ten to fifteen years would be a guess) so my question is this: what if anything should i do prior to starting it? i was thinking of just running the starter with the kill switch on just to circulate oil around the motor first. any ideas? what about after it runs awhile, any good solvents to run in the oil to get any gum out of the system? how about a little transmission fluid- a mechanic once told me about that for an old car. any suggestions??

[jgordon]

hello again forum members. i'm eagerly awaiting the weekend when i put back my freshly rebuilt carbs onto my newly bought `80 gs750E and try to fire the beast up. this bike has not been run in some time ( ten to fifteen years would be a guess) so my question is this: what if anything should i do prior to starting it? i was thinking of just running the starter with the kill switch on just to circulate oil around the motor first. any ideas? what about after it runs awhile, any good solvents to run in the oil to get any gum out of the system? how about a little transmission fluid- a mechanic once told me about that for an old car. any suggestions??

I would at least pull the valve cover and oil everything up top. Check the valve adjustments while you are in there.

[rgierer]

I confirm my colleagues guidance.

Pull that valvle cover and oil up that space and check the valve clearances. about a year ago I picked up a 550 that had been sitting for 14 years and I still regret not taking that step.

Good luck!!

[earlfor]

I would remove the valve cover, oil all the cam caps/lobes, run some oil down the camchain and check the valve clearances. To get oil circulating in the engine, I would spin the engine over with the starter with the spark plugs removed so there will be little load on the starter motor and the oil will pump faster. If the bike has been sitting for years, I probably would check voltage at the coils, plug gaps and spark at each plug before reinstalling the plugs.

Earl

[mark]

A little oil in the cylinder wouldn't hurt either. Take the plugs out and squirt in a teaspoon or so of oil into each cylinder before you crank it, along with what everyone else said.