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I've owned my 1980 GS1100 for almost exactly two years now. Just this weekend, I put my 4000th mile on her (24k, total). Up until a few months ago, she was very temperamental with starting/idleing. Lots of bucking and sputtering. I'd have give lots of choke for 5 or 10 minutes before I could ride. I could never get the idle down below 1500. When she did idle, her RPMs would surge.
Not being a mechanical guy by trade or hobby, I was reluctant to do anything beyond the basics (oil change, spark plugs, carb synching, etc) because I was afraid that I would do more harm than good.
Fate stepped in a few months ago. My chain was just too stretched to ride, which means I would (gasp!) have to work on her.
I took the opportunity to do a 530 conversion and change the ratio from 2.8 down to 2.6. Since I already was doing work, I decided to do a thorough cleaning of the carbs, which included overnight dips in "Gunk", and replace the o-rings. After cleaning and reassembling 3 of the 4 carbs, the last screw I had to remove from the final carb got stuck.
LESSON #1: While force might end up being the answer, when something gets stuck and you've been working all day, walk away for a little while and come back with a fresh set of eyes.
I ended up making a big mess of the air screw and had to hand it off to somebody else to try and extract it.
I bought another set of carbs off of ebay and went through the same procedure. When the last screw on the last body (again, the air screw) got stuck, I took heed of my lesson and walked away for a little while. When I came back, I used finesse instead of force and got the screw out lickety-split.
With the addition of some nice new stainless cap head bolts, the 20+ year old carbs looked pretty darn nice back on the bike. Although she needed a little extra cranking on the Start button, she fired right up.
All I can say now is WOW.
It is amazing how much better she rides now. I only need to give a little choke for her to start up and then take all but the smallest amount away for a few minutes while she warms up. Idle is nice and smooth - no bucking or surging. When she does warm up, she settles in right to 1100.
I was worried that the gear change would affect the ride. Not at all! She still has more than enough power to push me off the seat as she takes off. Cruising is a lot smoother as highway speeds are about 400-500 RPMs less than they use to be. Plus, my first full tank of gas came in at 48 MPG - about 6-8 MPG better than before.
She is still only running on a bench synch and highest RPM air screw setting - I'd like to get in there with my Carbtune and Colortune and really dial her in. The only problem left is that she still sounds like popcorn popping when deaccerating under load and I am hoping the final tuning will take care of that as I can't find anything wrong with the boots or exhaust path that might be contributing to that.
Anyway, consider me a convert. Everyone always seemed to be preaching "first thing, make sure those carbs are clean" when it came to tuning/maintenance, and now, so will I.
- Tony
PS - Just last week, I got my original carb back with the air screw extracted. The top of the screw needed to be milled because I busted it up so bad. The best part is that none of the threads were damaged, so, once I replace the screw, I'll have a "backup" set of carbs either to keep or sell.
Not being a mechanical guy by trade or hobby, I was reluctant to do anything beyond the basics (oil change, spark plugs, carb synching, etc) because I was afraid that I would do more harm than good.
Fate stepped in a few months ago. My chain was just too stretched to ride, which means I would (gasp!) have to work on her.
I took the opportunity to do a 530 conversion and change the ratio from 2.8 down to 2.6. Since I already was doing work, I decided to do a thorough cleaning of the carbs, which included overnight dips in "Gunk", and replace the o-rings. After cleaning and reassembling 3 of the 4 carbs, the last screw I had to remove from the final carb got stuck.
LESSON #1: While force might end up being the answer, when something gets stuck and you've been working all day, walk away for a little while and come back with a fresh set of eyes.
I ended up making a big mess of the air screw and had to hand it off to somebody else to try and extract it.
I bought another set of carbs off of ebay and went through the same procedure. When the last screw on the last body (again, the air screw) got stuck, I took heed of my lesson and walked away for a little while. When I came back, I used finesse instead of force and got the screw out lickety-split.
With the addition of some nice new stainless cap head bolts, the 20+ year old carbs looked pretty darn nice back on the bike. Although she needed a little extra cranking on the Start button, she fired right up.
All I can say now is WOW.
It is amazing how much better she rides now. I only need to give a little choke for her to start up and then take all but the smallest amount away for a few minutes while she warms up. Idle is nice and smooth - no bucking or surging. When she does warm up, she settles in right to 1100.
I was worried that the gear change would affect the ride. Not at all! She still has more than enough power to push me off the seat as she takes off. Cruising is a lot smoother as highway speeds are about 400-500 RPMs less than they use to be. Plus, my first full tank of gas came in at 48 MPG - about 6-8 MPG better than before.
She is still only running on a bench synch and highest RPM air screw setting - I'd like to get in there with my Carbtune and Colortune and really dial her in. The only problem left is that she still sounds like popcorn popping when deaccerating under load and I am hoping the final tuning will take care of that as I can't find anything wrong with the boots or exhaust path that might be contributing to that.
Anyway, consider me a convert. Everyone always seemed to be preaching "first thing, make sure those carbs are clean" when it came to tuning/maintenance, and now, so will I.
- Tony
PS - Just last week, I got my original carb back with the air screw extracted. The top of the screw needed to be milled because I busted it up so bad. The best part is that none of the threads were damaged, so, once I replace the screw, I'll have a "backup" set of carbs either to keep or sell.
Could put off the choke in about 30 seconds and she idled strongly. Great mod and not as hard as it appears.
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