First Ride! Damnit, left the oil cap off...

[fishmeok]

After almost a month of tinkering I finally got my '81 GS850G to the point where it would (mostly) run. I've rebuilt the carbs, replaced most of the rubber on the bike, set the valves, replaced the rear brake pads, replaced a leaky rear tire valve stem, fabbed a spacer and put some lower bars on that clear the fairing, drained 2 gallons of varnishy gas out of the crankcase (P.O. left the fuel tap in "prime" after attempting to rebuild the carbs right before I bought it), removed some atrocious hacked up wiring, etc..

I can get the bike to idle and it actually revs up so I threw the tank on and took it around the block. I'm pretty geeked, the bike runs through the power range without hesitation (though I didn't push it at all) and it has a much crisper response than the last GS850 I rode. The idle is still not nearly as smooth as it should be and the bike will die at idle at odd times- then not restart without choke, but I know I still have some air leaks and the carbs are not synchronized yet. It will puff a little smoke out the left pipe but considering how much gas ran through the cylinders I'm not worried about that yet.

I hve very little front brake so the master cylinder and front brakes need some attention, the starter switch is inop, and the turn signals don't work. But I'm making progress...

I checked the oil right before I went out on the street, placing the oil cap convieniently next to the opening. I then rode the bike. Surprisingly the oil cap was not still sitting on the transmission case where I had placed it. I now need to find a new oil filler cap....
Anybody have one? I'm in the Minneapolis area.
Cheers
Mark

[Planecrazy]

Welcome to the forum, Mark, and good job getting the bike going again!

This happened to a friend of ours (no names necessary) at a recent GSR Rally (He claims it's happened several times over the years). I retraced his "steps" from the hotel until I found the first left hand turn he'd taken at speed, expecting that this was the most likely place for the cap to have yielded to the laws of physics. Sure enough, I found the cap in cracked and bent condition (it was a very busy road, but the damage may have occurred on impact).

If you're lucky you may successfully find yours in useable condition following the same strategy ... good luck!

In the future may I recommend "checklists, checklists, checklist," until things truly become second nature? On a bike it's MUCH easier to forget things like gas caps/oil caps, regularly checking the tightness of bolts, brake fluid levels, etc.

Regards,

[wes cooley]

[I checked the oil right before I went out on the street, placing the oil cap convieniently next to the opening. I then rode the bike. Surprisingly the oil cap was not still sitting on the transmission case where I had placed it. I now need to find a new oil filler cap....
Anybody have one? I'm in the Minneapolis area.
Cheers
Mark[/quote]

i've done the same thing...........but luckily i left mine on the work bench.

[txironhead]

$5.33 at www.bikebandit.com. Part #471105-001, but you may want to verify that for yourself. Listed under crankcase cover.