Newbie - intro and questions!

[Repeater]

Good evening, GS owners!

I'm a Ninja 250/Seca II rider that recently stumbled upon a 1980 GS550E in red for $400. It's in running condition, but needs plenty of work. I took the opportunity to purchase the bike, and it will be my first teardown/full rebuild of an entire vehicle this winter, if all goes according to plan.

I'll post pictures, of course, as soon as it's light out enough again. I've got the camera and everything ready to go. :-D

So, I have lots of things to do with this old beast.

1) It stumbles and stutters when it's running. It manages to idle just fine somehow, but it tops out at about 60mph, and will not go any faster. I'm thinking it's either in need of an extreme carburetor rebuild, or it's only running on a couple of cylinders. This will be tested, of course, and I plan on rebuilding the carbs anyhow, since the bike did sit for a long time.

2) It leaks oil like mad from the valve cover gasket. I already purchased a new gasket, and am going to order new end cap plugs, so I'll have that covered. I plan on doing the valve adjustments and cam chain slack check while I'm under there.

3) It's ugly! The mope that owned it before me spray painted the whole frame and engine silver! The side covers, too! So, that's my most time-consuming task - scrubbing it all off and determining if I want to paint the frame and everything correctly.

4) It needs some sundry items like a chain (old one is rusty), a headlight bezel (current one seems bent), it could use a fuel filter (the tank is rusty and it doesn't seem to have one right now), a turn signal in front (the lens is cracked), and a clutch cable that seems like it's pretty stiff... and the seat cover has a big ole' crack on top, too.

Overall, it's a decent bike with a few issues that need resolving, and lots that could use resolving, but aren't absolutely necessary.

So on to my inane questions. First off, what are some good parts sources for the GS? I already have Oldbikebarn and BikeBandit available, but what else is there? For example, I can't find new footpeg mounts. I figure they'd be hard to find anyway, but are we pretty much stuck picking bits off of parts bikes? How about ignition components? Wiring looms, if I end up needing one?

Thanks for the help, and I'll continue browsing the archives here for a while.

[BassCliff]

Hey howdy hey!

Mr. Repeater,

Let it be known that on this day you are hereby cordially and formally welcomed to the GSR Forum as a Junior Member in good standing with all the rights and pivileges thereof. I see you've noticed that "good standing" implies pictures! :-D We like before and after pictures.

I've also used Z1enterprises.com, ebay, flatoutmotorcycles.com. There's crc2onlinecatalog.com, denniskirk.com, loudfastugly.com. For electrics there's electrexworld.co.uk and ricksmotorsportelectrics.com. I'm sure the gang will give you many other favorites.

Thanks for joining us. I'm looking forward to your bike's resurrection.

Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff
(The unofficial GSR greeter)

[fabinator]

Your sputtering while running, but good idle may me torn carb diaphragms... if that bike has CV carbs (I think it does). Whatever the problem is, you'll find it when you rebuild the carbs.

It may be a top end issue too, but you'll cover that with the valve adjustment you mentioned. Good luck.

One more thing... if that bike was "modified" like you say, I can easily picture pod filters on it without a re-jet. If your exhaust pipes turn blue, you need to re-jet the carbs after the rebuild.

[chef1366]

First do this
Than do a valve adjustment.
Check compression.
Get a NEW petcock, fuel line and vacuum line.
Get a good seal all around on the airbox.
Check charging system with the stator papers

Change fluids including brake.

[txironhead]

Some other things not mentioned by previous posts:

DO NOT run an inline filter. These bikes don't like 'em. Get the motorcycle fuel tank etching and liner kit from the POR-15 website and use it. You may need a new petcock, or your old one may be fine, but either way make sure the tank screen is clean and forget about that inline filter, you could end up starving your bike for gas.

Intake boots: notorious for leaking. Check the boots themselves, if they're stiff or cracked replace them. If not, replace the gasket or o-ring sealing them to the head. This is a major problem spot and hard to diagnose, and it's easier just to replace them now.

When you rebuild your carbs, make sure to replace all of the o-rings. www.cycleorings.com (I think I got that right) sells a complete kit cheap, he's a member here and knows his stuff.

Simply oiling your choke cable may work, but they're pretty cheap to replace so it's up to you.

To make life easier, you may want to invest in a few tools. The most important that come to mind are the carb adjuster tool, valve adjuster tool, and a set of carb synchronizers, also called mercury sticks, synchs, manometers or vacuum gauges.

Edit: Forgot the most important tool of all: Suzuki Factory Service Manual. An aftermarket manual will work in a pinch, but the factory one's the best. You may be able to find one for download free at www.repairmanualclub.com.

Welcome to the wonderful (and sometimes frustrating) world of GS motorcycles!

[Repeater]

Well, folks, I'm about 3/4 of the way done. I've got a bunch of pictures, and here's what's been done so far:

1) Valve adjustment - easy as pie. Everything is in spec nowadays.
2) Drained oil - there were about 2 extra quarts of oil in the thing. Hopefully, none of the lower gaskets are blown out. Everything looks acceptable, though. The motor itself is the least of my worries.
3) Complete carburetor rebuild. I've done this before, so I don't expect any issues.
4) Complete tear-down of the bike from top to bottom. Everything was cleaned, replaced, or refitted.
5) Frame, swingarm, stands, and other bits were powder-coated gloss black.
6) Tank and body panels were painted pearl white.
7) Motor was put back in the frame, front end was mounted up, and most of the systems are back and in tact.

Before everything gets gutted:


A relatively clean motor, once spray-painted silver, like the rest of the bike:


The important bits assembled again!:


Painted body pieces!:


So, I have a few questions remaining for the experts. Along with all of this, I'm replacing the entire ignition system, both the breaker points and the coils. I bought a kit from a place that featured a Dyna S ignition module, wire, plugs, and green 3 Ohm Dyna coils. I'm in the middle of wiring some of it up, but the Dyna instructions and what folks have posted here seems to differ a bit. For example, the Dyna instructions include the little 3-way blue splicing bit... I'm at a bit of a loss as to which wires (aside from the red power module to the ignition itself) actually would be spliced into this piece! Some instructions here on GSResources don't have the blue plastic splice at all. Any guidance, perhaps, from people whom have used a similar kit? Other than this one thing, I'm in the middle of putting all of the wires in the harness back together. Slowly but surely, this is starting to take shape. I just wanted to be sure that this complete ignition assembly is going to do what I want it to!

I'll update this once I start getting the finishing touches together, as well!

Thanks for any help, all!

-Shaun

[Scud]

Looks like you made good use out of this long winter, the bike looks AWESOME!!!

Scud

[Nessism]

The Dyna ignition needs to be fed by a switched power source (power wire that only comes live when the ignition is turned on). It doesn't really matter where you get this power but I think you can grab one of the orange w/white trace wires feeding the coils. Oh, and consider doing a solder or proper crimp connector to get this feed; scotchloks are pretty lame and sometimes fail.

BTW, very nice job on the bike so far. Me likes!

Regarding the extra oil you found in the crankcase, petcocks often fail which dumps raw gas into the engine - only looks like extra oil. You might want to check that petcock carefully now to avoid problems later.

Good luck and post some more photos.

[Repeater]

Thanks, guys! It's been a long time coming.

Looks like it's going to be a crappy week here in MN; I hope to get some more wiring done soon. Really, that's all that's standing in my way of getting the other pieces packed back on and seeing what comes of this whole mess.

I thought about the petcock issue with the oil... however, it didn't have that gassy smell that contaminated oil usually has. It actually seemed pretty fresh! My guess is someone just flat-out overfilled it adding oil on top of older oil. Who knows... either way, my revamped carbs should overflow out of the lines now, rather than into the motor, regardless. Or one would hope, anyway!

As for the power line, I'll check it out. I guess we'll see if one of those orange/white lines works!

[Repeater]

Alright, I dug up the schematics. It recommends the red Dyna S wire goes to the splice thingie along with the coil wire (the orange/white one mentioned above) but the third wire in the junction should go "to ignition switch"... any idea which wire this is in this tangle of wires?

[chef1366]

The orange wire should be the one.

[TheCafeKid]

The orange wire should be the one.

Orange is generally the switched wire on these bikes. However, *I* am not entirely sure they are one and the same, the oranged switched wire, and the orange wire that feeds the coil...I guess i should break out the wiring diagram