1980 GS550E In Storage 14 Years

[Anonymous]

I purchased this bike today from my neighbor. Her husband owned the bike and he died unexpectedly in 1988. It has sat in her garage under a tarp ever since, and has not been started. The odometer shows 12,900 miles and to my delight, the bike is in amazingly clean shape other than some light surface rust on all the chrome. The tires are in great shape although they were flat. I plan to replace the battery, have the fuel tank cleaned (heavy rust inside), the carbs cleaned and it should be ready to start! I have to reassemble the speed/tach. He must have been replacing a bulb before he died. Can anyone recommed anything else? Two questions:
1) Is it oem for the side covers to say 550L and the vin 550E?
2) Should the engine and frame vin #'s match? They don't. The frame says GS55E 721272. The engine is 19xxxx. I can't imagine this engine and bike don't go together. This bike is in "near perfect" shape. Thanks for your help!

[JJ]

Change the oil and filter. Flush out the old blake fluid. Put in new spark plugs. Check everything. Get new tires!! Regardless of how good they look, after 14 years the rubber is hard, brittle, and unsafe to ride on. Ride safe, and enjoy!

[Anonymous]

Everything JJ said, PLUS just to speed things along, use a quart of Marvel Mystery Oil with your first oil change, and inside that first few tanks of gasoline. Sometimes the rings get stuck on an engine that's sat for a few years. The MMO helps clear that up quickly. You'll also probably find the fork seals need replaced. They'll likely fail in the first couple months of riding.

Good luck, and enjoy the resurection!
Tim

[Anonymous]

My bike sat in my heated garage since 1997 with the gas in and no gas stablizer. I went to start it this year (sad that I am talking years) and the throttle was frozen, took it apart and all the carbs were gummed up and everthing was stuck. So you will definately have to remove and clean the carbs. I have a 1980 GS550L which it says in the side covers and the VIN says GS500E. I know that is correct because I bought the bike new.
Good luck. I am still not done cleaning the carbs almost though.

[Anonymous]

Oh yea by the way, the 80 GS550 used to kick butt, I used to always beat my friends 750 kaw. You are going to like it when you are done.

[Anonymous]

The bike I just bought was sitting for a few years also. The guy I bought it from said he ran it out of gas and put a little oil in the cylinders. Should this be OK? Its a 1980 gs 750e

Thanks

[Anonymous]

ozric750,
If it was run out of gas, check the tank for rust. There are several good post threads about what to do about rust. Bob said he needed to take care of his tank and make sure you check yours.

Nobody said anything about checking the fuel lines :? , which can also get hard and brittle with age.

Sit on the bike and cautiously bounce it up and down (front then rear). Check for leaking fork seals and make sure it's set right for you (push down 1, bounces up 1.3, falls down .3, stops).

The chain will be covered with an inch of dust and dirt which will have worked its way into the lubrication. Your Clymers manual or whatever will have details on how to clean and re-lube the chain. Check the sprocket teeth while your down there.

Everything rusts, Aluminum is special in that surface rusts more slowly and does not flake off acting as a protectant to lower layers, however AL2O3 does not conduct heat to the air as well (neither does baked on oil from a leaky head gasket)... I said that to say this... clean the bike well. It will aid in cooling the engine, show you things that weren't mentioned here, familiarize you with where things are, and a clean bike always seems to run better.

Clean the electrical contacts as well, I have no proof, but the stock electrical system (not the greatest) will probably last a lot longer if maintained well.

There are a million things to check and do, and nobody gets them all (at least I don't).

Edit: Oops, tbarnby already mentioned fork seals.