This is nothing like some of the expert rebuilds described here on this fourm. It is more of a hobby time do-it-yourselfer (DIY) who had never owned (street legal) much less worked on a motorcyle before December 07 project on a legacy street drag bike.
I used to work on cars in High School but after going to college never had the money to put alot of money into a car (1964 SS Chevelle 283 replaced with a 327 but stock ,M-21 4 speed, new paint, mags, headers , 650 holly, juiced up ignition and a cheap rebuild of rings and bearing and later short block ) was all I could afford at the time. This GS1100 is a honest to god drag engine that is relatively easy to work on with lots of part floating around. Anyway I got my GS750 back in one peice so I have a daily rider and I dove in to the GS1100.
To summarize what I'm going through on the motor; there is other stuff but on the frame, body so this is mainly engine stuff:
* clutch with new inner hub, new APE clutch nut as I already had a HD basket. I'll try and put it back to gether better than the PO did (small flat washer goes on first). Also Barett HD springs to be 50:50 mixed with new OEM
* New oil pump coming as the PO managed to grind off the tach gear on the exhaust side of the cam; enough scouring of the oil pump back plate that it warranted replacment although it was all in spec and probably replaced prior. New HiPo gears , and oil pump bearing (for good measure) as well.
* As cam needed replacement and intake side was pitted, I finally went for the 0.340 " lift Web cams with Hipo Ape springs. I'm going to do this with a slick overhead spring removal tool I got from ebay. I dont want to pull the head and split the lower cyclinder gasket as the compression is so good. New tach gear with various o-rings and seals are new. Almost forgot slotted APE gears to degree the cam, APE mechanical tensioner. Also getting help from Rapidray, but bought degree wheel, dial indicator and magnetic base and a How-to DVD.
* New Starter clutch is on order, with new flywheel, main assembly , pushers, springs and barrels. PO previously paid a dealership to replace stator with OEM so I wont touch that. I did disassemble and clean the starter; buishes checked out with hardly any wear so someone must have swapped them out but skimped on the cleaning the last time it was out.
* New OEM drive gear ($25 deliverd from ebay stores). The splines on the old were about 1/4 broken out. This will get a new nut and lock washer as well. The chain/rear sproket had been previously replaced so they are OK.
* Engine was media blasted, , NOT sand blasted with wallnut shells from Harbor freight. All orfices were plugged with all covers bolted down with gaskets but some still got though. With all covers off I cleaned most all of the little nuggets out. The Tach drive hole seemd to be the only thing that leaked??? Be more carefull next time.
* The biggest problem was with using the Harbor freight media. Dont use the #12 stuff. It will plug up every thing in your blaster. The #24 stuff is much finer and works pretty well. Both are recommneded for aluminum engines but stay away from the #12 stuff. I worked out using tarps and was able to reuse the stuff about 4 times. At $25 a box and 3 boxes required to fill the blaster, this would have been way top expensive to do any other way. This is a pretty mild abrasive and doesnt even take off all of the paint as sandblasting would. It really helps in getting the head clean.
* Engine painted with Por-15 and Engine Paint. I used a Harbor freight touchup gun wheich worked alright at first. It seemed to spit quite a bit. For a black engine it is OK. I wil lprobably spray can all the side covers again after the engine is done being banged around getting re installed.
* I started using a sanding block and 200 grit paper on the cyclinder head fins to get that nice silver on black look and then with a recommendation from the fourm and after seeing a Harley close-up I agressively (flat) filed down the fins to get a more machined look. After the paint cures I'm block sand the fins to have the silver aluminum show with a more polished look.
* bought new polished stainless bolts from Stainlesscycle. Even though he was pretty slow appraently due to his moving his shop over the holiday, the 82-83 GS1100E kit was pretty complete including more than I though with the. It doesn't have exhaust bolts which I picked up from a local shop. I also have a 8-valve 750 kit mistakenly ordered so I an mixing some of those as required on a few odds and ends.
* Also got a top end oiler on order and bought new hoses to retrofit the stock oil cooler already on the bike. Also got a black oil pressure guage from Renobruce.
Well that is all I can think of off the top of my head and from looking at the pictures. More later with pictures of the major stages.
More later
Posplayr
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