1983 GS550E: The Long Road

[DR Payne]

Introduction

This looks like the best place to put this. Let's call it a journal thread, documenting the progress of getting a fairly neglected white and blue 1983 GS550E back to its former glory. How close we actually get to original condition is unclear. It's a long road between here and there.

I bought this bike because it was cheap. I wanted to try one of these since seeing one for the first time for sale on ADVrider, but I was not sure if I could commit to paying for one in "oh damn!" condition. This one ran fine, but looked pretty rough and clearly wouldn't be long before it needed work. I hauled it home in the back of my truck telling myself that I'd either get my money's worth out of it in enjoyment and just pass it along once it reached project bike status, or I'd fall in love and piece by piece, the clock would slowly start ticking backwards for this old bike. As you can probably guess, the latter happened.

I went through 3 or 4 tanks before rolling it into the basement last month to begin tinkering. In that time, I had an absolute blast commuting, running errands, and occasionally just enjoying the weather, but I also quickly identified several issues. So far we have:

• Battery does not charge
• An intermittent oil leak
• An intermittent fuel leak
• Trip odometer gets stuck at 100.6
• Engine gets stuck at about 4000RPM regardless of throttle until it warms up.

Still totally rideable even in near freezing weather, but I got sick of bump starting the bike in the flat parking lot at work so into the basement it went.

First up will be the electrical system. I'm going to skip over the LED headlight, tail light, and plate light because that wasn't very interesting, but I'll just note that I did do them.

Here's a pic to get us started, previously posted in the Owners forum. The bright sunlight washes out a lot of the imperfections and really makes it look way better than it is, almost like a glimpse into the future...

7TZFr8d.jpg

[DR Payne]

Episode 1: The Charging System

Long before I bought this bike, I had heard the legends of the GS charging system. A co-worker has a '83 1100E, a real museum piece, that he just recently brought out of storage...after changing out the stator and regulator/rectifier. I was hoping to get lucky, especially as the previous owner's records show he just replaced both components not too long ago. Well, there's more to the system than just those two components.

I tested the stator wires while running and got one dead line. I'm not interested in messing around with questionable designs, so I went and ordered a nice big RMStator series regulator and a new stator from Electrosport. I stocked up on connectors and wires from West Marine, and started earning points with the wife to cash in for time with the bike instead of the two demanding babies.

First I went for the stator. That involved oil, so I wanted to do that in the garage before rolling the bike into the basement. That's where I found this:



Kinda surprised it was running at all, as I saw paths for all 3 phases to short to each other. I imagine they probably did intermittently. I actually ended up deciding to keep the old stator and just repair the wires first. If that doesn't work, I have a new one ready. So I buttoned it back up and rolled it out of the cold garage, down the hill in the back yard, and into the nice, warm, well-lit basement. It snuggled up right next to my other bike, a DR650 that just got a new front tire. Don't worry though, my wife's bikes are fuel injected and therefore still in the garage.

So here's the plan. The RMStator reg/rec is too big to fit in the stock location, but the ignitor (whatever the hell that is) seems to be enjoying some really nice real estate on the left side. A little customization and I think I can swap the two. The ignitor can move behind the battery, held on by a single bolt



and the reg/rec can fit in the ignitor's location using one existing hole as-is, and a little help to reach the other one. My plan is to cut a small piece of thin aluminum and make a sort of adapter bracket.



I ran the new wires around the right side like they sort of were originally. I could probably cut the wires a lot shorter, but I think I'm already saving a lot of length by wiring directly from stator to regulator, bypassing that problematic detour loop through the factory harness.



Once I test it out and confirm everything is good, I'll put some loom around it and zip tie it all nicely and neatly.

One thing I need to figure out, though, is what to do with all these now unused wires. Should I just leave them hanging? Should I cut and pull them all out? I've got the three AC wires at the regulator



and the three AC wires that were the first connection from the stator, on their way into the harness.



I'll check the diagrams and maybe search the forums for confirmation, but feel free to save me the effort if you know.

Next step will be to add oil back into the engine (never filled it back up after doing the stator), start it, and see if anything catches fire. I'll probably roll it outside for that.

[Nessism]

No disrespect, but I doubt that RM Stator R/R is a true SERIES unit. It may look like it, but it's a china copy of a Japanese Shindengen R/R.

Another thing, I can't tell based on your post (maybe I didn't read with enough focus) if you bypassed the stator loop going to the hand control? If not, it's critical that you do so. Wire the stator wires directly into the R/R, bypassing the factory harness. Then feed the R/R output into the factory harness and to the battery. I made a diagram on how to route the wires, if you don't already know...

[DR Payne]

if you bypassed the stator loop going to the hand control? If not, it's critical that you do so.

I did indeed! That's why I have a bunch of wires flapping in the breeze that I'm unsure if I should rip out or not.

No disrespect, but I doubt that RM Stator R/R is a true SERIES unit. It may look like it, but it's a china copy of a Japanese Shindengen R/R.

No disrespect to me, but maybe to RMStator! I see no reason to believe they are dishonest about making their own products, especially as the first one I bought was actually clearly machined aluminum billet with a red anodize. That one was cool, but I couldn't see it fitting anywhere so I exchanged it for the factory-style one I have now. RMStator seems perfectly legit to me. It's not like they're some shady eBay seller.

[Griffin]

Treat the igniter with care. This is a part unique to the '83-'86 16 valve GS550 series, and is unobtanium, even a used one on ebay..

As far as the RM Stator reg/rec being a legitimate series regulator, I have no way of knowing for sure without dissecting one. But RMStator seems like a pretty legit company, and for the asking price, it definitely SHOULD be a real series Shindengen style.

An OEM style shunt Reg/Rec from Rick's or other sources is about 2/3rds that price.

I used to own an '85 GS550ES. Really fun bikes. Hot cam, short stroke engines. Make some serious power over 7,000 rpms.

Wind it up, and watch it go...

[Nessism]

Yeah, the R/R could well be SERIES type, but that would be the first aftermarket unit that copies a Shindengen that is. Real deal SH775's can be found for fair prices on eBay, so I don't see the point in buying a copy for more money. Oh well, though. What's done is done...