My 1981 GS650G Thread

[Skateguy50]

Sounds good, to bad you cant get here before then but as long as you get some time on the bike that's good enough. I would definately say take a breather from side projects and finish yours and enjoy the weather while you got it.

if it doesnt mean any major design changes go with the stock airbox to ride and fiddle with the pods and jets over the winter to get the look you want next year.

[Macguyver]

Sounds good, to bad you cant get here before then but as long as you get some time on the bike that's good enough. I would definately say take a breather from side projects and finish yours and enjoy the weather while you got it.

if it doesnt mean any major design changes go with the stock airbox to ride and fiddle with the pods and jets over the winter to get the look you want next year.

That's pretty much what I think is going to happen. I had already removed the oil catch can I built to allow me to put the stock intake manifold back in to allow me to use a different air filter set up, which I will upload pics of soon.

The new(est) filter setup is pretty slick, I am going to see what I can do for building in a restrictor to mimic stock flow. I think I am still going to be looking at rejetting to get everything perfect, so stock airbox here I come.

Either way, I booked an apointment next week to have the bike safety inspected, so that will be one more thing off of the list. Once the bike is 100% done, I need to start looking for an extra set of rims so I can get some knobby tires set up for winter use.

Where did the summer go??? I swear it just started, but there's only a bit of it left. Oh well, fall will be nicer(cooler) to ride in anyways.

[Skateguy50]

A guy down this way in NH has / had a 650 hes been parting out. Think the rims are still there... check the parts section.

However like anything heavy local is always best, so gl with that part. I put a inquiry up for an exhaust that isnt rusted through and a guy in quebec mentioned he had one but would cost to much to ship, was considering making that part of my moosehead adventure. Only 400 miles out of the way but if I swapped the pipes and left my old ones with him it would be nothing to declare at customs.

[shiznizbiz]

youre correct skateguy. Ive bought alot off his 650. his name is lurch12_2000. Hes a very very good seller. hell work with you and give you a fair price.

[Macguyver]

I just sent him a PM on the rims.

On a side note, I couldn't get at taking pics/videos last night since it started raining as I was leaving work.

I won't get a chance to do it tonight either since I have to go do a computer job after work. Hopefully this weekend I can find the time to get at the bike.

I need a candle that can burn on 3 ends! With a built in umbrella!

[Macguyver]

Dealership...mini-rant.

So I went over to the local dealership(Yamaha/Honda), to grab some m5 bolts.
When I walked in, they said "Oh, Kevin, hold on a second. Your parts are in."
?????
As far as I recall, I had no parts on order with them.

As it turns out, the parts they had for me were the main jets I had ordered, and then cancelled because they said "No one makes those anymore, we can't get them.".

$56 later, I left with 3 complete jet sets in diff. sizes.

So I can now hopefully get my bike jetted for the as-of-yet unrevealed air intake. I am still waiting on pilot jets from another source, which should be in tomorrow.

Maybe it's a good thing it was raining last night when I got home. It kept me from reinstalling the stock airbox.

Apparently communication is not one of this dealerships' strong points since no one even called me to let me know my jets were in. It was just chance that I went there to get some bolts, otherwise I would likely have not found out they had the jets until I had already bought them from another source.

So this weekend I should be able to get the bike all jetted and ready for safety inspection next week. From there, it's a short hop, skip and a jump to being on the road!

[Skateguy50]

Funny how things work out, and yea hes a good guy to get some parts from if they work out. Gave me a great deal for shocks, rack, and sissy bar.

[Macguyver]

Aww, geez.

Well it turns out the dealership messed up again.
They ordered in the small mikuni round main jets, not the large ones I gave them part numbers for. How is this possible? I GAVE THEM THE PART NUMBERS!
Now I need to return the jets and see if they can order the right style ones.

False hope, the crappiest of birthday gifts.

I was digging through my motorcycle parts boxes and pulled out a rack of carbs I managed to aquire when a neighbors' dad was scrapping some bike parts last summer. They are from a 1979 GS850, and for a while there I was considering trying to adapt them for use on my bike. I don't even know if this is possible/advisable, so unless someone can edu-macate me on them, I think I'll just clean them up and sell them. I do know that the engine side boots are a much smaller diameter then the CV stock ones on my bike.

Here is what they looked like when I got them.





Here is what I found when I opened them up.





I have the brass parts sitting in the dip right now, if it keeps raining like it has, I may be able to get them all disassembled and ready to be cleaned up this weekend. I'll still need to get o-rings from Mr. Robert Barr before I can reassemble them of course.

[Skateguy50]

Do those spare carbs have bigger jets that would fit?

Suppose you would have done that if it did... oh well back to plan A or B... what plan are you on now Z?

[Skateguy50]

Im not good at spotting the money items... but I read a lot about the smoothbores being worth a fair amount of change. Looking on Z1's site it looks to my untrained eye that they might be some value there.

Aside from the float bowl it looks a lot like these:



However it mentioned some had an angled drain that looks closer to yours like this.


If that's the case definitely clean them up and see what you get for it.

[Macguyver]

Im not good at spotting the money items... but I read a lot about the smoothbores being worth a fair amount of change. Looking on Z1's site it looks to my untrained eye that they might be some value there.
.
.
.
If that's the case definitely clean them up and see what you get for it.

I think that is the plan. I am going to post a thread asking for advice in the technical section, but I think I will likely dip them, soda blast, replace o-rings, maybe even do a nice little paint job on the lettering on them, and see what I can get for them.

However, I do reserve the right to use them if the other post reveals they would be better than the CV's I have now.

It would be nice if I can get enough to cover my rejetting and then some.
Only time will tell I guess.

[Macguyver]

Do those spare carbs have bigger jets that would fit?

Suppose you would have done that if it did... oh well back to plan A or B... what plan are you on now Z?

I may just be on plan double C by now. I lost track somewhere along the way. The good news is that the next plan is going to be plan double D! :

[Macguyver]

Well, I just received my new 47.5 pilot jets by way of our inter-store truck. Now all I need is the gosh-darned main jets.

I went back over to the local dealership and made them aware of the fact that the jets they sold me are not the correct ones. Thankfully they agreed to not charge me the 20% restocking fee.

I now have a set of four 117.5, and four 120 main jets coming from Motovan via the local dealership. I wanted a set of 115's and a set of 122.5's as well so I had some wiggle room in jetting, but it was not to be. According to the dealership, the 115's are on indefinite backorder, and there are only two 122.5's available, then they go on to indefinite backorder as well.

It really would have been nice to get everything jetting this weekend, but I guess I'll just have to be patient and wait over another weekend for them to get me (hopefully) the right jets.

The good news is that I dug out my little box of spare carb parts, and I may just taper the spare set of jet needles to a more dynojet profile. At least I know if I mess them up, I have proper ones still in my mounted carbs, and I can order replacement ones if needed.

Now all I need is to get some time tonight (without rain) to snap some pics!

[Macguyver]

LARGE Air Cleaner

Well, I had quite a busy weekend.

Between the rain, parties, visiting with family & friends, driving an hour to pick up money that's been owed to me for two months, and trying to cheer up a friend who just ended a three year long relationship, it's been a bit hectic.

I did manage to find the time to take some pictures of the large air cleaner assembly I built for the 650 though.

Here are the raw materials, some 3/16 fuel tubing, a 46234 air filter element, the lid from a dollar store stainless steel container, misc. nuts & washers, some stainless 1/4" - 20 TPI threaded rod, and the chromed end cover from an aftermarket air cleaner.



I needed a way to seal the chrome cover up against the rubber flange on the rear of the stock intake manifold, and the easiest way to do that was to make a honking big o-ring from the fuel tubing, and seal it in the chrome cap with some urethane windshield adhesive. The o-ring sits above the inner lip of the chrome cover by about 1/8", which provides plenty of "smoosh" room for when the unit is all tightened down. If you look closely, you can see where I used some rubber cement to join the tubing together on the right side.



Next step was to drill a 3/16" hole in the center of the forward face of the air intake manifold, and secure the threaded rod with a washer and nut on either side of the plastic to disperse the forces on it when tightened together.



After securing the rod, and allowing the urethane to cure overnight, I then fitted the chrome cover in place over the stock flange.



The air filter I picked up from work is the perfect diameter to fit over the chrome cover. If you look carefully, you will see a groove in the top of the black rubber portion of the filter, which is mirrored on the bottom, and sits right over the top of the chrome cover, filling the groove.



The next piece to the puzzle is the top cap, which I cut down from the stainless steel container lid. Even though it came from the dollar store, it's decent stainless, I could tell by the fact almost nothing I had would cut it.

I ended up putting a bolt through the center hole to act as a mandrel, tightening it down with some washers and nuts, and chucking it up in my drill press. It then came down to cutting it using a cut-off wheel in a most unusual fashion, by holding it against the inside of the lid while it was spinning at 1500 RPM. Once it was trimmed down to size, I then cleaned up the sharp edges with the bench grinder, and test fit it over the top of the filter. It fit perfectly first try! The down-turned lip of the piece mated up to the groove in the filter providing a great seal.



All I needed to tighten it all down was a 1/4" - 20 TPI knob-nut.



Here's another angle of the completed assembly.



And one of it on the bike.



I idled the bike for a bit so I could take a look at the plugs, and sure enough, it was running lean. So without wanting to burn up the valves, I am going to wait until I (hopefully) receive the new jets I ordered to get the bike dialed in.

All in all, it was a pretty good weekend.

[Skateguy50]

Ohh I like that new one, but the most important thing is getting it to run nice so hope the jets come in and take care of that for you.