1982 GS650G Cafe build

[LowellGS]

No I mean grabit. Its a bit for a drill hence the grabit

[Turtleface]

By grabit you mean an easy out?

Yes, he does. Grabit is a brand name of screw extractor. So is Easy Out.

[LowellGS]

ahh ok lol

I'm going to end up taking it to someone to have them removed?

Also i hate gaskets by the way.. I'm going to end up using an athena kit.. ive seen posts of people bashing them and posts where people say they have had them on their bikes for years without a problem.

I found the kit for a good price like $70. Gonna finish off the engine before i move onto the frame work..

I'm trying to figure out how to paint the engine.. can't find many pictures on here..
I need to like tape off every bolt hole?

[LowellGS]

So its been a while obv..

Some updates..
Finally finished taking all the gaskets off

Just picked up some airplane stripper for the frame and tank..

I just ordered a gasket kit for the engine. About to order a bolt kit.

Questions to you is.
The jugs are off the bike. Top end in pieces.
Should i put it all back together then degrease/clean it or do it now while its in pieces?

Also what should i use? I have heard of kerosene, engine bright and simple green mixes??

What do you guys think

[waterman]

I would clean and degrease all of the pieces before you reassemble. If you are still planning on painting engine, paint the individual components and then reassemble.

As for cleaning, I have used Purple Power degreaser. I will warn you to follow directions and use gloves, the stuff did a number on bare skin. Kerosene will work as will engine bright. I just rinse well with water after cleaning and blow dry with compressed air.

[Skateguy50]

goodluck on this, getting my cams on tonight from my second top end rebuild.

I like you heard both stories on the Athena's and the price was right so I went for it. I will say clean it as good as you can, take your time lining it all up on reinstall and make sure it has all the orings, if not get some... the kit only came with 2 orings for the head gasket so I used 2... well it needed 4 and leaked. The base just got cooked and lost a chunk in the middle and cracked all over, was about 6k till I took it off but leaks started about 3-4k miles in.

Athena Head gasket, did ok but should have bought extra orings:


Athena base (ironically this one sucked the most and was actually reasonable as OEM $20 vs $120 for head gasket)


That piece in the middle was not stuck on the cylinders, it was long gone and the source of most of my oil leaks.