1981 GS450E Rebuild

[pete]

Cheers Scott! Very glad I got it done and dusted. If it had to go to a machine shop, the whole thing would just have had to go on hold indefinitely as I don't get time to do stuff like that as most of those places are only open during business hours. If I manage to get a day off, it's for something other than the bike...

[pete]

Well upon my return from Sydney, there was a present waiting on the dining room table for me:



Once again thanks Mr Robert Barr for your very treasured O ring service to us GSR type people.

I was extra impressed that the needle valve O rings are specifically identified and that there is a piece of paper in there to let you know some handy tips for installing them which is awesome.

[pete]

A little progress...

Got about an hour and a half on it yesterday, but unfortunately not a very productive time.

First off I realised I hadn't read anything from the manual before I started, so I was looking at the crankshaft and counter balance shaft instead of the transmission which lead me to duck up the road looking for some moly lube. Local Supercheap is useless, turns out they sell it but the children who work there didn't know. Why must they employ 15/16 year olds who don't know anything just to save a dollar?

Anyways, went the other direction to a little auto parts store and got this:



Then I realised I needed to continue with the gear shifting mechanism instead...

So, back into it with my newly acquired bolts and screws and got the shifting drum and shift forks in properly.



I didn't use the torque wrench this time, just popped on some thread locker and nipped them up snugly so they should be all good.

I also did the same for the oil pressure relief valve:



All in all, not much done, but it's a start.

Next time I'll have read some more from the manual before starting and I may even now be able to get some time at night to do some also which will speed things up seeing as I don't seem to be able to get my Saturday a fortnight at the moment.

[scottychop]

Looking good.

Now lets see you put it together as fast as you took it apart!

I'd sure love to head down to see the bike builds you all have going on. It's a long swim however...

[pete]

Mate that's easy... 5 years to get it apart... hahahaha

If it takes me that long to get it back together I'm gonna go nutso and yell and scream and stuff coz I got a hankerin' to go ridin'...

[Leigh]

I'd sure love to head down to see the bike builds you all have going on. It's a long swim however...

Just go the other way, Scotty.

C'mon, Pete, hurry up.
2 days of bucketing rain have put the dampers on my efforts this weekend.
I did give the tank a bit of a cut & polish which really highlighted just how crappy I am at prep & paint.

Kids are back at school tomorrow so I'll be in the shed catching up.

[pete]

Just go the other way, Scotty.

C'mon, Pete, hurry up.
2 days of bucketing rain have put the dampers on my efforts this weekend.
I did give the tank a bit of a cut & polish which really highlighted just how crappy I am at prep & paint.

Kids are back at school tomorrow so I'll be in the shed catching up.

Yeah yeah quit ya naggin' already!

I'm struggling to get some time lately, haven't really been able to get into it again since I stripped that thread. I've only spent about an hour and a half on it in the last month. Keep going that way and it really will be another five years!

If I can get the garden shed sorted, I'll have somewhere to stick some stuff and get some room to move, then I can do some quiet stuff at night, like put the motor back together.

Kids and school hey? That's one problem I don't have... I'm not "child friendly"...

[Suzuki_Don]

Choke Mechanisms

OK Pete, Suzuki used a choke actuating lever on the LH switch gear in around '82 GS1100. See Illustration below.




The next piece of information I am going to give you is of extremely sensitive content, so I would appreciate if you would keep it to yourself and tell no-one on this site. I would be ostracised if anyone found out. The LH switch gear on my 550 is off a YAMAHA XJ650. Two main reasons are that I don't like the Suzuki plastic switch gear and I like the choke mechanism on the Yamaha, it is more sturdy. The Yamaha switch gear is an aluminium casting which means any part of the housing can be used as an earth.






Another benefit is that the Yamaha LH switch gear also has a passing button to flash other drivers with when needed. One slight drawback is that the switch gear came off a model that had self cancelling blinkers, which my bike does not have. This means that when you move the blinkers knob to the left for instance, the left blinkers come on and the knob returns to the central position on the switch gear (spring loaded). To manually cancel the blinker the knob must be pushed straight in, as per the arrow on the knob. But no doubt I will get used to it.

[herostar]

That looks just like the LH control on my '83 GS750E

[Suzuki_Don]

That looks just like the LH control on my '83 GS750E

Is your switch gear plastic or aluminium, does it have a pass switch?

[pete]

Cheers Don, that's great, and I won't tell anyone what you did with your left 'bar switchgear

I originally was thinking of my brother's GPX750 choke lever that's on the left 'bar and rotates around the bar rather than moving left to right like yours. Either way is good for me.

My big issue with it will be working out how to attach the cable to the carbs themselves instead of having to use the lever attached to the side, but that's also the least of my worries at the moment.

[SVSooke]

Don:switchgear on the 83 GS750's are aluminum,don't have the pass switch and don't have the press to cancel.Miss that ,the SV had it.

[Suzuki_Don]

Cheers Don, that's great, and I won't tell anyone what you did with your left 'bar switchgear

I originally was thinking of my brother's GPX750 choke lever that's on the left 'bar and rotates around the bar rather than moving left to right like yours. Either way is good for me.

My big issue with it will be working out how to attach the cable to the carbs themselves instead of having to use the lever attached to the side, but that's also the least of my worries at the moment.

Pete I also have the answer how to attach the inner cable to the carbs. I will dig out some pics and post back later.

[pete]

Sounds good to me Don! You're just full of helpful advice aren't you

And I appreciate every bit of it

Cheers!

[Suzuki_Don]

Choke Mechanism

OK Pete, I think I have got the best pics I can find on this choke mechanism. Now this mechanism is used on all the four cylinders from the latter part of '82 and the '83 models with the CV carbs. The earlier four cylinder GS's used a different leverage type system.



Above: This bracket mounts on the top of carb #3, the choke outer cable fits into the long brass nut thingo, the inner cable passes through the entire setup turning at 90 degrees to run parallel to the choke rod and connect into a small mechanism screwed to the choke rod. This bracket also has the part that the throttle cable attaches to. If this is in the wrong place for you then it can be cut off and use your existing throttle mounting bracket. But you get the idea.













If this does not make sense or you can't fathom the pictures then let me know. I know you dont have a #3 carb, that is the way it is set up on the 650s. Just adapt the parts to your two carbs and all should be A-OK.

.