1981 GS450E Rebuild

[pete]

And trouble! Oil seal retaining plate is there, but I seem to be missing one of the bolts. I can't find it in any of my tins containing the crank case bolts and bits, nor any of my early disassembly unlabelled tins either.

Mind you, I got this off so long ago it's possible I ruined the bolt and hadn't kept it to remind me to replace it...



At least I got the bearing retainer plate on, thread locker on the screws too:



Next up, pulled the two oil jets out from the top to ensure the O ring location is correct, and yep it is, that's where they go. The jets are a press fit, not threaded, so I reckon it's a must to replace those O rings, will do that tonight or something:



And the jets come from either end of the cylinder openings:



So that's where she sits now. Next up is replace those jet O rings and get the gear changing shaft etc. in.

Guess I'm also now ordering a very small bolt from the dealer...

[pete]

Ok, first off, called my local dealer this morning... Hi, looking for 1 bolt and 3 O rings, yes we have those in stock... what? I said yes, we have those in stock. Awesome, will pick them up Saturday.

I think they must know what I'm looking for or something... more likely they use the same parts on lots of models.

In a nutshell, that means Saturday I should be picking up my missing bolt, the two O rings for the oil pump, and the O ring for the gear indicator sensor.

Anyways, back into it tonight, and first thing was those pesky O rings on the jets.

I'm glad I replaced them, because both felt rather hard and one had started to perish a little. I also discovered the right hand side one was partially blocked, so gave that a clean out with a thin bit of wire.

Back in place with new O rings:



Next up, cleaned up the shift shaft:



And then cleaned up the spring for the detent plunger on the shifting drum as well as the neutral pin, spring, and bolt:



Got the neutral pin, spring, and bolt installed:



Then I got the shifting shaft installed and the spring for the detent plunger:



I popped the shifting arm on the end of the shift shaft and was able to shift through all the gears no troubles, although it's a little difficult because there's no leverage without actually mounting the linkages on the foot rest.

And that's where I stop tonight, because I'm unexpectedly up to the clutch already and I haven't printed out that part of the manual!

Will do that at work tomorrow, then heading out tomorrow night with my wife, so don't expect to get back to it until maybe Sunday or Monday night.

Making some good progress finally though

I also thought I would've heard back about the cylinders and head by now, will give him a call Monday or Tuesday if I haven't heard by then. I'm on a training course on the 13th to 15th so won't be able to take his call if it's not until then...

[davidduarte]

SNIP

And that's where I stop tonight, because I'm unexpectedly up to the clutch already and I haven't printed out that part of the manual!

SNIP

Are you using the Haynes pdf? I have a Clymer (I have the Haynes and Clymer; I consider the Clymer the superior manual); if you need a section pm me and I'll scan it into pdf format and email it to you.

[Flaming Chainsaws]

Are you using the Haynes pdf? I have a Clymer (I have the Haynes and Clymer; I consider the Clymer the superior manual); if you need a section pm me and I'll scan it into pdf format and email it to you.

It would very nice if you could scan the whole thing... Please? Then let BassCliff host it on his website so that we can all see it. Although that will take a lot of time.

[davidduarte]

It would very nice if you could scan the whole thing... Please? Then let BassCliff host it on his website so that we can all see it. Although that will take a lot of time.

maybe if you were in Australia AND rebuilding your engine, I'd think about it. If you want a Clymer, you can go on Amazon and order one. I probably shouldn't offer to copy a few pages, and I would only think about scanning the whole thing if I knew for certain that it was out of print.

[Flaming Chainsaws]

maybe if you were in Australia AND rebuilding your engine, I'd think about it. If you want a Clymer, you can go on Amazon and order one. I probably shouldn't offer to copy a few pages, and I would only think about scanning the whole thing if I knew for certain that it was out of print.

Sorry if I offended you, man. I was just saying.

[pete]

Thanks for the offer David, but thanks to the kindliness of our very own and local Suzuki_Don, I have a PDF of the Clymer manual. I looked around at prices to buy one as I prefer to have a manual in my hand, but over here the prices are just stupid for them.

I have a Haynes manual that I bought many years ago, but that resulted in me stripping a thread in the crank case, so I've stopped using it except for referring to pictures to get a clearer indication of what the Clymer is talking about.

Allen, I'll see if I can dig out the link for you.

[pete]

Ok, got the bolt and O rings yesterday, so oil seal retainer, oil pump, and gear position sensor can all go back in now. I also printed out the clutch section of the manual, so I can clean that up and get it back in also.

I'm very quickly approaching the point where I need the cylinders and rings, so hope they're not too far away! I still need to clean the old carbon off the pistons yet though and get a hone also.

On another note, for some reason I wanted to get the odometer reading from the instruments. I think it was actually for another thread, but it's 94264.9 kms, so it has done a fair few. I would've only put 8000 - 10000 on myself. And yes, that's kms, not miles

Also, for Leigh's and my benefit, the light switch is on the right hand controls, so I should be able to use a GSXR left switchblock for the choke too, which would be great if I can figure out how to make the change.

Anyway, hopefully some more progress tonight or tomorrow night.

[pete]

Back at it tonight... and bugger! The circlip that holds the sprocket on the oil pump is dead. Looks like when I removed it it lost its tension, so that needs replacing, and I need that on before I get the clutch on.

I wonder if all circlips are the same and I can get one from a hardware? Otherwise it's yet another trip to the dealer, they must be getting sick of my tiny little orders by now...

Anyways, this is what I did get done...

Oil seal retainer in with the new bolt, and gear position sensor in with the new O ring:



Idler gear for the starter in:



Oil pump in with new O rings, but no circlip to hold the sprocket on:



Thread lock went on all the bolts and screws too of course.

And it's hard to show what the circlip's like, so this is the best I could do:



Once I get that circlip sorted, it's clutch time.

Besides doing this tonight, got the garden shed finished up today too, had to bolt it to the brick wall it's up against and get some timber in there to hang stuff off. Also put two sets of shelves in, one at each end.

I'm quite amazed at how much has gone in there so far, yet there is still tons of room for more stuff to go in, so I may just get a nice place in the garage to put my bike without having to take a car out first every time.

[Woodsy]

Its slowly coming together, I had a buggered GSX450S that came with my 250 but the engine was really tight and the bike was partly disasembled so i sold it, i would of liked the extra 200cc though.. hehe

What about something like this? Dont mind my crude drawing. Shorten the Tail, put a megafone exhaust on it, wire wheels, paint it, obviously alot better than my drawing.. lol

[pete]

I know what you mean there Woodsy, I moved up from a Honda Rebel 250 to this, and yeah, those 200cc's are good!

I'm planning at the moment to find a flat seat to replace the stock pan and get some custom pipes made up along the Triumph Scrambler style... budget and time will dictate how far I go along that path though...

Mind you, I like the concept of what you have there, could be a good design for a solo...

Anyways, house mate brought me home a present tonight:



One circlip in and oil pump is done. Clutch time!

Clutch basket on:



And the hub sleeve (excuse me if my terminology isn't 100% here):



Nut torqued up and washer folded up:



Plates and bearing installed:



And finally drive plate installed, and springs in with bolts and tightened down:



And you can see the left half of the push rod on the other side also:



That was actually quite painful, cleaning each clutch plate and giving them an eyeball, then getting them in and then the bolts done up. Ended up rather tedious and time consuming, but of course well worth it.

So, next up I need to start cleaning the pistons ready to go on and I still haven't heard about my cylinders and head, so will have to give him a call tomorrow.

Still waiting for my rings to show up too, although not much I can do with them until the cylinders are back and I've given them a hone.

I also need to start back on cleaning up and polishing the engine case covers as once the cylinders and pistons are on, it can go back in the frame and some of the covers can go back on.

[Hornswaggle]

Pete,
I just want to say you are doing a great job and thanks for posting your progress. I don't need to tear into my 450 yet but this is all good reference for when the day comes.

[pete]

Cheers Kevin! Let's hope you don't need to tear into it any time soon, you have a very nice example of a T there already

Very glad to post up as much info and pic's as I can as I feel like I'm contributing something back to the people on here in return for all the great help I have gotten so far and will need down the track.

I have noticed a lack of these sorts of threads for the twins, so hopefully this will help others beyond just being another thread to read.

[hillsy]

Hey Pete,

Are those new clutch friction plates? If so, you need to soak them in oil (overnight is best) or else the clutch won't work properly.

Just checkin'

[pete]

Cheers for the tip there Hillsy, but they're the old ones. Good to know for when I do replace them though, as I'm sure I will at some point down the track, otherwise I won't be riding it enough...

I did think about replacing them while I had it apart, but I had no issues whatsoever with the clutch when it was running so I figured a clean up would do for now so I could budget for other things that really need replacing. Guess I'll just have to wait and see when it runs...

And nothing done tonight, work intervened.

New technology and configuration + almost no testing + firmware upgrade means my phone was bound to ring tonight, so just finished working a little while ago and ran out of time to do anything on it tonight.

My rings arrived today (no pic's yet), so that was nice, and I also called the guy at Jimboomba with the cylinders and head and he hasn't got to them yet, but they won't be far away. Apparently he was blasting until 10pm last night on a difficult job, so he's dedicated! I know how he feels too...

Anyways, that's about it until (hopefully) tomorrow night when I can get down there again and make sure the rings are good and I can get the pistons cleaned up and on.