1981 GS450E Rebuild

Pete.....Love the pur...er a tool pouch. The color is all wrong for my wardrobe but I'm sure I can find something that will co-ordinate. Great idea.
Niels

[cowboyup3371]

Looks great Pete. How well can you get it back out without snagging on the seat latch?

well least it wasnt sequined..



good job!

[pete]

At last! I have somewhere to store some tools that doesn't require me to drag my tank bag everywhere... or man bag in Leigh-speak

Got all the house stuff done nice and early today which gave me some time in the garage this avo.

I ended up bending the rear of the two halves of the tool tray down a bit to match the angle of the tail light bracket:



And bolted the two halves in finally. Unfortunately tightening the bolts pulled the rear bits of rubber up off the aluminium but I can cope with that. I really should've cut holes in the rubber the size of the washers but I didn't think of that earlier...



Then I pulled out the toolkit that came with the bike which looks like it's at least mostly genuine Suzuki stuff:



Added some more:



Then my wife gave me an old coin purse thing to use as I couldn't find anything suitable at Supercheap or Woolies today and stuck all the tools in:



Yes it looks a touch on the girly side but it does the job right? And my wife promises she'll find me a more manly one at some point... haha

However, it's an absolute perfect fit, exactly the right size:



Very happy with that and due to the way it wedges in nicely I don't have to find any way of strapping it in either.

[pete]

Pete..........Thanks for the great pics. I think I have everything to do the job except the Nastro Azzuro. I was wondering if Carlsberg, Dos Equis or Carta Blanco would work as well. I think I can get those locally.
Niels

No problems Niels, always hoping I can help someone out with the pic's... and the Nastro definitely helps me out (when I don't have to test ride afterwards of course)

Carlsberg will definitely work but I haven't tried the Dos Equis or Carta Blanco so perhaps you could take them for a trial run and let me know? Hahaha

Pete..........Thanks for the great pics. I think I have everything to do the job except the Nastro Azzuro. I was wondering if Carlsberg, Dos Equis or Carta Blanco would work as well. I think I can get those locally.
Niels

[pete]

Next up, blue thread locker on the three bolts and in she goes:



Bit of RTV around the grommet:



And blue thread locker again on the other three bolts for the cable guides and she's ready for the cover to go back on:



Stator and sprocket covers back on with lots of fresh anti-seize on the SS bolt threads again:



Re-routed and cable tied the wiring back in place again:





And that was that.

Tank back on, topped the oil up (was about 1/3 way down on the dipstick), got the footpeg and gear lever back on, then fired her up to see what would happen.

At idle, it didn't drop below 14v, and over 5000 RPM peaks at 14.7v.

I reckon she's fixed

As I said earlier, she felt like a different bike on the test ride... very happy with that!

[pete]

Ok, I felt like I was riding a different bike during the short test ride today... I think the lack of voltage was having an effect on the Dynatek. Voltage now peaks at 14.7v whereas after the rebuild it was about 13.9v and last week I was measuring 12.5v maximum...

Anyways, yesterday I picked up some RTV and bolts as the philips screws were looking a bit worse for wear:



He asked if I wanted philips or hex head and I said hex... I actually meant allen head but didn't have time to get him to swap them so I stuck with these.

Then yesterday I got the old stator out and you can see that some of the laminate or whatever it is has actually come off and is sitting on the surfaces where the bolts go in:



The old one's looking a bit crusty there and there's a few spots where you can see she's definitely gotten a touch warm:



Comparison time and the wiring is the same length on old and new, and obviously the same size:





Then I managed to salvage the old grommet. Ended up cutting the wires on one side of the grommet then standing on a pair of pliers while using another set of pliers to yank the old wires out.



I was surprised to find the grommet is still quite pliable, but I'll use a bit of RTV regardless.

Getting the new wires through the grommet was a lot easier, and I'm reusing the sheath from the old stator wiring as it's braided and most definitely is better quality than what was provided:





Tinned the ends of the wires, slide the insulator sleeves on, and crimped and soldered the female bullet connectors on:



And slid the insulator sleeves up over the bullet connectors so she's ready to install:

[pete]

I actually put the wire in a vice one by one and pull the rubber off the wire.

Keep well!

Hahaha that would be the sensible way, I couldn't possibly do that

You too Andre, glad to see you popping up again... you need to find another project so I can follow along again now

Cheers Andre, did exactly that yesterday avo when I had a spare 15 minutes

I ended up standing on a set of pliers holding the grommet while I pulled the wires out.

I actually put the wire in a vice one by one and pull the rubber off the wire.

Keep well!

[pete]

Pete, cut the wires on the stator side of the grommet. Then pull the wires out of the grommet. If the grommet is glued to the wire insulation, pull out the copper and carefully loosen the insulation with a watchmakers screwdriver from the rubber. It should be salvageable.
In worst case some people slit the rubber up to the wires, but I have never had to do that.
Good luck.

Cheers Andre, did exactly that yesterday avo when I had a spare 15 minutes

I ended up standing on a set of pliers holding the grommet while I pulled the wires out.

I also found this thread yesterday which is helping:

http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showthread.php?t=164649

Crap, just realised that contrary to the picture there's no grommet!!!!

I hope like hell I can use the existing one otherwise I got no idea where I'm gonna get one from... time to do me some searching...

Pete, cut the wires on the stator side of the grommet. Then pull the wires out of the grommet. If the grommet is glued to the wire insulation, pull out the copper and carefully loosen the insulation with a watchmakers screwdriver from the rubber. It should be salvageable.
In worst case some people slit the rubber up to the wires, but I have never had to do that.
Good luck.

[pete]

Crap, just realised that contrary to the picture there's no grommet!!!!

I hope like hell I can use the existing one otherwise I got no idea where I'm gonna get one from... time to do me some searching...

[pete]

Stator's here, looks like a quality bit of kit and it looks like the insulation for the wiring is ok too:



Got about 1/3 the way through replacing it tonight, and here's how it goes:

Tank and seat off and sat the left leg of the centre stand on some timber to try to prevent losing too much oil, not sure if it's quite enough of an angle to help too much though (drain pan just in case of course):





Sprocket cover bolts removed and gear shifter disconnected from the shifter shaft:



Even though I've removed the sprocket cover with the footpeg on before, this time I had to pull it off:



The most tragic part so far... cutting the cable ties so the stator wiring can just hang there...



Not losing too much oil by the looks:





Managed to not damage the gasket so I don't have to try and find a new one in a hurry:



And there she is:



Had to work at 10pm for a short time so that's all I had time for so far.

Next I need to get the old stator out, work out how long the wiring needs to be for the new one, crimp the bullet connectors on, and get her installed.

I think I'll get back to it on Saturday... or at least I hope so!

[pete]

Got my stator ordered today and they're express posting it so in theory I should have it tomorrow. Gotta do some more work at 10pm tomorrow night but fingers crossed I can at least get the tank off and stator cover loose ready for action. I have Friday off to get the wife's car serviced so I don't need her back together until Monday morning, although it would be nice to have a test run over the weekend at some point.

Passed my exam (just) today, then when I got home I called Serco to find out what the deal is with the Dynojet kit.

Turns out it really does look like it's available, an E3305 stage 3 kit, but I'm looking at around $160 - 170 for the kit and about a month's delay for it to arrive. Think it might be time to enquire with Rapidray for some more details on the needles he sells...

I did also get down into the garage tonight and did a quick test fit with the tool tray:



Overlaps a bit but I've elongated the mounting holes and I think once I bolt them down properly it will actually need a small amount of bending to conform to the shapes in there and it should sit nicely I think.

Then I cut the rubber to shape:



Gave it all a wipe over with metho and a spray with contact adhesive and let that set up for a few minutes:



Then on the rubber goes:



So I'll let that set overnight and hopefully I'll get to mount it soon and see how it all lines up in there.