1981 GS450E Rebuild

Pete,

Enjoyed today , will go again when weve got more time to go further, and out of the traffic too.

Just to be clear when we were talking about silicone lube, I meant the speedo its self, not the cables, for the cables just use a light grease or a heavy oil.

And dont worry about the speedo till you know its the problem...


Cheers John

[pete]

And I trimmed the top of the knee pad mock up tonight and stuck it back on a little lower down. I also flattened the top a bit compared to how arched it was originally.

I think this is right now so I can cut the neoprene to shape and work out what to carve into them...

[pete]

Ok, checked on my little potential leak again tonight, and there was a bit of a greasy mark there but no real oil as such and no drips on the ground below. I think it was just excess chain lube



I noticed a little seepage on the valve cover at John's place after the ride today, and that one allen bolt needed a little nip up, but the other allen bolts all seemed to be tight:



I definitely need to run around the crankcase bolts etc. with the torque wrench though just to make sure all is still good and tight.

During the ride today the speedo was still not quite right, seemed ok up to about 60 to 70 then just doesn't seem quite right after that. However the tacho also started to play up today, jumping all over the shop by the end of the ride.

So after talking to John I realised I'd never gone the whole hog with getting those cables cleaned and lubed, so tonight I ripped the centres out and gave them a big clean and degrease.



Inner cables out:



Quite disgusting really!



First thing I did was spray a heap of DWF down each cable followed by some degreaser.

I just kept spraying until it looked like what was coming out was the colour of what was going in.

This is what came out of them:



Must'nt lose the little washers that are on them:



And after a thorough wiping down of each inner with kero they're much cleaner and all back together:



I need to get some sillicone based lubricant to squirt down them and then they can go back on to test again. Hopefully that sorts it...

[pete]

Well done mate,but you should have bought 2 sets of tyres-cos if you're anything like me the first set won't last long(as in the desire to ride day after day after day) you know "oh I fancy a soda,uuummm I'll just take the bike" he he he he he. Johnny

Thanks Johnny! Hhahaaha yeah I know what you mean, I keep itchin' to ride and plan on many more km's yet

Like when I got her registered... couldn't just ride straight home... nah gotta go via the house mate's work and say g'day first... hahaha

Well done mate,but you should have bought 2 sets of tyres-cos if you're anything like me the first set won't last long(as in the desire to ride day after day after day) you know "oh I fancy a soda,uuummm I'll just take the bike" he he he he he. Johnny

[pete]

The KM's after a project like this are worth the effort.Loved every one on Old Yeller.Even the wet ones.

Cannot argue with that

Did another 40 odd today with John82q, and every km is just awesome right now

Thanks again for the short blast John, we will definitely have to go for a longer one soon!

The KM's after a project like this are worth the effort.Loved every one on Old Yeller.Even the wet ones.

[pete]

Holy Jeepers Man, Congratulations!!!!!! I disappear into the dark places of the internet, come back and BAM the scrambler is up and running and looks absolutely awesome to boot ( not that I ever doubted it would). YOU my friend did and absolutely fabulous job. I am very impressed even the parts that I was not so sure about in the end came out looking awesome (the front fender primarily) You did a great job my friend well done well done. Now get out there and ride.

Paul

Hhahaha yeah... surprise!

Good to see you back too!

Thanks Paul, I'm absolutely stoked she's done and I can ride... looks like they might even be turning some sun on for me today! Let's hope it hangs around for a while today

I too was worried about that front guard, but with the new tyre on it certainly seems to fit well now

I got some jetting to do, but that's just all the more reason to ride

The shape of the knee pads is ideal.
IMHO though, the proportions need to be reduced about 20%.
It just looks too large to me. Same shape, slightly smaller, moved downward.

Daniel

Looking at it again this morning Daniel, you're 100% right, although I think if I was just to move it down a little and just trim the top it will work. Will give that a go next time and see how that looks...

Well Pete what can I say! Well done! Now comes the fun part - fine tuning her! Just dont hear any suspicious noises and strip her right down again! (Just kidding Don if you are reading this!)

Enjoy!

Thanks Andre! Hahaha yeah I'll learn from Don there, as well as learning from his jetting experiences

Really looking forward to getting some km's under the tyres and getting her fine tuned, she's already a blast to ride and will only get better

Well Pete what can I say! Well done! Now comes the fun part - fine tuning her! Just dont hear any suspicious noises and strip her right down again! (Just kidding Don if you are reading this!)

Enjoy!

The shape of the knee pads is ideal.
IMHO though, the proportions need to be reduced about 20%.
It just looks too large to me. Same shape, slightly smaller, moved downward.

Daniel

Holy Jeepers Man, Congratulations!!!!!! I disappear into the dark places of the internet, come back and BAM the scrambler is up and running and looks absolutely awesome to boot ( not that I ever doubted it would). YOU my friend did and absolutely fabulous job. I am very impressed even the parts that I was not so sure about in the end came out looking awesome (the front fender primarily) You did a great job my friend well done well done. Now get out there and ride.

Paul

[pete]

Got in the garage for a short time tonight and figured I'd best lube the gauges given the odd behaviour of the speedo on Friday.

So, unmounted the headlight and gauge cluster



And squirted some DWF in both as well as down the tach cable. I did the speedo cable before putting it on but just realised tonight I'd completely forgotten to do the tach cable.



Fingers crossed that sorts the speedo out.

Toes crossed tomorrow gives me at least a couple of hours of no rain so I can go say g'day to john82q and maybe even get out for a bit of a ride

I also decided to whack up a quick mock up of what I'm thinking of for the rubber knee pads for the tank:



I just cut that out of some black cardboard and doubled some masking tape up to hold it there for the moment.

I think the shape and size in proportion to the tank is pretty good, so I've just gotta work out a design to carve out of the rubber and get stuck into it.

[pete]

Pete,

Congrats!

cg

Cheers Charlie! Now for you to get that 1000 done

[Charlie G]

Pete,

Congrats!

cg

[pete]

Congratulations, all the hard work paying off.
Now you going to have to find something else to write on that whiteboard of yours.
I recon, ride it for a bit, let everything settle down and then do the tweaking.

Thanks Stan! Yes I do feel it's paid off

For the moment that white board will be tracking some optional stuff I have in the works (you'll see soon enough ) and my jetting stuff... then who knows... there's that little Ducati motor sitting there as well as that Yammie YB100 at the house mate's mum's place...

I do need to get the pilots sorted so they're not bogging though, nearly dropped it in a car park when she stalled starting to open the throttle

Fortunately if I did drop it, it would've been the right side, not the pipe side!