1981 GS450E Rebuild

[pete]

Well, noone anywhere near my work sells any sort of electrical connectors... typical.

So I couldn't do much tidying up of the wiring tonight except to work on replacing the inline glass fuse holder with the inline blade one.

Popped some bullet connectors on:



I know they're not ideal, but they're in a darn sight better condition than the ones on the inline glass holder and they still work. If I end up doing a custom harness down the track, this will all be a moot point anyway...

I then drilled a couple of holes so I can cable tie the holder to the underside of the electrics tray.



This will allow me an easy way of replacing the fuse if I need to without having to get in under the seat, but it'll be sort of hidden behind one of the sidecover brackets so it won't be in plain sight either.

Hopefully my house mate rocks up tomorrow with some connectors so I can get the tail light wired in properly, then once I know what I'm doing with that I can look at neatening the harness up and hopefully cable tying some more of it ready for transport. Still need to sort out how I'm going to clamp the electrics tray too.

I also finished up soldering the ribbon cable to the PC board end of my voltage monitor so I'm not too far away from finishing that with the exception of how I'm going to mount the LED's up on the gauges.



I also did some suspension pricing, and it seems if I go for Progressive 12 series shocks with springs and Progressive fork springs, I'll be up for around $US450 direct from Progressive including shipping which isn't bad.

I wonder how they compare with the Ikon's though? Are the Ikons really $180 better?

[pete]

Well, got a fair way through tidying up the harness ready for transport tonight.

House mate rocked up with these today:



Only need the 3 pin tonight to get the tail light hooked up, so mapped the wire colours out:



And easy peasy there she is:



I stripped and tinned the leads, crimped them to the pins of the connectors, then added some solder as well, so they shouldn't cause me any grief in a hurry.

I then decided to revisit my electrics tray and lo and behold my perseverance paid off!

I trimmed the ends of the hose clamps back so they were a closer fit diameter wise and that was enough of a difference to let me get it clamped on.



I realise it's not the most elegant way of getting the tray on there, but it's very solid and ain't moving nowhere. I may still end up replacing them with P clamps down the track, but it's enough for now that I can get the harness routed through that area and tidied up so it won't flap in the wind while being towed to Tranzac.

[pete]

And some general tidying up and cable tying of the harness:





Still a bit more tidying to do yet, but the majority of it is now sorted.

I also made a decision today based on advice from the thread I started in the suspension forum... I'm going with Ikon progressive fork springs and rear shocks/springs... not cheap, but two things are in their favour over Progressive brand, which is that the Ikons are rebuild-able and they have damping adjustments as opposed to just preload adjustment.

Hopefully that will be the pay after my exhaust is done...

[pete]

So I'm pretty much there with the harness tonight I think, although I still need to do something with the rats nest on top of the engine and near the headlight shell, but they should be quick and easy.

Wanted to mount these guys up tonight:



Which will let me get this sorted:



I still have yet to do something about this pair too, but that doesn't need to be done before it goes to Tranzac:



One on the left with the yellow insulation on the connector is the starter lead from the solenoid, and I need to get some nice thick cable like that and make up a longer lead to reach the new solenoid position.

The other is the ground from the crankcase and I'm not sure where I'm going to run that just yet, but I suspect the front mount of the battery tray will suffice. The engine does seem to get a good ground with that disconnected, but I'd rather be safe than sorry.

So I mounted up the R/R, starter solenoid, and indicator flasher relay (the solenoid and R/R are underneath):



The ground wire you see sitting loose there is the rear brake switch ground, and it will get grounded with the HEI ignition modules later on once I get that side of things sorted.

That wouldn't quite reach where I attached all the other grounds:



Those there are the main harness ground, R/R ground, and a lead I made up to run from there to the frame which gives it a really good ground. My multimeter reads 0.02 ohms between the battery tray and the frame

This is where that ground lead attaches:



When I made it up, I stripped and tinned both ends of the ground lead, then crimped the connectors on real tight. That should give a nice solid ground for quite some time...

[pete]

View from underneath shows the R/R, solenoid, and blade fuse holder:



Stator leads tidied along with the signal generator leads and the leads coming from the R/R in the background there, although the yellow/green starter solenoid lead is still floating for the moment:



And the stator and gear position indicator leads tidied:

[pete]

Nearly forgot to mention that I hooked it up to power again after I did all that tonight and everything that's working seems to work like a charm. I even got the right indicators flashing tonight! Left ones don't flash, but I think that's because the front bulb is blown.

[davidduarte]

Nearly forgot to mention that I hooked it up to power again after I did all that tonight and everything that's working seems to work like a charm. I even got the right indicators flashing tonight! Left ones don't flash, but I think that's because the front bulb is blown.

when you turn the signal switch to the left, does your indicator idiot light turn on steady, or does it flash?

[pete]

when you turn the signal switch to the left, does your indicator idiot light turn on steady, or does it flash?

It just flashes once then stays steady, but the other part of that is I'm running it off an old PC power supply just to test, and it can barely handle the load.

If I turn the right indicators on, they flash ok, but if I then pull the brake lever on to turn the brake light on, it's enough extra load to stop the indicators flashing and the voltage drops to about 9v

[pete]

So I think I'm finished with the harness tidy tonight, or at least as much of it as I need to do ready for the tow.

Had to do something with this rat's nest:



While looking at how to do that, I noticed I'd routed my main harness slightly incorrect at the front left as it was obscuring the horn mounting location, so I routed that correctly:



Notice in the first pic there that it now goes above the frame rail whereas it was incorrectly routed under that rail, which is where the horn mount is. It also would've been visible under the tank which wouldn't look right either.

Went back and neatened up that nest. I only cable tied the harness side of the connectors and I used one of the Suzuki clamps to tie the instrument and handle control cables so if I need to take them off again for some reason I don't have to cut a cable tie off:



Almost completely invisible from outside the frame now, and those couple that are visible will be hidden by the tank.

I also finally hooked the spring up to actuate the rear brake light switch from the rear brake lever:



I guess I missed a spot while painting the frame in the first pic there too...

So all I need to do now ready for the tow is take all the indicators off, take the tail light off, remove the mudguards, and make sure all the axle and triple clamp bolts are torqued up properly so nothing falls off on the way there or back. Two weeks to do that, so should be plenty of time now.

On another note altogether, I came across ITim's thread today on his 550 and I think I may have found my seat solution... thanks ITim!

http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showthread.php?t=177091

If you look at his second post, you can see how he made his duck tail so he could still use his stock seat.

If I follow his example, then I can use the original duck tail frame and the original seat pan, and all I'll need to do is get something made up out of some fibre glass. For my capabilities, that should be a better option than modifying the seat pan, and should also allow me to mould it around the Honda tail light.

It also leaves me the added benefit of not having to figure out anything in regards to making the seat easily removable as I can just use the existing key lock mechanism and, as a bonus, I can retain the grab rail or alternatively find a carry rack to mount there.

So I popped the old duck tail frame and seat pan on tonight for a peek, and I definitely think it's doable, especially if I curve it a little to somewhat replicate the lines at the rear of the tank:

[Flyboy]

Well, you have been a busy Auzzie, that is some really nice work there Pete, keep it up.
I wish mine was progressing as fast, I would be going insane to ride it if I were you, especially after such a long lay off, I have no doubt you are going to enjoy every moment of trouble free riding on it.

[ITim]

Just popped by and taking a look at your build, I have no problems with you using my duck tail as inspiration for your dilemma. From what I see here, it will work nicely for sure.
I have to agree with you I was also trying to keep the original seat lock, not alter the seat pain, and not altering the original frame. It was good challenge, but I think it came out well. I hope it works out well for ya, be careful the fibreglass work can be a pain in the A*# and frustrating as hell.

Good luck with it and I will be sure to follow the progress.

[pete]

Well, you have been a busy Auzzie, that is some really nice work there Pete, keep it up.
I wish mine was progressing as fast, I would be going insane to ride it if I were you, especially after such a long lay off, I have no doubt you are going to enjoy every moment of trouble free riding on it.

Thanks Flyboy! I'm trying to just keep at it a bit at a time. It'll be good to get some big things knocked off (like the exhaust) but there are still many little things that need finishing off too. It feels good when I get to scrub something off the whiteboard.

I'm out of my mind at times desperate for a ride, and I'm starting to think I should find a place to do a refresher course... that should also give me a riding fix to hold me off until she's finished

[pete]

Just popped by and taking a look at your build, I have no problems with you using my duck tail as inspiration for your dilemma. From what I see here, it will work nicely for sure.
I have to agree with you I was also trying to keep the original seat lock, not alter the seat pain, and not altering the original frame. It was good challenge, but I think it came out well. I hope it works out well for ya, be careful the fibreglass work can be a pain in the A*# and frustrating as hell.

Good luck with it and I will be sure to follow the progress.

Thanks ITim, I'm hoping I can do at least half as good a job as yours

Yours came out exceptionally well, and while it's been probably 20 years since I did some fibreglassing, I sort of recall some tips and I've also read a lot of threads on here about it too, so hopefully I can pull it off.

If I can get a mould to work with along the lines of what you did with the mesh, then that should help a great deal. One advantage is I shouldn't need it to be as curved as yours to replicate the rear of the tank, but we shall see...

[davidduarte]

snip

Tried to hook the tail light up tonight by reusing the OEM connector of the old tail light, but it's seriously perished so I need to find an alternative there too:


snip

I had an intermittent fault with my taillight/brakelight, and it turned out to be that same connector. Mine looked ok, but when I played with the wires attached to it, the light would go on or off. I cut it out and replaced it with bullet connectors. Where did you get the original equipment type replacement connector?

[pete]

I had an intermittent fault with my taillight/brakelight, and it turned out to be that same connector. Mine looked ok, but when I played with the wires attached to it, the light would go on or off. I cut it out and replaced it with bullet connectors. Where did you get the original equipment type replacement connector?

My house mate picked them up from Burson's Automotive near where he works, they're Narva brand.

They're not quite like OEM but the same sort of style and I used a three pin for the brake/tail light, whereas the OEM one is a four pin.

I would imagine any auto shop would have something similar...