1981 GS450E Rebuild

[Flaming Chainsaws]

Aha! You found the P clamps. Since the P clamps have a rubber molding on them, I would think that they would not be able to ground to the frame which means the electronics won't work. So you will need to make a ground point for each of the electronics on the plate. Or am I completely wrong?

Progress is looking good, Pete.

[cowboyup3371]

You can take the rubber off very easily.

[Flaming Chainsaws]

You can take the rubber off very easily.

Yeah, I know but I would rather keep the rubber on to keep the vibrations at a minimum. This is just my thoughts .

[davidduarte]

Aha! You found the P clamps. Since the P clamps have a rubber molding on them, I would think that they would not be able to ground to the frame which means the electronics won't work. So you will need to make a ground point for each of the electronics on the plate. Or am I completely wrong?

Progress is looking good, Pete.

it depends. Certain things, the horn comes to mind, have positive and negative leads, rather than just a positive and ground.

[pete]

Black will not hide imperfections,it will hilight them.Unless you are going matt or satin.

Thanks for the tip Greg, good to know

And no, I ain't goin' matte or satin, all shiny gloss for the tank and stuff

Aha! You found the P clamps. Since the P clamps have a rubber molding on them, I would think that they would not be able to ground to the frame which means the electronics won't work. So you will need to make a ground point for each of the electronics on the plate. Or am I completely wrong?

Progress is looking good, Pete.

I did indeed! Found 'em exactly where Hillsy said I would at the auto shop down the road, always manage to get good success down there

I've already sorted a good ground and there's 0.02 ohms between the frame and the electrics tray as measured by my multimeter which is pretty good. Almost everything can share the same ground point this way too and I should be able to run a battery negative lead to here as well as to the frame.



Cheers FC!

You can take the rubber off very easily.

Nah, one of the reasons I want the P clamps is because the rubber will make it look a little tidier than the hose clamps and exposed metal, and given the frame's painted with POR 15 Blackcote, it's not gonna conduct very well anyways.

Yeah, I know but I would rather keep the rubber on to keep the vibrations at a minimum. This is just my thoughts .

Not sure if it will help the vibes or not, but it might, just never know

it depends. Certain things, the horn comes to mind, have positive and negative leads, rather than just a positive and ground.

Yep, very true!

[pete]

So, first off, called Tranzac and the towing guy today to confirm my bike's booked in successfully to get towed down on Friday... all set

Then, got onto the local POR 15 retailer here and ordered the tank repair kit which my house mate kindly picked up for me seeing as it's literally about a 5 minute walk from his work.



I was planning on getting some aquarium rocks to rattle around in the tank to get the flaky rust off, but it dawned on me while I was looking the other day that we have river rock and gravel down both sides of our house... sheeesh... so I didn't buy any thankfully, I'll just use some of what I own already instead

Then tonight I ripped the electrical tape off and the first three rods held up well, although I appear to have gotten quite carried away with the JB Weld on one spot which could be interesting when welding later... I can always grind it back I suppose:



Then I got the rest of the key pieces on. If I don't get to do any more than these pieces before the bike goes on Friday, then I've at least got enough key pieces to get the shape right for welding and probably even to get the mesh started.



I haven't actually JB Welded the front of the side ones there, they're just taped to the other one as that really will make it hard to weld, instead I only JB Welded a little on the rear of those rods.

I also noticed I managed to leave the two side rods about half to three quarters of an inch too long, but that will be easy fixed with a cut off wheel on the dremel later on.

[pete]

And then I took a closer look at the clearance I have with the front guard to see if it can be raised and, if so, how much by.

This is where it sits now:



As you can see, very low to the tyre and definitely road oriented as Flyboy pointed out.

I worked out I have enough clearance to lift it up one Pepsi Max can diameter:



So the only real problem now is to work out how I can raise it 65mm (Pepsi Max can diameter) and not compromise the ability of the built in fork brace.

This is the built in fork brace:



And the outside where it mounts at the moment curves in to give clearance for the curvature of the fork leg:



Not an urgent decision right now on how to do it, just need to get it sorted before I paint.

Using 3mm or so thick steel plate is probably the safest way to go I would think. The bracing material in there now is somewhere around 1.5 - 2mm thick by the looks.

Of course there's still the proper fork brace route, but that means I also need to find a different front guard to sit on top of it as well, and come to think of it, I'm not sure if a fork brace will let me retain the fork gaiters... and I gotta keep them!

[Redneck]

Hey Pete Look at me!

[Redneck]

Guess what I am....

[Redneck]

I am your 1000 poster... wooo hoo Okay its the little things in life that entertain me.

[pete]

Hahahahaah awesome Paul, nice work there

I noticed it was getting close...

Don't worry, I'm also amused by little things... and there are so many come backs to that comment that I don't dare say

[landshark]

Pete,
I forgot to post back that the paint shop i normally use has gone out of business.

[pete]

Bugger! Oh well, saves me a trip to Nerang I guess

[pete]

Well, my attempt at not using too much JB Weld seems to have paid off with the curved rods at the back... one didn't bond at all and the other was wiggling and fell off when I tried to put the rear bottom rod on...



That's the rear bottom rod there, and I've just taped it on (no JB Weld) so I can give the rear curved rods something to support them.

The side rods held well:



Trying again with the rear curved rods tonight:



Hopefully they hold this time, but worst case if they don't I can at least leave them taped in place and I can weld the bottom untaped bit first, then the top.

At least it looks like I'm going to get a reasonably good shape that should match in with the lines of the tank:



Really need to trim those side rods too, still no idea how I ended up with them so much longer than they should be, but easy fixed.

I removed the battery tray the other night too and I'm hoping to use this area for a lockable weatherproof storage area, should hopefully be able to fibreglass something up for that. Very empty in there currently:



And I can now successfully use the front bolt of the battery tray for the engine ground lead too:



Test fitted one of the P clamps on the electrics tray tonight, and that should definitely be a winner, but I'll take care of those later on, need to make sure everything's ready for the trip to Tranzac and my week off at the moment.

I'm starting to get quite antsy at the moment... keen to get stuck into stuff but can't just yet. One more day of work, then a day of other crap and hopefully getting fibreglass stuff, then Friday is tow day... can't wait!!!

[Redneck]

Sorry to hear the JB Weld is not working as well as expected. I have had some pretty good luck with it in the past. It does not work well on aluminum but usually does well on steel. As far as welding the ends, don't use the tape. When you are ready to weld use a pair of vice grips to clamp the pieces together till you get a good tack then you will be good to go. I was hoping that the JB would give you a good enough hold that welding would not be essential, all you would have had to do at that point was fiberglass over it. Keep plugging. Progress however small is still progress.

Paul