1981 GS450E Rebuild

[pete]

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

Mate the JB Weld is fine... my application of it was not fine

The tape's only there to hold the JB Weld... which is there to hold for the weld...

As it stands I'm using very small bits of JB Weld just to sort of tack it together so I can weld it. Given how well the bits have stuck that I've done properly (ignore the bits that fell off, that was my fault), I could've applied more JB Weld I think and stuck with that, but now I want a little extra fun by learning how to weld

If I do something like this again, then I should by then be confident enough just to weld it straight away, and hopefully I won't be as time limited as I am currently with this part.

[pete]

Much better:



JB Weld held this time (helps when you do it right), so I'm all set for welding.

The only piece not attached is one cross member between those two curved ones that I just put back on, but that can just be welded in place when I'm ready.

I've taken it and the rear guard etc. off again now so it's ready for the trip.

So, tonight I'm officially on leave until the 4th July, so I wonder how much I can successfully get done in the next week and a half? I actually don't expect to get more than about 3 full days on it, but I hope I'm wrong and I get more.

Tomorrow I should in theory be off to Bunnings to try to get some fibreglass supplies and other odds and ends, then Friday is tow to Tranzac time.

I'm hoping I get a bit of time over the weekend to learn how to weld so I can get that done soon.

My aim is to get the duck tail fibreglassed, tank liner done, and the various parts I'm spraying with caliper paint painted. If I can get those three things done I'll be a happy man.

[pete]

Forgot to mention that a mate I was talking to the other day actually liked my original maroon colour that's on the tank now, and I must say I've always liked it myself except for the (lack of) quality of the paint job.

So I'd say there's another paint colour option there...

I'm not gonna do a colour poll at the moment, may do down the track once I've got the exhaust on and duck tail made... we'll see.

[Woodsy]

what shape you going for with the tail piece? welding should be easy, i taught myself to weld with an arc over afew days.

[pete]

what shape you going for with the tail piece? welding should be easy, i taught myself to weld with an arc over afew days.

I'm aiming to keep the shape in sync with the rear of the tank so it doesn't look out of place. Whether I can pull that off or not is a different story of course

I've never welded in my life so I'm hoping I can pick it up relatively quickly with a few practice runs. All I really need to do is some tacking more than anything, so as long as I can reliably do that without blowing holes in things I should be right.

In addition, I have a dremel with a grinding wheel...

[pete]

Well, paid a visit to Supercheap, Bunnings, and Crazy Clarks today. Yes, I said Crazy Clarks...



Got round connectors for 6mm wire to do my starter motor lead finally, as well as some masking tape and some more cable ties from Supercheap.

Got to Bunnings this avo and got a DIY fibreglass kit for 1 square metre (heaps for the duck tail) as well as a roller and some 3mm metal plate to try and make a pair of plates to lift the front guard.

Then on the way home I ducked into Crazy Clarks and got some containers with translucent red and green lids, which will be my red and green lenses for the voltage monitor. Been looking for something like that for ages.

Anyway, got the starter motor lead made up tonight:



Wrapped some electrical tape around the area where it goes under the edge of the starter cover. The original lead has some large heatshrink there for protection, but I don't have any big enough and figured electrical tape will do for some extra protection.



And I used a couple of those new cable ties to get it tied in with the other wiring going up the left side of the frame and connected it to the solenoid:



Then I was gonna start working out dimensions for the front guard riser plates, except I noticed water on the floor in the garage, couldn't see where it was coming from and checked the study which is right behind the garage and has a tap in it (for some strange reason), and... well...



Need to call a plumber first thing tomorrow... sheeesh. We just painted the damn study and now I'm gonna havta rip some of that plaster off to be able to get into that pipe, that's gonna be a nightmare. And of course the guy towing the bike to Tranzac is arriving between 7 and 8, and I have to go down as well, and then my wife has a job interview at 2pm... it all happens at once don't it?

Fortunately the house mate can come back home if the plumber arrives while I'm not here... fun times indeed!

I need to get back into the study now actually and see if it's getting worse, I really don't want it to explode over night...

[Charlie G]

Thats not good?!

[Redneck]

Forget the study, SAVE the bike. Had to go there. LoL I rent so I can say that.

Paul

[Flyboy]

That is not good, Pete, I hope it is not too serious.
Can't wait to see the bike when it gets back.

[pete]

Yay I don't need a plumber!

Thanks for the concern guys, as it turns out it's not bad at all

We have one of those free standing water filters upstairs which is directly above that spot, and turns out it was leaking all day yesterday.

My wife picked up on it this morning that she'd filled it an awful lot yesterday, and she was asleep when I saw it last night, and the first thing she thought of was the filter.

The bad thing is I started chipping some of the plaster off to try to see the pipe, but that at least won't be hard to fix, and we have enough left over paint to fix it all up afterwards, so only a small repair and cleaning the dirty water runs and all will be well

So, need to log off real soon to get organised for the arrival of the towing guys

[landshark]

Posted at 5:52am Pete?
Way too early for someone on holidays!

[pete]

Posted at 5:52am Pete?
Way too early for someone on holidays!

Yeah... Garry's towing rocked up at 7am... had to have an early start I'm afraid. It's damn cold at Carbrook at 8am!

On the plus side, it's in to get an exhaust made

It may not be done as soon as he thought as he's had some issues with minor things last week like his welder breaking... somewhat important to his trade for some strange reason, so mine's behind four others waiting to be done at the moment.

That means I may not get it back next week, but that's no drama as the stuff I need to do at the moment doesn't need it to be here.

I do know that it'll be the style I want, will be ceramic coated, and will have a megaphone with a Conti style end on the can... should be nice I hope! The baffle will also be somewhat adjustable as to volume as well...

[Woodsy]

Inbuilt water feature..... Nice. Thats the colour of your water in QLD.... no wonder you guys are all weird lol

[pete]

Hahahah now that's just not nice

Now to wait for it to dry out and replaster it... sheeesh...

[Charlie G]

Inbuilt water feature..... Nice. Thats the colour of your water in QLD.... no wonder you guys are all weird lol

Brutal! I don't think it's just Queenslanders, Hey?

cg