1981 GS450E Rebuild

[pete]

Time for pic's...

Got out my trusty bottle of POR 15 Metal Ready and got each bit soaked to start the final stage of prep:



Tried to get some close ups after about 15 minutes to show what the Metal Ready does to the rusty bits, most prominent on the side stand:



Not so obvious on the frame:



And after washing the side stand down after the Metal Ready treatment (didn't bother taking pic's of the frame or battery box here):

[pete]

Then all hung up ready to paint:

[pete]

First coat on:





The flash killed the battery box pic I just realised, so it doesn't look painted but it is.

[pete]

And second coat on:







If I ever decide to paint a frame again or something this size then I think I'll either get it powder coated or someone to spray the Blackcote on.

The self levelling property of the paint seems to be excellent at getting rid of most of the brush strokes, but brushing something like a frame is incredibly tedious and was very frustrating.

First coat took me about 2 1/2 hours for the three pieces but the second coat only took me about 1 1/2 hours because I found all the awkward spots during the first coat and was able to work around them much quicker for the second coat.

Even though the paint still wasn't quite dry when I checked it earlier, the end result so far looks pretty good.

I can pull them down on Thursday and see how they look once they're fully cured and then can start putting the side stand, centre stand, and swingarm back on.

[pete]

And last lot of pic's for the moment... while waiting for the Metal Ready to do it's thing, I took a wire brush to the sump cover and lower crank case cover where the high temp paint had started to peal so I can start prepping these areas for a touch up.

Sump cover has turned out not good at all, although at least I expected that:





Tomorrow I'm hoping to get my valve tool made so I can remove the valves from the head and get it cleaned up ready to be sent to the guy for blasting along with the cylinders.

Depending how time goes I might be able to start pulling the forks apart ready for a paint and rebuild.

[pete]

Got a bit more done today, although no valves removed unfortunately as my biggest C clamp just isn't big enough.

I made up the valve tool that Steve on here has designed and is incredibly easy to make (read if I can make it, anyone can ).

My only concern with it is I think I may have removed too much of the PVC and I think the bottom ring may flex too much, but I won't know for sure until I get a bigger C clamp.



I did manage to get the forks dismantled today, and I need to now replace the little bleed screws as the PO had chewed them pretty well and I finished the job today.

I ran them through my Marine Clean bath afterwards and they cleaned up quite a lot, so next is to prep and paint the lowers and polish up the stanchions.





I also ran the rear shocks through the Marine Clean bath just to get the grunge off. I'm hoping to get them professionally rebuilt as there's a couple of places here in Brissie that apparently do them, but in the meantime I can at least use them to hold the swingarm and frame together until I'm ready to send them off for work. They have heaps and heaps of surface rust due to sitting for so many years. I'd really like them gloss black but we'll see if that's possible or not.

[Nessism]

Looking good Pete.

I feel your pain regarding the amount of work to paint and prep everything. Only thing I can say is that having the proper tools makes a huge difference. Even with a proper blast cabinet and air compressor it's a lot of work so no thanks without.

[pete]

Thanks Ed. It's not easy but I'm starting to see the rewards for doing it properly, not to mention the pain when you don't (like the sump cover).

If I was doing this type of thing more often I'd get some more suitable tools (or at least try to) but seeing as this is a one off I can't justify the costs.

[Scott W]

I bet you are happy to be able to see progress. Keep it up and keep the pics coming, Thanks for sharing, Pete.

[pete]

Indeed I am Scott, lovin' it and can't wait to get at least a little bit of it back together.

I can see a reassembled rolling frame in the not too distant future now

[pete]

Paint on the frame etc. should be nicely cured, so I pulled it down tonight and started some "assembly". By "assembly" I mean putting all the screws and bolts back on the frame where they came from and sitting the engine mounts and battery box where they belong.

I haven't put the stands or swingarm back on as I need to degrease bearings and bolts etc. and find what I've done with the stand springs.

Here's where it's at now:





I need to get those forks painted next, triple tree cleaned up, and inspect the steering head bearings to see if they need replacing.

I'm also trying to locate some fork gaiters suitable for these forks.

[Mike Derrett]

Buying bits from America

Pete,

Mate, I share your pain on the prices of parts, I have a 80 1000S in the same state as yours.

Firstly, there is somebody who advertises in the bike mags for genuine OEM old suzuki parts from South Australia. Don't touch him, he is a rip off. Anything he has the local Suzuki dealer has, and the dealer is cheaper. And you would be surprised what your local dealer can get, and if he charges interstate freight tell him to shove it, I'm pretty sure Suzuki delivers parts to all dealers freight free. I'll check and let you know.

Call Martin at Sydney City Suzuki in Cambelltown (Sydney), then let me know and I'll get it and post it up if you need it (along with a few free cane toads ). This guy is a gem, he has been helping me no end and he was the source of the international (as in Australian) parts catalogs on Bikecliff's site.

Buying bits from America is great. I've bought from Alpha , and Z1, never had a problem. The issue with it as you say is the freight. Most people (Babbits, Cycle Parts Nation etc) use Fedex or UPS, min charge on the shipping starts at $100 US. Alpha uses US post, same part costs $30 US. I did a price comparison on this about two months ago, cheapest price I could find for a Left hand switch assy was $99US from Cycle Parts Nation, Alpha was the most expensive at $128, so say about 25% higher, but $100 vs $30 for shipping. Eventually, if you order enough you save the shipment cost but you just need to keep your eye on it. The US seems to have a better range too, couldn't get mirrors in Oz, no problems from Alpha.

Also bought tyres from http://www.australiamotorcycleaccessories.com/ (goes to a US site). I got front and rear Shinko Tourmasters landed in Sydney for $180 Oz, and the cheapest I could get in Sydney was $250, just fro the front.

Go for it.

Best Regards

[pete]

Cheers Mike, that's awesome help and really makes a lot of sense.

My wife buys lots of things from the US such as True Religion jeans and shoes that are hard to get here and she saves so much with the strong Aussie dollar it's amazing. It's a pity our retail stores can't quite seem to get the concept that if the prices are cheaper, people will buy more, which will increase profits in the long run... oh well that's how it is

Anyway I will definitely keep Martin in Campbelltown in mind also and I might even be inclined to ship a few cockies down your way

And on another note, a little more progress tonight...

Side and centre stands mounted up:





Got the torsion bar back on the swingarm and gathered the bits ready to put the swingarm back on, but need to clean and degrease them first before lubricating again:





Last pic is trying to show the torsion bar but I should've flipped it upside down, oh well. And that's my tub of marine grease there which is what I'm using to lube the stands and swingarm bushes and bearings.

Got the front brake disc off:

[pete]

I also did a bit of a tidy up, mainly getting the crankcases etc. off the old dead washing machine so I can get rid of it. It's taking up a whole square metre of valuable working space and I need all I can get!



Apologies for the horrible pic's lately too, my garage lighting is really bad as there's only one fluro and it's mounted in a ridiculously stupid place that's no good for anything. Really need to get the electrician back but after needing him to replace our entire fuse box it'll be a little while yet.

[pete]

My house mate brought me back a present today, a new F clamp big enough for valve removal!

I'm onto my third PVC pipe tool as I cut the window too big on the first two attempts and it allowed the pipe to flex too much.







So I now have some cleaning up to do on the head ready to ship it and the cylinders off to be wet blasted at some point in the next month or two.

I also got to use my "polishing station" I made when I redid the work bench over Christmas finally, trying to get the pits and surface rust off the fork stanchions. Forget to get pic's of them today but here's my polishing station...



The board up the back of the bench grinder really stops a lot of stuff flying around. I was a bit concerned initially as my cylinders and valves are sitting behind there, but looks like my plan worked

The board also gives me some shelves on the back where I can store my tins of screws and bolts and things too.