1981 GS450E Rebuild

[Flaming Chainsaws]

Hey Pete. Looking real nice with the new paint. I'm gonna paint my rims soon. Along with a few other parts too. Keep up the good work! And thanks for the detailed pictures. We love them!

[pete]

Got the second coat done today.

On the one hand, I don't think the first coat was quite as bad as I thought it was, on the other hand I think it will still look rather cruddy once it's done. It looks like I missed some little bits, especially on the outside of the rim beside where I want it polished.

Unfortunately I didn't pick that up until I had already cleaned up the brushes and stuff and that was the last of the paint, so fixing it ain't happening right now.

Here's how the wheels are looking now:





And the headlight ears etc.:





It was a horrible day today weather wise so the camera flash kept going off and I don't know how to stop it doing that, so the black looks a little funny in the pic's.

There are a few runs around the place but generally I think they'll come up pretty well except the wheels.

So, next up is to let the paint cure, then sand or scrape off the excess paint on the wheels.

Once that's done and I get some fork oil in, I can clean up the front and rear axles and get a rolling frame happening again.

Can't wait!

[scottychop]

Nice work!

It will great when it's finished up. Can't wait to see it come together. Great job man.

[pete]

Thanks Scott, I hope so! I really don't want to have to do those wheels again...

I'm keeping an eye on your thread too, a whole world away from mine that one!

[Macguyver]

Looking cruddy???
Looks good from here buddy!

It is a definite improvement from the way it was, and I am sure your bike loves you for it, so keep at it and I am sure the results will be well worth it.

Keep up the great work man!

[pete]

Cheers Mac, I'll get some close up pic's once it's cured and you might be able to see what I'm talking about.

I may be able to get it tidied up so as noone will notice, but just see how I go.

In the meantime I'm waiting impatiently for my next time to get back to it and starting trying to get the wheels on.

On a side note, I've now got some surface rust on the lining of the rear drum brake.

Anyone know if I can just wire brush that off or should I leave it alone and normal wear and tear of the drum will clean it up?

[Charlie G]

On a side note, I've now got some surface rust on the lining of the rear drum brake.

Anyone know if I can just wire brush that off or should I leave it alone and normal wear and tear of the drum will clean it up?

Pete,

When I did the rear brakes on my XT-350 enduro, the local motorcycle shop sujested that I remove the surface glaze with 150 grit sandpaper, which is what I did. The brakes worked fine. I thought I'd need to have them turned?

cg

[pete]

Thanks Charlie, I've got some 280 at home I used to prepare the wheels and other bits for paint, so that should do it for the linings too.

[pete]

Ok, my Saturday of the fortnight came a week earlier and I had it yesterday, but I didn't get quite the full day so some things I wanted to do I couldn't quite get to, but still, progress is progress and it's all good

Pulled the painted bits down:



And took a close up of how bad I am at keeping in the lines when colouring:



Got out the 280 grit sandpaper and went to work on the extra paint. The rim's not polished yet, but still a huge difference compared to before:





So on from there...

[pete]

Started putting the drum brake back together again.

Ran some 280 grit sandpaper over the brake linings to break up the glaze and put the linings back where they belong as there appears to be heaps of life left in them yet:



Flipped it over and put my polished up arm back on:



Note the arm's more than likely not in the right spot on the splines yet, I'll sort that out later when I'm getting the brake hooked up properly.

Now time to address the lovely surface rust on the drum lining:



Managed to forget to take an after pic of that, but some 280 grit sandpaper roughed it up nicely and took that layer off. Blew all the dust out with the compressor and it's all good.

I then sat the cover back on the wheel and immediately saw I'd missed a bit with my painting... check out the raw alloy that needs paint



I also popped the sprocket side on for a look see, no missed bits with paint here at least:



So next I got out the kero and cleaned up the rear axle, spacers, chain adjusters, etc. and put the rear sprocket on also (that needs replacing badly) just to get a wheel on the frame again:



And then...

[pete]

Did the same with the kero for the front axle and spacers and techo gearbox and on it went too, which means for the first time in years, I have a rolling frame





So that's where it stands right now and I can wheel it around the garage finally.

At the moment, everything is just finger tight as I do need to pull it all apart again and finish some things up such as:

- Steering head nut needs torqueing
- Forks need oil
- Rear sprocket needs replacing
- Tacho gearbox needs lube
- Front brake rotor needs painting (don't like it orange)
- Right edge of front wheel needs painting (missed that bit too)
- Rim of the drum brake needs painting
- Headlight ears need to go on (missing a grommet for that too by the looks)
- Ignition needs to go back on

Also, ignore the horrid stock handlebars, they haven't been cleaned or polished and won't be as I'm planning on replacing them with either vintage or modern motorcross bars.

Overall, I must say I'm pretty happy with how it's looking so far, can't wait to get some of these things actually knocked off properly rather than just having things sitting there finger tight.

[pete]

Well it seems my problem with running out of Blackcote may be solved quite cheaply...

I emailed the guy from POR 15 over the weekend and asked if there were any smaller tins than the $64 470mL size available, and I also happened to attach a couple of photos of my frame as a courtesy seeing as he has been very helpful to me.

He replied today and told me that by sending the photos in and allowing him to post them on their website entitles me to $52 of free POR 15 products, so a 470mL can of Blackcote will end up very very cheap instead! Gotta love that

So, once again I only have positive things to say for POR 15; not only is it excellent paint, but they believe in it so much they're prepared to go the extra mile to make sure their customers are happy.

I'll hopefully get back to him tomorrow to organise that and I'll also shoot him a later photo with wheels etc. as the ones I sent were just the frame early on.

I won't send him any of the crank cases with the Black Velvet on though as my prep work really sucked on those and they need touching up quite badly... next on the hit list after I finish off the rolling frame.

[Suzuki_Don]

He replied today and told me that by sending the photos in and allowing him to post them on their website entitles me to $52 of free POR 15 products, so a 470mL can of Blackcote will end up very very cheap instead! Gotta love that

Hey Pete I will have to keep an eye on their website to check out your magnificent wheels.

Keep up the good work.

[pete]

Haha cheers Don, don't know about magnificent but thankfully my camera ability is bad enough to cover up my bad painting

[Charlie G]

Boy, Pete you scored on getting the paint for free!

cg