1981 GS450E Rebuild

[pete]

Suziparts to the rescue. He replied to my query today and has all three "discontinued" bolts. I say "discontinued" because, to his knowledge, they're not... interesting.

Anyways, I imagine they should be here in the next few days so I can get back to it on Saturday, fix the thread, and get some gearbox bits back in the crankcases.

Fingers crossed!

Oh, I also ordered the Robert Barr fix, so I guess a week or three will see me with new O rings ready for the carbs too.

[Woodsy]

I got one of these when i purchsed my gsx250s, it came free with it. It was in afew pieces and the plan was to fix it up and ride it and the gf could ride the 250. Ended up selling it though.

[pete]

A free 450??? Man now I'm jealous

Actually I wouldn't know where to put a second bike now as I barely have enough room to store this one's bits in the garage but it should be a bit easier once it's in one piece.

[pete]

Presents from SA in the mail today, so once I repair that thread I'm all systems go... apparently, but we'll see.



Apparently, I'm going to get a little time tomorrow to repair the thread, hopefully that actually happens.

Going to be a bit of a slow down from there again though. Was hoping to get some assembly started at night during the week, except I'm off to Sydney for work on Monday avo and get back Wednesday night, so probably won't get anything done until whenever I get another Saturday on it.

Oh well, at least I have some bolts now

[Leigh]

Aaargh.. Sydney.
You'll come back 5 points down on your IQ score and smelling of expensive cologne.

Just when you had a head of steam up and were getting into it too.

I was going to hack at the back yard/jungle tomorrow.
But it's going to rain. What a shame!
I'll just have to spend the weekend in the shed as compensation.

[pete]

They use expensive cologne down there? All I remember smelling last time is s*&t... Been a few years though and perhaps I was just in the wrong neighbourhood...

Yeah I was sorta gettin' a move on, then stripping that thread has really dented my progress and at the moment everything seems to be getting in the way.

Normally this would be my day, but Cox Plate today so we'll probably end up watching that and having a (losing) bet instead, although hoping to get that little bit of time this morning to do the thread repair.

You must be getting the rain we just had... couple of weeks of cruddy wet horrid weather... but perfect weather for getting stuck into the project of course

My only problem with that weather is when it finishes all the neighbours tend to synchronise their mowing and whipper snipping so it's a real ruckus...

[Charlie G]

OK, Syndney is off my list of places to visit. Don't need any help lowering my IQ and as far as I'm concerned I am odorless. Well, sometimes I have Beer breath.

cg

[Leigh]

Odourless, Charlie?
I guess I'll have to take your word for it.

[pete]

Actually, I must admit I work in Fortitude Valley here in Brissie and, well, it's an interesting place to work. Wander up from the train station past the ex-junkies awaiting the chemist to dispense their medication, avoiding the drunken natives weaving along the footpath, smelling that wonderful aroma of bins needing emptying of who knows what, hearing of a homeless guy getting bashed to death right outside the building I work in... lovely place to be

But anyways, enough of that, got my thread repair done today

[pete]

Thread Repair Done

So for those of you (like me) who have never repaired a thread before, here's how I did it.

And for those of you (also like me) that use a Haynes manual, be prepared to read this carefully because you will need it.

Do yourself a big favour and get a Clymer or genuine manual and ditch the Haynes...

So, look closely and you will see there isn't much in the way of thread in the centre hole:



This is the hole for the shift arm pivot bolt I stripped the other week after torqueing it to (as it turns out) about twice what it should be, hence my comment above re: Haynes vs. Clymer/genuine. Haynes has the torque figure completely wrong!



Enter one of these:



And it's possible to fix this wee little minor issue.

First step is to drill the hole to the required diameter for the tap:



I cleaned up the metal shavings before taking this pic. Note that they will go everywhere, and I mean everywhere! I had a rag around the hole to try to catch them, but it didn't make a scrap of difference. So take the time to clean them up properly otherwise you will likely end up with bits of alloy grinding away in the crankcases...

Next step results in more metal shavings, but these ones are at least localised to the hole. Time to tap a thread to take the new thread insert. I lubed it up with a small amount of engine oil and gently screwed it into the hole a bit at a time, winding it back out every now and then as the instructions say to clear the thread.



Worked like a charm and there's now a nice new thread to take the thread insert:

[pete]

Next step is to get the insert ready on the installation tool which is easy as pie. Just adjust the collar on the tool to the correct depth and slip an insert on there:



Next step is screw it in just like a bolt or screw, although I would suggest take it easy as I don't know how you'd go about fixing it if you snap the installation tang off it before it's screwed in all the way:



You then break the installation tang off (separate tool in the kit for this) which is a bit hard to take a pic of, then there you have it, one fixed thread ready to roll:



I have a shiny new replacement bolt for that now too, so no need to use the old one in case the threads were damaged.

So now I'm theoretically full steam ahead, but no time until at least maybe next Saturday I hope.

[Leigh]

Nice one, Pete.
I was going to suggest a heli-coil if you had lost the thread.
Seems like you're a jump ahead of me.

As for working in The Valley. You have my commiserations.
I rode through there once a couple of years ago.
Fast.
Just kept going.
I'm sure you can understand.

[Charlie G]

Piece of cake Pete. I've never done that. Glad you got it fixed.

cg

[pete]

Cheers Charlie! Me neither until now, but on the one hand it was sorta fun, on the other it was sorta scary, but definitely glad it's done and I'm on my way again

Leigh, you're a smart man.

Seems you kept on going south, skipped Sydney, and stopped in a good place. Yep, I like Melbourne, only been there twice for a holiday so far, once for some job interviews, and once to look at some potential properties.

We tried to make the move, but far too many $$$ involved in our circumstances unfortunately, so if we do it it's going to be either a large number of years away or a lotto win away...

[scottychop]

Nice work Pete. That whole mess was scary eh? I was rooting for you.