1981 GS450E Rebuild

[pete]

Cheers Eric!

There are lots of others on the forums here that have turned out nicer, but that was only about 3 to 4 hours work including stripping and sanding, whereas others on here have spent that amount of time on one piece to get them like mirrors.

I think I at least figured out where I went wrong which was with the buffing. A couple of times I noticed the buffing compound turning to liquid on the end of the block of compound which in hindsight I think means I got it too hot. The buffing wheel was also the hardest to use as it's made out of stitched rag and is pretty solid.

Anyways, I'm happy with how they turned out

I also picked up a cheap multimeter from Dick Smith yesterday so I can check out the stator and the charging system later on, so I'm all set to roll again now.

[Eric2010]

I picked up several different buffing wheels varying in hardness as well as a variety of buffing/polishing compounds to accompany my wet dry. I'm thinking of just mounting them to my angle grinder so I don't have to take any parts off of the bike . Ill be sure to post pics! I sure hope it turns out but there's no way that it can turn out any worse than its original condition

[pete]

I picked up several different buffing wheels varying in hardness as well as a variety of buffing/polishing compounds to accompany my wet dry. I'm thinking of just mounting them to my angle grinder so I don't have to take any parts off of the bike . Ill be sure to post pics! I sure hope it turns out but there's no way that it can turn out any worse than its original condition

Good idea! You will definitely need different types of wheels for the different compounds.

For cutting I use a sisal wheel, buffing a stitched rag wheel, and for polishing I think it's a loose calico wheel.

One of the 450 owners here has a flexible shaft for his bench grinder that he uses with his wheel, but unfortunately my crappy memory is letting me down and I can't remember which member or which thread he last had pic in...

And yeah, I had a look through some of my old pic's before I started pulling the motor apart and... well... you're right, you certainly can't end up with worse

[pete]

Popped down last night to get some more done.

My latest acquisition:



Not the most expensive tool around, but certainly should be enough to test the charging system and my wiring once I get to that point.

One stator:



It looks good, no burn marks I can see, and cleaned up nice and easily with some kero.

I did the first passive stator test and got a pretty consistent 1.3 ohms across all three windings which is a nice start.

Into the cover with thread locker on the screws:



At this point, I repeated the first passive test and got the same results and also checked for continuity between the cases and screws and windings and no shorts to ground, so the second test is a success also.

And this is sort of how it will look once mounted:



I still have some more gasket remnants to clean off as what you see in the second last pic there is after about an hour of rubbing with metho and scraping the chunky bits off as best I could. I had to resort to a stanley knife in some places unfortunately as it was just too thick a build up. I was very careful but you can still see some scratches there, but thankfully no oil seal compromising gouges. 30 year old gaskets just don't want to budge...

I also need to go back and give it a bit more of a polish now that I've had my grubby fingers all over it again. I must remember to put gloves on when I work on the right case cover next.

[Leigh]

Bloody hell, Pete. You're on the move now.

Nice progress too.
I feel like going back out and having another go at making the bike shinier.

[Charlie G]

I can't remember you either.

http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showthread.php?t=167959

[pete]

I can't remember you either.

http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum...d.php?t=167959

Bugger sorry Charlie! I knew it was someone who had posted regularly on here... damn short term memory loss

Post number 25 on that thread is exactly what I was thinking of... how embarrassment...

Bloody hell, Pete. You're on the move now.

Nice progress too.
I feel like going back out and having another go at making the bike shinier.

Well I'm getting somewhere that's for sure... one day I hope to be on my bike while getting there too

Speaking of progress... how are those completed pic's coming along? I seem to recall they're a little overdue now...

[Charlie G]

[QUOTE=pete;1335009]Bugger sorry Charlie! I knew it was someone who had posted regularly on here... damn short term memory loss

Post number 25 on that thread is exactly what I was thinking of... how embarrassment...


I welcome the chance to harrass someone many time zones away. Keep plugging away and stay dry!

cg

[Leigh]

Speaking of progress... how are those completed pic's coming along? I seem to recall they're a little overdue now...

Yeah. Umm. I got nothing.

As soon as I can get out of the Christmas/New Year Twilight Zone, I promise I'll get some sunny outdoor shots
38 on saturday. I might get to roll it out then. Maybe

[pete]

Yeah. Umm. I got nothing.

As soon as I can get out of the Christmas/New Year Twilight Zone, I promise I'll get some sunny outdoor shots
38 on saturday. I might get to roll it out then. Maybe

Well that's just slack

I know what you mean though. Walked back into the office on Tuesday and had to do two back to back interviews from 10am for a new team member... yeah that worked well

38 on Saturday hey? The only 38 I've heard lately was 38mm... of rain... bloody Queensland weather!

[pete]

Got a huge amount of progress done last night... not.



That's it. Wow.

Oh, I did spend half an hour on the gasket remnants on the right case cover this time, but still heaps on there yet. I hate 30 year old gaskets.

I still need to drift that oil seal in properly but it was a bit late for the hammer last night, so will have to do that later on some time.

The oil pressure switch went in with some threebond on the thread to seal it up.

I have a feeling tonight will be just as productive as last night, but if for some reason it's not, then I might be able to get a start on the head which would be nice.

[Leigh]

Fireban days in Melbourne..
Queensland under water..

It must be summer.

May I make a suggestion for a small modification to your rebuild?

[pete]

Summer indeed!!!

I could either do that... or I could upgrade to a GSXR 1000...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMCdQ5uh-h4

[pete]

Well... lots of good stuff tonight, and one very frustrating thing.

Got a call today that the 4 piece spray gun set had arrived at Super Cheap, and the house mate just happened to be right near there, so he picked it up:





Looks like they should do the trick for my spraying down the track, but I'll more than likely have to have a few trial runs first as this will be my first attempt at proper spray painting.

So, I got some time tonight to lap the valves finally, first time for this also!

The seats as they were, and sorry but I couldn't get the camera to focus right tonight, so they're not spectacular pic's:



After the first lapping effort, and sorry these are just as bad:



And popped both valves in with the old crappy spark plug ready for a leak test:

[pete]

I'm using some kero for the leak test as I have no fuel handy. Should do the job nicely from everything I've read along the way so far.

On a bucket ready:



And kero in:



Left it there for about 5 minutes or so and not one drop, so I must say I'm pretty stoked with that for my first ever lapping effort!

Now for the right side:



And same deal, left it for about 5 minutes and not one drop, so lapping is all good and done and the valves seal nicely.

So, next stop install new valve stem seals:



And bugger:



The fourth one just didn't seem to want to sit right, so I did what the Clymer suggested and pop a 10mm socket on and give it a few taps.

Unfortunately, something just wasn't right and it busted the rubber on the seal.

It's a bit hard to explain, but looking closely inside shows me the rubber just doesn't seem to be moulded all that well and I think it was more that than me that made it sit wrong and get busted, but I can't swear 100% to that. Of course these are the Athena after market ones so quality is always going to be a question, but mind you the first three went on well and certainly seemed to sit in place well and felt like a good fit.

Anyway, I'll have to hope like hell the dealer has one in stock so I can pick it up Saturday, otherwise I won't be able to get it until the following Saturday.

So, one final bit of good news... I left the bandaid off my thumb for the first time today and that made a huge improvement.

Turned out all the dark greasy scabby looking badness was just dead skin held on by scabs which all pealed off over the course of the day to reveal a nice soft shiny bit of skin underneath, meaning my thumb's all nice and healed. Bargain. Still a little soft and tender, but I expect that:



So that's where I'm at now. Frustrating to get so far and bust that seal, but that's how it goes.

I at least have some more gasket remnants to remove in the meantime, and oh isn't that just a barrel of fun!