1981 GS450E Rebuild

[Leigh]

Success!!

All very good.
Even the Frankenthumb.

[davidduarte]

Pete, you inspire me. I need to get out in the garage and change my fork oil and put in the new throttle cable. Nothing compared to what you are doing of course

[pete]

Success!!

All very good.
Even the Frankenthumb.

Hahahaha... Frankenthumb... I like it!

Pete, you inspire me. I need to get out in the garage and change my fork oil and put in the new throttle cable. Nothing compared to what you are doing of course

Cheers David! I'm really happy with how things are progressing now finally, although not busting stem seals would make it even better...

Best part is I called the dealer this morning and apparently they have plenty of them in stock, so if all goes to plan I should have one in my hand tomorrow morning, although I may get two if they're not too expensive.

[pete]

One of those nights with nothing done today. I was all set to go and at least get the signal generator cleaned up and mounted in the right case cover, but then I remembered that I still need to drift the right hand crank case oil seal in yet, but of course it's night so no banging to get that done.

Thought maybe I could still get a socket in there with the generator on, but no, the sockets that will fit will be too small and will damage the oil seal, so no go.

Then I thought I'd tackle some more gasket remnants, but to be honest I just didn't want to. A bit tired and really didn't want something tedious like that tonight.

Oh well, at least I should hopefully have the replacement valve stem seal tomorrow and I might try and sneak 5 minutes to drift that seal home during the day.

[Leigh]

..but of course it's night so no banging...

*s*******

I know your pain Pete.
All I did today was pick up a new fridge and paint it.
That meant opening the shed and trying not to break down looking at my poor bike..

[Suzuki_Don]

Yeah I didn't do any work on my bike today either, rode 120 miles and hooked up with the Norton boys at Windsor/Richmond for coffee though.

I've got 800 miles on this motor now, reckon I need to do some checks on it soon, You know; check torque on head nuts, check valve clearance, replace the clutch basket with new one from the States, etc.

My next twilight run with the boys is in two weeks, so that should be enough time to do all that.

Then I need to drop the clutch basket I've pulled out of the motor over to my machinist to have it welded up after he provides me with some hardened steel washers to compress the springs a bit.

I also need to check the metal tabs on the EBC fibre plates that I am running, I think they might be a bit tight in the basket slots and I may need to take a smiggin off them with a file for a looser fit to make gear changes a bit smoother.

Sorry Pete (for hijacking a bit)

[pete]

*s*******

I know your pain Pete.
All I did today was pick up a new fridge and paint it.
That meant opening the shed and trying not to break down looking at my poor bike..

Aaaaah but think positively!

If you wished, you could've popped the key in the ignition, given it a twist, pushed the button, and given it a few rev's or just listened to it purr away... see that's not so bad now is it?

Oh, and what colour's the fridge now? Matte black? Fire engine red? Dayglow orange?

Yeah I didn't do any work on my bike today either, rode 120 miles and hooked up with the Norton boys at Windsor/Richmond for coffee though.

I've got 800 miles on this motor now, reckon I need to do some checks on it soon, You know; check torque on head nuts, check valve clearance, replace the clutch basket with new one from the States, etc.

My next twilight run with the boys is in two weeks, so that should be enough time to do all that.

Then I need to drop the clutch basket I've pulled out of the motor over to my machinist to have it welded up after he provides me with some hardened steel washers to compress the springs a bit.

I also need to check the metal tabs on the EBC fibre plates that I am running, I think they might be a bit tight in the basket slots and I may need to take a smiggin off them with a file for a looser fit to make gear changes a bit smoother.

Sorry Pete (for hijacking a bit)

No apology needed for hijacking Don, hijacking is a welcome distraction at times

I already replied to your other thread, but yeah, definitely sounds like time for a check up. I planned on 1000 km's for mine but may do it sooner, although that's a long way away yet.

Are you gonna do an oil change while you're at it?

And I'm jealous of your twilight runs for two reasons... firstly we don't get twilight... secondly because if we had twilight, the only running I'd be doing would involve two feet and far too much energy for my lazy body...

[pete]

So a little progress today, and I really mean a little... although little is better than none

Picked up the new valve stem seal:



And I also snuck a couple of minutes to drift the right hand crankshaft oil seal into place properly:



So, tonight I got the new stem seal in place and have for now just sat the exhaust valves in place to make sure they're nice and snug, which they are:



One thing of note is that I couldn't tell the difference between the OEM valve stem seal and the Athena valve stem seals, which I take to be a very good thing.

As I've had a few wines tonight and I'm a little tired, I elected not to try any assembly of springs etc.

Instead, I cleaned up the signal generator:



Definitely needed a clean!



So that's now ready to go in once I get the case cover on, although I must admit to dodging the gasket remnant clean up again tonight. I really must do that soon though.

If I get some time tomorrow night, I expect I'll start on getting the rest of the valves and valve springs etc. in so I can get the cylinders and head on.

I'll probably be able to get the alternator and right case covers on before I get the opportunity to get the engine in the frame as that'll have to be a Saturday or Sunday job with the help of my house mate.

Once I'm up to that point, it'll be time for valve adjustments, final assembly of the engine, then onto cleaning up the wiring loom and coils and things ready to fire it up for the first time. That's something I'm really keenly looking forward to but am a little anxious about as I just hope I've done a good enough job that it fires up and sounds like it used to.

[pete]

All I have to say right now is... yeehaa! Valves are in! I never want to do that again if I can avoid it though, and I'm glad I only have four valves... fiddly and tedious, although it does get easier as you get into the swing of it. My guess is if you have a 16 valver, on valve number 16 of 16, you may only utter one curse word instead of 16 or more...

Anyways, the bits you most likely want to see...

First pair of springs in:



Bit of moly lube on the valve:



Valve inserted:



Top spring retainer on:



And now to highlight our very own and infamous Steve's ultra cheap but incredibly well designed valve spring compressor tool:



And it's done:



I didn't do the tedious photo sequence of every valve (boring and camera batteries going flat yet again), so here they all are:

[pete]

Unfortunately the flash refused to go off at the end for the bottom of the head shot:



So, that means I'm now ready to put the cylinders and head on. Awesome stuff!

That also means the engine should definitely be able to go into the frame next weekend with the help of the house mate. Even better

Tomorrow night I hope to tackle getting the cylinders on, not sure if I'll get as far as the head yet though, just want to take it slow and careful and do it right.

[pete]

More success again tonight! Cylinders and head are on, nothing torqued down yet though.

This does mean that the engine is ready to back in the frame this weekend though and I'll torque things up then as I don't have sufficient leverage with it on the bench.

I also ordered a bunch of things today including oil filter, starter motor O ring, and a couple of carby float bowl gaskets and I'll need to pick those up on Saturday.

I'm knackered after a long day so I will update the thread with pic's in the morning.

For now... yay

[pete]

Ok, so time for the promised pic's and update.

First up, the honing job on the cylinders (this is before I scrubbed them out):



I believe that's a good job given other pic's I've seen around here and on the 'net in general.

Next up, got my OEM base gasket on with the cleaned up cylinder pins installed:



Then, after scrubbing out the cylinders with an old dish washing brush and lots of kero and putting some more oil in, I popped the O rings on the bottom of the cylinders:



Then set the left cylinder up for installation:



I don't have pic's of my fiddling around getting the cylinders on and seated right, but it was an interesting bit of work for sure. I neglected to make things easy by getting a large hose clamp or ring compressor, so my fingers became the ring compressor. Do yourself a favour and don't do that.

I was able to get the cylinders down with some effort without pinching any skin or breaking any rings which is excellent.



Next up, head gasket and cylinder head pins installed:



Yes, that is an Athena composite head gasket I'm afraid. The issues I've seen so far seem to be the base gaskets and this looks very similar to the composite OEM gasket I pulled out originally, so hopefully this should be fine. Given that I can't tell the difference between the Athena and OEM valve stem seals, I'm starting to think the distributor here wasn't fibbing when he told me he stands by Athena's quality. Only time will tell... I'm still wondering if the kits used so far are older stock or something, whereas I know for a fact this guy had to order mine in from overseas as he only keeps a very small amount on hand.

I can only hope anyway

[pete]

Rear cam chain guide installed in the head:



There's no torque spec's for those bolts, so I just popped some thread locker on and snugged them up without overdoing it.

Then on with the head:



Cleaned up the front cam chain guide:



On with the new copper gaskets:



And the hex nuts on finger tight and the front cam chain guide installed:



And the 6mm upside down bolt cleaned up and sitting in place:



So there we have it ready to go in the frame, and that makes me a very happy chappy.

I'll torque the hex nuts and the 6mm nut up once the engine's in the frame as there's not enough purchase with it on the workbench and the top of the motor is now too high for good grip.

I anticipate the rest of this week will be more gasket clean up to get the right and alternator covers on and probably start cleaning up the wiring harness and maybe even pulling the carbs apart.

Then the weekend should be engine installation I hope.

[Charlie G]

pete,

That engine is too clean. I'd a least leave some greasy finger prints on it.

whn

[Suzuki_Don]

I neglected to make things easy by getting a large hose clamp or ring compressor, so my fingers became the ring compressor. Do yourself a favour and don't do that.

I was able to get the cylinders down with some effort without pinching any skin or breaking any rings which is excellent.

You've done very well Pete. Especially with a buggered thumb getting those rings compressed. Keep going.

On the issue of removing stubborn gasket material. A can of CRC Gasket Remover works well. Just spray it on and let it fizz up for a few minutes and scrape of the softened part of the upper surface of the gasket, than go throught the process again until you are down to the aluminium case. Only thing is this stuff is stronger than paint stripper so dont spray it near newly painted cases or the inevitable result will be bubbling paint.