1981 GS450E Rebuild

[pete]

And I just realised I missed the spring from the pilot air screw on both carbs... bugger! First on the hit list when I'm at it again.

[Nessism]

Hey Pete,
Nice work...

Did you spray carb cleaner though the various passages before putting the carbs together? Those choke pick up tubes are classic for plugging up, also the pilot jets (hold them up to the light to make sure they are open). Simple dipping of the carbs sometimes doesn't get it done on these parts so you need to verify.

Keep going...

[pete]

Cheers Ed, and yep, definitely used the carb cleaner.

Process: Boiling dip -> soapy water -> compressed air -> carby cleaner -> compressed air.

I did everything I could to spray both air and carby cleaner through every passage and into every orifice and everything seems to be clear.

I held up all the jets to the light after spraying and everything looked clear. The left pilot jet didn't clear 100% with the first compressed air blow through, but after the carby cleaner and more air it was clean as a whistle.

[pete]

Well, crappy night tonight.

Firstly, managed to p!ss the wife off which seems the norm on special occasions like Valentine's Day these days, no idea, I'm over these supposed special days... anyways enough of that.

So, spent a while trying to get the pilot air screws out to put the springs in and managed to get a tiny jewellers screwdriver in there to lever them out gently without ruining the new O rings.

Went to put the left carb's spring in and promptly dropped it right in amongst my pile of rags that I've been meaning to move for about a month

Spent half an hour or so sifting through the rags and crawling around the garage floor, but no dice. It won't show up until I buy a replacement. Oh well, them's the breaks.

I got the right one in without dropping it, and by then I'd lost all patience and threw in the towel for the night.

[SVSooke]

I forget the absolute luxury of having lost of spares.Did the same thing on one of my carbs.Started to look for it then realized the other set was right there.

[pete]

Half ya luck! Or is it you're just well organised? haha

I've got to get the half moons and things yet anyway, so just another part to be ordered. At least I can skip that step for now and come back to it later...

[pete]

Just ordered my parts... mixed success.

Half moons and clamps for the intake boots are available and ordered.

Choke assembly gaskets and the pilot air screw spring are discontinued and unavailable, so I've put a query through to the expensive NOS guy in Adelaide, fingers crossed.

[Suzuki_Don]

Just ordered my parts... mixed success.

Half moons and clamps for the intake boots are available and ordered.

Choke assembly gaskets and the pilot air screw spring are discontinued and unavailable, so I've put a query through to the expensive NOS guy in Adelaide, fingers crossed.

Pete, I've got some pilot air screw springs if you don't do any good with your S.A supplier. They are off BS carbs so should be the same size as yours I would think.

[landshark]

I am also about to order some parts from the states, i gotta pay for the shipping anyway, so if they have your parts, and you dont take up Dons offer let me know.

[pete]

Pete, I've got some pilot air screw springs if you don't do any good with your S.A supplier. They are off BS carbs so should be the same size as yours I would think.

Cheers for the offer Don, but Suziparts came through. Again not cheap, but he has the spring and the two choke assembly gaskets on their way to me.

A side note here is I had to go back to the '79 parts fiche to find the spring part number because the US versions after '79 have them sealed up for emmissions laws.

I am also about to order some parts from the states, i gotta pay for the shipping anyway, so if they have your parts, and you dont take up Dons offer let me know.

Mate thanks for the offer. Got them on the way from Suziparts today as above. Mind you, I still couldn't have gotten the spring easily as it's listed as discontinued on the Alpha Sports fiche as well, although the gaskets are still available.

I would've gotten these bits from the US except this is one of those rare cases where postage would've made it much dearer than buying locally...

[pete]

Received a call from the dealer today my half moons and inlet boot clamps are in ready for me to pick up on Saturday. Hopefully my choke assembly gaskets and pilot air screw spring will here tomorrow or Friday too. Then I just need to locate some appropriate spark plug caps after I work out what I need.

So, back into it again tonight with more carb work.

Started off with the choke assemblies (everything here is a pic of the left carb, and I did the same with the right).

All cleaned up:



And assembled:



Test fitted:



I removed it then as I don't have the new gaskets just yet. You'll also notice I'm using the crappy old philips heads as I haven't located stainless ones locally yet. If I have time tomorrow I'll try a local place and see if they can post them because they don't open on the weekend and the local auto stores have none of the correct sizes on the shelf.

So, diaphragm assembly cleaned up and in:



And diaphragm cover on:



I'm undecided what to do with the cover at the moment. The float chambers cleaned up enough in the carb cleaner to make me happy but the diaphragm covers didn't go in and they're a bit grungy on top. I still may leave them but for the moment they're fine as is. I'll have to pull the carbs again to rejet once I get the pods and exhaust sorted anyway.

Needle jet in, just sprayed a little WD on it to make it easier to get in:



Needle valve assembly got a clean then went in (didn't go in the carb dip due to the plastic screen):



And floats in:



New gaskets ready to roll after checking the float height:



And this is where I got a little lost. The only thing I really had handy to measure float height is a measuring tape which is not exactly ideal, but should get me at least roughly in the area I need to be. If I measure correctly though, it shows about 18 - 19mm whereas it should be between 21.4mm to 23.4mm for a 450 according to the Clymer. I guess this means the float height has been way out for years.



I'll get a piece of stiff cardboard or something cut to about 22mm (middle of the range) and use that to set them accurately. In the meantime I'll do some searching as I'm sure someone not too long ago was asking about float heights on a 450.

[pete]

So, last little bit for the night.

One crappy looking oil filter cover:



New filter and O ring ready to go:



Spring cleand up and installed:



And filter and filter cover installed:



I discovered tonight that there have never been washers under the oil filter cover nuts, so I managed to scrounge up three slightly different ones that fit and used them.

That's where it sits for now, time to go searching for float height...

[pete]

Rightio, that was a productive search. Looks like I'm measuring in the wrong spot, and a stiff piece of cardboard cut to the right height should be a suitable measuring tool for the right spot.

I'll get onto that next time and I should be able to put the float chambers on.

[landshark]

Pete,
I got all the stainless hardware for my carbs from a local fastener shop for $10 and that is for a bank of four.
I have found that prices vary drastically from shop to shop though, there is another near me that would have charged about $50. It is really worth looking around for a good local supplier because you are going to need a lot of them by the end of it!

[pete]

Cool, cheers for that. There's one real handy at Enogerra just down the road but not open on the weekend. My house mate has another at Brendale near his work which is where my helicoils have come from.

I'll give the Enogerra guys a call this morning if I have time as they may be able to courier or post them to me. Not ideal but at least I can get them...