1981 GS450E Rebuild

[cowboyup3371]

Good luck Pete.

[pete]

Good luck Pete.

Thanks! I believe I will need lots of it

[Macguyver]

Based on your previous excellent work, I am sure you will have no problems you cannot overcome.

It looks like the cardboard tube idea is working well for you, I can't wait to see it in metal!

Great work so far Pete!

[pete]

Based on your previous excellent work, I am sure you will have no problems you cannot overcome.

It looks like the cardboard tube idea is working well for you, I can't wait to see it in metal!

Great work so far Pete!

Thanks Mac, you just never know. I haven't been able to do much more than turn the engine by hand to test the ignitor replacement yet.

As for the cardboard tube idea, yep it served its purpose well. I have a couple of pic's I'm slowly mocking up with what I want with the new seat etc.

Once I know the engine's good I can call Tranzac and start getting the exhaust organised.

[Hornswaggle]

Spark time tonight, looking like I'm on track for the first start attempt on Saturday

How can you wait that long, fire that baby up!! LOL Seriously though, good luck even though you won't need it

[pete]

How can you wait that long, fire that baby up!! LOL Seriously though, good luck even though you won't need it

Mate I'm itching so bad I feel like I got a rash!

Thanks and I'm hoping it all just works...

[Leigh]

COME ON ALREADY!!

Kick 'er in the guts, Max.

I've gone back through what I missed.
Hell of a job you've done, Pete.

[pete]

Cheers Leigh, I am sitting here at work eatin' and checkin' on the forum coz I need my fix... it's the only thing I can do to get my mind off the first start... roll on Saturday!!!!!

[Charlie G]

We're staying tuned in here Pete, let her rip on Saturday.

cg

[SVSooke]

With any luck I will be busy Saturday.Will check in when I can.Really hope this goes well!

[pete]

With any luck I will be busy Saturday.Will check in when I can.Really hope this goes well!

For your sake I hope you're busy Saturday too

If things work out, we'll both be busy!

[pete]

So instead of twiddling my thumbs waiting for Saturday, I figured I'd adapt the GSX600F left control I got so I can start on the 'bar mounted choke lever. It'll be really hard to use the choke lever where it is once the exhaust gets done, so it needs to move for sure.

So, I need to swap these:



I already worked out what wires go where on both, although I took the GS ones from the wiring diagram:



During the work, I had to scribble out some of the above as I discovered that the GS has a ground wire (black/white) that the GSX doesn't and is superfluous. In addition, the horn wire is blue/white, not black/white as they show in the diagram.

Also, just to add some weird confusion to the mix, the yellow wire for the high beam is also attached to the horn switch. Very weird...

Anyways, lopped off the ends so I can attach the GSX wires to the GS plugs:




I know it seems nuts, but I'm reusing the OEM plugs as is because I have no others at the moment.

If I end up doing the custom harness, then I will definitely replace them, but the OEM ones will be just fine for now.

And there we go:



You can see the superfluous black/white there which I popped some heat shrink over to make sure it doesn't connect with anything it shouldn't, and I did the same for the two black/yellow wires that are used for the clutch switch on the GSX in OEM form. I'm not sure if I'll have a use for them or not yet, so I've left them there undisturbed at the moment.

Plugged into the harness:



And mounted on the 'bar:



The only concern I have is that even though I tightened the mounting screws up real tight, the whole control seems to rotate around the 'bar fairly easily from the pressure required to move the choke lever.

I'll have to work something out with that for sure. Possibly a thin bit of foam rubber or something to increase the mounting pressure will do the trick.

As far as Saturday goes, looks like the dish washer has decided it wants to be ultra conservative with water usage... it won't fill any more. Not sure what's going to happen, but I won't be surprised if I end up having to go dish washer hunting on Saturday...

[Big Rich]

How loose exactly is the control? Maybe a coupl wraps of electrical tape would do it?

[pete]

Hmmm maybe... it's not loose as in flopping around.

I can push the horn button and it stays where it is, but pulling and pushing the choke lever make it spin on the 'bar.

It feels almost like it's built for 15/16" 'bars instead of 7/8"... I know that size doesn't exist but that's sort of what it's like.

[cowboyup3371]

Did your old one have a tab that fit into the bars and this one maybe doesn't? I found that with mine.