1981 GS450E Rebuild

[pete]

I tried to update this last night, but my internet connection turned to crap, so I had to bail out.

Anyway, missed a couple of things with the front brake.

Pulled the seal out from the caliper piston:



It's a bit hard, so definitely needs replacing.

The diaphragm seems to have gotten into better shape sitting on the bench, so John's suggestion may work yet:



And I pulled the metal bracket off the reservoir cover to clean them up:



So onto the rear drum. When I did the paint on the back wheel, I broke the glaze on the lining and shoes, but didn't adjust it.

First I located this spring:



That belongs here:



And put it on:



That explains why the brake lever didn't feel right.

There's a bolt hiding under that spring to adjust the lever height, which I adjusted as per the manual for now, 20 - 30mm below the foot peg.

Now the adjustor bolt on the rod to the brake actuator is nowhere near right and pushing on the brake lever doesn't even come close to engaging the shoes on the liner:



Wound it in quite a way so there's about 20 - 30mm of lever movement to engage the brake:



With the brake on hard it's still well within the wear marks too.

I'll fine tune the adjustments once I can get on a ride it, but at least it works now.

Next, onto the clutch lever and cable.

Hung the cable up to lube while I started on the lever, turns out I have a little shelf at the perfect height:



I just used WD for the moment, should be good enough to make sure the cable's ok. It's not frayed or anything and looks and feels good after the lube job.

[pete]

One grungy clutch lever that is definitely different to the brake lever:



I'm not concerned about the mismatch, and if I do the whole scrambler thing with the hand guards, they'll be hidden anyway.

Dismantled it for cleaning:



All cleaned up including a nut I found in my cleaning tub that must be from the master cylinder/brake lever somewhere:



And reassembled for now but will needs some grease before use:



If I end up painting the master cylinder etc. then I'll paint the clutch bracket as well as they're both missing paint, and I might copy FC and wire wheel and polish the brake and clutch levers yet.

[Flaming Chainsaws]

The color of your brake lever looks just like mine. Then my clutch lever is black. I don't know if it's OEM or not but it is really strange why Suzuki would mis-match the colors of the levers.

I will need to do some brake work as well. No need to clean my cylinder though. I just have to flush the old fluid, add new fluid, then bleed it. It's really spongy right now!

[pete]

Yeah it's quite weird, but I like your idea of wire wheeling and polishing... or maybe just wire wheeling.

Definitely bleed that brake! I did it when I first got mine, the fluid was disgusting.

Put a new braided line on your to buy list too.

[pete]

Had a very frustrating couple of days, thankfully not bike related.

I was going to paint the study over the Easter long weekend, however it turns out we don't have enough paint, and seeing as we have to buy paint now, we decided we'll paint it some colour other than white.

Of course we haven't decided yet and now everything's shut until Tuesday, so it ain't getting done.

Anyways, I decided to do something about the left control from the GSX600F being loose on the 'bar.

I had a look around in the garage and saw a bunch of cable ties. Perfect!

Cut two short lengths off one of the small ones:



For now, I blue tacked them to each side of the lower part of the controls to hold them in place while I mounted them back up to the 'bars. If it works, I'll glue them on instead.



Worked like a charm!

Screwed it up properly and it's now tight on the 'bar and doesn't move at all. I can rotate the choke lever and use the indicators and headlight switch and horn all without having the controls rotate on the 'bar.

I'll find some good glue (we have some in the garage somewhere) and glue them on permanently.

Then I figured I'd mount up the clutch cable to make sure the clutch works smoothly and isn't binding or anything like that.

First of all, slight side track and put my shiny new counter shaft sprocket on:



It's only finger tight for the moment and I'll torque it up properly once I get the new chain mounted etc., but plenty of time for that.

So, sprocket cover off and ready:



Clutch cable mounted to the clutch actuator:



Sprocket cover back on:



Cable mounted to the lever:



I adjusted for free play then and got it pretty right, then took the inspection plate off to adjust the clutch set screw:



And discovered that I've done the lock nut up too tightly when putting the clutch actuator back together in the sprocket cover, so when I try to undo it, all it does is actuate the clutch. I'll have to pull it off and pull it apart again to loosen it all up. Bugger.

The good news is that the clutch feels just like it used to and isn't stiff or notchy or anything like that.

[pete]

Got some daylight time on it today, not very much but a little.

So, time for the bad stuff first...

I wanted to give it a bath and get all that oil off and see if I could see a leak, so I put the clutch inspection cover back on and discovered that I've managed to strip the thread in the top hole. I have absolutely no idea how I've done that as I've only done those ones up reasonably loosely given I haven't had the clutch cable in or sprocket or anything until the other night. Weird and frustrating as that'll be another thread to fix...

Anyway, I've sprayed WD in the front master cylinder nearly every day this week to try and free it up so I can get the piston out, but nothing I did today got it to budge. I can't seem to get a grip on it with pliers and I don't have vice grips small enough to get in there. I tried compressed air but it just will not move.

As a last resort, I figured that given the brake wasn't on when it got pulled off, there should be at least a couple of mm's movement available back inside, so I got a big screwdriver and hammer and managed to knock the piston back down the cylinder a couple of mm's. That wasn't easy either.

I then looked real close at what it left behind on the cylinder, and it's pitted corroded crap on the cylinder walls, so I believe that means the master cylinder is probably not worth persevering with.

Anyone have any other bright ideas on what to do other than look for a replacement?

So, after those disappointments, I wheeled it out in the sun, pumped the tires up so I could move it around a little easier, and had a better look at my choke cable adaptor on the carbs.

Turns out I really will need an additional spacer in there as it still just hits the bolt on the diaphragm cover, so I quickly made one up:



It's amazing what a difference using power tools makes! Being quiet at night with the hacksaw and hand drill, that sort of thing was taking me probably 20 minutes to half an hour. Not being quiet today with the hacksaw and using the power drill made it 5 minutes work, and half that time was changing drill bits and moving it in the vice...

Anyway, I couldn't see a particular source of an oil leak, although the front bolt on the head (the upside down one) had oil sitting on it. Most of what I saw could be attributed to the excess from having those bolts out of the head while cranking and letting the oil run down the fins etc. Fingers crossed that's all it is, but I won't really know for sure until I get to start it properly again.

So, finally I got to give it a bath today and touch up the polishing on the crank case covers and foot peg brackets:



And yep, that's my trusty ol' Mazda 323 in the background...

[Woodsy]

Looking great pete, not long now!

[SVSooke]

That is looking good.Probaly best to get a "new" master though.

[cowboyup3371]

Looks good Pete. If you want, I'll hit the local junk yards for a new master here.

[Flyboy]

That is looking good Pete, you have mad good progress, it is always amazing how the last little odds and ends take about as long as the whole restoration.
Those engine covers look wicked, what was your process on them?
I hope your leak is nothing more than some spillage, but judging by the rest of the bike, I am sure that motor is buttoned up good and tight, and there shouldn't be a problem.
Is that Mazda a station wagon version? We only got the hatchback and sedan versions here, first time I have seen a station wagon, damn good little motor cars, near indestructable engines, I did part of my apprentiship on them.

[pete]

Looking great pete, not long now!

Cheers Woodsy! Just wish it was closer...

That is looking good.Probaly best to get a "new" master though.

Yup I reckon so, time to start looking and compiling a new parts required list too.

Looks good Pete. If you want, I'll hit the local junk yards for a new master here.

Cheers Scott, I'll check out eBay first and I have to scour wreckers here for a seat and rear mudguard, so I'll add a master cylinder to the list.

Will let you know if I'm not having any luck though

That is looking good Pete, you have mad good progress, it is always amazing how the last little odds and ends take about as long as the whole restoration.
Those engine covers look wicked, what was your process on them?
I hope your leak is nothing more than some spillage, but judging by the rest of the bike, I am sure that motor is buttoned up good and tight, and there shouldn't be a problem.
Is that Mazda a station wagon version? We only got the hatchback and sedan versions here, first time I have seen a station wagon, damn good little motor cars, near indestructable engines, I did part of my apprentiship on them.

Yeah the last bits are the big ticket items like exhaust, suspension, paint, tyres, etc. and currently experiencing budget cuts which ain't helping. That should be sorted soon though, just a big bill pay period at the moment sucking the $$$ up.

As to the covers, head back to post 373 and go from there for the details.

But in a nutshell, I have a sisal wheel, stitched rag wheel, and loose leaf calico (I think that's what it's called) wheel and cutting, buffing, and polishing compound.

I paint stripped, cleaned, degreased, etc. then cut, buffed and polished.

They're still a bit cloudy as I think I got the buffing compound too hot, but they're good enough for what I want.

After the bath, I just went over them by hand with Mothers mag and alloy polish.

And yep the 323 is a wagon. In fact that particular one is the "Deluxe" wagon that has the slightly higher roof and has the 1500cc engine as opposed to the 1400cc engine.

It's got somewhere around 350000kms on it and still goes well as the housemate drives it to work and back every day. It's either got a blown head gasket or a crack in the head at the moment though as it's tending to leak water into the oil, although the housemate took it to a mechanic who put some gunk in it and it's no longer leaking.

It is a great little car and if we didn't have another two I'd be tempted to take it off the road and do it up again.

[pete]

Got to Bunnings this morning to get some paint for the study and picked up some nuts and bolts while I was there for the electrics and some longer bolts for the choke cable adaptor seeing as the existing ones will be too short with the extra spacer.

I also dropped into Repco to try for a helicoil kit with no luck (they were on special for $28 but no Repco store has stock dammit), but I did pick up a blade type inline fuse holder to replace the glass one as well as some 6.3mm round crimp connectors.

I also did a bit of a tidy on the workbench today while waiting for the study paint to dry as waiting for paint to dry is like, well... waiting for paint to dry

Nothing actually done today though except search fruitlessly for a suitable master cylinder on eBay and some other places. Looks like a wrecker is going to be the only solution there and no one has replied to my master cylinder thread also which is surprising as I thought surely someone would've found a replacement for a single disc master cylinder at some point...

[pete]

Ducked down to the garage for a quick trip tonight, not much actually done though.

Here's the stuff I picked up yesterday:



Nothing terribly exciting there...

Took the carbs off tonight and if you look closely, then imagine the ball end of the throttle cable is slotted through the choke cable adaptor there, you might be able to see that there's really no clearance between that and the allen bolt from the diaphragm cover.



I need to re-drill a couple of holes in the various plates and spacers now as the longer bolts I got are slightly larger in diameter than the others and I didn't get all the holes lined up quite right, so the bolts don't slot through as easy as they should.

One thing I neglected to do tonight was pull the clutch inspection cover off again so I can get my housemate to pick me up a helicoil kit again.

On another note altogether, looks like there's two master cylinders available that might be ok as alternatives, one from a CBR250R MC19 which had a 1/2 inch piston, and one from a Yamaha R1 which has a 14mm piston.

I'm not sure which way to go, although the CBR250R should give me a bit more pressure with some extra lever movement compared to stock.

I'll update my other master cylinder thread to see if there's a bite there as to which way I should go, but not one single reply to that thread so far so not holding my breath...

[pete]

So, after ChicagoBob mentioned MikesXS, checked it all out and I've ordered a 13mm piston bore master cylinder tonight. Comes complete with brake light switch and banjo bolts so I just need to worry about the caliper and a braided steel line.

Called the dealer today to check on prices for the caliper bits and pieces I need, and it was going to end up a bit over $133

Checked out Boulevard Suzuki, same parts will be about $US56, so guess where I'll be ordering them from? Even including postage if it's still $20 like last time it'll be less than half price. I might even add a new throttle cable to the mix as I need one of them also due to using the old throttle cable on the choke.

So, speaking of the choke, I enlarged all the holes tonight and sat the adaptor back on the choke shaft to check the clearance again:



As you can see, even with the choke fully open, there'll be plenty of clearance now.

I then went around and enlarged all the holes in my electrics tray:



I mounted everything up, and as you can see I completely screwed up the bolt length for the centre of the heatsink as it's actually about 4mm thicker than the edges, so I used some other bolts for there. I can trim those down and they'll be fine to use instead:



Plenty of room for the harness to run down the left side and also for the ignition circuit to fit in the centre there.

So while I'm waiting for the brake stuff to get ordered and arrive, I can pull the carbs apart and the clutch lever off and get them painted up with the POR 15 Blackcote. I'm going to leave the carb bodies as they are and paint the diaphragm covers and float bowls along with the bracket that joins the two together. I'll paint the choke cable adaptor also.

I'm not sure what to do with painting the caliper yet. The POR 15 guy said Blackcote might work, but it will potentially get too hot for it. I have yet to try to locate caliper paint locally, but 1 spray can of that would be heaps to do the job if I can find some.

I also still need to check out that stripped thread and get it fixed.

[Macguyver]

Snazzy!

Wow Pete, everytime I check in on your thread there is something new! Great job on the ignitor, BTW.

You should be able to use any brand caliper paint, they are usually $5-$6 a can. I would think the blackcote should work too since most paint is rated for 250 degrees anyway, and I can't see the calipers getting that hot unless you are mashing the brakes on constantly. Then again, it won't take you long to get from stoplight to stoplight will it?

The bike is coming along great Pete, keep up the great work!