1981 GS450E Rebuild

[pete]

Well I was all set to get in tonight and try to get the carbs and K&N's on and maybe hook the throttle and choke cables up, but alas I now have to do some urgent work in about 5 minutes to prevent data corruption on four of our storage arrays at work... gotta love the Friday night urgency... man I hate storage!!!

Anyways... I believe I'll have a bit of time tomorrow to get that done and I'm hoping to see how well or badly the duck tail fits with the seat too, and that should mean hopefully pic's with tank and everything on except the front mudguard. The dirt bike mudguard got shipped today too.

[Matchless]

Pete,
Now things are looking up! That exhaust looks beautiful! You will have to start it this weekend and report back!
Good going man!

[pete]

Pete,
Now things are looking up! That exhaust looks beautiful! You will have to start it this weekend and report back!
Good going man!

Cheers Andre! Things are definitely looking up!

It'll be a couple of weeks until I get to start her up, need to get my hands on a dwell meter and I need to get the carbs and pods and things on yet as well, so a few things to do first.

I am intending to take video of the start again of course, I'm dying to hear what that pipe sounds like!

Oh, need to get exhaust gaskets in too, didn't even think to take them with me when it got towed down

[mike-s]

Just saw the photos and holy moly that is a nice pipe you've got there. If it wasn't for the cost i'd seriously consider getting one myself!

p.s. no progress on my bike for far too long, this weather has been nothing but utterly crap for the last week. On a positive note i've found someone in the same city that'll do the speedo cable for me for slightly less than the melbourne guy. So take postage out and it's liable to cost me at least $30-40 less than the Melb one would!

[pete]

Just saw the photos and holy moly that is a nice pipe you've got there. If it wasn't for the cost i'd seriously consider getting one myself!

See there's the thing... you need one

I tell ya, I'm still really impressed with his work. I'm quite disappointed I had to work last night, I really wanted to get in the garage and do some more staring...

As to the cost, well it was worth it, but let me say I'm glad we have 55 days interest free on our credit cards

p.s. no progress on my bike for far too long, this weather has been nothing but utterly crap for the last week. On a positive note i've found someone in the same city that'll do the speedo cable for me for slightly less than the melbourne guy. So take postage out and it's liable to cost me at least $30-40 less than the Melb one would!

I was thinking about a what's goin' on question on your thread... guess you've got the same weather as Woodsy 'ey? Good news on the cable price though, that's heaps better!

[pete]

I forgot to mention that as per Agemax's suggestion on here:

http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showthread.php?t=178508

I'll be looking 'round for a scrap bit of 3mm thick or so aluminium to make my own fork brace along the lines of this:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/AHRMA-Fork-Brace-NOS-_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQhashZitem35b3d4758cQQitemZ230650312076QQptZMotorcyclesQ5fPartsQ5fAccessories

It may not end up as pretty at that, but I should be able to get it functional enough to look ok and do the job nicely, and a brace of that style will suit the scrambler look better than a Tarozzi brace, and of course will be much cheaper...

PS: Ignore the bickering on the bracing thread... that's what I do

[Woodsy]

My 250 has something very similar to that on it

[davidduarte]

that exhaust is most righteous! Love it! Of course now it brings out the rust in your rear shocks

[Woodsy]

Yeah Pete it makes the rest of the bike look crap!....................................... :P lol

When you fire it up we want video!!!

[pete]

that exhaust is most righteous! Love it! Of course now it brings out the rust in your rear shocks

Cheers David, righteous is right! And yeah it sure does... the plan is for Ikon shocks and progressive fork springs, but that'll be a couple of months away, need to get rid of the exhaust bill first

Yeah Pete it makes the rest of the bike look crap!....................................... :P lol

When you fire it up we want video!!!

Steady on Josh, not all of it The shocks and foot peg brackets for sure though...

I have every intention of getting video on the fire up! You've all been along for this journey so it would be incredibly unfair not to share that...

[pete]

Got into the garage for an hour or so today, main aim was to see how it was looking with the new duck tail and exhaust etc.

Got the carbs and new K&N's on first up:



As you can see, there's heaps of room above the exhaust there and I didn't actually need to make the 'bar mounted choke lever adaptor, but I'm glad I did as I still don't like the lever on the side of the carbs.

So then I got the adaptor hooked up with the old throttle cable:



Then I left the front end alone as I won't have the mudguard until next week sometime, but I got the seat, duck tail, rear guard, tank, tail light, and indicators on and sat the old crappy seat foam and cover on to get an idea of how it's all coming together:





I'm pretty happy with that. The duck tail needs some fine tuning at the front and along the bottom as well as the opening where the tail light bracket sits, but that's pretty much what I expected.

I got the right side very close to lining up with the seat trim, whereas the left side is a little bit away from it, but that's no big deal at all and I can deal with that.

[Woodsy]

Awesome!!!!!!

[pete]

A few more with the grab bar on the rear:



Took a quick little video of the choke adaptor doing its job:



And measured up for the fork brace I'll make up, although these measurements seem to line up really well with the one I posted earlier on eBay... tempted to just buy it except I think postage will make it a bit rich...



So far I'm really happy with how it's coming together, but man there's still so much to go! All those finishing touches like finishing up the duck tail, making the fork brace, and I've still yet to test the ignition properly, of course not forgetting suspension, tyres, and a headlight... a way to go but definitely getting some bright light at the end of the tunnel!

As to fire up day, I worked out today it probably won't be until 13th July. My wife finishes her current job next week, so next weekend will be a write off getting stuff organised for the move from part time to full time, and the weekend after that a friend of my wife's is back in town from the US for a short stay, so that'll be a no go as well.

At least that gives me time to get a hold of a dwell meter and tidy some other things up and maybe even remount the electrics tray with the P clamps so it's a bit neater.

Anyways, enough rambling for now...

[pete]

Awesome!!!!!!

Cheers Josh!

I think the dirt bike mudguard will really set it off if I can get it mounted nicely... looking forward to getting that!

[Agemax]

coming together nicely Pete