1981 GS450E Rebuild

[Leigh]

Cheers Leigh, they changed the forecast... mostly sunny...

That sounds right.
I actually thought of you yesterday afternoon as I cowered in a service station forecourt with a couple of other riders.
I got hit by the hardest rain, hail and winds I have ridden in for years.
I haven't had to seek shelter for a long time but this had me ducking for cover.

I regretted the whole "27 degrees-nice, cold beer" quip I made the other day.
hehehe

[pete]

(had to steal it Daniel )

That should give you all a rough idea

[pete]

Ok I couldn't help myself, had to go and chuck this in :

http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showthread.php?t=185864

So... got my CTP insurance sorted first thing this morning, then did the last minute oil level check and all that sort of thing before heading off to Dept of Transport.

I had to pull over just up the road as the idle went up to about 4000 RPM's and stayed there! Ugh! Had to shut her off so I could get my glove off and wind the idle screw back out, then she was right.

It seems I haven't been warming her up enough when trying to do the mixture settings... and as a result she's too darn rich on the pilots! I could feel it all the way there and round about today, bogging down off the line dammit, and this is after dropping back another pilot size the other day, so tonight I went back to the original purchase of 2 sizes up... figures!



I noticed tonight it looked like my bike got a little excited:



I saw this the other day and put it down to being a little enthusiastic on the chain lube, but I figured I'd best pull the sprocket cover and have a look tonight.



The light in the part of the garage where the bike is tonight is crap so it's hard to tell properly, but it looks to me like the shifting shaft oil seal is ok and isn't leaking and all of that is still coming off the chain, but I'll have to look again in the daylight at some point to verify that.

The overall feeling today was just awesome.

Those Ikons ride so well, the front end feels a lot firmer and planted than it used to, although I realise some of that will be due to the tyre too. The rear end wasn't harsh either...

The front brake is soooo much better than I remember it now I have the 13mm M/C on there with the braided steel line and everything having been rebuilt.

As for the engine... well the pipe and pods have done something that's for sure. I never used to get really good get up and go until about 5000 to 5500 RPM's, but today it was more like 4000 - 4500 It also feels like it pulls stronger than it used to, although some of this could be imagined purely because I haven't ridden it for so long... love the intake noise of those pods too

The only down side is the speedo seems to be a bit sticky so I need to take care of that soon...

[cowboyup3371]

WOO HOO

[Hoosier Daddy]

CONGRATS!!!
That is such good news, I am sure you will get the idle sorted out as soon as she has time to settle in.

[pete]

WOO HOO

Oh yeah Scott, Woohoo indeed!

Most fun I've had with my pants on in nearly 10 years

CONGRATS!!!
That is such good news, I am sure you will get the idle sorted out as soon as she has time to settle in.

Cheers mate! I'm a happy man! And set to be for quite some time I would imagine... hahahaa

Idle should be good now I think, it's that pesky jetting that needs a fixin'... should get that sorted out soon though

[Flyboy]

Congratulations, all the hard work paying off.
Now you going to have to find something else to write on that whiteboard of yours.
I recon, ride it for a bit, let everything settle down and then do the tweaking.

[pete]

Congratulations, all the hard work paying off.
Now you going to have to find something else to write on that whiteboard of yours.
I recon, ride it for a bit, let everything settle down and then do the tweaking.

Thanks Stan! Yes I do feel it's paid off

For the moment that white board will be tracking some optional stuff I have in the works (you'll see soon enough ) and my jetting stuff... then who knows... there's that little Ducati motor sitting there as well as that Yammie YB100 at the house mate's mum's place...

I do need to get the pilots sorted so they're not bogging though, nearly dropped it in a car park when she stalled starting to open the throttle

Fortunately if I did drop it, it would've been the right side, not the pipe side!

[Charlie G]

Pete,

Congrats!

cg

[pete]

Pete,

Congrats!

cg

Cheers Charlie! Now for you to get that 1000 done

[pete]

Got in the garage for a short time tonight and figured I'd best lube the gauges given the odd behaviour of the speedo on Friday.

So, unmounted the headlight and gauge cluster



And squirted some DWF in both as well as down the tach cable. I did the speedo cable before putting it on but just realised tonight I'd completely forgotten to do the tach cable.



Fingers crossed that sorts the speedo out.

Toes crossed tomorrow gives me at least a couple of hours of no rain so I can go say g'day to john82q and maybe even get out for a bit of a ride

I also decided to whack up a quick mock up of what I'm thinking of for the rubber knee pads for the tank:



I just cut that out of some black cardboard and doubled some masking tape up to hold it there for the moment.

I think the shape and size in proportion to the tank is pretty good, so I've just gotta work out a design to carve out of the rubber and get stuck into it.

[Redneck]

Holy Jeepers Man, Congratulations!!!!!! I disappear into the dark places of the internet, come back and BAM the scrambler is up and running and looks absolutely awesome to boot ( not that I ever doubted it would). YOU my friend did and absolutely fabulous job. I am very impressed even the parts that I was not so sure about in the end came out looking awesome (the front fender primarily) You did a great job my friend well done well done. Now get out there and ride.

Paul

[7981GS]

The shape of the knee pads is ideal.
IMHO though, the proportions need to be reduced about 20%.
It just looks too large to me. Same shape, slightly smaller, moved downward.

Daniel

[Matchless]

Well Pete what can I say! Well done! Now comes the fun part - fine tuning her! Just dont hear any suspicious noises and strip her right down again! (Just kidding Don if you are reading this!)

Enjoy!

[pete]

Holy Jeepers Man, Congratulations!!!!!! I disappear into the dark places of the internet, come back and BAM the scrambler is up and running and looks absolutely awesome to boot ( not that I ever doubted it would). YOU my friend did and absolutely fabulous job. I am very impressed even the parts that I was not so sure about in the end came out looking awesome (the front fender primarily) You did a great job my friend well done well done. Now get out there and ride.

Paul

Hhahaha yeah... surprise!

Good to see you back too!

Thanks Paul, I'm absolutely stoked she's done and I can ride... looks like they might even be turning some sun on for me today! Let's hope it hangs around for a while today

I too was worried about that front guard, but with the new tyre on it certainly seems to fit well now

I got some jetting to do, but that's just all the more reason to ride

The shape of the knee pads is ideal.
IMHO though, the proportions need to be reduced about 20%.
It just looks too large to me. Same shape, slightly smaller, moved downward.

Daniel

Looking at it again this morning Daniel, you're 100% right, although I think if I was just to move it down a little and just trim the top it will work. Will give that a go next time and see how that looks...

Well Pete what can I say! Well done! Now comes the fun part - fine tuning her! Just dont hear any suspicious noises and strip her right down again! (Just kidding Don if you are reading this!)

Enjoy!

Thanks Andre! Hahaha yeah I'll learn from Don there, as well as learning from his jetting experiences

Really looking forward to getting some km's under the tyres and getting her fine tuned, she's already a blast to ride and will only get better