1981 GS450E Rebuild

[pete]

Well nothing actually accomplished as such tonight, but I did have a fiddle around with the carving tools to try to work out the best way of carving the design out of the neoprene.

It's not going to be simple but I already knew that much...

Here's the shaped tools I have:



And the flat tools:



Grabbed a bit of left over neoprene from cutting the pads out:



A couple of runs with the V gouge:



Don't forget that even though they're essentially cheap chinese/taiwanese junk, the gouges and blades are very sharp! This is the result of the slightest brush...



And this is after trying all the various different shapes and sizes. Still really none the wiser for a final plan of carving but it looks like just the V gouge will be all I'll need.

[Redneck]

HOLY SMOKES! its been two days since Pete has posted on his project. Must be too busy riding it. LoL. You go boy.

Paul

[pete]

HOLY SMOKES! its been two days since Pete has posted on his project. Must be too busy riding it. LoL. You go boy.

Paul

Hahaha not quite... rode to work Thursday but had a lunch function so no lunch time ride, and yesterday was the start of my week and a bit leave but I only got a short ride up to check the PO Box.

I'm hoping to get out for a good ride after Christmas though as there's some roads around here I haven't been on for 10 years that have my name all over them

Oh, and as for knee pad progress... been getting into the Christmas spirit in the evening so probably not a good idea to be playing with sharp objects...

[7981GS]

There's some roads around here I haven't been on for 10 years that have my name all over them

I thought that all of those type of roads had MY NAME written all over them?


Daniel

[pete]

I thought that all of those type of roads had MY NAME written all over them?


Daniel

Hahahahaha not any more Daniel! The 450 is back

[7981GS]

Good on ya.
Love the spirit!


Daniel

[Hoosier Daddy]

"Kickin' their arse and takin' names"
But if you got time to take names, you aren't kickin enough Arse! LOL

[pete]

Good on ya.
Love the spirit!


Daniel

Haha yes indeed!

The weather's being a little uncooperative at the moment too... it was cool enough last night to have a bottle of nice red wine which just isn't right for this time of year! Enjoyable though

"Kickin' their arse and takin' names"
But if you got time to take names, you aren't kickin enough Arse! LOL

Hahahahahaa you got that straight!

[pete]

Finally got out for a good ride today, 200km loop around some great riding roads I haven't been on for over 10 years





However, I was a little remiss and didn't update this thread yesterday after being able to start using my Chrissy presents...



I got my carbs sync'd yesterday so now I can get into the Colourtune and try and get the jetting sorted properly.

Before:



I wound the idle down a bit before actually doing the sync as you can see above that it was a little low on the gauge, so the after vid shows a lot easier reading:



If anyone's keen I have lots of pic's of cutting the Carbtune hoses and putting the dampers in etc. but I think the end result shows it was rather successful

No more progress on the knee pads yet, hopefully I'll get back to them before too much longer...

[Leigh]

Nice to see the bugs getting ironed out, Pete.

Terrible countryside you have to ride through though.

How's the "ride fitness" coming along?
Less wobbles, more lean?


Oh and one favour, just for me, take the handbag off the tank when you go to take a photo please.
It really detracts from the lines of the bike.

[Redneck]

Beautiful scenery Pete. I am quite envious. I swear I am going to get down there one day and Spend a couple weeks exploring that place on a motorcycle. But on an off topic this will be post 1991... hmmm. De Ja Vou coming on.

Paul

[pete]

Nice to see the bugs getting ironed out, Pete.

Terrible countryside you have to ride through though.

How's the "ride fitness" coming along?
Less wobbles, more lean?


Oh and one favour, just for me, take the handbag off the tank when you go to take a photo please.
It really detracts from the lines of the bike.

Yes indeed Leigh, they are being ironed out alright! Dying to get that jetting sorted though, the idle to off idle is quite crappy and is making me too nervous at almost closed throttle through corners, off the line, and during low speed stuff at the moment. Some time with the Colourtune should have that sorted though

That country side is terrible... I have to navigate straight roads and traffic for 15 minutes to get there

The ride fitness is going really well so far actually, I'm surprised at how quickly I'm almost back where I was before I stopped. Still a bit gun shy around tight corners but I've never been hugely grand on them anyway, so time will fix that. Unfamiliar roads aren't helping either but again time will fix that too.

I actually got slowed down by Harleys yesterday who couldn't lean through corners so at least I know I can do some leaning

As for the handbag... that's a man bag do ya hear? Hahaha... yeah I'll try to remember to remove it for the pic's in future, just for you

Beautiful scenery Pete. I am quite envious. I swear I am going to get down there one day and Spend a couple weeks exploring that place on a motorcycle. But on an off topic this will be post 1991... hmmm. De Ja Vou coming on.

Paul

Yeah it's beautiful countryside this time of year Paul. It can get a bit dry and brown out there but usually it's similar to the photos and if you're the boating type you can get out on the dam for a play too. And the cows like to watch

Actually to be fair it's pretty much like that year 'round out there, but in winter you need to be careful early mornings as it takes a while for the moisture to evaporate and the leaves on the corners get quite slippery.

And post 1991... yeah this has to be the longest 450 rebuild thread ever!

[pete]

Oh no, my rebuild thread stalled at post 1992

But that's ok, I got started again tonight

I finally got an hour in the garage tonight to keep going with the knee pads, and I started carving the first one.

At this stage, I'm not so sure it's going to end up being worth the trouble, but I'll persevere with the first one and see what happens... it's very tedious!

Anyway, using just the V gouge I carved out the rectangular line and the curved line:



That wasn't too bad as I was able to just run the V gouge around in a continuous run.

Then I carved the "GS" out with the V gouge, or at least as much as I could...



Then I went back around the outline of the "G" with a knife and used the V gouge on it's side sort of like a spade to try to get nice square edges on the carving:



That's the part that was really trying my patience, so I haven't done the "S" yet.

That's where it sits for the moment, will need to finish that "S" and find a way of smoothing the carved out area too as it's a bit rough at the moment.

The pic's are definitely covering up some of the roughness there, so I might have to try the house mate's fancy camera to get some better detail.

[Flyboy]

Nice one Pete, good to see you getting some quality seat time in, and yeah, what is with the handbag anyway, a quick 200km whip around the mulberry bush and you pack like you going to Europe for three weeks, what the heck are you toting along with you anyway?
Bike looks super nice in those pics, congratulations again.

[pete]

Nice one Pete, good to see you getting some quality seat time in, and yeah, what is with the handbag anyway, a quick 200km whip around the mulberry bush and you pack like you going to Europe for three weeks, what the heck are you toting along with you anyway?
Bike looks super nice in those pics, congratulations again.

Cheers Stan! 733km's on her now, almost time to do the first oil/filter change and check the valves again

At the moment I take the bag nearly everywhere because I have no storage space and don't like carrying a back pack... so there're some tools in there, a disc lock, a bottle of water, and the camera... I'm hoping to do something about storage before too long because it is annoying having to take the bag off and on all the time when I stop...

As to looks... she's needing a bit of a spit and polish at the moment but thanks again Stan, definitely happy with how she ended up