1983 GS650G project

[GSJim]

Time for another update. Emergency furnace repairs sort of killed my motorcycle parts budget so I didn't get a lot of things done this summer. However I decided to fix the rat's nest of wiring behind the battery box. The following picture shows the bullet connectors on the end of the stator wiring. After some cleaning with Deoxit, they looked pretty good so I decided to keep them instead of going with the Metripack connectors.




For the regulator, I removed all the wires except the red wire from the connector shell. There was no sign of damage to the red wire in the harness so I decided to use the stock T instead of going directly to the battery. I installed new bullet connectors with my crimping tool from Vintage Connections. My first few practice crimps were terrible, but these three are (almost) perfect.

I added some plastic tubing to protect the wires. When the regulator is reinstalled I plan to relocate the stator wiring so I can make the connections under the battery box. This will allow me to get to the connectors without removing the battery.




And here is what I removed from the circuit. The three green wires were 13.5 inch extensions so the stator wires would reach the harness. One green wire is a bit shorter than the others because I used it for practice crimps. The yellow and white/blue wires were removed from the connector shell that connected the stator to the regulator. Both wires had signs of overheating (brittle discolored insulation) and the missing pin on the white/blue wire was melted into the connector shell. Only a few strands of wire were attached to the pin.

This wiring mod also removes the infamous headlight switch loop in one phase of the stator to regulator wiring.



It's not much, but the charging system should be a lot happier after this change.

Jim

[loud et]

GS Jim, Your bike is looking really nice. I just got a 82' 650E and it has some real potential to shine.
We really must love these bikes, I swear, the amount of cash we dump into these old beasts is insane. ha ha But they are a dream to ride.
I have the same paint scheme as your bike and Big D's, mine is just an E tho, different tail piece and side covers, and the black painted forks and shocks. Very similar still you know.
Thanks for the build thread, I am watching for sure. Nice to see you are putting some miles on it too. I have my 1100e which is obviously fast as hell, but I love my 550L also. It has quite the pep to it. I have not ridden the 650 yet as I just got it but imagine it is pretty quick seeing that it is actually a 675 cc. 72 HP, thats a lot for a medium sized bike like these.
Will be watching your thread. Very nice bike!

[GSJim]

GS Jim, Your bike is looking really nice. I just got a 82' 650E and it has some real potential to shine.

Back when my bike was new, a coworker used to park his 650E beside mine every morning. His bike was blue, so I think it was an 82 model. They are definitely good looking bikes. He transferred to another location before we had a chance to ride together. I do recall that he received several "performance awards" from the provincial police.

Jim

[GSJim]

One step forward, two steps back...

The bike seems happy enough electrically that I was able to start it. That's all the good news though.

I can't get the bike to idle properly and it won't run at all without a bit of choke. I found a loose clamp on one of the carb boots but tightening it did not help.

The bike was parked for a while (8-10 weeks?) while I worked on other things so I'm hoping it's bad gas. My next step is to drain every drop of gas and try again with a fresh tank. If that doesn't work, I guess I will be cleaning carbs this winter. I had them done 18 months ago by a reputable mechanic and the bike was running well when he was done with it. Unfortunately he is no longer in business so it's about time I learned to do the job myself.

Jim

[tom203]

Best to use gas with Stabil if you might not run for weeks/months- small bottle will treat lots of gas cheap. I haven't followed this post (I seldom drift into this forum), but I doubt new gas will improve things -carb cleaning is probably calling you. How's your tank innards look- have you pulled petcock and made sure its filter is still intact?

[GSJim]

Best to use gas with Stabil if you might not run for weeks/months- small bottle will treat lots of gas cheap. I haven't followed this post (I seldom drift into this forum), but I doubt new gas will improve things -carb cleaning is probably calling you. How's your tank innards look- have you pulled petcock and made sure its filter is still intact?

The gas had Seafoam in it, but it was regular gas with some unknown amount of alcohol.

The tank had a bit of rust along the bottom seam that cleaned up well with Evaporust. I installed a new petcock because the old one was frozen. I also tried the bike with the petcock on prime with no change to the pathetic performance.

I will try one more time with fresh gas, but if that doesn't work, my season is done. I will start tearing everything apart and collecting parts. I was doing a rolling rebuild, but if I have to remove and do the carbs, I might as well do everything else at the same time.

Jim

[GSJim]

As mentioned in my thread in Carb/Fuel/Exhaust, my season is now officially over. I got the bike going on three cylinders, but couldn't get number 2 to fire. I had spark but no fuel, so it's time to pull the carbs again.

The rolling rebuild is now a full rebuild. I already have most of the parts to do my brakes, a new set of Sonic springs for the front end and a seat cover, so this will get me started. If I'm pulling the carbs anyway, I might as well order new boots and o-rings. I will also need rear shocks and tires.

Jim

[GSJim]

The tank, front fender and plastics went to BDesigns in Kitchener yesterday so Brian could scan the decals for me. Now I am looking for new old stock samples of pure red and Sunday orange to match colors. Anderson Vintage has a few early 80s emblems that might be useful, but nothing for the GS650G. Ted Cymbaly matched a Katana tank emblem that was supposed to be Sunday orange but I thought the color was more red than my old decals. To confuse matters the emblem has a Sunday orange color code, but the Suzuki fiche calls it red. And on top of it all, red and orange tape tends to fade badly.

I have a few slides of the bike when it was new but they were on Ektachrome so the color has shifted in unpredictable ways. My father-in-law shot Kodachrome (more stable color) but we can't find any of his slides.

If I can't find any decent color samples we will just pick a red and orange that look good together.

When I drained the tank and carb bowls I didn't find any signs of rust. However I found a couple of flecks of black paint from the tank. The paint was peeling a bit inside the petcock o-ring. I wonder if a bit of paint got stuck in the number 2 needle valve? The next time the temperature gets above freezing I will try to heat up the garage enough to get the carbs off the bike without freezing my fingers off.

Jim

[rustybronco]

Looks to be a very common colour...

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showpost.php?p=11142834&postcount=193

http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum...&postcount=263 (start looking from post 263)

You might try contacting flyboy (Stan) and see if he can help you obtain a colour sample to use when looking for your decal materials.

[GSJim]

As per rustybronco's recommendation in my Appearance thread, forget Anderson Vintage. They have been on the deadbeat list forever.

I can't find my colors on the GS1000G color charts so I assume the bike on ADVrider was a custom paint job. Both the links above look like the same paint job, maybe. I know that pure red and Sunday orange were used on a lot of 70s and 80s GSs.

I found that part 68111-33200-05F, the tank emblem for the 1983 GS650M Katana, is still available. 05F is the Sunday orange color code, although the fiche says red. The pure red Suzuki S for the 1980 GS1000S seat tail cover, part number 68166-49050-07G, is also marked as still available on some sites. I will check with my local parts guy on Monday.

Jim

[rustybronco]

GSJim, The bike on ADVrider is a euro spec'd bike. It has the correct paint and decals. Australia had unique body work as well.

NA spec'd bikes paint work sukz in comparison to them.