GS 550L Gets a make over

[cowboyup3371]

Thanks for the info Redneck but I'll be real interested to seeing some more before pictures if you have them. I just use a screwdriver bit in a socket to get at the screws for the carb side of the airbox and then remove the carbs. I also had to remove the solenoid and fuse block but they came off anyway in order to repaint the box and remove the old mounts for new new relay and fuse block.

My R/R is actually bolted to the side of the battery box so I don't have to remove it for any reason unless I pull that out. I probably should since I'm repainting everything else. Hmmm, another thing to add to my list ; thanks.

[Redneck]

My R/R was attached to my battery case also but I pulled it in order to paint it too. I plan on pulling everything that is metal and cleaning it up and painting it. Hopefully after this winter I won't have to do much to the bike for a couple years, while I play with other projects.

Did not think of using a ratchet and screwdriver tip... don't know why i have done it before... oh well.. I will think about it when I go to reinstall.

As I pulled the carbs the other day I did remember one thing i forgot to order when I got all the parts to rebuild the engine. I forgot to order all the parts to rebuild the Carbs....oh brother. Well looks like its back to looking for parts.... need to find Mr. O-rings link on here, and see if he has the stuff for my bike yet. Last time i looked he didn't. Hopefully will get some more progress this weekend. I get home so late right now that I don't have time to work on it at night, and spend time with the family. Though there is that little itch that says just slide on down to the garage.... no no must play teaparty with the little one.

[Hoosier Daddy]

That's why you find I have verrrrrry strange post times.

[Redneck]

Okay Cowboy these are re enactment photos for you. I put the breathing tube and air box back in and will try to explain what i was talking about.

This is the breathing tube in without airbox so you can see how frame goes around it.


Okay now here is the box up next to it.

Now if you look at it the screws came in from the front from the engine side. Was not a lot of room to get a screwdriver in there easily. I pulled the carbs first and then got a long shanked screwdriver in there.

I pulled various other parts off today. The rear fender, tail light, blinkers, various wiring parts. Then i found this and have not yet consulted the book to find out what it is.



Went to pull off the wires and low and behold...


i ended up pulling out the guts. Luckily i found out it snaps in and out but I also realized it has been getting dirt and apparantly has been wet inside at one time.

Here is a picture of how far I got today

Parts bagged up as they get pulled

and then up on the shelf

Well that is it for now.

[cowboyup3371]

Thanks Redneck, we have the same airbox and breathing tube setup. Although it is tight, I haven't experienced the issues you had with getting them out. But maybe I was just a little luckier since I was already pulling my carbs off anyway to take some measurements.

Good luck on the rest of the project. I hope to start putting my things back on next weekend as long as the weather holds up.

[Redneck]

Weather... My brother is up in Steam Boat Springs and he said it was -35 and no wind. Now that is cold. Hope you stay warm.

[Redneck]

I found the photoshop pic that one of our Illustrious members did for me.



Though I am probably going to black out anything that was chrome simply because I can't afford to have it all re dipped. I want all rust gone off this bike and in order to do that I will be painting the light housing, sissy bar, handle bars, and engine gloss black. The exhaust is going to get a semi gloss or a silver paint job using the VHT paints from Duplicolor. I will polish the covers on the engine and crankcase covers along with the headlight ring (it is still rust free) just to make them stand out and give it some bling.

[Redneck]

Woot Woot, finally got the gas tank painted, not to bad not to good, but the good part is in the "Appearance" forum. Here is what I posted there.

http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showthread.php?t=171076

I do have one question, maybe someone can help with. I got a lot of media grit inside the tank. What is going to be the best way to get it out? I am going to try and blow with air next week when I can get it back in to finish putting on clear coat or stripping it and putting on powder coat. Anyways that is the plan for now. I will post pictures of the front fender with its new PC finish and also of the tank and all its Duplicolor glory.

Paul

[Redneck]

Okay got the exhaust off this weekend with no broken bolts. (Thank God, literally) Put on the tank and rear fender even though they are spray painted and the powder coated front fender to see what the look is going to be. I like it. Hopefully going to get several parts coated this week including the gas tank.

I did notice when I was taking off the exhaust that there is some drips of oil coming off the plug. That and it was mighty grungy underneath. From what I have been hearing it is best to try and clean the engine prior to tearing it down. At least the crank case portion. But I dont have access to a power washer and the other problem is it is still below freezing here. Any suggestions, I was thinking of soaking it in grease lighting. I have a big deepsink in the garage?

I will post pictures with the mock up to show you what it looks like it might be looking like when I am done.

Paul

[Hoosier Daddy]

Do you have an air compressor? Here is what I use. A hose connects to the hose barb at the base of the tube and goes into your cleaner and it is siphoned out into the compressed air stream. I have used Simple Green, keosene, even diesel fuel to grease engines. Then put it in warm water to rinse the same way.




This will give you a better idea, mines just not as fancy. Although I do have another pistol grip blow gun body.. Hmmmm, wonder if my siphon tip will screw on?

[Redneck]

Thanks Hoosier, but unfortunately I chose the welder over the air compressor. Wishing at times I had chosen otherwise. But it is a good plan. I may try lugging the whole engine down to the hobby shop on base and using the parts washer on it and see what happens. May try to media blast it all together before I take it apart.

So i put the tank and fenders on to see how it is going to look. The cool part is from the angle i was at the paint looks right on the tank and rear fender it almost matches front fender.



As you can see it looks pretty good or so i think. I am going to PC the sissy bar either black or maybe green to match. Wheels going to get PC black, starting to second guess painting engine black may leave it alone and just clean it up, or paint it silver. I just don't relish constant polishing, I live next to ocean aluminum oxidizes fast here. Here is one of my little helper tonight.





And don't forget my future biker chick who can't wait for daddy to get it fixed so she can ride up and down the street with dad again.



Don't know if you noticed the exhaust pipes on the floor. They are going to get sand blasted and then I will paint them gloss black with VHT paint. There is too much rust to try and polish out. So exhaust will be black. Opinions are welcomed.

Paul

[Tim Tom]

Looking Good

Nice progress!! The green paint looks awesome. It looks even better in the metal than in my photo shop mock up I did seemingly ages ago . Your gonna have a great looking bike when its all finished. I cant wait to see the result.
As far as engine paint goes, I think it would look good silver or black. You can always leave it silver and post pone painting till next off-season too.

Keep at it, its looking nice

[Redneck]

Thanks Tom I will hopefully get all the pretty stuff done in the next month. I want it all done this season because I want to start work on the chopper build next season with the orginal motor and frame I had. So my goal is to get this put together well enough that I don't have to mess with it much the next couple years while I pursue other projects. This one will be my daily ride for the season while I begin work on the next project which will be mosty fund restricted in its progress I am sure. What a fund restricted project...say it isn't so..lol.

[Redneck]

Well got a few things done last night. I now have a PCed Tank rear fender, light mounts, light housing, and brake light bracket. I am pretty stoked. I have pics of tank on frame.. the parts that got PCed and a pic of the light brackets and the housing so you can see the color scheme.







I intend to make the front ring of the light PC black also.

[Redneck]

It is amazing that as you go through the resotration process you begin to see things and realize "Oh boy, this is going to add up." Guess I should start ordering small amounts at a time. I am primarily talking about rubber grommets and spacers. Many of the bolts need replacement or I would rather replace them with Stainless steel to ease the rust factor.

Anyway, last night I got the back tire off, all the rear break parts, including master cyclinder. The Frame is naked from the engine back. Will take pictures after I get off work tonight. Was in the process of pulling the motor when the Wife came down and suggested that I come upstairs and spend some time with the little one before she went to bed. I could not argue that. Of course it kills the roll your on and I did not make it back down, cause then it was time to spend time with the wife and we ended up watching "Holmes on Homes". I like the show also and I have worked all weekend so needed to spend some time with the wife. Hopefully the engine is out tonight and then all I have left is to strip the front end and save the $300 bucks to get the frame blasted and Powder coated. Woot. We won't discuss the electrical nighmare ahead of me.