GS 550L Gets a make over

[cowboyup3371]

I know exactly how you feel right now Redneck as I'm going through the same stuff. Spent two weeks in the hospital and trying to get back to spending time with the family so I haven't even stepped foot outside yet to work on mine. It's in the same condition as yours right now and I can't wait to have the money to go buy parts.

Take care and looking forward to seeing more progress on yours.

[Redneck]

Well two things happened today. I got my new base gasket in to replace the one that got messed up in shipping. Kudos to Cyclepartsnation.com for the good customer service. Second with the help of my son i managed to get the engine pulled. .. The ironic thing is that the engine is sitting on the exact same table that the original 550L engine sat on two years ago. Talk about deja Vu. At least this time i know a lot more about what I am doing and I have the parts on hand to rebuild the engine. The one problem i was looking at for now is I have a very greasy oil coated engine bottom that needs serious cleaning and it is still way to cold to take it outside and pressure spray the engine clean. The damn thing is to heavy to tote up to base and try and use the hobby shop parts washer. So it looks like it is going to be a lot of grease lightning and tones of scrubbing sponges and cheap tooth brushes to get it all clean till i break it down and take the individual parts in for wet blasting and paint. I wonder if I need to break down the crank case and do a good clean on them also. I just get very nervous about that because I don't undertand transmissions at all. Not even motorcycle ones. I know the workings of engines well enough but after the torque leaves the crankshaft I am clueless..

[Redneck]

Grease and Crud removal

Well I did my search on the forums for cleaning engines. Most seemed to agree that a toothbrush, bottle brush, a good degreaser and a lot of elbow grease is the best way to clean an engine. Well let me say it may be the best way but man does it suck.. Nothing therapuetic about it in my mind. Anyway, i don't have the bottle brush and man do I see why one is necessary. Here is a glimpse of what i started with.



here is where I am currently.







That last shot is where I currently am at. Still have a ways to go but wife is ill and gets gripey if I stay down in garage too long.

Here are my faithful cleaning utensils.



Hope to get a bunch more done tomorrow. Well as far as the frame goes I am going to pay a company to do it, for $275 they will blast and PC it. Exhaust pipes will cost my $150 for blast and VHT.

I was wondering though, there is a hole in the bottom of the Crank case that is there by design. My other engine has it too. What is it for. Here is a pic.



Anyway there is a photograpic update of the work in progress.

[Hoosier Daddy]

Tedious for sure but once you are done stand back and see the beauty that you have restored! Keep at it you a doing good so far.
A cheap Shotgun cleaning kit with brass brushes are my choice for when you get to the fins on the cylinders and head.

[Redneck]

Well I got most of the road grime off the bottom of the engine and on the cases. So last night I took the engine apart. Removed the heads and cylinder block. Came apart with no real issue. I started my next tedious evolution, removing the old gasket material.

Slow meticulous and I still dropped a piece of old gasket down the crank, do you think it will cause a problem? It was about a 1/2" by 1/4" piece.

Hopefully I will get pictures up today. I am going to get all the gasket residue cleaned up then take the top end parts up to the Wet Blaster and give them a good soda blasting.

Thats all I have to report for now.

Paul

[Redneck]

Well finally got some garage time yesterday. I stated cleaning up the old gasket material off the cylinder block and heads. That when really well. I came to the conclusion that the engine probably has original silver paint on it. It is faded a yellowish brown and won,t clean up unless it comes off and then the metal shines through. I took a brass wire wheel and cleaned the heads out real good they are all shiney and pretty like now. Started pulling all the valves. (Thank you Jethro once again it went smoothly)

Then it went bad. I went to remove the intake boots and three out of four boot bolts philips slot rounded out. I was even using an impact tool when they did that. I stopped working at that point I had company over and it was close to dinner. Tonight I hope to cut slots in with dremmel and see if the come out that way. If not it will be easy out time. The good news is the intake boots are all nice and supple. I just need the o-rings and I will be good to go. Unfortunately Mr. Barr is still out of stock for the 550 model.

I will upload pics tonight. The kid was online doing homework and I did not want to bog down bandwith with the upload last night.

[Hoosier Daddy]

Sounds like two steps forward, one step back. Still comes across as progress

If I have my orientation right, that hole in the case you asked about earlier is the drain hole for the stater well.

[Redneck]

That could very well be it. The hole is directly below the starter. Going to get the dremmel out tonight and hopefully that takes care of my bored out screws. If not I have to move on to the Easy out. I hate those it alwasy gets iffy. I will take pictures of the evolution.

[Redneck]

Okay here are the pictures promised.

Cylinder section all the gasket stuff cleaned up


Crankcase section still needing some cleaning


Cylinder Head and combustion chamber all cleaned up


The magic valve remover curtesy of Jethro Its the tool the neighbor never returned.



The part that had to be made 1 inch pvc pipe threaded/slip on joint


Time to play operation


Everything out.


And bagged


All valves out and valve caps and shims are marked and bagged.

[Redneck]

What I have to deal with tonight

[mike_of_bbg]

What I have to deal with tonight

Got a Craftsman impact driver? It'll get that out no problem.

Also remember that if you can get one of the screws out, you can turn the intake to loosen the other.

[Redneck]

I have one I got from Lowes. I used it and that is the result. I just finished cutting slots in and they two scraped right out as I tried to apply the impact driver.

[Redneck]

Well after purchasing the square shank extracting tool from ACE and the handle that goes on it and a cobalt drill bit..... after 10 minutes of slow drilling and then realizing the recommended size drill bit for the extractor is too big..... I ended up using vice grips to pull out the worn out screws. I don't know why I did not think of that earlier. Anyway hopefully will get the engine parts media blasted tonight. That is if the Boss lets me out. Ouch there goes the whip again.

Paul

[Redneck]

Okay just spent two hours cleaning and polishing paint and grease off teh crank case and a covers. Almost there but not quite yet. I was looking for a brass wire front facing dremmel wire wheel today no luck at home depot, ace, or true value. I have almost all the paint and grease off it is just the spot in those hard to get at places right now.

Speaking of paint I now have the triple tree, the lower steering arm, both the lower end of the front forks powder coated. Not many parts left now. I just have to come up with the money to have the frame done and I will be good to go. at that point almost every part that is metal will be powder coated. Hopefully going to get the cylinder housing and heads media blasted on Monday. Then I can start putting the engine back together again. Then it will be the wonderful job of sorting out what exactly I am missing as I put it back together.

Will get pictures of all parts layed out tomorrow.

Paul

[Redneck]

Well last night I took the original L handle bars into work. It appears that that something was either knocked into the handlebars or it fell over while it was sitting in the barn, because one side was bent back about an inch or so. I am not overly thrilled with the low handle bars that are on the bike right now and would like something more the height of the L bars, but the problem with the L bars are they come in so close that it puts the wrist at a very awkward and even painful position. Enter really big vice and a heavy duty 48" cheater bar. First thing I did was even up the bars again, once that was done I then twisted the handle portions out about three to four inches. So what I have now is instead of a 8" pull back, I now have a 4-5" pull back. I mounted them in the vice as if they were on my bike and they had a real good feel to them. The only thing that I am worried about at this point is if it will be to wide and I will have the problem of creating too much drag with my body. Only time will tell, basically because it is going to take time for me to get my bike back together so I can test that theory or not. Hopefully get them Powdercoated black next week. Hoping that I will be able to get at the wet blaster some time soon so I can start putting the engine back together. One step closer even if it is a small one to getting it back on the road.

Paul