GS 550L Gets a make over

[Flyboy]

Paul, I hear your pain, it is the most soal destroying thing, to try and get into all those little wee places.
There is only one thing for it..have it blasted, if it is just the bottm case, it shold be pretty cheap.
After you have bought a kazillion brushes and chemicals to try and get it done, it could have paid the few bucks to have it blasted.
I know about being project poor, queue starts behind me, it frustrates the heck out of me.
I hope your wife has recovered well from her operation.

[JEEPRUSTY]

Duct tape on a sword! wow!

[Hoosier Daddy]

I had to fold a piece of burgandy colored scotch-bright and shove it between the fins then run it lengthwise. Also, Have you got a Dremel? That is what I used to buff it out with "Mothers" to finish it off.

[Redneck]

Flyboy I am beginning to agree with you. But tearing apart the Crank case scares the behjesus out of me. I started down that road and looked at all the gears inside when I got the oil pan off and was like will I ever be able to get that back together. It makes me afraid I will not ever be able to get it back together right.

Jeeprusty. The swords are of Rattan we fight like the knights used to train with wooden swords. The Duct tape keeps the splinters of rattan from going through someones face grill and poking out an eye. We have fun doing what we do and want to be able to play again with all our parts and pieces.

Hoosier the problem is the part I am trying to get too is too small to get a good run on the pad. I have tried that all ready and the dremel is too big ... I will take pics and post them.

[Redneck]

Woot got an Air compressor today. One of my buds at work does the garage sale buy fix and resale thing. He found me a 19Gal Husky with 155 max PSI, 4 SCFM @ 90 PSI and 6 SCFM @ 40 PSI, I got it for $35. I also ordered a spot blaster and glass bead media from Harbor freight. My intention is to put the engine back together when all the gaskets get in, do a light blasting of the bottom of the engine and then paint the engine after it is all put back together. Going to call about my frame and exhaust tomorrow. Hopefully this weekend the engine goes back together. I want to let it cure for about a week before I put it back in the frame so I don't scratch up the paint to bad. I will then work on the carbs next week to get them ready to reinstall.

[Redneck]

Holy Crap I actually got some work done

Finally was able to get some more work done on the bike yesterday. I honed out the cylinder walls. I don't have pics because the camera battery was dead. But after honing the cyclinder walls I then dipped the jubs in a mild acid bath with a product called "Acid Magic" its a specail mixture of HCL, suppose to not bond with the protiens of your skin thus not causing chemical burns. Needless to say I still wore protective gear, and I diluted the solution down to about 1 part acid 6 part water even though the directions called for 1 to 4 water... that and If I left it at 1 to 4 I could not cover have the jugs in the bucket I was using. It did the trick got the last of the grease out of the fins. Woot. I also did a final rinse out of the heads especailly concentrating on the oil ports to make sure I got all the media out from the wet blasting I did on everything. Hopefully today I will start putting the thing back together.

Paul

[Redneck]

If it ain't one thing its another

So there I am I just recieved the parts I need to start putting the engine back together. So before I start the process I decide to take a quick look at the manual to make sure I do things right. Low and behold... " Before inserting screws for oil pump strainer apply lock tight fluid".... and guess what I don't have. Oh well I need some anti sieze also. Maybe tonight. Lets keep our fingers crossed.

[pete]

So there I am I just recieved the parts I need to start putting the engine back together. So before I start the process I decide to take a quick look at the manual to make sure I do things right. Low and behold... " Before inserting screws for oil pump strainer apply lock tight fluid".... and guess what I don't have. Oh well I need some anti sieze also. Maybe tonight. Lets keep our fingers crossed.

I hear ya... i was doing fine until I got to the camshafts going in... needed moly lube

The worst thing I found was when you get to a point and realised you missed one seal on the fiche and you have to go order it in and wait for it.

[Redneck]

I won't lie to ya Pete... I was going to take the crank cases completely apart to begin with and paint them that way, then I chickened out. I pulled the oil pan and gasket, took one look at all the gears in there and was like wow I am over my head. Thats when I punctured the screen on the oil pump so there I was waiting for parts to come in. The good news was the reason I was going that far to begin with is that I dropped some old gasket material in the crankcase, luckily I found it in the oil pan when I took it out so there really was no reason to pull all the gears out. I just have to figure out how to best paint the engine when I get her all back together, not quite sure how to get paint around the whole thing at one time so I am not trying to paint the top then flip it over and get the bottom and ruin the paint I just put on the top. I am still working that one out.

[pete]

Interestingly enough, the gearbox almost reassembles itself, I found it not too challenging at all in the end, although I do get what you mean.

It's gonna be an interesting challenge painting in one piece for sure!

[Redneck]

Well I got the Frame and Exhaust Pipes back from the PC shop on Friday. Finished up the dog pen on Saturday. Finally got some time to work on the bike some this morning. Managed to get the Oil Pump Strainer installed thanks to finally getting some lock tight, took all the oil pan bolts and cleaned them up with a brass wire wheel. Installed the ATU and the new oil pan gasket and pan. Finally its starting to head back into the right direction.... Together.

[Flyboy]

Wow paul, that frame looks good enough to eat, I am officially jealous.
The bottom end does not look that bad at all, I recon a rotary brass brush on a drill and you will be good to go.
You do know of course, that Suzuki never painted the lower case on these engines, they only painted down to the split line.
A good scrub and you should almost not notice the difference between the two.
Those ribs make it a PIA, I know.

[Redneck]

The ribs, fins, ridges, whatever you want to call them have been my bane. I did purchase a spot blaster from Harbor Freight that had many good reviews and I bought some glass bead media to do a quick once over of the engine once it is all together before I paint it. I now have an Idea how I plan on hanging the whole engine while I paint it. It involves 4x4 post, a drill, and some bar stock. Essentially going to make a quick engine mount for it, that i can paint around using the factor mount points. All I should have to purchase is the bar stock since i have all the left overs from the dog pen to make the stand with now. Wish me luck.

Paul

[Redneck]

Woot Woot... I got Garage time tonight. Started putting the engine back together again. I will say that putting the pistons back in the cylinders thoroughly sucks. My son and I did manage to get some bonding time trying to get it done. Guess that was a plus but we finally got it all put on. I also did notice on small thing that I hope will not be a problem.

Look at the inside corner by the oring on the piston side. There was a little gap in the metal.





and here is some pics of the engine as she is going back together.









of course I did have my other helper



Son has Parkour class in Portsmouth tomorrow so will probably not get anything done till Friday. I want to paint on Sunday it is going to be the only sunny day we are getting.

Paul

[Flyboy]

Paul, that gap looks ominous man, they don't O-Ring it for nothing, if I have it right, that is an oil gallery supplying oil under pressure to the head, the oil is supplied up those two studs and returns under gravity down the timing chain tunnel, to the sump.

Any idea how it happened?
Looks like you may get lucky and the dowel covers it, and will hold the pressure in, GS motors run with very low oil pressure anyway.

That is one very pretty little aprentice you have there, I see a big shotgun in daddy's future in a couple of years