GS 550L Gets a make over

[Redneck]

Trust me I have a few days like that, most of the time when I want to go work on it, I have others who are vying for my attention. Then there are times when I don't feel like doing anything.

Here are the pictures I promised.

Carb Body


Wheel Hub


Wheel



Now that the painting is done will get the tire put back on and balanced this coming Saturday and I will be assembling the carbs on Wednesday or Thursday want to let them cure a bit. If I can I will be going over to Adam's house next weekend and finish putting the engine together (if my parts come in) install engine, install PCed swing arm, put on the exhaust, install the Carbs, airbox and try to figure out where I will put my electrics tray or board. Thats all for now.

Paul

[Redneck]

Well got the Brakes apart tonight. Here is what I found.



Here is what I used. A claw hammer, long shanked flat head screwdriver, and a vise.



That brake fluid looks more like ear wax. Then the kicker of it all is I finally found the other rear brake caliper. That cup came out much easier.

My question is what is the best way to clean these things up especailly the little passage ways? Could I use my carb dip and drop em in there after I clean them as best I can by hand?

Well while I put the calipers aside to think of how to get them clean, I decided to clean up my coils.

Before


After


Any advice on cleaning the calipers would be grateful.

Paul

[brslk]

Pine-Sol soak overnight?

Bruce.

[Sci85]

OMG Paul. Those are some seriously jacked calipers. If I saw that, I'm not sure I would reuse them. Not sure how you are going to get that much coagulated gunk out of all those tiny passages. Sometimes it's just better to cut bait and start fresh, especially with something as important as brakes. Your call but man, that's really nasty.

[psyguy]

holly molly never seen solid-filled calipers before

[Redneck]

Pine-Sol soak overnight?

Bruce.

That was my second thought the Pine-sol soak. That may very well be the route I go. I did not get any pictures of the other caliper but they are much much much much better. They actually worked a year and a half ago.

Sci,

The shock that I just recieved was looking into replacing the whole brake assembly if I were to buy it new. It wasn't the body assembly that scares me now.

I just discovered that the front pads alone on this bike are $150 if I get OEM pads..... I am a little sticker shocked at the moment.

Paul

[brslk]

That was my second thought the Pine-sol soak. That may very well be the route I go. I did not get any pictures of the other caliper but they are much much much much better. They actually worked a year and a half ago.

Sci,

The shock that I just recieved was looking into replacing the whole brake assembly if I were to buy it new. It wasn't the body assembly that scares me now.

I just discovered that the front pads alone on this bike are $150 if I get OEM pads..... I am a little sticker shocked at the moment.

Paul

Holy crap! I haven't checked out new pads yet but HOLY CRAP! how can they possibly cost about 3x as much as auto brake pads???

Bruce.

[GateKeeper]

To clean.....

I would suggest liquids of some kind, brake cleaner, pine sol as mentioned, and some soft scrubbers.

Don't use anything hard/metal you don't want to nick the areas where the pistons go and cause a leak.

I just used varsol and a stiff nylon bristle brush to clean up mine, now mind you I did not have solids in mine, but the varsol cleaned up the old brake fluid and once I had clear varsol in all the areas, I knew it was good to go...

[cowboyup3371]

I'd recommend spraying a lot of brake cleaner in there and let it soak. But, I'm sure the pine sol might work too (haven't tried it myself).

[Redneck]

Well I got to spend some time with the bike yesterday. Did not get my ambitious list completely done due to some difficulties with the valve clearances. I discoverd that somewhere along the line I had moved my 1 and 4 cylinders from TDC so Adam and me had to reset the timing which meant rechecking the clearances. Got them all sorted out but need two more shims to finish up.

We moved on and as we put the valve cover back on we realized that two holes on the cover will need to be retapped. Of course I left my Tap set at my house. Luckilly they are accessible with the engine installed.

Putting the last needle bearing in the PCed swing arm we started to run into the same issues as SCI85 did but we prevailed with a leather mallet and a lot of beating.

So swing arm went in. Engine went in. Exhaust started going on, and of course once again I manged to walk out the house and leave the crush gaskets at my house.

We went ahead and mounted them up anyway so I could see what she looked like. The old rear wheel is still on till I get the tire put back on the new one and my PC source has not been availble to get the handle bars done. But She looks like a real bike again. Getting there. Now for the pictures. The streaky stuff is the sputtering snow fall.





Getting there one step at a time, instead of the great leaps and bound I wanted.

Paul

Once again smilies brought to you by Peanut.

[cowboyup3371]

Looks great Paul.

[pete]

Hey Paul... that looks like... well... a bike again

Nice work! She's gonna be done before you know it!

[GateKeeper]

Nice.....once again it's a motorcycle, and good looking at that....

button up the last few bits and peices and you will just have to wait for the nice weather to go riding.....

snow,,,,who needs it............

[Flyboy]

Yeeeehaaa, awesome, Paul, looking very good, I see a whole lotta riding in your future, not too long from now.

[Redneck]

Well I had intended to pull the brake calipers out of the Carb dip yesterday ( they have been in there three days now ) but a heart to heart talk was needed with the teenager about how he has complete his homework, and turn it in if he expects to live to see 17. By the time that was done it was time to fix dinner and my life got in the way of working on the bike. But this morning woke up found out my income tax return was in, whoopeeee. So I have been a busy little beaver today.

I have ordered from Eastern Beaver the wiring kit for the R/R.
I have ordered from ANplumbing the items needed to make my own S/S brake lines following Nessims guidance.
I have also orderd from Suzuki Boulevard and Ahsley (bless her heart) the front and back sprockets, bikemaster o-ring chain, EBC Brake pads for front and rear breaks ( significantly cheaper than OEM), and the crush washers form my brake lines.

I am currently waiting for feed back from the company before I order one of these:

http://a123rc.com/goods-130-A123+Motorcycle+Start+Battery+132V23AH-4S1P.html

By my estimates its about 4.2"L by 3.1"W by 1.2"H. Significantly smaller than your standard bike battery.

I have to go home and make sure i have all the gaskets for my carbs tonight and they will go on order if not. That should be the last of the big ticket items to get the bike back on the road. Then it just up to me to get it all put together. But hey its a step in the right direction.

Paul

BTW

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!!!!