siamesing the twins. (one from two) 82 GS1100G

[engel]

g'day.

been a while since i screwed with a big suzi, so its about time again.

am combining the good bits of dads old 1074 shaftie and a spares bike, on a budget, and this time there's no "get ready for a birthday" one month deadline. lets just call them BLACK, and BLUE. BLUE now runs again though the electrics are interesting. i stripped its siezed solid starter motor to base components and got it working again and fitted BLACK's ignition signal generator and carbs which were clean from using on the orange GSX1100 last year. added fuel, wound over and she fires and runs after 9 years. began by oiling all 8 pots on monday and making sure they spun freely so into fifth on their centre stands they went, and with the plugs out i twirled the rear wheel for all i was worth and with an ohmmeter on the brake pedal and the oil light switch we got oil pressure up.

BLACK's bodywork is in good nick luckily except for paint condition as BLUE's tank has had the dick but BLACK's got issues of her own with non functional front brakes, wiring harness, and other bits and bobs. BLUE was dads work bike and has running gear issues with rusted fork stanchions, seat base, shot steering head bearings, and kawasaki clocks.

i got her carbs off earlier this evening and the number one float chamber is full of the same green antifreeze lookin crud that was in the identical bowl as on the GSX from sitting on the sidestand. verdigrees and unleaded, oh so pretty. biggest hurdle so far has been the rounded out 6mm signal generator bolt which refused to come out and allow me to move the sig gen from BLACK onto BLUE (or onto the GSX 14 months ago so you could say it was a long term niggle) by any normal method so i drilled the guts out then let a 3/8" bit eat the bulk of the hollowed bolt head till she succumbed and now it's mobile to use to test both motors and determine the best candidate.

the best thing is that I'M MISSING NOTHING FOR THIS BUILD! bar obvious new gear like o-rings, fork seals, and gaskets, all other items are duplicated and that cuts out searching for and buying parts, keeps my costs down, and brings the completion time down only to laziness and distraction levels (though with no deadline this time, who cares). should have some pics up maybe tomorrow evening of the congregation of dismembered items inhabiting my shed.

cheers, glen.

[engel]

where the situation stands at present:











and what we're aiming for from circa 87:

[Charlie G]

engle,

Nice to see you posting up another project. What a luxury to have a parts bike to scavange from. I'd be tempted to try to get both up and running. I'll be watching your progress. Take care.

cg

[SVSooke]

Go through my signature build thread for the 750,not exactly the same situation but pretty close.

[engel]

BLUE has her original carbs back on with new needle and seat o-rings and a good clean out. running as smooth as it can with no air filter as both the elements are rotted. have cleaned out and reasembled the airbox today and now she'll at least rev if asked beyond 6k with it in place giving a bit of vacuum. starting on the button with little prompting and settles down to a good steady idle quickly. pricing air filters and exhaust and clutch cover gaskets locally though partshark may be called upon once again, their services in the past nothing short of exemplary.

have fixed together a tacho/fuel guage from the remnants of the crushed original and the non functional item on BLACK. not tackling any huge procedures just yet but so far i've been able to get out and do something on them every night which should add up over time.

the idea had crossed my mind to build a pigeon pair at one point charlie but the bodywork is too far gone on BLUE. and BLACK's ignition and clutch parts are serving well on the GSX1100 i built for dad, which i'm pleased to say is receiving a good deal of use with him able to take runs on it quite a few sundays lately.

[engel]

BLACK is go. at least as far as the frame is concerned.

BLUE has a large dent in the left seat rail and a crack clear through the rear battery carrier frame spar. i fired it up one last time then silenced her off till it becomes needed if BLACK's engine proves a lost cause. on wednesday night, after arguing with my lawnmower about it choosing to not run, i transferred the rear wheel, ignition hardware, harness, right fork leg, coils, and choke cable between the two. the left leg may go across as well but the right has chrome missing in the travel region.

still to go across are the pipes, carbs, airbox then plug all the connectors together and hope she fires. BLACK has been standing longer out of the two but by dads recollection she didn't burn oil and had a far easier life at the hands of it's former owner and is the pick of the pair. still yet to be sure but if i don't need to swap powerplants i'll hardly be complaining. they aren't overly light afterall and stripping out one means refitting to both as theres no point having a spares bike in pieces or you'd simply strip and dump, and at least an assembled bike should store easier and move a lot lighter with my confined storage space.

not in any mad rush to tackle the panelwork as its still in good shape but i still can't paint and theres a few more pressing matters on my plate such as registering the CBR1000F hurricane thats taking daily drive duties over from my long suffering DT200R, and a few of the other crocks straining my finances need love.

at least by now i'm starting to get a little excitemed in the build. she's been christened Anna partially for a girl i used to know and the rest for Deborah Kerr and will likely be painted the same blue as dads came out in.

wish me luck, glen.

[Charlie G]

I hope Black proves to be a good runner, as I would hate to have to pull two motors. I agree it's easier to store parts on a bike as apposed to scattering them about a garage. Looking forward to seeing you sort it out.


cg

[UncleMike]

Looks like you should be able to put together something nice. Those bags look useful too.

[engel]

noel the old owner used them a fair bit and i was once tossing up whether to bolt them to my dads gsx1100 or to the vincent. i reckon they can stay quite happily were they are. they at least are lockable and strike me as practical, not the least of which being they'll save the money of a new set of rear indicators.

the new tyre for the CBR arrived on tuesday and will go on in short order when i return home from my little holiday here in melbourne on monday night. might try and have anna running shortly thereafter. theres a new stator and reg/rec to go onto whichever motor chooses to prove worthy of em so let the games begin.

gonna ask around after some basic parts for my sohc honda fours while i'm down here too, the wreckers here having better stock levels. would be nice to track down a good gs seat if i could but not holding breath on that one. may try for a filter and other new parts as well.

cheers, glen.

[engel]

anzyela the hurricane is on the road and i have an 8 week old puppy.

one of these is saving me time and the other is chewing it (and everything else) up at a frightening rate.

got to the shed for a little tonight however and the pipes are transferred, a few connectors are clicked into place, and she cranks over fine though the wiring is still a mess and i have no spark as of yet. same harness as i had on BLUE so can't be too much needing doin. the tyres i ordered aren't made anymore so it's back to the drawing board on that one. her rear hoop had to be transferred to tinkerbell the GSX as dad had eradicated the tread off it. not big on the left hand switchblock so might swap it out with the familiarity of my DT200. not much else in the pipeline as far as alterations planned but we'll see where the ship sails.

needed some encouragement so i fired up katrin the katana just to listen to its sweet twin mufflered idle. not as groovy as my gamma 250 but no slouch for something with valves.

[Charlie G]

Engel,

Nice to have you pop back in once in a while with an update. I've lost many a pair of boots to a bored puppy seeking revenge on me for being away. Take it easy on the tike, he'll settle down in three years or so.

cg

[engel]

she's cute as a button charl, but evil incarnate. josie is a border collie/red kelpie cross. been trying to wear her out during the day so she sleeps better but her energy knows no bounds and it's only going get worse as she grows as they are a working dog and she's gonna run me ragged. monstrous little fangs and claws yet capable of being tender, till she gets bored and then the glen becomes the chewtoy.

[Charlie G]

Over the years I've seen a few Border Collies and they all seem to be smart as a whip. We have a Cocker Spaniel who is the dumbist dog in California. When he's gone I think I find a Border Collie and experence the bright side of the K-9 world.

cg

[engel]

two new pairs of continentals arrived today. one with tubes for tinkerbell, and the other without for anna. might have sorted out a painter over last weekend, and with a little luck i'll have my switchblock here at home by saturday.

fired all four of the running girls here up today. can't hear the katana over the vincent and as it had wet sumped, after a few minutes you couldn't see it either. not a bad aroma but think i may have scared the neighbours. surprised the fireys never fronted to be honest.

scored a running L16 and a torn down RB25 DET this afternoon and the relevant gearbox and tailshaft and it's blocking the garage so i can't go anywhere. might be an impetus to lock myself in the shed with the 1100 this weekend. would love her regoed and shaken down at least a week before my 6000 kilometer round trip in november so the midnight oil may be getting burned in the near future. i have tink and anzyela the hurricane as fallbacks but want to take the shafty and its panniers. deadlines add to the spice i find so lets see what eventuates.

hope the dog can read and pass over metric spanners as a little help from my four pawed apprentice wouldn't go astray. or just let her gnaw on the old tyres to keep her out from under my feet.

[engel]

anna has her new shoes on. though more by luck than anything else. two hours yesterday of hunting around and five shops to find the applicable tubeless valve for the rear rim (dad has always run a tube in the rear tyre as the metzelers were a tight fit and took a ton of pressure to seat the beads). discovered much to my dismay about midnight friday that a standard rubber car type stem is not agreeable to the 82 model tubeless star pattern rims fitted. wanted to replace the front as well but in the end had to reuse it and the best i could manage was new rubber washers. then fitted the tyres by hand later that night after a very long dayand drove to a fuel station to inflate them. front went up fine but the new automatic style digital inflaters wouldn't give the rear a large enough burst to let it seat. drove across town to where a standard lever type guage and full flow air compressor were located and up she went no troubles. back home and pulled BLACKs front wheel and fitted up the replaced tyre. chucked the rear wheel back on, refitted the rear shocks, and fitted out BLACKs front wheel on BLUE swapping out my safety wheel (81 kwakka z500b. same size, disc spacing, and axle diameter though with smaller discs) in the process. thats when i realized my tail wagging apprentice had little more on her mind than bones, tennis balls, and chewing my toes while perched over the wheel with tyre levers. one new front tyre, beaded out, inflated, bolted up, and back on the ground. and running the wrong direction.

ok. joy!

jack under, wheel out, safety wheel in, deflate, break beads, strip, refit.

grabbed my house keys, the dogs leash, and the wheel and walked it and the dog the 5 blocks to the 24hour service station 5 blocks away at 2 am. reinflate tyre, walk dog home and refit to front of bike. into the shower, and off to bed.

haven't had the stomach to go out and check if i've put the rear on wrong way round. have learned the four into one obscures the rear axle and the panniers oscure the crap out of the left rear shock absorber when you go to lower the swingarm to remove it. doesn't bode well. the law of averages states that murphy was right. there's a very real likelihood that if it's facing the wrong way it may be staying that way for at least a few weeks as i lack interest in rectification right at present.

as an upside of yesterday, all the tinware is delivered off to be painted.

and, i'll be double checking any advice my puppy provides prior to implementation. mans best friend isn't necessarily mans most useful ally in motorcycle refurbishing.