GS450 Cafe / Fighter Style

[pete]

Excellent stuff Collo! What was blowing the fuses?

[Collo]

Turned out to be the light for the tacho which I removed, but the prongs were touching. Then I blew some fuses by hooking up the power wrong. Anyway should all be good now.

Can I run the bike without a fuel filter? Its got the petcock filter right?

[pete]

Cool, glad you got it sorted! That stuff can be a PITA.

You don't need a filter, the one in the fuel tap should be good enough providing your tank is clean.

Just downsized the main jets in mine tonight and the float bowls have only the tiniest bit of sediment after over a year in use now, and that's just with the fuel tap filter only.

[Big Rich]

It may have been discussed somewhere else, but if the petcock filter gets clogged, it can be a pita to clean. If an inline filter gets clogged, undo it and replace.

But there is the issue of the petcock itself getting clogged with no filter on top of it......

[pete]

'Tis very true Rich... pretty sure Collo has lined his tank though, and mine's had the POR 15 treatment too... going by my float bowls tonight all is well

[Collo]

Thanks guys for the advice, I think I'll run the bike without the filter but check my tank first. Want some new lines anyway.

Having issues with the seat now, it doesn't fit since I've changed the layout of the electrics etc. Want to use the upholstered part but also won't fit. So, has anyone got any ideas? I'm thinking of not even having a cafe tail, just a slight rise over where the battery goes, keeping the whole thing upholstered.

If I get creative on the computer I'll have a go at photo shopping something and posting it

[pete]

Well you've seen what I'm done with the stock seat pan and a custom tail piece using the stock duck tail framework...

Probably best if you can try to get some pic's of how it's not sitting right etc. now.

It might be easier to redo the electrics tray or something along those lines...

[Collo]

Hi all,

Had some great progress today and got the bike started. Here are some pics...



The paint job is nothing to rave about, but considering it was a bit rushed and a spray can job with no booth its not too bad. Just needs a polish now but I need to buy the buffing pad.



Rearsets are coming along okay, this is as best as I can get it for now.



In the pics you will see theres a fuse with a yellow wire connecting to the starter solenoid. It seems it doesn't matter if theres a fuse in there or not it still starts is that normal? Bike runs fast but may be the lack of mufflers or just the idle screw. Petcock doesn't run on "RUN" position but does on "reserve" ...weird.

And for those who want to know... the GS500 coils work fine, infact they may even work better but this hasn't been a clear comparison.

[pete]

Nice! Glad to hear she's running again

I dig the paint job too... those twin stripes are good

If the bike runs without a fuse in there, then something is amiss.

Look at the wiring diagram and you'll see there should be one main fuse that feeds the whole harness from the battery via the starter solenoid, so if that fuse is removed then nothing should work.

At the moment it sounds like she's running with no fuse which will be bad if something goes awry and you get a short or too large current draw.

[Collo]

Hi all,

Got the seat back today from upholsterers and very happy with their quality of work and cheap $150 price.
I still need to make the seat secure to the frame and somehow rethink the rear brake light as it's a tight fit now.

Still no luck with the front brake so I will probably take it apart and start from scratch, cleaning all the bits as I go.

[pete]

Aaaah so you've ditched the stock tail altogether! Looks like a good job on the seat too...

If all else fails on the front brake, you can get a new master cylinder from Mikes XS for less than $80 + shipping... mine was less than $100 shipped to my door and I'm very happy with it.

Also, when mounting the seat I'd try to get it to fill that gap under the lip of the tank... if you slide forward with it like that then you may feel a little... well... painful...

[Collo]

Thanks Pete, I'll try and fix the brake today and failing that I'll replace whatever seems broken. The gap between the seat and tank will be fixed, either by removing the steel frame or by adjusting the seat a little. I don't mind the gap but hear what your saying about...well, certain things being caught.

[Collo]

Thanks for the comments. Had another productive day and have reconnected all the wiring. Ground down the side covers as I didn't like the lines in them. Pulled the brake apart and it looks to be the MC, so might just buy a new one as I don't know how to pull the damn thing apart. Got the Tommaselli throttle in too which looks a lot better and feels pretty good.

Also got the clutch plates pulled apart they were almost seized together. Still wont release to neutral when clutch is pulled in so not sure what's going on there. Anyone have an idea why this is the case? Pulling the lever pushes the last plate out as it's supposed to but still sticking and wont roll if in gear... weird.

[pete]

As for the MC, you can still get the genuine piston and cup set to rebuild it, but I had no success with mine as the piston bore was destroyed, so not sure how the rebuild goes unfortunately.

With the clutch, you're probably not going to get anywhere with it until you get some heat in the engine. After they've been sitting for a number of years they won't want to separate just by squeezing the clutch lever.

[Collo]

BIKE SOLD*** Thanks and out

Hi all,

So the time has come and the ol'project is finally gone...sold. Thanks to the many who have helped along the way and who continue to make this forum and others a great source of information, inspiration and fun. I have had fun with the old bike and hopefully the next owner will continue to enjoy it.

Collo