1983_GS750E - Rebuild

[GateKeeper]

Boo Boo Fixed...

OK, so I was cheap, and didn't want to pay the glass man 40 bucks for a new piece of glass for the instrument cluster, so I went to my local Home Depot and picked up a bit of plexiglass, 5 bucks was all it cost me.

traced out the original onto the plexiglass, used my jig saw, cut out the part I needed, drilled the small hole for the trip reset, put the rubber gasket around the plexiglass, fitted it all back together, and bingo,,,all done

Not the same as the original glass, has glare, but it's not cracked, and since it's so easy to do, when I find a piece of frosted plexi, I will do it all over again....

By the way, I cut one, but it was a bit too big, and sanding was going to take forever by hand, so I just cut a second one, and it fit like a glove....









no more crack



not too bad....

[GateKeeper]

Well I was a bit bored tonight, nothing on TV, and I fixed up the Instrument cluster, and felt like doing something more, not a lot, but a bit....

So I took apart the rear end.............

After it was all apart, I gave it quick run with the wire wheel, and a hot bath on the swing arm to get the oils off, and it actually all came out pretty good, not the best but good. Have to paint the middle of the rotor, polish up the sprocket hub, and not really sure what to do with the sprocket itself, and the swing arm needs a good polish, as does the rim itself...







bits and bites....lol



and the quick clean and wire wheel treatment....

[Flyboy]

Hey, hey, nice job on the clocks there and for $5, it don't get better than that.
You sure are making headway with the rebuild, keep up the good work.

[GateKeeper]

Thanks Flyboy....

yup can't beat the 5 dollar fix....

soon the front end comes off, then the engine, and the frame is all on it's own...

have to fix the big bad dent in it, then strip and paint, and finally get to the good stuff,,,,,someone told me there is fun in this......soon I hope to find it....LOL

[Flyboy]

I know the feeling, I have been fiddling with Jennifer....that didn't come out right for near on 18 months now and all I seem to be doing is cleaning and sanding and polishing, but we will get there one day, only last month did I start hanging parts back together, but it's all good, its therapy for me, alone time in the man cave, with some oldies on the radio, cold beers and my bike, it's a happy place.
And now that she is starting to come together, the work put in shows and is really paying off, just stick with it.
My philosophy is, it should not be a chore, if you not in the mood, give it a miss for the night, when it's a chore, your heart ain't in it and you land up doing a half baked job, that will haunt you later down the road.

[Sci85]

Agreed. That's looks excellent! And wow, I'm amazed at how well a wire wheel can clean. Do you use one on a drill and was it fine or course grade?

I'm new to street bike rebuilding (even let my license expire a decade ago) and you guys are all an inspiration. I've now got all these ideas swirling around in my head after finding this forum and am gonna have to get a new license now. My wife is gonna freak when she learns my budget just tripled LOL!

Sci85

[7981GS]

Wow! I have plenty of lens' that need replacement and plenty of stuff to polish.
When are you coming over to spend a week?

Daniel

[GateKeeper]

Agreed. That's looks excellent! And wow, I'm amazed at how well a wire wheel can clean. Do you use one on a drill and was it fine or course grade?

I'm new to street bike rebuilding (even let my license expire a decade ago) and you guys are all an inspiration. I've now got all these ideas swirling around in my head after finding this forum and am gonna have to get a new license now. My wife is gonna freak when she learns my budget just tripled LOL!

Sci85

Yup just a wire wheel on a drill, it was one at Canadian Tire, and it had the gold color wires, not sure if it makes a difference, it's the one I have always purchased.

Be careful it can grab an edge, and twist the drill around on you, keep shirts and and kind of cloth away, it will grab it in a heart beat, and it will hurt you if it's attached to you, wear some sort of glove, I use the blue nitrile ones, it at least offer some protection on the skin, and the wire wheel doesn't grab at them, plus I use the gloves anyways when working with solvents, grease, oil, etc....

the parts you see are just a rough clean, they still need a lot more, but the wire wheel get the bulk of the crap off, quick, and it can be used to polish up parts a bit as well, no big shine, just a cleaner look.

by the way the swing arm was not done at all, just cleaned with soap and water.

here is the drill and wheel (used now)

[GateKeeper]

Wow! I have plenty of lens' that need replacement and plenty of stuff to polish.
When are you coming over to spend a week?

Daniel

As soon as I have all my stuff done.....

[GateKeeper]

I know the feeling, I have been fiddling with Jennifer....that didn't come out right for near on 18 months now and all I seem to be doing is cleaning and sanding and polishing, but we will get there one day, only last month did I start hanging parts back together, but it's all good, its therapy for me, alone time in the man cave, with some oldies on the radio, cold beers and my bike, it's a happy place.
And now that she is starting to come together, the work put in shows and is really paying off, just stick with it.
My philosophy is, it should not be a chore, if you not in the mood, give it a miss for the night, when it's a chore, your heart ain't in it and you land up doing a half baked job, that will haunt you later down the road.

Nicely put....

[Hoosier Daddy]

Nice job on the gauge cluster, congrats!
Also, good choice on the "gold color wires" in your wire wheel, probably bronze and much gentler on the parts than a coarse steel wheel.

And yea Flyboy, that is the truth, very well put. If it quits being fun it's time to take a break for a few. Thats not to say I haven't thrown a few cuss worlds out there or really broke a sweat struggling... but it'll always puts a smile on your face when it's over.

[GateKeeper]

Going to take the cluster apart again, it has some fine plastic dust caught in the rubber seal, so I have to get it apart and clean that off, shouldn't be to hard now that I know what I am doing....

Ohh well, wasn't paying attention, so that is what happens.

[GateKeeper]

So tonight we took the front end off, it came off rather quickly, and without too much effort, shocks are draining as we speak, going to let them drain overnight, and disassemble them tomorrow. Everything else will get cleaned, and wire wheeled then painted.

So the only thing left now is the air box and engine in the frame, that is next, and we start the long process of cleaning, sanding, polishing, painting each and every single item, before we can start the rebuild.

I hope the way the bike is now, engine sitting on the garage floor will not hurt anything, it will be soon that it will be pulled but not right away, I tried to get off the floor with some pieces of wood but that did not work out, so she has to be the way it is.

Here are a few pics of tonights work.

I do hope the pics thus far have been of interest, to one and all, and especially to those thinking of doing this type of work as well, it's been great fun, and I have really enjoyed sharing this with you all....











this is the last part to come out....

[Flyboy]

Nice, leaving the motor on the floor won't hurt anything, but what I would do, or rather have done with mine, if you can't get wooden planks in there, just get a big cardboard box from your pocal supermarket, you know, the big ones you find out back at the dumpster after they have unpacked the stock, undo the bottom and top and lay it flat on the floor and put your motor ontop of that. That is what I did with my frame after painting as well.
Yes I am enjoying this build, please continue.

[GateKeeper]

Thanks Flyboy....

I was going to put the engine on a small wooden pallet, once I get it yanked out of the frame, it needs a good scrubbing, the top needs a good polish, so that has to come off, the one exhaust bolt that broke needs to come out also, and then it needs a good painting, as well as all the other covers need polishing. Once this is done, I was going to wrap it up with the plastic wrapping they use when you ship stuff, I figure that would protect it, and keep it clean, until it's ready to go back into the frame.

The next few weeks are going to be boring, stripping, sanding, polishing and so on....well boring for posting, but I will take pics as I move along.

It's nice to have it all documented.....

Stay tuned....LOL