1981 gs 550

[Radtad]

Picked this up next to nothing and after some tinkering drove it home. Now I was suppose to wait till after thanksgiving before moving it into the kitchen to tear it down. Well last Friday it happened and now it has the gas tank off, carbs removed, and deciding weather I am going to remove everything down to just the frame. Powder coat frame and build back. Plus do I restore to orginal or hop it up a little bit and give it a wild paint job? Thoughts and suggestions would be great. My work really slows down in Dec and Jan this will be a nice distraction. My amazing wife laughed and said, "She knew it would not stay in the garage till after thanksgiving, and as long as I help her cook thanksgving dinner for all the people coming over and maybe cover it up on thanksgiving day it is all good. I have an amazing wife yes I do. Any thoughts or suggestions would be much appreciated. Pics to follow if I can figure out how to save on my computer from my phone.

[GateKeeper]

Rebuilds are always fun.....

as for pictures once off the camera and on the PC, you need to host them on a site like Photobucket, Picasa, and others, then post the img code into your post and we get to see.

Good luck on your project

[Radtad]

Pics so far

[Radtad]

Another pic with tank and carbs removed

[mike_of_bbg]

Radtad, that bike looks to be in really great shape. Hop it up a little bit? I'm not into the hacksaw upgrades so I wouldn't suggest one of those (cafe/bobber). Suspension upgrades front/rear should be tops on your list; those rears look stock and they weren't exactly considered good 30 years ago. Twinpot brake upgrade up front maybe. Lower bars. If you can find a good donor GS650 motor do the top-end upgrade to 672cc.

[Radtad]

No not looking to do anything like cafe or bob those are not my style. Would like to upgrade the suspension they are the orginals. Thinking I would like to paint as well and trying to figure out if I should keep classic color of that year or go custom with the paint. The upgrade to 650 top end sound interesting as well was reading about that in some other articles on here will more than likely keep her the way she is engine wise for now. The bike only has 10,000 miles on it just little weathered from being under a tarp from 1983 till 2009. Then the person I bought it from tried to get it running and sank several hundreds into it getting carb work done and just never got it running correctly and he moved from parents to his own place and they wanted it out of the garage so he decided to sell it and now I have it . That is wife doing a happy dance she is excited to have a bike again.

[7981GS]

Radtad, you chose wisely when picking out a wife.

Daniel

[Radtad]

(Radtad, you chose wisely when picking out a wife)

Thanks Daniel I sure did but took a few till I got it right

[Radtad]

Okay, Thanksgiving is over and it is snowing this morning in Denver. The high is only going to be like 24 so I am very glad bike is in the house. I have taken off the fenders and I am thinking about removing the chrome and painting them the same color as the bike will be. My wife has picked out some house of kolor paint that is a urethane base. Does anyone have any experience in these paints. Bought a spray gun and respirator for when the day comes. Is it possible to freshen up the frame with some paint as well and not remove everything? I am a little nervous about gutting it completely and putting it all back. Any thoughts would be greatly appreaciated as always.

[cowboyup3371]

Yea. Do a search on here but some folks say just wrap the engine in plastic so you can hit the frame.

[Radtad]

Thats what I was kind of thinking Thanks Cowboy!!

[Radtad]

Thanks to the great referances on how to rebuild the carbs got them tore apart last night. Could not sleep plus have removed the fenders to start to prep them for paint. Here are some updated pics.

[Radtad]

Waiting on new orings and some carb dip that I will pick up on Monday. Have another project that has to have some time. Building a four lane senic track for all of us to race on.
Track/WP_000279.jpg[/IMG]

[Radtad]

Got O rings today will start building back the carbs need to pick up silicone spray and some Anti-seize stuff.