A build of sorts

[AlTheKiller]

Picked up the bike (1982 Suzuki GS 1100 GL) for 300 dollars not running. Put in new gas and seafoam in the tank and charged the battery some. She fired up and was running great.

so far ive done 2 oil changes (free)
new brake light bulb (free)
New rear turn signals (free)
Paint (free)
New plugs (free)
New tire (67)
New battery (50)
Hammered out the head light bezel to fit correctly
Removed front fender. It was bent and rubbing the tire.

when I got her:





How she sits now:



somewhere in there, someone knocked my bike over after hours and it didnt really do anything to the bike other than spill gas everywhere and it got gas in the cylinders so i had to pull the plugs and crank it over to the gas out. thats also why i did a second oil change.

tomorrows project is to get the ground from the volt regulator lengthened so it can reach the - of the battery. The PO did some weird wiring and moving around of stuff to fit the walmart battery he put in. I would have done it tonight but I didnt have my soldering iron at the shop.

new tire and the battery stuff:






this is my first bike and I dont want to dump a lot of money into it but Id like it running nice. beyond that im not to concerned about the ratted out look. I actually like it

When we were oiling the rear brake pedal my friend came up with a great name for the bike, The Tin Man. Thinking of hand painting it on the side of the tank

[7981GS]

Good price on a great bike. Hoping to hear about how much fun that you are having on it.

Daniel

[AlTheKiller]

Got it wired up and running again

But it was short lived. Made it around the parking lot and then she ran out of gas. I think when it got knocked over someone was probably stealing the gas out of it. There's no way what spilled is 3+ gallons. Oh well.



Tomorrow the front wheel comes off so I can mount the new tire.

[Flyboy]

Jeeez, that is indeed some weird ass wiring the PO left you with, what was he thinking???
Looks like you have it all under control and on the way to many happy miles.
For that price you can afford to drop a bit into her and still come out ahead, good find, congratulations.

[AlTheKiller]

I've debated putting her up for sale once i got the tire on but I think I've fallen in love with this heep way to much to part ways with it any time soon.


A little walk around video:

[AlTheKiller]

Was riding her around today and I've got some smoke and some oil leakage from the head gasket it looks like. Any ideas what I should do about it?

[AlTheKiller]

Pulling the carbs out to clean and rebuild. Three of the four are still leaking gas.

[terrylee]

.Sure the oil is not leaking from the valve cover, if so just need new gasket. Also sometimes will get a leak where tach cable goes into engine. Of course you need to do a valve adjustment anyway, so you'll be replacing valve gasket. terrylee

[recycled64]

Looks to me like a head gasket, sometimes (if you're lucky) a careful torqueing (sp?) of the head bolts helps, my 8V 750 stopped puking after I did, many years ago. Well, OK, aggressively seeping!!

[AlTheKiller]

Ill see what the bolts are suppose to be torqued to and see if that does it and if not then I guess ill have to take it to a bike shop and get it done. I could probably replace the gasket just fine myself but I doubt id be able to do the valve adjustment. Its possible one of the other mechanics in the shop knows how to do it on a bike. Unless cars and bikes are different in that aspect

got the video working

[banditom]

valve adjustment

After all the other work, I think a valve adjustment will be no problem. Get a manual and follow the instructions, or search here, I am sure its been explained fully. There may be a special tool needed.
More than one person taking a thirty year old bike to a shop has ended up with a worse running bike for his money spent. Be sure that any mechanic working on the bike has more experience than some of these young mechs that think they can work on bikes. Hopefully you will be able to find a mechanic that is seasoned, and was working on these bikes back in the day.

[Flyboy]

Arrrhhh, you doubt your self, sure you can do a valve adjustment yourself, you have all the help you need right here, and you don't need any special tools.
Check out Basscliff's site for valve adjustment tutorial, in full technicolour with dancing girls, drop Steve an email and tell him a bit about yourself and he will hook you up with one of his world famous spreadsheets for valve adjustment, there is gold right there.
Also check out the zip tie method for setting the valves, does away for the need of a special valve tool.
Once you get into it, you will see, it really is not rocket science, if you can replace a head gasket, you can do valves.
These pages are filled with tales of woe, from guys who took thier bike to the shop, spent a fortune and got back something that was worse than it started off, you have been warned.
Shims you can get from Z1 for just over 5 bucks a shim, or do a search for the shim club, and get them on a swap out basis.
Get those sleeves up and get to it.

[AlTheKiller]

thanks guys ill look for the tutorial and ask questions along the way. gonna try and finnish pulling the carbs out today if i have time. i just need to clamp the fuel lines and pull the two cables off and she should come out. also drain the bowls.

[AlTheKiller]

Finally got the carbs out.

[Flyboy]

Hey hey, good job, they don't look too bad at all, a good clean and they will be like new, grab Nessims carb cleaning tutorial and get them sorted out.
Don't forget to pull the intake boots and replace the O-Rings there as well, while you have the carbs off.
Here is some inspiration for you, just to keep you motivated.