'81 GS550 Cafe Build

[motorjon68]

Wow! Badass! I'm inspired! Very nice work.

[GSScoobie]

Wholly smokes!!! That is quite the improvement from your original purchase picture.

[tkent02]

Wholly smokes!!! That is quite the improvement from your original purchase picture.

Yes, it is quite an inspiration for the rest of us.

[D-Mac]

Thanks for the support guys! It's been pretty nutty to spend a fortune on a $100 forgotten bike I've never actually ridden, and only heard idling for about 20 seconds. Given what I've learned, it's been well worth the experience though. Of course I'm assuming that I will actually get to ride it at some point!

I didn't get much time in the garage today. Nice day to ride instead. I did put a new chain and drive sprocket on, although I still need to track down the new fasteners to adjust the chain (they're in a bag somewhere in my shop). Pics of everything with my next update. I should have the carbs on soon too - new boots arrive on Tuesday.

I got some awesome news today too. My dad decided to buy me an exhaust system for the bike as my Christmas present. Apparently I've been "good" this year! It's already ordered and should arrive in about a week. I went ahead and ordered the fasteners I'll need for it, along with a new petcock.

The bike needs some new control cables I think. Now that the engine is in, I can measure the tach-to-gauge distance accurately. With the lower bars and raised forks, the old cable is much too long. Ditto with the speedo cable. The old ones are pretty shot anyway.

The wiring is an absolute horror-show. The more I look, the worse it looks. Still.....I have several months to get it done. With all of the extensions to reach the re-located parts, I'll probably end up replacing a bunch of it. With a name like "red neck rocket" you can guess what kind of wiring "modifications" were made. No fuse block.......lamp cord......missing wires for turn signals.....broken connectors.....filthy......household wire nuts in places......bare wires just twisted together in other places.

[D-Mac]

Today is the one-year anniversary of my first project post. New carb boots arrived today, so I got the carbs in. Here are a few pics of everything. In addition to new boots, I’m using new o-rings I got through the forum, new clamps, and K&N filters.




The filters are a tight fit, but here’s what it all looks like installed.


After finishing up, I realized that I will need to pull the carbs again to get the throttle cable to go back on. Oh well. Now to see if I can re-use my old cable or not. Choke cable looks fine.

Yesterday, I got the chain and front sprocket on too. Still gotta adjust the chain once I find the fasteners to do it. I went with a gold-colored chain to match the accent color on the calipers and shocks.

[GSScoobie]

I am diggin' the gold accents.
That bike will be beautiful!

[Dec79]

This is a really great build, well done.

How did you get the cam end caps so bright - are they NOS or re-plated?

Declan

[D-Mac]

This is a really great build, well done.

How did you get the cam end caps so bright - are they NOS or re-plated?

Declan

I cheated and just bought new ones. The old ones were badly pitted/rusted.

[D-Mac]

Got some parts in today.

New petcock. Stock one wasn’t working and rebuild kits seem to be 50/50 at best. I was originally thinking of going with a Pingel instead, but the cost with the converter mount to fit my tank was pretty high. I’ve heard that the best thing for the GS is just a straight replacement, so that was my decision.


The fasteners for the new exhaust showed up too. The new pipes are in transit and should arrive by Friday. I will probably go ahead and install them right away, although that’s probably not the best idea considering that I still have a lot of work to do. Can’t help it though – gotta see ‘em on the bike.

More fasteners.


Here’s the most exciting package from today. Shorai lithium battery. It’s ridiculously small and light. It’ll easily fit under the seat cowling, it discharges at a much slower rate than a standard battery, has no leaky acid to worry about, and it can be mounted in any direction. SWEET! I also ordered the fancy charger for it, which should arrive next week.


Free Shorai stickers. Ohhhh ahhhh. Some of them are bigger than the battery!


The battery comes with foam to fit it to existing battery boxes.

[D-Mac]

Part 1 of 2

So another week has come and gone. There have been a few developments – mostly stuff arriving for the “final push” on this project.

Getting the new exhaust was “exhausting.” UPS shipped it out two weeks ago, and it took a lot longer than usual to arrive in Michigan. I missed the driver by 5 minutes, and because it was “signature required” I had to wait for “delivery attempt #2.” Although I had signed the card as instructed, it turned out the first delivery driver was new and he had checked the wrong box. He was supposed to check “signature required at the time of delivery” so even though I had signed the authorization form, attempt #2 failed. I then called UPS and had them hold it for pickup at their office the following Monday…….but they somehow tried to deliver it anyway (“delivery attempt #3 – final attempt). I scrambled and got in touch with the local UPS office. They had me go to their shipping warehouse in the evening and wait for the truck to arrive back at the depot. To make an even longer (!) story shorter, I spent a couple of hours at a UPS mega-warehouse watching packages go by on (and fall off) belts before they found my package. It took 8 people over an hour to finally locate it in the warehouse.

Deep inside the UPS depot. Crazy place. All I can say is WRAP YOUR PACKAGES WELL!


See the big white box just visible in the background? That’s mine!


Although the box was badly damaged and the exhaust was basically just thrown inside, everything looked OK.

I fought off the urge to install it since I’d just end up dropping a bolt or tool on it anyway, but here are some comparisons with the stock setup. The new one is a MAC 4-1 – cheap, but the only headers that are readily available for this bike. The header piece is crazy-light (only 6.5lbs), and in total the system weighs only 12lbs. The stocker weighs a whopping 30lbs!

Side by side old and new


Old pipes


New pipes


Weighing the new muffler.


For now, the baffle will stay in. It looks like I’d need to drill a rivet and pound the crap out of the baffle to get it out anyway. At some point I might get a nicer muffler, or gut this one it and make a better baffle.

I also decided to start with the wiring. With about 5 different crimpers, I managed to make new plug wires. Some pics of the process…..

Cutting a plug wire


One wire done.


Old and new coil. I replaced both coils and made new plugs.


Finished and installed. I put the seat and tank on for a few more pics (see next message).

[D-Mac]

Part 2 of 2

Some pics of the bike with the new coils/plug wires installed.








Then I started in on the harness. What a piece of crap! Learning slowly, I managed to sort out the various lights on the original gauges. I then figured out the wiring on the new ones (I accidentally threw out the diagram for the new ones last week!)

My next goal is to make new connectors for the new gauges and install them correctly. I also moved my bike into the basement, where I’m working on the harness.

[Ira]

i like the way those k&n filters fit. have you started the bike yet? how does it run with the filters?

[musicman]

That thing looks amazing!

[Sci85]

Love this build d-mac! Keep it coming!!

[D-Mac]

Bike has no wiring yet, so it'll be a couple of months before I get that done. Relocating everything to fit under the seat will be a bit of a challenge.