'81 GS550 Cafe Build

[mike-s]

My previous bike had polishing on the rims, looked good, but it must have been a helluva lot of work to do it as it was the lip of the rim, and the "flat" up to the rise where the spokes start. I didn't think anything of it until it was pointed out to me, up until that point i just left it "roadgrime grey", i took a little more care of it after that.

[Sci85]

BTDT. I polished a set of '88 GSX-R wheels by hand, spokes and all. The spokes were sand cast finish that had to be taken down before the real polishing could even start. I have 60 hours of hand wet sanding in them then a few more hours of polishing.

Wow! That's some serious dedication.

Question...why would you not just have the wheels chromed? Is polishing better in some way other than cost?

Sci85

[D-Mac]

I hope everyone is having a great holiday! I'm back from vacation and starting in on the bike again. Since I don’t have too many bike pics from today (at least none showing much progress), here’s what I’ve been up to lately.

Went and saw this…..



Hung around here (Santa Monica pier)



And I lost a little money at this place, although my wife did much better and we ended UP $4.50 cents on the casino. I’ve already used the money to buy more sandpaper!


While I was gone, the UPS guy got cozy with my housesitter, and a nice pile of boxes was waiting for me when I got home.

Parts, parts, and more parts. I can already tell that I’m missing a few critical things for the rear caliper. Argh. At least I have enough to rebuild the forks now, and hopefully the front caliper. My clip-ons came in too!



Stators – old and new


Gen cover – old one was ground down to the point where I decided to replace it. The new one will be stripped and polished to match the crankcase covers.


Sightglasses – new and old.



New cheapo shocks. The extra bushings that came with them are a good replacement for the stock ones. Unfortunately, they don’t stay inside the larger rubber bushings on the shocks very well. I hope this isn’t a problem. I might wrap the metal bushings in a piece of inner tube to make them a snugger fit. They are a tad longer than the stock ones.


I did do some work on the bike today, but nearly all of my time was spent sanding the front wheel with 220 paper (6 HOURS today alone!) I’m about 75% done with the 220. The rest should go much faster. The tough part is sanding down all of the little ridges cast on the spokes. I hope to get the sanding/polishing/masking/painting done over the next week, but my hands are KILLING ME. Although they had 10 days to heal on vacation, it didn’t take long for new blisters and open wounds to show up. I know this is gross, but it seems like the outer layer of skin on my fingers is actually SANDED OFF. Ouch. Feels like a burn. I gotta find a new way to sand this stuff or I’ll be typing with my face by Monday!

[Zafe]

bought the same shocks! hope there better than the stockers.

where did you order your stator from?

[mike-s]

nice happysnaps, i recognise a few of those places from our trip.
As to blisters, have you tried latex or vinyl gloves?

[Redneck]

nice happysnaps, i recognise a few of those places from our trip.
As to blisters, have you tried latex or vinyl gloves?

Or Mechanics gloves....

nice work though. keep it going.

Paul

[D-Mac]

bought the same shocks! hope there better than the stockers.

where did you order your stator from?

Stator is from Electrosport.

http://www.electrosport.com/products/stators/

[D-Mac]

Or Mechanics gloves....

nice work though. keep it going.

Paul

Good idea. I really should just get some mechanics gloves. Nitrile or latex probably wouldn't hold up well.

Off to the store again.......

[Sci85]

Actually, I use a heavy duty nitrile glove from the auto parts store (O'reilly's) that work great. They are 6mil and they work much better than mechanics gloves when you need to thread a bolt or need to grasp something with your fingers. For general wrenching or sanding, mechanics gloves work ok but I've ruined so many pairs now that I just use them when necessary (like when it's really friggin cold in the garage). Too expensive to keep replacing...

And yes, I'm certain most of us on the forum should negotiate parts delivery with the auto parts stores like the repair shops have given how many times we go there haha.

Sci85

[D-Mac]

Happy New Year!


I got a little work done today. Yup. More sanding. Got the rear wheel sanded with 220 on one side (yesterday I finished the front wheel with the initial sanding). Not terribly exciting, but it’s coming along. Wearing nitrile gloves with mechanic’s gloves over top is helping my hands. Too bad I trashed my fingers before I figured that out. It’s been slower sanding without the use of my thumbs (!), but I’m on track to finish polishing them next week so I can finally start painting.


I also checked over some of the parts I received last week. I’m now ready to reassemble the forks. I will do this next week when I have access to a fork vise.


I do have something that might be worthy of a pic or two. I finally got around to securing my new vise to the workbench and decided to have a go at modifying the top triple tree. Since I’m now going with clip-ons, I don’t need the original handlebar mounts. I’d like to fabricate a new triple tree top, but for now I’ll settle for modifying the old one.


I broke out the hacksaw and cut the tops off most of the way down (there’s a faint casting line on them that makes a nice cutting point). Very easy and quick.


Cutting.

Here’s what they used to look like (pic actually taken after I cut the tops off, so I placed them back on to give you an idea). Excuse the protective duct tape.

One side removed.

Both sides removed.

Angle from the front.

Next I will use my angle grinder (with a proper wheel for aluminum) to smooth them out a little. I’m not sure exactly how much I can remove safely, so I’ll probably just round off the sides. Then I’m planning to strip off the paint and shine them up.

[Erki]

Looks good. I just put masking tape over my fingers at work after I've sanded them down to blood. Works best, Gloves dont last long for me while sanding.

[D-Mac]

Daily update.

I went in for a few hours late last night and did some wheel sanding. This afternoon I finished the initial sanding (220 grit) on both wheels, and quickly sanded the front wheel with 400, 500, and 1000 grit. Then I took it home to buff it with an assortment of drill attachments.

Front wheel ready for buffing.


One side polished. Not perfect by any means, but it shines!


Other side polished.


I will wash and dry it thoroughly, mask off the polished edges and re-paint the inside this week. FINALLY! I’ll likely finish sanding and polishing the rear wheel first though so I can paint them both at the same time.

I got some better looking emblems off e-Bay and attached them to the covers. Here they are…..



New sight glass installed. I used a little Yamabond and pushed it in level from the outside. Hope it holds!

[Loksoff]

Awesome

im trying to restore a 1981 gs650g that has a whole lot in common with your bike. i will keep an eye on your thread as i have little to no experience with most of the things i am setting out to do to my bike. im currently trying to get past some electrical/ fuse blowing issues. Good luck dude! looks like you are going all out at getting that machine looking great. i road all last summer with the rear shocks that you have and they were pretty nice. i had no complaints. maybe it was because the stock shocks that came with the bike when i got it were completely bottomed out.

[Sci85]

Wow, those emblems look great. I too need these. How did you find them? I find it daunting to sift through all the listings to find something like this.

Thx,

Sci85

[D-Mac]

im trying to restore a 1981 gs650g that has a whole lot in common with your bike. i will keep an eye on your thread as i have little to no experience with most of the things i am setting out to do to my bike. im currently trying to get past some electrical/ fuse blowing issues. Good luck dude! looks like you are going all out at getting that machine looking great. i road all last summer with the rear shocks that you have and they were pretty nice. i had no complaints. maybe it was because the stock shocks that came with the bike when i got it were completely bottomed out.

Thanks for the support and the good news about the shocks. Hell, I'll be thrilled just to get this bike on the road.

The electrical system on these bikes is pretty sketchy. I find it only slightly better than a bike from the 60s. My wiring is so cracked in places I'm surprised it hasn't blown every fuse or melted most of the harness. The bullet-type connectors also seem prone to problems too (although they're better than the "twist the wires together" method the previous owner of my bike loved so much!)