Another Aussie GS rebuild - GS1100G

[pete]

Yeah easy to do ain't it Johnny? Did that the other day myself after fixing the spark plug lead I pulled apart by mistake...

[JimmyR]

Sunday now. Yesterday I took it for a longer ride and it ran really well. It was a bit stubborn at first - started ok but got a bit boggy for a minute. Then it was ok. Someone suggested to me that it might be fuel gunge from the tank getting dissolved by the fresh fuel, so some carb or tank cleaner in there might be good idea.

I've just discovered that tomorrow (monday) is a public holiday here! Bugger! Otherwise I was going to book an inspection for licensing. Oh well, it'll happen. In a way I'm still amazed that everything works on the bike. I have never rewired a bike before and what with all the dials and controls coming from different manufacturers, with different colour codes, LEDs instead of bulbs in the clocks, lots of changes in the wiring and a new stator and R/R - well I'm pretty happy! And my charging system seems to be working really well.

[JimmyR]

Today I put the stock headlight and blinkers on for rego. Oh dear - it looks terrible! After getting used to my new shiny front end the old stock gear is looking very tired. Oh well, it's only on until I get registered. It's a bit silly having to do this but they like everything to be as original as possible because we can't be trusted to know what we are doing with improving our bikes. The new stuff I am fitting all falls within the guidelines so is perfectly legal. But they don't like anything that isn't as it came from the factory. Sigh.

More annoying is that I tried to set up the vacuum gauges to set my carb synch today. Spent far too much time trying to get the bloody synch probe things attached to the inner two carbs. They are soooo difficult and in the end I gave up. I will have to pull off the airbox and carbs AGAIN just to fit the probes, and then again to put the plugs back in. What a stupid bit of design. I still can'y get the inner plugs back in and will have to pull everything apart just to get one of the screws out from behind the starter motor where it fell.

I just hope it's worth it!

[psyguy]

You can get brass carb boots vacuum fittings (with rubber caps) that stay on there permanently and that makes attaching the sync hoses a breeze. Try z1enterprises.com

[JimmyR]

Ok carbs are synched. They weren't very far out actually. I had a look at those vacuum fitting but figure that I'll worry about it next time I want to synch the bike - I'm done synching for now!

I have my rego inspection booked for later this week so I am hoping that everything goes smoothly. I'm all insured too. That's the beauty of buying these bikes - they don't cost much to insure at all. And I am really looking forward to the final jobs I have to do on this bike. Once I get the frame "adjusted" and powdercoated it will look so much better. It will really lift the look of the whole bike. And while the engine is out of the frame I will be able to finish cleaning it up. I really like getting jobs finished. Very satisfying. I guess that's what has been frustrating so far - having to leave things almost done until I can finish it all off.

[JimmyR]

Registration inspection tomorrow morning. Today I tidied a few things up for the bureaucrats - put some side reflectors on because they like things that are shiny, put the big daggy mirrors on, and tweaked the pipes. When I started it this morning it was louder than usual with a bit of a raspy note. Turns out that the bit underneath the bike where the two halves of the 4-2 join (just before the mufflers) had spread a little so the connecting pipe was leaking a bit. So I loosened everything off, put the joiner pipe back in and tightened it up a bit. Also put some exhaust sealant on the join. Sounds a lot better, if quieter.

I've done everything I can think of to get this bike registered - I hope it passes!

[pete]

Fingers crossed for ya Jimmy!

[JimmyR]

Why is it that you can get everything working and it will work until you really really need it to? I had my rego inspection today. On the way there my exhaust decided to open up again just before the mufflers. I had fixed it, ridden it around and all was well until about 10 minutes before the inspection. Same thing with the indicators. Worked flawlessly until 5 minutes before the inspection. The front left and rear right decided they were tired. So my bike didn't pass. They also said my clutch wasn't disengaging enough.

Well that's ok. Now I know what I have to fix and it's all easy stuff. So I can get it registered next week. Sigh.

[Charlie G]

Tough luck Jimmy, next time. Good luck.

cg

[7981GS]

Look at it positively. Not only can you fix these things,
you got to ride it today!

Daniel

[JimmyR]

Funny you should say that Daniel - because that's what I said to my wife when I got back. It was really good to get in a decent ride on the bike for the first time. It's a really cool bike to ride and the guy at the inspection centre said "Nice bike - very sought after!". Although the clutch lever is heavier than I'm used to. The guy who inspected it was pretty cool really. He seemed to want to pass it but couldn't! I got the feeling it was his kind of bike.

[JimmyR]

Ok - so the exhaust is now definitely fixed:



I'll probably end up wrapping parts of the exhaust. If not I'll do this again but chrome this bit. I have quite a bit of tubing left over.

[7981GS]

The guy who inspected it was pretty cool really. He seemed to want to pass it but couldn't! I got the feeling it was his kind of bike.

That would be a good sign.
As for that cross-over tube, I would just paint it with Hi-Temp exhaust/engine paint and call it good.
Who, besides yourself, is going to be crawling under the oil pan?
The inspector might but that's about it. And it cannot really be seen anyway.

Daniel

[JimmyR]

High temp paint on the crossover tube? That's a great idea! Might just do that. Thanks! And yes, you really can't see it unless you are extremely short.

[pete]

Bummer Jimmy, but yeah, you got a ride which is always awesome