Another Aussie GS rebuild - GS1100G

[pete]

Good stuff Jimmy, coming along nicely... how long til you go for rego?

[JimmyR]

As soon as I can be sure it's running well I will book an inspection. I collect my carb bits tomorrow (Weds) and expect that I will have everything back on by Friday. I'll put the stock headlight and front indicators back on and hopefully it'll pass. Oh, and I'll need to put the front mudguard on too!

Once it's registered it's time to pull the engine and get stuck into the frame. I don't think that will take that long really. There is a fair bit to do but it's all cool stuff.

I am really starting to like the red tank. I wonder what the best thing is to do with it? It has a couple of tiny chips in the clear coat and lots of swirly marks because it IS 30 yrs old. But if I can fix the chips - they're only about 5mm each - I hope I can just polish out the rest. Any ideas on how I can fill two little clearcoat chips?

[pete]

Sounds like a plan to me!

If they're just clear coat chips then I suspect the best thing would be to wet sand the whole clear coat back a bit and then re-apply the clear.

However, no way would I trust my advice on this... I've only done one paint job and haven't had to repair clear coat...

[Johnny Drummond]

easy paint chip repairs

Hi Jimmy. I worked in the finishing shop of an acoustic guitar factory for 10 years and we had an easy way of repairing chips like yours(although it was mainly on bindings where the glue hadn't quite filled the gap.We called it blobbing-what you do is get a piece of lower "E" string and make up some lacquer in a jar then simply dip the string into the lacquer and "blob" it into the chip like this when you are done it should look like this leave it for 12 to 24 hours depending on the drying time/humidity/temperature of your chosen lacquer then get a piece of 1200 grit wet and dry and a block and with a gentle and low pressure circular motion go over the area until it has NEARLY disappeared then flat a larger area with the 1200 and block and buff up to a shine again.In 12,000 guitars that I finished I never had this method fail-just take your time,use plenty of water with a little washing up liquid in it and all will be good-sorry for the lousy drawings again but I just find it easier to draw diagrams than write it down.Hope you find this of some help.Johnny

[JimmyR]

Hey Johnny I was wondering about doing that! I have done exactly that on a few guitars myself. On one guitar finished in poly I used super glue and it worked really well. I wonder what sort of clear I should use for the fuel tank?

Which guitar factory? Lowden? I'm more of an electric player myself and love me a Gretsch 6120 or a Gibson with P90s. But last year I played some Santa Cruz acoustics in NY and I could see one in my future - as long as the money comes in!

[Johnny Drummond]

ha ha got it in one

Hi Jimmy, yeah it was lowden. I left in 1999 when it was still "proper" lowdens,ummm how do I explain this? when I worked there it was run by a real nutter called Andy Kidd- one of the things he came out with was "santa is in league with the devil cause he has elves helping him and everyone knows elves are emisarys of satan"like I say NUTTER(believe me there is plenty more but it would bore anyone to death going on) ,he ran off to North Carolina to be closer to the religious group he belonged to,so George bought back into the firm with 2 other guys but after a year he split from them (we heard rumours that they placed an order on him that he couldn't come within a certian distance of the factory!!)he now has his own factory outside Downpatrick in Co. Down, the factory still makes guitars under the Avalon name-George took all the patterns and finish procedures with him (copyright type of thing), one of the other workers ,Dermot McIllroy started making guitars as well,I still see some of the lads now and again.Anyway histroy lesson over, get a 2 pack lacquer, it should be able to be bought in most auto stores something like 2K, look for a kit of lacquer,hardener&thinner all in one box(and measured out ie. 1 litre of lacquer,1/2 litre of thinners and 1/4 litre of hardener) or go to your local SMALL car body shop-reason being if it's a one or two man outfit they will probably still be using the solvent based paints/lacquers, if you dont get any joy try larger places and ask if they use water or solvent based lacquer and if it's solvent based ask for a jam jar full,,ask them to mix it for you if no one is spraying that day or ask what day is best to come by(you DON'T want water based-it is too thin and requires an oven to dry it)reason being the kit lacquer only has a shelf life of about 6-8 months after you open it so unless you need to spray the rest of the bike it is kinda a waste of money but if thats all you can get budget for around the 60-75 $AUS for it.Hope this helps.Johnny

[JimmyR]

Aha - good ideas! There are a couple of smash repair places not far from me.

FWIW I used to work in a music shop here selling guitars and our boss (still owns the shop) was a miserable nutter too. What is it about musical instruments?? One of the guys I worked with there was a born again as well. Nice bloke but more interested in doing god's work than selling guitars! I have some funny stories from working in the shop but they're too hard to tell online and don't translate so well. I've played in a few Irish pubs here. There seem to be a lot of Irish folks here, and when I used to photograph cafes and restaurants every week for a magazine it seemed that every place had an Irish chef.

That's the beauty of Australia. You meet people from everywhere. I love that aspect of Australia. The only bad thing about Perth is that it gets too bloody hot this time of year!

Anyway, today I started putting my carbies back together. I'm almost done but somehow managed to lose a float pin. So annoying!

[psyguy]

somehow managed to lose a float pin. So annoying!

Flathead panel pin will do

[JimmyR]

Yeah you would think so wouldn't you? Oh well - our local Suzuki place is pretty amazing with the spare parts and will have a new pin for me tomorrow. So I am putting the carbies back together and notice that when the clowns who put them back together before used #160 pilot air jets instead of 170. So I put 170s in because that's what it says in the manual. I really doubt it would make that much difference would it?

So I might even have another crack at starting it tomorrow if all goes well. I have followed the tutorial to the letter so far!

[psyguy]

the PO may have put smaller pilot air jets because of the 4-1 (especailly if it's unrestricted). just guessing...

i'm currently tuning CV carbs on my bike and indeed - 2 sizes difference on pilot air jets IS noticeable

[JimmyR]

Aha! Good to know. They looked nearly identical to me! Anyway I found that bloody pin this afternoon so my carbs are back together and on the bike. I have emptied the fuel tank so tomorrow I will get some fresh fuel and try again. Now that the carbs have been cleaned properly they look really good. The floats all seem to be at the right height and the carbs are dry synched.

[JimmyR]

This morning I tried the bike with fresh fuel and no go. Bloody thing. It would start and run but as soon as I used any throttle it would bog down and stop. Then it just stopped wanting to start at all.

So I pulled the carbies and airbox and pulled off the float bowls to check that the floats were at the right height - yup. Pulled out some jets and stuff to check they were the stock numbers - yup. Rang up Suzuki to order fresh jets and needles in case mine weren't genuine. This afternoon put it all back together and just for the hell of it tried starting it. It runs! Let it run until warmed up, reduced the idle, let it blow out a bunch of evil smelling crap and then it ran really well.

So then I tried tentatively working the throttle. Wow - really responsive. No bogging down, just a roar. So then I took it around the block a few times so it could get some air around the engine. It rides very well. The engine is more willing now than when I first got it I think. It's not all low-down torque like my Harley, obviously, but it just keeps on going on the throttle, unlike my Harley! Seems pretty gutsy.

So now the real test is will it start tomorrow?? If it does then maybe I can get it registered. Yay!

[pete]

Glad to hear she's running Jimmy! Do you reckon something just wasn't sealed right before or what? Obviously putting it back together did something different this time around...

[JimmyR]

The only thing I can think of is that I noticed when putting the tank on that when I put the vacuum hose on first it got a bit twisted around the fuel hose. I pulled it from the tap and reconnected it so it didn't foul the fuel line. So maybe it was pinched and not able to vacuum the fuel out?

[Johnny Drummond]

I was going to say about the vacuum hose to the carbs butdidn't want to state something obvious!!!,believe me, the amount of times I've forgotten to block that up when working with the carbs is unreal-just glad its going for you now.Johnny