78' GS550 project.

[Sci85]

Bruce you're a maniac! I wouldn't know whether to hang it on the wall or ride on it haha! Your attention to detail is supreme.

[boontonmike]

I chopped the centerstand mounts. It was the biggest pain in the ass chop on the whole frame. If you plan to put a centerstand on there ever keep em and save the hassle. You also cant see the brackets once the engine is back in anyway.

[GateKeeper]

I left my mounts as well, you never know if you will ever need them, and as boontonmike said, once the engine is back you won't even see them....

[spyug]

Keeping the centerstand mounts is not a bad idea. If you ever do junk the 4 into 1 you would enjoy having a centerstand I think.

I have a 4 into 1 Yosh on the Kat and while it looks sexy it really is not practical for the street since, as you mentioned, you need to pull the header off to do an oil change. It is a serious pain in the patoot, for sure.

Really nice work on the frame, as I did mention before, I think you are a bit "anal", but in a good way .

There are some nice rebuilds going on these days and yours, like Gate's is one I'm following closely.

Keep up the good work.

cheers,
spyug

[GateKeeper]

There are some nice rebuilds going on these days and yours, like Gate's is one I'm following closely.

Keep up the good work.

cheers,
spyug

Bruce.....did you notice that little bit at the end.......I love it

we have a following......hehehehehehehe

actually it really makes me feel good that there is interest in something I am doing, and there is someone else other than me that is liking it.....

it's actually part of the reason for some days that I am continuing with the project....

[brslk]

Bruce.....did you notice that little bit at the end.......I love it

we have a following......hehehehehehehe

actually it really makes me feel good that there is interest in something I am doing, and there is someone else other than me that is liking it.....

it's actually part of the reason for some days that I am continuing with the project....

Yes and I really appreciate the positive comments. It does help me keep going when I sometimes would rather sit on the couch and watch TV.

I have also decided due to the feedback received here to not lose the center stand mounts.

This is a great forum with a lot of great people here doing some great builds.

Bruce.

[brslk]

I decided to give myself a break from the frame and start on the tank.
It didn't look too bad to start with but there were a few spots of rust and some bondo showing.
I had planned on just grinding out the bondo and seeing what was what.
There were no plans to strip the tank to bare metal until I hit the tank with a wire wheel on a grinder.

Before.


I started to wire wheel it and discovered the entire tank had about a 1/4" layer of bondo on it and there were a couple of deep dents.



So I went ahead and stripped the whole tank.


Not in too bad of shape for a 33 year old tank.
I decided to put a couple of dents in the tank and was sizing it up to make sure they were symmetrical and discovered something odd... (anyone notice what is weird)



Got out the hammers and started banging away.





That was about all for tonight.
I figure another thin coat of filler and some sanding and I will be ready to prime the tank tomorrow.

I was gonna just use a stripper to remove the paint but she wasn't very good with a grinder so I did it myself.

Bruce.

[GateKeeper]

I decided to give myself a break from the frame and start on the tank.
It didn't look too bad to start with but there were a few spots of rust and some bondo showing.
I had planned on just grinding out the bondo and seeing what was what.
There were no plans to strip the tank to bare metal until I hit the tank with a wire wheel on a grinder.

Before.


I started to wire wheel it and discovered the entire tank had about a 1/4" layer of bondo on it and there were a couple of deep dents.



So I went ahead and stripped the whole tank.


Not in too bad of shape for a 33 year old tank.
I decided to put a couple of dents in the tank and was sizing it up to make sure they were symmetrical and discovered something odd... (anyone notice what is weird)



Got out the hammers and started banging away.





That was about all for tonight.
I figure another thin coat of filler and some sanding and I will be ready to prime the tank tomorrow.

I was gonna just use a stripper to remove the paint but she wasn't very good with a grinder so I did it myself.

Bruce.

the tape is not lined up with the inlays for the emblems, closer to one side and farther away from the other.....

and you should have given the stripper a pole, not a grinder.....

[brslk]

the tape is not lined up with the inlays for the emblems, closer to one side and farther away from the other.....

and you should have given the stripper a pole, not a grinder.....

The tape is perfectly lined up. The inlays for the emblems are not symmetrical.
Very bizarre indeed.

Bruce.

[Erki]

are the screws on the emblems centered? I think mine are pretty much the same side to side. hmm

[7981GS]

That is because both sides use the same badges.
Look at the screw hole pattern on the badges.

Daniel

[GateKeeper]

The tape is perfectly lined up. The inlays for the emblems are not symmetrical.
Very bizarre indeed.

Bruce.

I said it backwards, the inlays don't match up with the tape....was what I wanted to say.....ohhh well

[7981GS]

Borrowed photo from the for sale section:



The inlays line up the emblems.

[brslk]

Borrowed photo from the for sale section:



The inlays line up the emblems.

Thanks 7981gs. The bike was de-badged when I got it.

Mystery solved!

Bruce.

[NerVet]

Brain overload

So much information on this thread!
Thanks for all the pics and step-by-step updates, man ....
I'm glued to this thread and some others (sorry gates haven't even gotten around to yours yet, but I'm sure I'll be on your subscriber list soon!)
Bruce, my '77 may have looked like your '78 when I first got started, but you're way ahead of me and your mad-skillz are gonna be hard to replicate. But the inspiration is priceless!

Did you use shaping hammers on the tank? All I have is a rubber mallet, but to get those kinds of results, I'd consider it a worthwhile investment!