Project 300 "this is not sparta"

[pete]

Awesome! Bet that was satisfying right?

Woodsy on here mentioned his GSX250 spinning quite high at 100km's an hour but can't remember how high now... maybe 6000/7000 RPM?

[razor02097]

It was definitely nice to ride

I was able to maintain about 70mph but I didn't want to push her any harder than that.

[razor02097]

Received chain, front and rear sprockets and the front brakes. I have been riding around as much as I can. Today it was 60*F! I'll take it! Definitely have to do something about the clutch... it seems to slip if I change up hard. I still have to do an oil change.

One thing that I'm pleased as punch is she is not cold blooded one bit... I remember my old Honda 650 was a pain in the rear to try to warm up. I would have to play with the choke for a good minute or so before she would even idle. The GS fires up at half choke and 5 seconds later I push in the choke. Easy as pie.

[razor02097]

Well got the front brake shoes on.

Here are the old shoes and the new ones.


Here are the new shoes installed. I was finally able to adjust the brake cam timing properly!


New sprockets and O ring chain. Total = under $100


Installed!


Nice thing is I didn't realize that the stock size chain is in fact 108 links... that chain happened to be on sale... I was going to get a 106 but the 108 was cheaper... I'm glad I did!



Also installed the missing fork reflector


I still have to get the oil changed. I guess I could just start the engine and kind of warm it up... but I think I'm going to wait until I can give it a good ride before changing it.

[pete]

Nice... glad to see you taking care of all those maintenance tasks

And I still can't believe how clean that thing is! She looks great!

[mriddle]

Well yesterday I put her all back together and went for the first ride. It was about 40*f out so not the warmest ride.... I'm wondering what a 300 runs at engine speed wise at 70mph? I don't have a tach and I don't want to burn up the motor.

In 5th gear it will run that all day -- ride on.

[razor02097]

good to know. I am able to easily keep up with traffic which was my concern. I figure I'm around 7.5k RPM at 70MPH.


UPDATE:

Since day one I've been having some issues with the speedometer randomly cutting out and kind of "twitching" during steady cruising speed... I was wondering if something was gumming up the speedometer. I disassembled the speedo and lubed everything... It didn't seem like anything was wrong. I cleaned it up, touched up the needle tip and reassembled.



Well I thought if it isn't the cable, isn't the speedo.... it has to be the drive... well taking the front wheel off I didn't really see anything different... I may not be an expert but I'm pretty sure this drive washer shouldn't be bent like this...



It's funny... Sometimes it is the simplest things. I never knew any better since it was already bent... I'm just glad I went on a hunch and straightened it up. Speedometer works great now! Still reads too slow but works great!



Also found that my high beam and neutral lamps were burnt out. So now my dash is working 100%... how rare is that? Also finally got to the oil change and adjusted the clutch linkage while I was at it. Man what a difference! I can select neutral at a stop now!



I need to check the valve lash... That is something I haven't gotten to yet.

[7981GS]

Great job on the speedo!
As for the drive washer, the part that wears out is the inside tabs.
Perhaps it is still "skipping" and that is why it reads a little slow and/or the tire diameter is taller.

Daniel

[razor02097]

Yup taller front tire... Wish there was a way to calibrate the speedometer...

[razor02097]

UPDATE:
After suffering the deafening pop pop sound when ascending hills I decided to go for broke with my stock mufflers... I thought about several things including fabricating a removable baffle. I ended up stuffing the hollow cavity with #2 steel wool then fitting a piece of old fork spring in the middle.

I have a set of late model Suzuki mufflers from a busa I fitted to my Honda... I am entertaining the idea of installing them. The only thing is they weigh almost literally a TON! I don't really want to add so much weight to the poor 300. The other thing is the center stand clearance. I know I will have the same issue with the 300.


Here is a pic of what I'm talking about...



They are still on the Honda. I would be willing to cut up the exhaust but I'm not 100% sure I want to do it yet. I would be open to suggestions. I would like a quiet exhaust as a personal preference.

Time to do something about the stupid start button... it takes a little fiddling sometimes to get it to work...





I use deox it, another "wonder" chemical. Like Flitz deox it does a great job. It is designed to destroy corrosion and keep connections from corroding again. It is very popular in the music scene which is where I heard about it. I also used it to get the corrosion off of the engine fins but by the time I was done it was too dark to take a picture...

[razor02097]

Okay After thinking long and hard I have decided to replace the mufflers with Emgo dunstall 27" megaphones... it is a rather large investment at about $120 shipped for two. My hope is they will pay off in the long run.



Total investment as she sits now is $1,569.67 which includes the purchase price, fuel, all essential and non essential parts special tools and even cleaners and polish. Last fill up calculated to 56.5MPG! A lot of full throttle and excessive idling too... So far I've ridden to work twice which at 56.5MPG saved me $13. The riding season isn't really here yet so I'm hoping with good weather weeks to save $34 riding 5 days in the week... I know that is wishful thinking but every time I ride there and back I save at least $7 in fuel vs my DD!

[7981GS]

That should sound great and for that little coin, quite a good deal.

Daniel

[pete]

I didn't think your 300 could get much better... but those Dunstall's will do the trick

Good find on the speedo drive as well.

I've got speedo and tacho issues at the moment that probably require them to be rebuilt professionally, so I think I might go the Acewell route on that.

I also did an LED conversion on my gauge bulbs...

[razor02097]

I finally took a pic out of the garage! Click photo for the full resolution shot.

[GateKeeper]

Very well done.......