GS750: White Orphan Baby build

[DannyMotor]

Pulled out the starter.. it is, in fact, brandy new. So that's a nice little plus.







Lots of junk under it though... lots of cleaning to do .





Mounted up the alloy wheel in the 37mm forks, for some reason the speedo gear is in an odd place and hits the forks, may have to figure out a different spacer or maybe go back to the spoke wheels? I don't know what exactly is causing it to be off.





Started polishing... got a mirror finish on one of the tops of the carbs with a drill-press mounted buffing wheel with white compound. Took about a half-hour on this one alone.


Also, filled the cylinders with a bit of Marvel Mystery Oil and seafoam (50/50 mix) threw the plugs back in and plugged up the cylinders as best as possible.



Tomorrow, breaking down the rear end, figuring out if the cush-drive from the spoke wheel will fit the cast, and getting the motor OUT of the frame!!

So far... spent $0... and proving to get little sparks of inspiration every time I undo a stuck bolt or get something a tad better than how it was previous... Keeping the motivation up is going to be key on this bike!!!

[DannyMotor]

Welp, got the rear tire fitted last night. All went smoothly! Same cush drive and everything. So now tgat thats square, i can start selling parts im not going to use and cleaning up the garage a bit.

This week... A lot of cleaning, polishing, and painting.

[Redneck]

Great work so far and as stated earlier you seem to know your way around a bike. Just a tad bit, if you have done any reading on this forum you will realize that you probably need to check your R/R if its stock, the suggestion is to replace it so that you can prevent some electrical issues later. Other than that seems like you have this well in hand. BTW where you from don't see your location anywhere?

Paul

[DannyMotor]

Oh! Lemme fix that in user cp. Im from Mass. Athol to be exact.

There are some electrical things im looking into, because a lot of the wires and connectors are scorched. Could definitely be the r/r.

[DannyMotor]

Welp... got the carbs done as far as paint and assembly. Just waiting on o-rings and gaskets to call them done... then bench-balance. So it's coming along. Haven't had enough time to REALLY tackle pulling the engine... but I have had some headway with design and direction. OH, and I boiled the carb bodies in Lemon juice and water (about 60/40) for about 20 minutes each. It worked AMAZINGLY... and the nice 'etched' finish was perfect to accept the high-temp paint. Then I baked them in the toaster over at 450 for about 15 minutes a piece. The polished caps have a light coating of clear lacquer on them as well.

I definitely want to keep the stock seat, and tail. I'm probably going to run pod filters, and keep the side covers to hide the battery and all that jazz. SO... colors...

Frame- Gunmetal
Motor- Aluminum, Polish cases, Wrinkle cam cover, clutch cover, and sprocket cover, flat-black cylinders and clutch-lever cover.
Tins- Toss up... either DEEP blue metallic, or a nice, non-metallic maroon.
Wheels- Gold w/polished edges
Fork legs- Flat black

HUGE undertaking... but I'm in no rush!

SO, carbs, right... getting back to those...

BEFORE:



AFTER:



I think they came out pretty good! The bracket in the back is GLOSS black, I figured it'd be nice to have a little contrast... even if you can only see the little edge of it when the carbs are mounted.

[DannyMotor]

Tonight: complete rear disassembly, turn the frame over, start removing mounting bolts. Sunday = motor liberation day.

[TheCafeKid]

You put leading axle forks on a bike that had end axle forks stock. That may make for some goofy handling. The steering mast wasn't designed for leading axle, don't know how much that will affect rake and trail...

[DannyMotor]

You put leading axle forks on a bike that had end axle forks stock. That may make for some goofy handling. The steering mast wasn't designed for leading axle, don't know how much that will affect rake and trail...

I did think of that, but the leading forks are identical in height from top of the tube to the axle, so the only 'real' difference is the axle is set 1 inch forward of where it was... which, if anything would make for more stability (longer wheelbase) and slightly slower turn in, which I'm fine with. I don't think it'll affect anything negatively.. shouldn't cause a wobble, or anything weird like that. I'm pretty sure, if worse comes to worse, I could simply raise the forks up in the trees a bit, 10mm-15mm max.

[7981GS]

I have been playing with doing just that to one of my 1000G's to make more of a highway cruiser out of it as a matter of fact.
TCK, has anyone ever done it before on GSR? OldSkool? I have never seen anyone try.

Eric

[DannyMotor]

TONIGHT: Spent about an hour and a half going balls-out on some of the final tear-down.

Took the boots off the head, looks like there was a bit of a leak by how much gunk was around them, and the o-rings are hard as rocks, had to use a pick to snap a hole in them to peel them out.




Then I started to tackle the steering head, prepping it for tapered races and caged bearings for the new Triple Trees.





Then I went back to the rear of the bike to tackle disassembly. As you can see the GS1000 wheel and tire fit AWESOME, and look MUCH better, filling up the gap that dinky 18" spoke wheel and tire left. Should add a bit better handling to have a 130 out back rather than the 3.5 that was back there before. After a once-over, I pulled the swingarm bolt, undid the brake line and pulled the rear out in one piece.

[DannyMotor]

cont....

Next up, I tackled removing those odd-ball chrome foot-pegs... ended up snapping the LH one off inside one of the holes... Nice place for this to happen! So far this is the ONLY bolt I've stripped or broken on this ENTIRE bike! If all goes well, hopefully it'll be the last.




Urgh... what a mess!!!




Pulled out the 'spare' exhaust that came with the bike... looks like an old Kerker, but I can't be sure.. probably a cheap knock off... there are absolutely no markings on it.

I decided to use a little "rust-b-gone" to see if there would be any salvaging the chrome, and no... not at all. Looks like more flat-black paint will be involved!

[7981GS]

Moving right along at the speed of sound. WTG!

Eric

[DannyMotor]

cont...

Lastly, I pulled the valve cover to do check out the cam lobes and see what's going on.

All-in-all, things look good... except for ONE thing... The exhaust valve on cylinder 1 looks to be a little scored. It's smooth, but it obviously got hot at one point. The shim under it looks to be fine. I don't know if the gap was WAY too tight at one point causing the excess heat, or if it's something more threatening... but it doesn't seem to have done any physical damage to the lobe, so I'm not super worried...



Come Sunday, I should have the motor completely out of the frame, washed and prepped for paint... before I go too much further, I think I'm going to do the valve check and see where everything's at. Then I can button it back up, and start the fun part!

During engine freshening up, I'll also be working on the frame. They're the two biggest parts I have to worry about, and the basis for everything else I have to do... so the sooner I can get them done, the better I'll feel about moving forward with wheels, tins, and everything else . So far... still feeling good!

[TheCafeKid]

I did think of that, but the leading forks are identical in height from top of the tube to the axle, so the only 'real' difference is the axle is set 1 inch forward of where it was... which, if anything would make for more stability (longer wheelbase) and slightly slower turn in, which I'm fine with. I don't think it'll affect anything negatively.. shouldn't cause a wobble, or anything weird like that. I'm pretty sure, if worse comes to worse, I could simply raise the forks up in the trees a bit, 10mm-15mm max.

Well, and this is just from my perspective based on what I personally go after in mods: GSes were already fairly long in wheelbase compared to KZs and CBs of the day. This gave them a benefit in handling at high speed over their counterparts. The cost of this stability was a bit of, in my opinion, tractor like steering heft and speed. Lengthening the wheelbase even farther make that feel even heavier and slower.
Ive never done this set up so I can't say for sure. But that longer base might also make the front wheel "flop" in slow speed handling.

Totally my opinion of course, but I've had a few GSes at past triple digits, and as long as the steering bearings and such are good, they're rock solid at speed. Me, im often after the other end of the spectrum, trying to shorten up the wheel base a bit to quicken the steering and sharpen turn in...

[DannyMotor]

Well, and this is just from my perspective based on what I personally go after in mods: GSes were already fairly long in wheelbase compared to KZs and CBs of the day. This gave them a benefit in handling at high speed over their counterparts. The cost of this stability was a bit of, in my opinion, tractor like steering heft and speed. Lengthening the wheelbase even farther make that feel even heavier and slower.
Ive never done this set up so I can't say for sure. But that longer base might also make the front wheel "flop" in slow speed handling.

Totally my opinion of course, but I've had a few GSes at past triple digits, and as long as the steering bearings and such are good, they're rock solid at speed. Me, im often after the other end of the spectrum, trying to shorten up the wheel base a bit to quicken the steering and sharpen turn in...

Oh, I hear you. My daily driver is a 2001 Triumph Tiger 955i, which has leading front forks, a super long wheelbase, about 5" of ground clearance, and weighs about 540lbs... so big, heavy, cumbersome bikes are something I have an affinity for...

Not to mention that I've dragged peg so much on the Tiger I need a new one on the right side. Hahaha. I'm going to be playing with a few handlebar choices as well, either low, super-bike bars, or clubman bars... Hopefully the clubmans will work, but having a wider bar with a flatter stance will help the input to the front wheel. Cafe bars might muddy up the feel, or cause that low-speed 'flop'.

.. We'll see!