My new project thread: 78' GS750

[Charlie G]

Looks nice. It's tough to take good photos of a bike.

cg

[Spiff]

Here's a new trick I learned, cleaning chrome with tinfoil and water:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TIubEbI8Fc

Too good to be true? I had to try... What better to test on than my dirty old exhaust!


Here's a couple before shots:



After a round with the tinfoil:



On to another, more serious problem!
I changed my fuel hose to try and remedy my fuel leak issue, upon starting the bike sparks started to fly out from the battery area! NOT GOOD!
Several tries resulted in more sparks and also a bit of smoke from the started relay connection! This is the sorry sight that greeted me:


Note that there is also another wire underneath the wire coming from the battery! That was the cable that was smoking! I tried to remove the wiring but ended up braking the bolt... But the black wire going out from the starter relay had me puzzled since it wasn't suppose to be there according to the wiring scheme, and I didn't have power when it was not connected.
Here is the whole wiring chaos:


Notice how there is no fuse! And that the black wire is "t'ed" on the the red cable going to the rectifier! This means that someone has bypassed the fuse at some point!! NOT GOOD!
I will need to research further and make sure the wiring is safe...
Also notice the yellow wire unplugged at the bottom, thats for the regulator, but it's not connected, according to the wiring scheme it should connect to the other yellow wire coming from the rectifier... But could the rectifier have been swapped at some point to a R/R unit? The bike runs fine without it...

I know some wiring in the headlight area have been replaced due to a near fire! Now we know why....

[cowboyup3371]

Is that black wire from the solenoid going to the starter like it is supposed to? You should (based on mine) have two reds on one post (one going to battery and the other to your fuse block) and the black going to the starter.

[DannyMotor]

Is that black wire from the solenoid going to the starter like it is supposed to? You should (based on mine) have two reds on one post (one going to battery and the other to your fuse block) and the black going to the starter.

His is a 78, which didn't have a fuse block. The red from the battery should be split, with 2 gauges of wire, one thick, one about 14 gauge. The 14 gauge thin wire has a female cup on it, this should go to the male end of the 15A fuse... The larger gauge wire goes directly to the solenoid.

I'm pretty sure it's OK if you swap it around... It's going to do the same job.

[Spiff]

Is that black wire from the solenoid going to the starter like it is supposed to? You should (based on mine) have two reds on one post (one going to battery and the other to your fuse block) and the black going to the starter.

Exactly-minus the fuse block(I only have ONE like DannyMotor said), but on my starter solenoid there is an additional black wire going from the "red" post which is then connected to the red wire that goes to the rectifier(fused). Effectively bypassing the only fuse that's on this bike!
You see it in the last pic, dead center under the fuse holder, it's a black wire that's been taped to the red wire
In theory, my bike should run once I install a new fuse. Without connecting the black wire!
We'll see! I'm sure there's a reason why they've done this, to bad I'M the one that has to correct it!

[Spiff]

fixed it


I know it's not a proper fuse holder but it'll have to make do until I get a proper one

Fired it up, everything looks good, charging looks good, no fuel leaks, nothing exploded or burned up... So I drove it outside to test the clutch adjustment. I thought it was slipping but I think I just spun the rear wheel on some sand...





Video:

[Charlie G]

She has a little bark to her!

cg

[DannyMotor]

Sounds awesome! Glad you got it sorted! Most auto-parts stores sell fuse-holders for about $5 (us)... Get one that's "HEAVY DUTY" it's made of 18 gauge wire.

[7981GS]

Lovely tone to that exhaust.
And she sounds happy to be alive!!!

Eric

[Spiff]

New tires, seat is off to be reupholstered, next week I'll start the respray!
It's starting to come together now....
But one thing I have been thinking off is marking the text on the tires in white... I think it might look cool, but has anyone else done it? pictures??

[DannyMotor]

Do it in yellow...

[Spiff]

Might be a good idea to replace the brake lines, this is one of the front ones:

So in comes the goodstuff!


rear:


front:


also new tires, and the cleaned rear wheel:

[Charlie G]

Spiff,

Your photo of the brake line is a nice graphic example of why we should change our old brake lines. Now I just need to make the time to get done.

cg

[DannyMotor]

Im in the market... where did you pick yours up?

[Spiff]

Spiff,

Your photo of the brake line is a nice graphic example of why we should change our old brake lines. Now I just need to make the time to get done.

cg

Yes, you need to make the time. Totally worth it, before I could pull the lever almost all the way in to the handlebar. Very spongy, now i can use two fingers on the brake and stopp in an instant! Very little travel, it was actually a little difficult to set the stop light switch right because of the little amount of travel before the brakes activate...

Im in the market... where did you pick yours up?

I picked them up from a guy on ebay: http://stores.ebay.com/motorsporttoolsuk
Part Number front: SU0752-3FC
Part Number rear: SU0752-1RC

Shipping took an extra week to ten days because they weren't in stock so goodridge had to make them. But I had time to wait, besides, our bikes are old so we can't demand that everything should be in stock either