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Well, I'm still wet behind the ears when it comes to the GS series of bikes, but I figured I'd post in here my plans to get some constructive criticism going. I have two other bikes, a 2002 Suzuki Savage and a 1978 XS750. The XS is currently under the knife getting a front end from a '92 CBR 600 and the savage is my daily ride.
I picked up my GS850 off craigslist a few days ago, in running condition albeit with some issues. Cosmetic issues include badly faded paint on the tank, holes in the exhaust, missing contact breaker cover (ignition cover), and missing left side cover (if you've got a spare one, i'm still looking for a replacement!).
It does have some running issues. Kind of hard to explain, but it feels like it hiccups or cuts out for less than a half second fairly often. Not enough to make it unrideable (I was able to get it home) but enough to make me question its reliability.
After it was safely nestled in my garage, I dreamed up a list of mods/maintenance actions that I should take before I start putting this bike through its paces:
- New fluids (crank oil (probably 5w-40 Rotella Syn), middle gear, final drive, gas)
- New manual petcock
- Carb clean
- Intake O-rings
- Carb boots (if needed, I'd like to avoid this though)
- Clean/replace air filter
- Replace mufflers
- Clutch springs (if needed)
- Lube throttle/clutch cables
- Reseal airbox weather stripping
- Upgrade to electronic ignition (Dyna S)
- New coils (again, Dyna)
- New spark plug caps
- New spark plugs
- Replace brake lines with stainless steel lines (just front)
- New brake pads front and rear
- Revitalize the wiring/electrical
- Check the stator is in working order
- Add an inline paper fuel filter
- Adjust the valve clearances
A long and expensive list, though I think I've already purchased the big stuff (exhaust, brake pads, valve shims, ignition, coils).
So far, in my one day of having the bike I've stripped the bike down and checked clearance on the valves, all of which were tighter than my smallest feeler gauge (.004"). Six shims were 2.80 and two were 2.75, so I ordered four 2.75 shims (the other two can be re-used from the other valves) and two 2.70 shims. I hope I did that right... I also got around not having a special shim removal tool. I took out the tensioner (if that is what it is called) between the two cams to give me some slack, then I removed one set of cam bearing covers at a time to allow me to move the cam up about an inch without removing it from the cam chain AND without moving the other cam, so I won't lose timing. pop the shims out, bolt the bearing cover back in, wash/rinse/repeat on the other cam. It takes a bit longer, but it is easy to get the shims in and out.
Wiring will be the big time sink for me, as I'm the least familiar with that part of the GS (the XS has shim type valves, albeit 29mm and not 29.5mm diameter). Have any tips? I think I read somewhere about adding another good ground connection, adding a relay/fuse, and removing something from inside the headlight bucket, but I can't recall.
I know it is poor form of me to post without pics, so I'll try and get those to you when I can. I didn't even get a single picture of the bike before I got it taken apart! And of course, after that, my hands were all oily and there was so much more work to be done!
Let me know if you've got any pointers/tips or if I've got the wrong mindset about what mods I'm doing. My goal is to have a very reliable bike that I can ride pretty much indefinitely.
I picked up my GS850 off craigslist a few days ago, in running condition albeit with some issues. Cosmetic issues include badly faded paint on the tank, holes in the exhaust, missing contact breaker cover (ignition cover), and missing left side cover (if you've got a spare one, i'm still looking for a replacement!).
It does have some running issues. Kind of hard to explain, but it feels like it hiccups or cuts out for less than a half second fairly often. Not enough to make it unrideable (I was able to get it home) but enough to make me question its reliability.
After it was safely nestled in my garage, I dreamed up a list of mods/maintenance actions that I should take before I start putting this bike through its paces:
- New fluids (crank oil (probably 5w-40 Rotella Syn), middle gear, final drive, gas)
- New manual petcock
- Carb clean
- Intake O-rings
- Carb boots (if needed, I'd like to avoid this though)
- Clean/replace air filter
- Replace mufflers
- Clutch springs (if needed)
- Lube throttle/clutch cables
- Reseal airbox weather stripping
- Upgrade to electronic ignition (Dyna S)
- New coils (again, Dyna)
- New spark plug caps
- New spark plugs
- Replace brake lines with stainless steel lines (just front)
- New brake pads front and rear
- Revitalize the wiring/electrical
- Check the stator is in working order
- Add an inline paper fuel filter
- Adjust the valve clearances
A long and expensive list, though I think I've already purchased the big stuff (exhaust, brake pads, valve shims, ignition, coils).
So far, in my one day of having the bike I've stripped the bike down and checked clearance on the valves, all of which were tighter than my smallest feeler gauge (.004"). Six shims were 2.80 and two were 2.75, so I ordered four 2.75 shims (the other two can be re-used from the other valves) and two 2.70 shims. I hope I did that right... I also got around not having a special shim removal tool. I took out the tensioner (if that is what it is called) between the two cams to give me some slack, then I removed one set of cam bearing covers at a time to allow me to move the cam up about an inch without removing it from the cam chain AND without moving the other cam, so I won't lose timing. pop the shims out, bolt the bearing cover back in, wash/rinse/repeat on the other cam. It takes a bit longer, but it is easy to get the shims in and out.
Wiring will be the big time sink for me, as I'm the least familiar with that part of the GS (the XS has shim type valves, albeit 29mm and not 29.5mm diameter). Have any tips? I think I read somewhere about adding another good ground connection, adding a relay/fuse, and removing something from inside the headlight bucket, but I can't recall.
I know it is poor form of me to post without pics, so I'll try and get those to you when I can. I didn't even get a single picture of the bike before I got it taken apart! And of course, after that, my hands were all oily and there was so much more work to be done!
Let me know if you've got any pointers/tips or if I've got the wrong mindset about what mods I'm doing. My goal is to have a very reliable bike that I can ride pretty much indefinitely.
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