The non-running GS450ET is now RUNNING!

[surviverguy]

That rear fender is starting to bother me. It needs to be painted!

Here's the repaired tach back on the bike

and how it looks when IDLING at 1,200 RPM!

[GateKeeper]

Is it plastic ? just use some bumper paint

http://www.duplicolor.com/products/bumperCoating/

to avoid losing your long posts, what I usually do it type up the post in notepad, wordpad, copy the contents and then paste them into the post I am going to create and hit submit.....

Pictures are great now, nice and big.....

.

[surviverguy]

Here's the Toyota three relay box

[surviverguy]

[QUOTE=GateKeeper;1668278]Is it plastic ? just use some bumper paint

http://www.duplicolor.com/products/bumperCoating/

Bumper paint! Great idea. I've never used that before. Does it need primer?

[surviverguy]

For many years I wanted to have a retired police car...a police interceptor...




The old tires weren't bad looking until I checked the date code...three digit ending with a 6!



And here's my spare set of carbs

[surviverguy]

Oh what a difference it makes to have an igniter which WORKS!



Here are the dipped/rebuilt carbs with new K and N's





Here is the new to me $6.00 voltage regulator. I'm trying to decide where and how to mount along with the three relay box and a small fuse box.

[pete]

Mate, good stuff! Good work on lots of pics too

Whereever you put that R/R, just remember to make sure it will get plenty of air flow to help keep it cool.

[GateKeeper]

[QUOTE=surviverguy;1668298]

Is it plastic ? just use some bumper paint

http://www.duplicolor.com/products/bumperCoating/

Bumper paint! Great idea. I've never used that before. Does it need primer?

I didn't use any, I lightly sanded down the plastic parts, rear mud guard, chain guard, and sprayed them down, came out really nice

[surviverguy]

That faded rear bumper was really bothering me. I suppose it was the nice new rear tire?



I kept thinking about and then ....



the bumper came off. I found myself at Walmart buying "bumper and trim paint"



and started painting...

[surviverguy]

the bumper was looking pretty good and so I guess it's no wonder that the next time I walked past the bike the gauges came out and instrument panel and the handlebars became really loose



a little cleaning and some very carefull masking



and then those bits got sprayed

[surviverguy]

I let the bumper dry for about an hour and was putting it back on,.... and a few more pieces came off....

[surviverguy]

so the bumper which used to look like



now looks like




and the gauges which used to look like



now look like



I received a bag of LED's today with the same base as the old Stanley's. They were plug in replacement for all except the turn lamp. I put the LEDS in there and one incandescent bulb for the turn signals.

[surviverguy]

I think I'm done painting for now, so its just electrical work to finish up. The old flasher unit seems to have gone wonky on me. I plug in an electronic flasher I had and it seems to be working great.

[pete]

Good work! Much nicer with the painted plastics

[surviverguy]

Thanks Pete. It looks better to me as well. It wasn't much trouble to do the plastics. It gives a refreshed appearance that I like. The bike has so much rust and oxidation that it'll never be "bike of the month". I don't have a lot of patience for paint and body work either. It was nice to do a few details, thoiugh. I don't care enough about appearances to worry about every blemish. I'm happy with the way it's turning out- flaws and all. It has some "character".
I'm currently trying to get my insurance and tag, finish electrical and run some plug chops. I went up a bit on the mains to 125 and increased the pilots to 25. I left the needles alone.
I had to stick some jets in there to try it and see. From what I've seen looking at the plugs (running no load on the porch)- I think it's close to where it should be.
I'm going to ask the insurance company if they consider it to be "modified" and therefore more expensive to insure with the the pods.
If all the companies want more money 'cause of the pods- I'll consider going back to the pita airbox.
I saw some videos on Youtube by a guy named Vinny (some Italian last name Martalleno??) who is a very good younger mechanic (high school age in the videos). The videos were made a couple years ago. He spent a lot of time tuning and testing his 1980 GS450 and that's about what he recommended for the bike with K and N's after lots of testing. He went slightly higher 130 mains- I think with some different pipes. He spent a lot of time experimenting with the jetting on his.