1982 GS300 Project - Where do I start

[hjacobmiller]

So imagine this

http://www.motorcyclebestbuys.com/image_gd/imagevp.php?94400043061000117_1.jpg

Mixed with this:

http://forums.joe.to/viewtopic.php?f=152&t=54578

That is what I'm thinking... I saw an awesome roadking that the guy had stripped down and chromed the begezuz out of with a retro paint job and that is what I'm hoping to do.

That is a long way off though. My first step is to get rid of the airbox. I'll start looking into what Pete did for an oil catch can and go from there.

Rejetting I guess is inevitable to run pods. Does anyone know a good place to learn about rejetting for pods? I've read go two sizes up, but I don't know entirely what that means.

What should I start looking at to get an idea of how well my engine is actually running?

What I have done so far concerning the engine:

Changed oil & filter
Changed spark plugs
Cleaned carbs
Checked cam chain timing and adjusted valve clearance.

[pete]

The cheapest way to get your carbs dialled in with pods is to do throttle chops... run it for a bit at whatever throttle opening you need to check, then simultaneously hit the kill switch and pull the clutch and coast to the side of the road where you can check the plugs.

Being CV carbs they have to be tuned from the main jets down as all fuel circuits use the mains I believe.

You can also get a Gunson Colortune from the UK which you put in instead of your spark plug and can see the colour of the flame. Yellow is rich, deep blue is spot on, white blue is lean.

The catch with the Colortune is you should be doing the readings with the engine under load, which would probably require the bike on the centre stand in top gear with someone riding the back brake while you open the throttle to the different openings.

The next option is either a wideband analyser or a few dyno runs, both of which start getting expensive.

For more information, www.motorcyclecarbs.com has some rules of thumb and so forth, www.iwt.com.au has a good diagram of how the fuel circuits interrelate, and of course BassCliff's site has a wealth of knowledge.

I'm still intending to get a wideband tuner as there's a mob here in Aus that makes a DIY one, but that's been delayed for the moment.

With the crankcase breather, all you want is something to catch the blow by so it doesn't make a huge mess. I just used what I had lying around and all I had to buy was hose fittings and a breather filter...

[hjacobmiller]

The first thing I have to do now is get a r/r

After seeing what Razor had going on I decided to go check mine and lo and behold it is fried.

I tested the battery with the bike off and it was 13.1 V but turned it on and tested the battery leads while idling : 17+ V

No riding this week for me either

I figured I might as well order an o-ring kit from cycleorings, new bowl gaskets, as well and start looking seriously into this pod filter idea.

Pete, thanks for the links! Good reading and I understand a lot more. Although I am still not sure where to start. Do I get bigger jets and than start doing the plug chops, or put the filters on and then do the plug chops?

If I'm in the carbs to replace o-rings and such I'd like to get the jet situation figured out too, but I don't know which order to go in.

[pete]

The first thing I have to do now is get a r/r

After seeing what Razor had going on I decided to go check mine and lo and behold it is fried.

I tested the battery with the bike off and it was 13.1 V but turned it on and tested the battery leads while idling : 17+ V

No riding this week for me either

I figured I might as well order an o-ring kit from cycleorings, new bowl gaskets, as well and start looking seriously into this pod filter idea.

Pete, thanks for the links! Good reading and I understand a lot more. Although I am still not sure where to start. Do I get bigger jets and than start doing the plug chops, or put the filters on and then do the plug chops?

If I'm in the carbs to replace o-rings and such I'd like to get the jet situation figured out too, but I don't know which order to go in.

Bugger! Although best to find it now than *after* you fried the Dynatek and other electrics

Not sure how close your carbs are to mine, but all I have to do to change pilot and main jets is drop the float bowls as both are in there.

I haven't tried it yet but I should be able to get the slides and needles out by just taking the tank off too.

To do it "properly" you would make sure how it's jetted at each throttle opening now, then put the filters on and do it again. That way you have a good baseline.

When I eventually go the wideband path I'll be doing that. I'll pop it on, go for a run with logging turned on, come back and review then start making changes.

Only change one thing at a time of course...

[hjacobmiller]

Pete - do you remember that suggestion you made about me painting the junction box and how the starter solenoid grounded there?

I think my r/r may be OK but not properly grounded - I think I am saying that right

I moved the ground (b/w) ring terminal from the r/r from where it originally bolted to the junction box to underneath the starter solenoid bolt (I had scraped off all the paint where the starter solenoid mounts). From that starter solenoid bolt I ran a wire to the negative terminal of my battery so that there would be a connection between the starter solenoid bolt and the battery (- side).

My thought is if the connection between the ring terminal from the r/r and the stater solenoid bolt is no good the r/r wouldn't have a way to shunt the excess.

Can I move the r/r (b/w) ring terminal to the negative terminal of my battery? That would make it sure it had a way to shunt right?

I could have also zapped the r/r when I put the battery back in. My positive lead touched the frame after I had connected the negative lead from the engine and the positive lead was connected to the battery so I got a spark and blew my inline fuse.

The only reason I think the r/r could be bad is because of when I put the battery back in I blew that fuse and got some spark due to my carelessness. Didn't get shocked - I would rather get shocked than pay $80 for a new r/r

[razor02097]

I don't think you would have killed the rectifier just by shorting the positive out. I read around on the forum that the regulator rectifiers on these suzukis aren't very good.

[hjacobmiller]

I don't think you would have killed the rectifier just by shorting the positive out. I read around on the forum that the regulator rectifiers on these suzukis aren't very good.

Yeah I didn't think so either, but I literally just tested my r/r before I did the upgrade to the Dyna S and it was fine according to the specs in the manual.

Thats why I think I may not have it grounded properly.

Using a sealed gel battery shouldn't make a difference...right?

P.S. I meant to ask you if you got new intake manifolds (engine side)when you got all the carb stuff. I was thinking of getting some along with the cycleoring kit, bowl gaskets and other random stuff.

If my r/r is in fact bad I'd going to have to let her rest for a month or so. Dyna set me back a couple bones haha

[pete]

First off, yes absolutely triple check your ground is good. Having the R/R ground to the battery negative is fine but as long as it has a good connection to frame ground and frame ground has a good connection to battery negative all should be well.

Use a multimeter and check resistance between the R/R ground and battery negative. If it is more than about 0.5 ohms or so then something's not right. You can do this for all your grounds too.

Next up, whenever connecting your battery, always connect positive first, then negative. When disconnecting, disconnect negative first, then positive. That way, if you happen to bump a spanner or screw driver from battery positive to the frame, you won't short anything or blow any fuses because there is no connection to battery negative to short out.

I agree though that doing that shouldn't have killed your R/R. The stock Suzuki R/R's are very dodgy at the best of times though so who knows...

A sealed gel battery won't make a difference either.

And, finally, on the replacement R/R side of things, if your budget is tight, then there is a cheapo alternative that works. I did this myself last year when trying to get the electrical system sorted ready for getting her on the road.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Voltage-Regulator-Rectifier-Honda-CH125-250cc-6-wires-/261009191183?pt=Motorcycles_Parts_Accessories&hash=item3cc55c310f#ht_4578wt_952

That's the cheapo Hong Kong equivalent of the Shindengen/Honda style R/R's that are touted on here and while I don't expect it to last as long as the real deal, so far it's going well.

The three yellow wires are for the stator, red is the charging output, green is ground (Hondas all use green for ground apparently) and the black wire gets connected to a switched 12v line somewhere (eg. rear brake light switch) to give the R/R feedback, also known as the sense wire.

I also put a single 10mm LED voltage monitor on my custom dash so I could keep a close eye on the charging system:

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/GAMMATRONIX-12v-LED-Battery-level-Charge-monitor-E-/190462726857?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item2c587692c9#ht_3970wt_952

[hjacobmiller]

First off, yes absolutely triple check your ground is good. Having the R/R ground to the battery negative is fine but as long as it has a good connection to frame ground and frame ground has a good connection to battery negative all should be well.

Use a multimeter and check resistance between the R/R ground and battery negative. If it is more than about 0.5 ohms or so then something's not right. You can do this for all your grounds too.

Next up, whenever connecting your battery, always connect positive first, then negative. When disconnecting, disconnect negative first, then positive. That way, if you happen to bump a spanner or screw driver from battery positive to the frame, you won't short anything or blow any fuses because there is no connection to battery negative to short out.

I agree though that doing that shouldn't have killed your R/R. The stock Suzuki R/R's are very dodgy at the best of times though so who knows...

A sealed gel battery won't make a difference either.

And, finally, on the replacement R/R side of things, if your budget is tight, then there is a cheapo alternative that works. I did this myself last year when trying to get the electrical system sorted ready for getting her on the road.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Voltage-Regulator-Rectifier-Honda-CH125-250cc-6-wires-/261009191183?pt=Motorcycles_Parts_Accessories&hash=item3cc55c310f#ht_4578wt_952

That's the cheapo Hong Kong equivalent of the Shindengen/Honda style R/R's that are touted on here and while I don't expect it to last as long as the real deal, so far it's going well.

The three yellow wires are for the stator, red is the charging output, green is ground (Hondas all use green for ground apparently) and the black wire gets connected to a switched 12v line somewhere (eg. rear brake light switch) to give the R/R feedback, also known as the sense wire.

I also put a single 10mm LED voltage monitor on my custom dash so I could keep a close eye on the charging system:

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/GAMMATRON...#ht_3970wt_952

Thanks! I just got a Rick's. Local place will have it in tomorrow afternoon. I start a new job in a few weeks so I'm not going to have the joy (sometimes anger ) of messing with her for a bit. Figured I might as well ride her around til then. Won't have to spend any money on gas

I ordered new orings and bowl gaskets too. I've definitely been running lean. Plugs are cloudy white and after getting warmed up it idles super high.

I have a brand new set of plugs to see how things are going after the carbs are cleaned up.

Old seat pan should be here this week too. I'll start cutting that down but won't get to the fun part til August probably.

Instead of the wideband I think you should go with this:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Car-Alarm-Temperature-Thermometer-Clock-Voltage-Monitor-Meter-/251094213726?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item3a7661a45e&vxp=mtr#ht_1999wt_1133

:P

[pete]

Hahahah nice!

Congrats on the new job! That should mean you've got some budget for fiddling right?

I've determined I'm crap at reading plugs and unless they're either really really white or really really black I have no idea... hence the wideband idea eventually.

Sounds like you're on your way to getting her running nicely and you'll definitely have to keep us up to date with the seat.

[hjacobmiller]

Hahahah nice!

Congrats on the new job! That should mean you've got some budget for fiddling right?

I've determined I'm crap at reading plugs and unless they're either really really white or really really black I have no idea... hence the wideband idea eventually.

Sounds like you're on your way to getting her running nicely and you'll definitely have to keep us up to date with the seat.

Thanks! I'll actually be starting with a company I interned with last spring so at least it will be familiar. I just got out of school - I'll let you in on a little secret - I didn't go to school for Zook repair

As far as budget goes - I hope I don't have to spend much more! New r/r, starter, Dyna S,.. Gad-zooks! Sorry I have been wanting to say that for a while!

I definitely need to get the carbs straightened up though. I tried making it a bit richer (about another 1/2 turn out) but still seems to running quite warm and can't get an idle anywhere close to what I want.

Hopefully the o-ring kit helps...

[hjacobmiller]

This is what I want to get rid of:



Uggh. What a mess.

[pete]

Yeah it gets messy there alright...

I'd show you what I did with mine but Photobucket is performing maintenance so not only can I not find the pic's to link here but I also can't upload pic's of the Malvern Star bike I picked up today for the Cucciolo project

[razor02097]

Thanks! I'll actually be starting with a company I interned with last spring so at least it will be familiar. I just got out of school - I'll let you in on a little secret - I didn't go to school for Zook repair

As far as budget goes - I hope I don't have to spend much more! New r/r, starter, Dyna S,.. Gad-zooks! Sorry I have been wanting to say that for a while!

I definitely need to get the carbs straightened up though. I tried making it a bit richer (about another 1/2 turn out) but still seems to running quite warm and can't get an idle anywhere close to what I want.

Hopefully the o-ring kit helps...

The mixture screw won't make it run necessarily richer it will let in more air and fuel at idle. Steve had wrote how the proper way to adjust the mixture screw is to turn it out about 3 turns from seated then with the motor idling turn in the screw until the idle speed starts to slow then back it up 1/8" turn.

[pete]

Photobucket's back up, here's my tray:



Everything grounds to a single point and one of those wires goes to battery negative:



Everything except the indicator relay is underneath: