1982 GS300 Project - Where do I start

[hjacobmiller]

Mate that should be dirt simple to make a bracket to hold those onto your rear guard... they would definitely look the part!

You think? I'm nervous as I've never really made anything out of metal before and I don't want the bracket to look like crud and have flashy lights.

Just worked a little before it got dark. Gonna nuke some food, take some pics and I'll post in a few hours again.

[hjacobmiller]

Moving right along..

So, got a little bit of work done this week, although I wish I had gotten a little bit more done. That durned "job" thing just gets in the way...

Just a little update on my workspace. This is obviously not my shed, but I have cornered out a little space in my basement studio for working on the smaller things, and reassembling to a point once things are clean. Its not the best, but its certainly not the worst either. Lights, heat, and beer in the fridge upstairs makes it manageable.



I was able to get most of the rear accessories (seat, light, bumper,etc.) taken off, disassembled and labeled today. My goal is to have to bare frame by Saturday night so I can strip paint and wire wheel on Sunday. Called a guy about having some powder coating done, not a terrible price for the frame and swingarm ($250 to blast and coat) and he's willing to work out a deal for extra parts.

Here's some of the things I've taken off and cleaned up a bit:




Probably will strip the controls completely and wire brush them. Think it will look pretty slick...

Need some advice on what to do with the underside of my fenders. The top chrome is in good shape, but the underside looks like garbage. I know no one can see it, but this much rust needs to be taken care of:



My filing system for the inventory of parts I am accumulating:


I'd been nursing a crack on my side cover tab with gorilla glue since I bought the bike, but tonight it finally gave in and I'm stuck with a lovely hole in one of my covers. This may not be a problem if I switch to pods and just do some metal covers on the side, so now it sits.



Finally, I took a couple of hours this week to finish cleaning up that old seat pan I bought a couple months ago. Looks like it will be super easy to work with, as tin snips and a rat-tail file are all I need to shave it down.



Well that is all for now. I may take some time this weekend to drop a boat load of photos on finishing up the tear down. I'll probably have a ton of questions about the next steps as well, including tires, opinions on colors (see my paint thread) and general newb restore/rebuild issues.

Side note - anyone heard from Razor recently?

[Tim Tom]

That is a great looking workspace! Trust me. I do my work in a cold, damp, dimly lit parking garage basement with NO power, NO heat, not even a workbench !

Your basement looks like a cozy place to build a motorcycle to me.

About that broken side cover, it can be repaired. There are a few methods, all covered in large somewhere on here. One of them involves making an ABS plastic slurry to 'glue' them back, another way is to use a soldering iron or similar to 'weld' the plastic together. Plenty of ways to fix them, especially since you will need to bondo over the part to smooth it out before painting anyways.

No reason to make a metal panel there, it would ruin the look your going for, you need to continue your two tone paint scheme along the sides of the bike.

As far as the inside of the fenders, you could strip them out with a wire wheel to eliminate the rust and coat the inners with a truck bed liner or POR15. This will give them a durable black finish, perfect for deflecting small road debris. Of course be very careful not to damage or paint the shiny side while your doing this!

You look to be enjoying the dis assembly, label everything, and take lots of pictures so you know where everything goes

[pete]

Good stuff Jake, wish I had a basement to work in!

Our two car garage is where I work with a space of probably 6 square metres which includes the work benches.

+1 on the POR15 under the guards, and you can brush it on too as it's self leveling.

[hjacobmiller]

Well, got some work done today! Completely down to frame! Had a buddy from work come over to help me get the engine out. Stripped some paint off some parts too.

What I started with this morning:


About an hour in:


Another hour:



And finally as she sits now:

http://s1256.photobucket.com/albums/ii481/hjacobmiller13/The%20Tear%20Down/?action=view&current=0929121110.jpg#!oZZ3QQcurrentZZhttp%3A%2F%2Fs1256.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fii481%2Fhjacobmiller13%2FThe%2520Tear%2520Down%2F%3Faction%3Dview%26current%3D0929121633.jpg

Is it ok for the engine to sit like this? Not resting on any fins on the oil pan, and the wood is pretty soft so I'm not worried about the pan crushing. Should this be ok for the time being until I get an engine stand?




Some of the parts sitting while the paint stripper soaked in:

[Mekanix]

Deja-vu!

Looks like a few years ago when mine lived in Rubbermaid containers

The engine is fine resting on the blocks or on the fin's. They are pretty tough.

[hjacobmiller]

Deja-vu!

Looks like a few years ago when mine lived in Rubbermaid containers

The engine is fine resting on the blocks or on the fin's. They are pretty tough.

Mechanix! To whom I owe all of my GS success! The Dynatek works amazing thanks to you! Well, now it sits in a zip lock bag, but...

How are you?

[pete]

Rollin' right along Jake, nice!

[hjacobmiller]

Thanks Pete, but I would say this bike is anything but rolling haha

So here is a bit more of my progress:

First pass at stripping the paint from the frame. After about twenty minutes of the wire wheel drill combo I said the hell with it - they have to blast it anyways to prep for powder coating.



A little bit of polishing with a denim wheel and various compounds. Not a great picture and have to get a drill adaptor, but I'm pleased with the first try with it.

Before:


After:


I'm actually going to try to drop it off at the powder coaters on Thursday! I can't believe its happening this fast, but I figured I might as well while things are moving a long. Plus, I'm really nervous about it being all apart. Makes me wonder if I can get through putting it back together!

So some questions for prepping. I can't get the top race of the bottom steering bearings out. I've read a few threads about it (cutting with dremel, pounding it out, etc.).

Is there any permanent terrible damage I could do to the bearing cavity while tying to get it out? It is in there pretty good and I haven't been able to get past this point:



Along that same train of thought, how can I get the swing arm bearings out without destroying them? I'd like to preserve them if possible because they are in great shape.



Finally, I know that the engine grounds to the frame, and I'm guessing that powder coating the frame will reduce its conductivity. How can I make a good spot for ground? Just ask them to tape an area off? How much space to I need? Just a side on one the engine mounts?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

[pete]

Ooooh shiny!

I didn't remove the bearing races on mine as I brushed POR 15 on, so no tips on getting those out I'm afraid, but you will definitely ruin the swingarm bearings by removing them as you will need to drift them out with a long shaft of some sort and a hammer.

At least they're not overly expensive...

As for grounding, you want at least one good clean connection to bare frame, so you can either tape something off or sand that part back later, although again I have no experience with powder coating so not sure how easy/difficult that would be...

[Mekanix]

1 don't remove the bearings, Its more headache than its worth. Have them tape it off really well. Clean them well when you get it back though and re-grease. You can use paint stripper to remove any over spray. Its just a matter of being careful when they media blast it to not get any grit in the bearings.

2 don't worry about grounding for now. You can add one later or just wait until you get it all back and burnish a few brackets for a good connection.

3 For the stem bearings you can remove the races but then they usually shatter. I think when I did mine it was around 45$ a bearing to replace them. IT all depends what you use. A cut with a dremel wheel will help it to break.

[hjacobmiller]

Awesome! Thanks for the input!

The guys are actually frame fabricators too, so they'll know how important it is to properly mask and such.

Any color suggestions? I'm really torn between black, dark steelish silver, or silver.

Any thoughts?

[Mekanix]

This is the gloss black from the factory.

[Mekanix]

You'll be at this point next week



Before you bring it in you could clean up all the little weld spater balls so it ends up smooth.

[hjacobmiller]

You'll be at this point next week



Before you bring it in you could clean up all the little weld spater balls so it ends up smooth.

Ha! I wish! No time unfortunately. Have to start studying for my next CPA exam, but hopefully I'll have the frame back and everything. Going to have them do the triple trees, foot pegs, brackets, kickstand, centerstand, swing arm, and.... I can't think of anything else.

I was thinking like a dark silver but in the hammertone finish like Jimmy did for his tins.

http://www.google.com/imgres?start=714&hl=en&sa=X&biw=2133&bih=1065&tbm=isch&prmd=imvns&tbnid=S0_yaTFAk1saPM:&imgrefurl=http://www.200forums.com/forum/12-chrysler-200-wheels-tires-suspension/1255-rim-opinion.html&docid=URzGXUEl7YE65M&imgurl=http://www.200forums.com/forum/attachments/chrysler-200-wheels-tires-suspension/733d1340916139-rim-opinion-irongunmetalglimmerweb.jpg&w=400&h=300&ei=rp9rUIy8HsXf0gHfv4H4DQ&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=633&vpy=557&dur=1126&hovh=194&hovw=258&tx=195&ty=84&sig=117387429719584632993&page=13&tbnh=154&tbnw=206&ndsp=59&ved=1t:429,r:2,s:714,i:106

Update - can I do any damage to where the bearing seats in the stem while trying to get it out? What should I avoid doing?