'82 GS550L - Senior Project (Father/Son) Rebuild

[82 GS550L Basket Case]

Tanner changes the tires

He's been through a couple of mentors - the first was in over her head, from a technical standpoint.
The second wrecked on vacation in the Florida Keys
The third changed jobsand pretty much stopped coming over.

But now... the owner of a local performance shop has agreed to help Tanner whenever Tanner has something that can be transported to the shop. First they changed the fork seals>..




Including polishing the sliders.


Another night, Tanner got some lessons on changing and balancing tires.

[82 GS550L Basket Case]

Refinish and paint the carbs

We sent the carb pieces off to Josh (aka TheCafeKid), and he rebuilt them, including replacing some torn. damaged, and/or missing parts.

Then he painted them - in the dead of winter, in Ohio (thanks Steve for the heated garage!) and sent them back

They are Beautiful ... these pictures really don't do them justice.

[GateKeeper]

To make it easier in the future to disassemble and reassemble you should change out all the philips screws to allen cap head screws in stainless steel

[GSXR7ED]

Nice Project you guys. Definitely something your son will remember for some time.




Ed

[gsrick]

Good thread and good work guys. my wife and I are doing similar thread with a 550T. Lots of helpful links in one thread. We are getting it to run first. Keep up the good work. Hopeing to start on my fajther/son project by summer.

[Steve]

Then he painted them - in the dead of winter, in Ohio (thanks Steve for the heated garage!) ...

I was happy that I was there and able to help a bit.

.

[82 GS550L Basket Case]

#$!%!$% Paint!

Way, Back When ... Tanner painted the frame with some high-end Chassis Black paint from our local auto body supply shop. He did a fantastic job with prep, using a wire wheel to get most of the paint off, then touching up the hard spots and nooks and crannies with the sandblaster.

Used some high-quality etching primer first, then the chassis black.

Looked GREAT.

Today, we taped up the frame in preparation for putting the engine back in.


And when we pulled the tape off ... #$!@#$!#@




not much to do about it at this point ... just scuff it up, make sure there's no more loose stuff, mask off the engine, and touch up the paint.



Anybody want to guess why the chassis black paint didn't adhere to the primer?

[82 GS550L Basket Case]

It's a roller again!

When last we saw Tanner in these pages, he was at his mentor's shop, replacing tires and fork seals, and poliching forks and stuff.

He's been busy (and I've been slacking off not posting here!)

Here's the Roller ...


And here's some of the steps along the way:
Using the old race to seat the new rear wheel bearings


Be Careful! If the hit isn't exactly square, sometimes parts fly around!


Also did some bearing work on the steering head - with our custom Steering Head Bearing Chase Remover Doo Dad.


Pounnd them out


and put them back in


to be continued

[82 GS550L Basket Case]

Rear wheel - putting it back together!

Previous Owner cut the springs off the stock shocks (not that we'd have used them anyway), so Tanner did some research and found that stock Harley shocks often fit the GS550. Found a cheap pair on ebay - takeoffs when the owner upgraded to progressives.

Oh well - money down the tubes. WAY too stiff, and they don't fit right anyway - the bottom mount is wrong.

So we put them back up on ebay, and get a set of Progressive 412s.

And THEY don't fit quite right either.
Here's the Harley shocks, which are exactly the same width of eye as the stockers on the top. (yes, I know the shock is upside down! The eyes are the same width - the bottom mounting stud is too short. sepeate problem.)


Here's the progressives:


Note that the shoulder of the top stud is just a scosh longer than the eye on the shock.

Oh well ... nothing a washer or two can't fix. Sorry, no picture of the final correct mounting.

[82 GS550L Basket Case]

Aaaaand ... slide the engine back into the frame

Sure wish we'd have had a third set of hands - if nothing else, to simply take pictures.

We based our approach on this guy's videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIv9wonIViY

Kind of. Here's the only two pics of teh process:





And just for the search people:
GS550 engine frame putting the engine back in the frame installing the engine into the frame video of engine going into frame
(Since I searched, and Tanner searched, and we finally found what we wanted.)

[82 GS550L Basket Case]

Wires and carbs and stuff ...

I'll be posting up a detailed set of specific questions about the wiring harness in the electrical section. In short, we spent yesterday getting the engine in, and today getting the carbs and wiring harness in.

It's getting close, now, and the tension is killing me.


I won't duplicate the questions in the other thread here, but here's a link. If you could help, we'd sure appreciate it!

Here's the Wiring Harness Questions Thread

[82 GS550L Basket Case]

Putting more pieces back on

The new handlebars, grips, and bar-end mirrors arrived by UPS as we were loading the bike onto the trailer for a trip to the mentor's shop last night. Tanner can't decide whether he'll want the clubman bars down (in the "correct" position, or up so he doesn't ride doubled over. We'll make that decision when it's time to put the grips and switches on!

We went to the mentor's shop last night and did some tweaking. He helped Tanner get the screws out of the master cylinder cover that the PO had completely buggered up, and also got out the footrest bolt Tanner and I sheared off trying to get it into the support.

He tried welding the nut on a couple of times, with no success, and finally showed Tanner the "right way" to drill out a bolt. Tapped the hole to clean it out, and it's good as new!

Got the main ground wire reattached to the engine, and had to loosen/almost remove the carbs to get the throttle cable back on. This presented the first real scare of the night: when we had the carbs painted, the throttle return springs got painted in the process. They were VERY sticky as a result. Tanner spent a good 10 minutes or so just wiggling the throttle back and forth, spraying with a bit of lubricant, and wiggling some more. By the end of the process, the throttle snapped back with a very satisfying click when he released it, so he threaded the cable through the frame and reattached it.

Next came replacing the clutch plates. We didn't know if the old ones were any good, and the clutch pack was less than $50, so I figured it was good for him to see the inside of the clutch.



Tanner also learned about the power of the air impact wrench when he tried to remove the front sprocket bolt with a hand wrench, then hit it with the air wrench.



By the end of the night, we had the new sprocket, clutch, throttle cable (including the bracket), a shiny new chain, and some various other odds and ends done. Tanner felt like it was time for him to finally actually sit on the bike, so here's his first "ride:"



Tonight we'll put the oil in the crankcase and focus on the wiring in the headlight bucket. We'll be installing the Acewell 2853 combination speedo/tach/clock ...

http://www.dimecitycycles.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/1/9/19-2853-bk-vintage-cafe-racer-caferacer-bobber-brat-chopper-streetfighter-acewell-2853-digital-motorcycle-speedo-speedometer-tach-tachometer-2_1.jpg

The goal is to make the first attempt to start it over the weekend. Monday night is reserved at the shop for final carb syncing, or getting the bike to start, whichever is needed.

He presents his project to his class next week (powerpoint and speech), and then to the evaluation board on May 2. Now, if I can just get him to get some sleep between now and then.

[spyug]

Great project guys and I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a successful engine start and no weird noises, clanging or banging. It would be a shame to have gone through all of this if the engine is a dud.

I have no doubt, no matter the final outcome, that Tanner will score highly on the project and he will have the desire to do it again. As you know, the first project is the hardest and it (usually) gets easier from there. Keep it up kiddo!

When you have her running be sure to post a short vid so we can savor the sounds of a project well done.

cheers,
Spyug

[Good Times]

What a great experience. That kind of a restoration is a lot of work. Tanner is learning some good wrenching skills and some ever better life skills.

[82 GS550L Basket Case]

oh no! lost a part!?!

putting the clutch cable back on, and it certainly appears we've lost a piece. can't find it in the manuals or parts fiches ...

what does the missing part look like? how does this cable connect to the clutch actuator rod?



I know the cable goes through the top of the primary cover ... end shown for perspective.