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

[cowboyup3371]

Part number 29 here; sadly I don't have a good picture of mine to show you.

Actually I found a decent picture of it, sort of. It's the little ball at the end of my clutch cable here

[82 GS550L Basket Case]

aaaaand ... there's the picture of it!

I love this place!

[mike_of_bbg]

The next time I'm ordering OEM parts I should pick up an extra one of those. They're not included with the clutch cables.

[GateKeeper]

Project is coming along very nicely...

[Mop Bucket]

looking good and fun to read your progress

[82 GS550L Basket Case]

next problem. ... the seat is loose

One piece at a time .....
Put the new lockset on the seat, and we must have something wrong. There is a half inch or so between the rubber bumpers on the seat and the frame. As a result the seat is very wobbly.

[GateKeeper]

is the mechanisim on the right way, possibly upside down, did it lock in place, the seat, can you push it down a bit further, is it latched for sure, can you pull it up ?

looking at the parts fische, seems you have it as it shoud be....


.

[82 GS550L Basket Case]

Aaaaand ... it cranks, but no spark

No picture, but we put gas in the tank, connected all the hoses (Thanks, BikeCliff for the "Where do all these hoses go?" tutorial), ad cranked it up.

It turns over (and will spin the back tire if it's in gear) but it won't start.

No spark to any of the plugs.

And it turns out that the number four plug wire doesn't even have the connector in the end, so theres NO WAY that plug will get a spark.

So tomorrow we start the No Spark Troubleshooting Process.

Dang.

[82 GS550L Basket Case]

It RUNS!

Took the bike into Porzio Performmance for some quality mentor time. In just over three hours, Frank and Tanner:
fabricated/modified an existing barrel to fit on the clutch cable end
checked/gapped the points
modded / faked up a footpeg bolt
modded a leftover tank cushion from another bike to fit Tanners GS
connected in the taillight and rear turn signals

and ...
discovered the loose ground that was keeping the bike from starting!

they got it started while I was on the food run. but I did get to see it run!



left to do:
replace the headlight bulb
doublecheck the rear end lights
order front end signals
wire in the Acewell speedo/tach/etc
wait for miscellaneous mounting rubbers and weird fittings that are on order to arrive

Just In Time, too ... Tanner presents his project to his class Wednesday and to the evaluation board. on May 2.

I don't think he's going to get much sleep tonight

[82 GS550L Basket Case]

Tanner rode to school today!

In case you missed the Big Thank You post in the General Discussion area:

We were up till midnight last night doublechecking the tail lights/turn signal wiring, installing the new headlight bulb, and stuffing wires into the headlight bucket.

This morning, I had the honor of riding alongside my son as he rode the bike HE put together to school, to use as a prop for his senior project presentation.

Sure wish I could figure out how to embed the actual video, instead of providing a link to the photobucket album.

[motomike]

Excellent job!! Looks and sounds great!

[GateKeeper]

Way to go...Congrats to Tanner, and you as well, job well done...

And you cannot embed video on this site....

.

[Good Times]

That is incredible to see. All of that hard work and sticktoitness paid off!

Good job Dad! Good job Tanner!

[82 GS550L Basket Case]

"Sticky" clutch!

The bike is parked again, while we tweak some of the things that we hurried through to get it finished enough for the first ride to school and the presentation.

A new problem has popped up:
The bike shifts ... reasonably well, most of the time. The problem is when Tanner stops at a red light and has to hold the clutch in. When he goes to let it out, it gets partway out, then seems to hang, or stick. It'll release all at once, leading to a lurch, or a stall if the RPMs aren't high enough - or a really rough and ugly start if the revs are up.

We'll be investigating further tonight, but we worked on it a bit over the weekend. Here's what we know:
Tanner replaced the clutch plates as one of the last steps before we put oil in and started it up. The clutch didn't stick then.

We've double-checked the cable route, and it doesn't seem to be bent, kinked, bound, or otherwise inhibited.

We adjusted the clutch according to the process in the manual. The point of engagement seems better, but it's still sticky - but only when it's held in for a moment or two. It seems to operate normally when shifting normally.

We lubricated the cable liberally, worked the clutch, and waited for it to "soak in" then lubed it again. Slight improvement, but not solved.

We have a replacement cable on the way (hope to get it today!), and we'll try that next.

Is there a way to check the clutch operation without taking off the clutch cover (and thus having to drain the oil?

[GateKeeper]

did you guys soak the clutch fibre plates in oil at a bare minimum of a few hours to as much as overnight...?

.