New GS1100 G Restoration Project. Rebuilding my Dad's bike

[Paul]

Looks nice and will be good for you as you know you're definitly keeping the bike, I bought 10 rolls of black raylon cloth tape same as whats there now for £22

[londonboards]

Day 262 Lower Fork Tubes Polished and Brushed Finish

Got to work on the fork tubes and I was really surprised at how quickly they came good. I think the problem is that they look worse than they actually are. The clear coat on them traps a little moisture and it turns nasty

See: My GS1100 Blog - Fork Tube Polish (HD pics)

These were my fork tubes:





I firstly stripped all the coating off using VHT Aircraft Strip. Then using a brass wire brush on a Dremel, some 600 grit (wet and dry) and then the green Scotchbrite, I got it looking like this:



You have to only brush it in one direction - horizontal.



I was so pleased with this result (and some of you are now going to think I'm weird and some of you will know where I am coming from!) that I could not allow this piece to leave my sight and I took it to bed with me just so I could lay eyes on it first thing in the morning!

Oh Lord, I am completely lost.

Greetings

[eil]

Fantastic result! That's got to be motivating.

[JvZ]

You certainly have your work cut out for you, looking forward to following your progress.

[londonboards]

Rear Air Shocks Refurbed

Got my rear shocks back all nicely refurbished. New seals and re-chroming of the parts.

See my blog: Suzuki GS1100 Blog - Rear Shocks Refurb





Got to get the frame powder coated now.

Greetings

[londonboards]

psyguy - Good idea but you haven't met my wife!

Greetings

[psyguy]

Lol, I see...

My missus is actually very aproving of my hobby, so, i meant it more like "the most important person to fool on the actual money spent is ME! "

I like the final product that I came up with but DONT like the idea of what it cost me


Anyhow, great work you're doing!

[londonboards]

psyguy - you are absolutely right. "No expense spared" is the mantra of the perfectionist. I have constantly surprised myself with this project. In my life I'm a sort of "that will do" kinda guy. Working on this rebuild I find that I'm a "no way will that do" sort of guy. I just don't know where that came from but it sure is costing me some money and time to behave in this way.

It WILL be worth it in the end. Won't it?

Greetings

[Charlie G]

This is a bit like an AA or GA meeting:

My names Charlie. I am a GS Aholic. I spent $300 this week on my addiction.. I know the feeling................

[lilhump459]

Those fork tube look awesome! I'm going to have to do the same thing to mine, i'm not very patient and it would be so much easier to just buy new ones, but this bike has some sentimental value so i'm just going to take my time and do it right

[londonboards]

Those fork tube look awesome! I'm going to have to do the same thing to mine, i'm not very patient and it would be so much easier to just buy new ones, but this bike has some sentimental value so i'm just going to take my time and do it right

What I did took only about an hour and a half. Get some decent paint stripper, some 600 grit and a green Scotchbrite, put the radio on and enjoy.

Greetings

[jwhelan65]

Got to work on the fork tubes and I was really surprised at how quickly they came good. I think the problem is that they look worse than they actually are. The clear coat on them traps a little moisture and it turns nasty

See: My GS1100 Blog - Fork Tube Polish (HD pics)

These were my fork tubes:





I firstly stripped all the coating off using VHT Aircraft Strip. Then using a brass wire brush on a Dremel, some 600 grit (wet and dry) and then the green Scotchbrite, I got it looking like this:



You have to only brush it in one direction - horizontal.



I was so pleased with this result (and some of you are now going to think I'm weird and some of you will know where I am coming from!) that I could not allow this piece to leave my sight and I took it to bed with me just so I could lay eyes on it first thing in the morning!

Oh Lord, I am completely lost.

Greetings

Impressive work!

[londonboards]

jwhelan65 - thanks for that. My brother lives in Keller, TX (I am in the UK) and I have been buying stuff for my rebuild and shipping it to him, as some sellers won't ship internationally. He is wondering why his garage has a set of exhaust pipes (mufflers) sitting on the floor. Now I have to get them to the UK.

Greetings

[londonboards]

Parts for Plating

At some point you have to get all the parts together that you want to have plated. And there are lots of them. I have already taken the bike apart and cataloged and boxed most of them. Now I have to get them all out again. Well I didn't get vary far.

I want to start putting the carbs back together so I started with all the parts for those and a couple of other bits.

Here's my box:



See if you can find the 4 things that don't belong to the carbs.

The box includes stuff like this:











More pics at: My GS1100 Blog - Parts for Plating

Greetings

[Agemax]

all those screws,bolts and nuts i would replace with stainless rather than get them plated, but thats just me..........