Rebuild over the winter?

[Guest]

So I am thinking about doing a teardown/restoration over the winter with my 19 year old son. This is my GS550L as she sits today:



All-in-all, it's not in bad shape. Chrome has some rust specks, some rust on the frame and some of the bolts, but not a lot. I've got new rear shocks/springs ordered and coming this week. It's got about 17K miles on it. It runs great, at least as far as a noob rider can tell. Engine is smooth through the full range of RPM. I already did a carb rebuild/clean, replaced intake ports and o-rings.

Before I start, I want to make sure I am not biting off more than I can chew, as I've never done a bike restoration before.

My thought is to do it from November through March, so it is ready to ride when winter is over. I figure teardown to take 1-2 weekends, and reassembly to take 3-4 weekends. My thought is to have all work done by the end of February, so I can begin putting it back together. Is this amount of time reasonable for teardown and reassembly?

That leaves me 3 1/2 months (mid-Nov through end of Feb) to work on all of the components and get everything cleaned up and painted.

The engine seems fine, so I was not planning a rebuild, just to clean it up, and maybe paint it.

Is this reasonable?

Glen

[GateKeeper]

Mine was supposed to take that long, but it went overtime and my end got extended by 2 months, not a big deal, as I was in no rush to finish, as I said to myself it will be done when it's done.

but your time frame is reasonable and you should make it....

you can check out my rebuild thread to get an idea of what your in for...




Ohhhhhh, make your pics a weeeeeeeee bit smaller......LOL


Cheers


and have fun

[hampshirehog]

If you've not done this sort of thing before I would guess you have worked the time out pretty well.

Take loads of photos and put things in labelled boxes to help with the reassembly. And on the strip down if things don't come undone easily only use brute force as the last resort. Especially be careful when taking the exhaust off.

[mrbill5491]

I've been working on rebuilding my bike since last April. It is about 80% done. I still have the carbs yet to do and the body paint and the fine tuning after that.. I also did some upgrades that caused a few problems. Then again I wasn't able to work on it everyday, mostly weekends. The rebuild doesn't take so long, what does is the cleaning, repainting, replacing and getting all the parts in. Just depends how involved of a rebuild you do.

[glenwill]

Yeah, sorry about the picture size. I didn't realize how big it was. I reduced the size.

So, based on MrBill5491 and GateKeeper, this took longer than I am hoping mine will take. I guess that worries me a little.

My bike seems to be pretty clean. No frame damage or engine damage, and it's running well. Fenders, tank and side panels are all pretty clean. There's a bunch of small dots of rust on the fenders, but no dents. I am hoping that helps keep the timeframe where I am hoping it will be.

Glen

[tkent02]

Yeah, sorry about the picture size. I didn't realize how big it was. I reduced the size.

So, based on MrBill5491 and GateKeeper, this took longer than I am hoping mine will take. I guess that worries me a little.

My bike seems to be pretty clean. No frame damage or engine damage, and it's running well. Fenders, tank and side panels are all pretty clean. There's a bunch of small dots of rust on the fenders, but no dents. I am hoping that helps keep the timeframe where I am hoping it will be.

Glen

Why take it all apart?

Just DeL it a bit and call it good.

[glenwill]

Why take it all apart?

Just DeL it a bit and call it good.

Well, there's not much rust or damage, but the paint on the frame is dull and faded. There are some minor rust spots on the frame, but it's mostly cosmetic. Same with the engine. It's faded and flaking. I'd like the bike to look better.

Glen

[GateKeeper]

It will depend on how much time you devote to doing the rebuild, I did not work on mine each and every day, or for many hours on the days I did work on it, some days more, some days less, and some not at all.... I certainly was not putting in 8 hours a day on the bike, more like a couple of hours here and there, and more on weekends if I had nothing better to do.

Your time frame is probably spot on, if you work on it and produce something each and every day, if you have parts available as you need them, and your not waiting on shipments to come in, and any hiccups along the way, like when I order a set of tires and they ship the wrong ones, or purchase a brand new battery and it dies the very next day.....things you cannot control...

As I said I was in no particular rush, so the few extra weeks really didn't matter....

[spyug]

If you are strictly going to do a clean and repaint you can do it in this time frame but I would suggest that you will find "projects" that will push that back. If you are like the majority of us you will find things that need updating, like wiring, connectors, electronics, brakes etc etc. You may then run into the delays GK talks of. You may also succumb to seasonal illness or just become tired of it and walk away for awhile. Better add another month or two at a minimum.

My first rebuild took a year. My second, over 18 months. My third 3 months, my 4th and 5th about 2 months each. My latest, my 550, took about 5 months to get sorted and on the road and its due for a strip and cleanup this winter. I wonder how long that will take? There really is no way of knowing for sure but when its your first, there is a tendency to overestimate your abilities and underestimate how long it will take, at least in my experience.

Good luck with it. With an adult helper, it will go smoother and quicker than by yourself, I would guess.

Keep us informed and post some pics as you go.

Cheers,
Spyug

[Crankthat]

Have never done a rebuild but will suggest any day the weather permits that you can paint you should paint as mother nature not likely to fit your schedule.

With the suggestions here as to things other people have done to their bikes make a list of what you want to do and try not to go past that list until ready for reassembly and time remaining become clear to you unless a safety or cant do without add on comes up.

After that you will better be able to judge how much more you are willing to do time wise.

I bought a $6.99 hinged top, mufti compartment storage tray last week from K_mart on the flimsy side but great for storring your fasteners. Am going to go back and buy several more as everything else like it i have seen is rather pricey .(I have a lot of extra hardware from various things/jobs over years)

Take a lot of pictures for reference, not only as to what was connected to what but helps with rerunning wires. You will find that there are better ways to run some things though.

Freezer bags are handy for larger parts and keeping fasteners with the parts. You can majik marker them also.

Like somebody else said label everything and with a digi camera name your photos same as labeled parts for easy reference. Though that will take time too, it might save you time later in the game.

So many smart people on this forum have said "Sometimes You Have To Walk Away From It For A While"

You will find some things that will discourage you from time to time.

Walk away for a while, relax, have a beer, give your son a sip or two, Keep it a bonding experience, a good time between the two of you.

Ask him his thoughts on things, listen to him, try some simple thing even though you may know they may not work.
Make it a good learning experience. Make it something he looks forward to doing with you and not a chore.

[mrbill5491]

H
So many smart people on this forum have said "Sometimes You Have To Walk Away From It For A While"

You will find some things that will discourage you from time to time.

Yup totally agree here, I had to do that a few times, especially with my swing arm frame bushing F**k up. Since I got that rectified, it has been fairly smooth going since.

[MAJikMARCer]

As has already been mentioned a couple of times, watch out for "Scope Creep". To put it another way, have a plan in place. If you only want to do certain things only do those certain things. However, you may run into issues that require immediate action and cannot wait until the next winter season. My advice is to go over the bike as much as you can and document everything that needs to be done, especially the important maintenance items, and then refigure your time-line.

That's what I've been doing and cosmetic things are going on the back burner. Would I like to repaint the frame and such? You bet! Will it be on this seasons project plan? Nope.

Long story short, regardless of what project, always build in some time overage. If that's not possible reduce the scope of your project to fit.

[spyug]

I have never been one for paperwork and have never recorded anything that I have done to my bikes other than keeping a running total of expenditures. After severe sticker shock on my second bike, I stopped doing that.

I think I made a serious mistake in not record keeping and I believe it has cost me in both cash and more importantly time and effort. A major case in point is what happened to my 550 this year as I was readying it for certification to get it plated. As part of the readying, I did an oil and filter change among several other things. About a week later I undertook a road test and found my oil pressure and side stand lights wouldn't go out. That led to a 2 month odyssey of frustration,pulling things apart, reassembling and pulling them apart again and a huge thread here with the efforts of many to try and determine why I had no oil pressure. At the very end , I thought to check the oil filter and it was in backwards and plugging off return to the sump causing low oil pressure there and the light to stay on.

The point is, if I had recorded my maintenance, I would in all likely hood avoided all the drama and angst. I could relate similar other tales but you get the point. I strongly recommend that in addition to many pics, you should keep a work journal. It may save you going bonkers as I have done a time or two.

Good luck with it. I'm looking forward to seeing how it goes.

Cheers,
spyug

[glenwill]

Wow, so much great advice from everyone. I really appreciate all of you on the forum. I'll be glad when I get enough knowledge to contribute back and help others.

I definitely want to keep this a fun project with my son. That's why I asked about whether I am in over my head, because I don't want it to turn into a drudgery.

So from everyone's advice, my plan is to:

1) Disassemble bike
2) Repair/replace anything found during disassembly that must be done before reassembly
3) Do as much restoration/cosmetic as time allows, one task at a time so I don't get in a position where I run out of time and have a bunch of incomplete work.
4) Start reassembly at the beginning of March with whatever I have completed, and then ride.

I feel better about doing this. It would also seem it is good to focus on completing work that can only be done with a complete disassembly, like painting the frame, and maybe the engine. I can always take off the tank, fenders, side covers and paint them later.

I'll start a rebuild thread when I get this going.

Glen

[Bevo]

Good advice here!

Having sold off a basket case bike/project this time I will start work once I have the bulk of my new parts and my plan.