1982 GS650E slowwww project

[Shwartz]

I figure I should move my "Introduction" post over here because I have more pics and slight progress again.

Here's where I'm starting



Paid $300, 37,000kms on it. Owner couldn't get it started one day after running it most of the summer. He tried replacing the plugs and put the ignition wires on in the improper order, and then he was lost. Apparently it sat for a couple months at the most (I believe 6) and he replaced the bike. I bought it, brought it home, traced the wiring diagram, swapped it back and it came to life.

I danced.

The first night I cleared away the crap in my shed and drained all the fluids.


Last night I slightly winterized my shed (weatherstripped the doors and installed an internal locking mechanism). I then pulled the carbs, inspected the boots, and pulled apart the rear brake caliper (was acting seized-ish, I didn't push very hard) and drained the fluid.

So upon my inspection, I've decided that the intake boots are still nice and soft (to my surprise) so I'll go ahead and order O-Rings for them anyways (those $ are not worth dickering over).

This is where I sit right now (I only get 1 to 2 nights a week, after I help put the runt to bed). I'm not going to do too much this winter in terms of tear-down. Just rebuild/fix the pieces that are an obvious issue, and rebuild the pieces that are recommended on this GS Forum (O-rings, intake boot seals, electrical upgrade, etc).

So I have taken off one carb from the bracket and opened it up to find no varnishing whatsoever (keep in mind I had it running this summer and the PO used the bike regularly last summer) so I think a good cleaning and O-rings should be enough (could be famous last words).


Secondly I found that the rear Brake caliper was full of dried gunk underneath the seals. I pulled the seals off and cleaned them up. They seem to still be very pliable. I then scraped out the crap underneath them and took the C-Clamp to the piston and it seemed to let go very easily. So I now have them soaking in some Sea-foam penetrating fluid that I bought (first time using it) and will inspect further next time (possibly Thursday, or Tuesday next week).

Question: Now that the calipers are apart (and the system has no fluids), how do I drive out the piston further to inspect it? I will look this up further but figured I'd ask.

Lastly, I've been looking at gasket kits because my engine seems to be leaking from every orifice possible.
I've snapped a couple pics of the front and back side. These show that it seems to be leaking from the "Tensioner" in the rear (Could even be the base gasket), and the valve cover in the front.


Tensioner (Left)




Tensioner (Right)




Valve Cover (left)




Valve Cover 2 (Left)




Other leaks are visible from the exhaust manifold gaskets (all 4 are not a great fit), the shift lever (more of a seal, not really a gasket), the half-moons, the oil pan, and the oil filter housing.

If I can get the motor to stop dripping anything, I'll consider that a victory of sorts.

Now, on to ordering O-rings for next week.

[loud et]

Regarding getting the piston out, IIRC I left the bleeder in and with your air compressor blow air into the brake line hole, and the piston will pop out. Wrap the whole thing in a rag tho, cause the piston, if stuck like mine was,will pulse in and out as you give it little bursts of air and suddenly that baby will fly out and bust your teeth! lol Seriously, if stuck, it can and will pop out quite forcefully. Hopefully yours is free, but with your suspiscion of brake hang up, it may be corroded and not slide out easily.

[loud et]

PLAN OF ATTACK TIME!
Two great things you have going for you. The fact that you only gave up 300 bucks for it and its a titled, basically running bike.
I am a relative noob to the GS game, but I have done enough to learn from past mistakes. The biggest mistake newbies make is wanting the bike on the road....yesterday. It leads to half a** carb cleaning, turning carb screws to all haphazardly , ripping airboxes out, and a big one is worrying about cosmetics before mechanical function.
You have to decide how far you are going to go. Get it running and ride it, having a clean but weathered (showing age) bike...or go all the way. Its hard to pick a place in between. Seems like when you make one part nice, the one next to it looks like hell, so you start fixin that part up, then you realize you shoud have torn the whole thing down and you are out of logical/cost effective sequence.
Learning from my working with these bikes so far, this would be my plan of attack if I were you.
GET BIKE RUNNING RIGHT FIRST
1 -change oil. done
2-rebuild carbs. this means full disassembly, dip, o rings, bench sycn all following a tutorial on this site or Basscliffs. Even if things look good and clean, the condition of the deep internal passages are unknown. O rings may be brittle and why not replace and have the confidence that all is right. Also I learned a lot about carbs by doing a rebuild. I understand the function and terminology. Do you want to put all this effort into a bike and it still runs half ass with mystery problems? and you really cannot answer if it is the carbs or not..... cause you have never really been in there. HA! Plus with that pipe, you may need to work your jetting in the future and newly cleaned carbs are easy to disassemble. And you will have no surprises.
3- Clean air cleaner and seal airbox....assure all 8(in/ex) boots are in acceptable shape and will seal
4-Use a supplementary fuel tank, until you are 1000 % sure your gas tank is spotless inside and your petcock is 1000% functional.
You dont want junk getting into your like new carbs or flood your crankcase with gas.
TEST FIRE! aka disappointment time! lol Initial startup can be problematic , but if you do the above thouroughly, you may have surprisingly good results. I did this with 2 bikes and they both fired nice. 1 was road ready with no tinkering needed (1100)and the other, which I just did over the past few days(the 650) fires nicely but has some rough spots. Not bad for a noob. Little tuning needed.
Fine tune the bike, test ride if the snow allows.ha ha
Once the bike is running and shifting and and you know its mechanically sound, now you can dream of your masterpeice cosmetic creation!
Other major systems are,... safety-brakes, and electric- charging and fully functional lights.
I would personally do 1-4 and then you can, rebuild engine and ride or have this bike torn down to a bare frame in just a couple nights while you lable/bag everything for a full rebuild.
Strip/paint frame, brackets, Polish wheels and install new tires, get your fork oil changed, and you have a brand new rolling frame.
The engine will be the biggest deal. Its easy if you follow the service manual. You can tear it down to the base gasket, do gaskets, piston rings, valve seals, head gasket, paint the bottom end, paint the jugs, paint the head/valve cover....you have a fresh engine!
Install engine and then start reinstalling the brakes, electric, controls, ...painting/polishing each part along the way. You will end up with a sharp looker that runs great.
That was a lot of blabber from me, I am sorry. ( oh look, I am still going), lol, The point is you have to have a plan and decide how far you are going to go. You can just do the gaskets and carbs and ride your semi clean bike upgrading/cleaning parts along the way, or actually go all the way. A full rebuild is a long road, I burned out after 2 months on my 1100, then wrapped it up in a few weeks (6 months later) lol
There are really not that many parts to these bikes, you could have a real gem by spring.
just doing carbs, engine gaskets, other minor items route 250-350 bucks
going all the way,-500-600 , neither including new tires.
its amazing how much one can spend on parts,paint, chemicals and shipping throuought the process.eek. Either way, you will have a great bike for under a grand.(maybe)
Sorry for my ramble, just trying to be helpful. I am ADHD (or something similarly wrong with my melon)and I get pretty spazzed out sometimes.

[wedoo2]

You did good Mr loud et. I would follow that to the letter. BTW, nice buy!! I love the pin stripes on that bike.

[loud et]

You did good Mr loud et. I would follow that to the letter. BTW, nice buy!! I love the pin stripes on that bike.

OH please dont call me MR. Only judges, police and young girls at the grocery checkout call me Mr. .....and that only means one of two things, that I am in big trouble or getting old.
And yes, the 650E has a great look to it for sure

[wedoo2]

Everyone is in trouble, just some of us haven't been caught

[tkent02]

PLAN OF ATTACK TIME!
Two great things you have going for you. The fact that you only gave up 300 bucks for it and its a titled, basically running bike.
I am a relative noob to the GS game, but I have done enough to learn from past mistakes. The biggest mistake newbies make is wanting the bike on the road....yesterday. It leads to half a** carb cleaning, turning carb screws to all haphazardly , ripping airboxes out, and a big one is worrying about cosmetics before mechanical function.
You have to decide how far you are going to go. Get it running and ride it, having a clean but weathered (showing age) bike...or go all the way. Its hard to pick a place in between. Seems like when you make one part nice, the one next to it looks like hell, so you start fixin that part up, then you realize you shoud have torn the whole thing down and you are out of logical/cost effective sequence.
Learning from my working with these bikes so far, this would be my plan of attack if I were you.
GET BIKE RUNNING RIGHT FIRST
1 -change oil. done
2-rebuild carbs. this means full disassembly, dip, o rings, bench sycn all following a tutorial on this site or Basscliffs. Even if things look good and clean, the condition of the deep internal passages are unknown. O rings may be brittle and why not replace and have the confidence that all is right. Also I learned a lot about carbs by doing a rebuild. I understand the function and terminology. Do you want to put all this effort into a bike and it still runs half ass with mystery problems? and you really cannot answer if it is the carbs or not..... cause you have never really been in there. HA! Plus with that pipe, you may need to work your jetting in the future and newly cleaned carbs are easy to disassemble. And you will have no surprises.
3- Clean air cleaner and seal airbox....assure all 8(in/ex) boots are in acceptable shape and will seal
4-Use a supplementary fuel tank, until you are 1000 % sure your gas tank is spotless inside and your petcock is 1000% functional.
You dont want junk getting into your like new carbs or flood your crankcase with gas.
TEST FIRE! aka disappointment time! lol Initial startup can be problematic , but if you do the above thouroughly, you may have surprisingly good results. I did this with 2 bikes and they both fired nice. 1 was road ready with no tinkering needed (1100)and the other, which I just did over the past few days(the 650) fires nicely but has some rough spots. Not bad for a noob. Little tuning needed.
Fine tune the bike, test ride if the snow allows.ha ha
Once the bike is running and shifting and and you know its mechanically sound, now you can dream of your masterpeice cosmetic creation!
Other major systems are,... safety-brakes, and electric- charging and fully functional lights.
I would personally do 1-4 and then you can, rebuild engine and ride or have this bike torn down to a bare frame in just a couple nights while you lable/bag everything for a full rebuild.
Strip/paint frame, brackets, Polish wheels and install new tires, get your fork oil changed, and you have a brand new rolling frame.
The engine will be the biggest deal. Its easy if you follow the service manual. You can tear it down to the base gasket, do gaskets, piston rings, valve seals, head gasket, paint the bottom end, paint the jugs, paint the head/valve cover....you have a fresh engine!
Install engine and then start reinstalling the brakes, electric, controls, ...painting/polishing each part along the way. You will end up with a sharp looker that runs great.
That was a lot of blabber from me, I am sorry. ( oh look, I am still going), lol, The point is you have to have a plan and decide how far you are going to go. You can just do the gaskets and carbs and ride your semi clean bike upgrading/cleaning parts along the way, or actually go all the way. A full rebuild is a long road, I burned out after 2 months on my 1100, then wrapped it up in a few weeks (6 months later) lol
There are really not that many parts to these bikes, you could have a real gem by spring.
just doing carbs, engine gaskets, other minor items route 250-350 bucks
going all the way,-500-600 , neither including new tires.
its amazing how much one can spend on parts,paint, chemicals and shipping throuought the process.eek. Either way, you will have a great bike for under a grand.(maybe)
Sorry for my ramble, just trying to be helpful. I am ADHD (or something similarly wrong with my melon)and I get pretty spazzed out sometimes.

Excellent post, I would certainly add suspension and tires to the safety list.

[spyug]

You should remove the pistons from the bores of the calipers as you will likely find some rust/gunge build up. About 75% of the time, in my experience you may also find pitting or cracking of the chrome on the skirts of the pistons which can cause problems in the future, most notably rust will freeze the piston in place. If you do have these issues, for safety sake, you should replace the pistons.

To get the piston out, the easiest method is to use a shot of high pressure air through the fluid in port. You need to have a fairly tight seal between the airgun tip and the hole to get the pressure up. As it will push the piston out with force it can be dangerous and its a good idea to wrap the whole piston with some towel or shop rags to contain things.

Alternatively, if you can get a grease fitting of the right size to screw in, you can use a grease gun to pump it full and push out the piston. Just make sure to throughly clean the grease out of the caliper afterward.

Another alternative, if you have a spare front master cyclinder with lever or if you take yours off, you can set it up on a bench fill it with fluid and pump it out.

I've used all three methods and in my experience, high pressure air works quickest and easiest, but all methods do work.

Good luck with it.
Spyug

[Tim Tom]

Plenty of excellent advice in this thread already. Probably more than enough to keep you busy fixing things and making the bike run and ride perfect again.

I am very glad to see you are tackling the mechanics first before worrying about how it looks.

I wish you the best of luck on the restoration work!

[Shwartz]

Thanks guys, I decided last week that as much fun as a full rebuild would be (I love the tinkering more than I let on about), I need to have the bike running as well as can be prior to stripping and painting. I want to ride it for next summer first. That way if there are any hidden issues then they come out long before I begin the largest portion of work.
That's why I'm looking at only fixing or replacing what's there to get it back to 100% rather than jacking the engine out this winter. I'm currently just looking at carbs, electrical, brakes, tires, and to get the engine to stop leaking.

We'll see what next week holds.

[Shwartz]

Another alternative, if you have a spare front master cyclinder with lever or if you take yours off, you can set it up on a bench fill it with fluid and pump it out.

I've used all three methods and in my experience, high pressure air works quickest and easiest, but all methods do work.

Spyug

Thought about the air compressor (someone had mentioned that before) but wasn't sure how I would create a good enough seal. I can try it anyways but more interestingly enough, I'm not sure why it didn't occur to me to use the front brake system. It still has fluid in it. I could just temporarily swap the Calipers. I might not even have to bleed them assuming I can still get enough pressure to pop the piston. After all, I was planning on draining the fronts anyways.....huh *stroke chin*.

[loud et]

OK Shwartz....progress report time. lol
Hows the project coming?

[wedoo2]

If you can't get the piston out you can try soaking in PB Blaster, or... take down to the local Midas shop and I'll bet they'll pop it out for you. Mine did once upon a time.

[Shwartz]

OK Shwartz....progress report time. lol
Hows the project coming?

Sorry gents, I've been very busy at work the last 2 weeks and haven't been able to post.

So the brake caliper was a breeze. I simply disconnected the front brake line and used it to push out the pistons. It didn't happen right away as i didn't have any additional brake fluid to refill the reservoir so I used what I had in there and it was just enough pressure to push the pistons 90% out. I then took the caliper back to the bench, and split it again.
Once I had the piston's that far exposed I wrapped a shop rag around the lip of the piston (I didn't pry, I'm not that new to this) to protect it, and just spun the piston inside the caliper. They both just slid out once I did that to them, with very little effort.

So now it's been just sitting there, while I await my o-ring order for the carbs. I also need to order a seal kit for the caliper but that hasn't happened yet due to work obligations.
I will also get pulled away at some point (probably next week) to winterize a boat (November, and we're still waiting for them to pull it out of the water )
That's going to be a cold job.

Will post something when I have time and something to share.

[Shwartz]

So between replacing wheel bearings and tracing ABS wiring shorts on my Buick, and winterizing a boat, I've finally gotten around to placing my gasket order (should be here in 2-3 days), and my O-Ring kit has arrived.
Will be able to now
1) Soak/rebuild carbs (assuming I don't find any further issues like tearing a bowl gasket).
2) Rebuild the brake caliper
3) Re-gasket the engine

Hopefully sometime next week (Maybe the week after) I may be able to get started back at all of this.