Naked Cooley

[GSJim]

I wish I had that much space (and heat) in my garage!

The other GSJim

[nvr2old]

Nice to see the amount of attention you're paying your bike. It's gonna be a huge improvement on what looked like a really nice bike to begin with. As a painter, though..you're killin' me by not correcting the color scheme on the tail and seat trim sections..

[GS Jim]

Haha, life is too short to sweat the small stuff , but hey Larry - I might have need for your very significant skills. Look to the left of the last picture. There lies the guts of my next project and I will need a custom paint job.

Seriously, I have a question for you all: When reinstalling the front wheel yesterday, I was uncertain as to the correct positioning of the speed drive unit. Fooling around with it, I concluded the most "natural" position was HORIZONTAL with respect with the position of the speedo drive pick-up. Correct?

[tatu]

Haha, life is too short to sweat the small stuff , but hey Larry - I might have need for your very significant skills. Look to the left of the last picture. There lies the guts of my next project and I will need a custom paint job.

Seriously, I have a question for you all: When reinstalling the front wheel yesterday, I was uncertain as to the correct positioning of the speed drive unit. Fooling around with it, I concluded the most "natural" position was HORIZONTAL with respect with the position of the speedo drive pick-up. Correct?

Just so long as it follows a nice steady curve is good.

[GS Jim]

Thx Tatu, that's what I thot. The curve in the speedo cable looked most "natural" with the speedo drive near level.

[GS Jim]

Engine Installation

With a little (OK, a LOT of) help from my friends saints Peter and Paul, the olde gal has her guts back in.



Here's Paul at work



A QUESTION: No matter what we tried we couldn't get the airbox back in. We tried different arrangements: carbs first, airbox first, angling the engine, all to no avail. What's the trick to getting the stock airbox back in guys???

Lest you think all I did was wield the camera and pass the wrenches .... after Peter and Paul left I decided to instal the drive chain only to realized it was not correctly positioned when I reinstalled the swing arm a while back!

Off came the rear wheel, swing arm, rear caliper, etc. Two hours later everything is back together again.

[Vmass]

Looking fantastic!!

When I installed my carbs/airbox I installed the the carbs last.

Keeping the airbox loose, I first put the front of the carbs in, sraddled the bike and twisted them up into the airbox. Mine actually popped in, without any issues. All of my boots were new, which helped.

[nvr2old]

I, too, put the carbs in last. I bungeed the airbox as far back as I possibly could..a LOT of pressure on it to hold it back far enough to slide the carbs in and then pushed the airbox onto them after the carbs were secured to the intakes. A little WD40 on the airbox rubbers helps, too. It's a pain, but it works.

[John Kat]

The trick is also to keep the carbs horizontal
It also pays to install the throttle cables before sliding the carbs in place

[GS Jim]

Thx guys will give it another try, though I fear poor Pippin (aka the Pooch) is learning far too many 4-letters words lately.

[azr]

Things are looking GREAT! some good tips on the carb install, if you boots are a bit on the hard side I usually soften them up with a heat gun a bit, always helps to 'shove' the carbs back in. A note about the speed drive, it should have an arrow on it that points up, but like already stated it's about the angle.

[mpencegs]

Can you use the trick where you move the mud guard out of its holder and back to create more room for the aibox.. Works a peach on my 450..

[BigD_83]

Nice to see the amount of attention you're paying your bike. It's gonna be a huge improvement on what looked like a really nice bike to begin with. As a painter, though..you're killin' me by not correcting the color scheme on the tail and seat trim sections..

Jim,

you could always fork out the $$$$ for this:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Suzuki-GS1000-tailpiece-rear-cowl-1979-1980-Wes-Cooley-tail-piece-NOS-rare-80-/261170932009?pt=Motorcycles_Parts_Accessories&hash=item3ccf002929&vxp=mtr

[GSJim]

Jim,

you could always fork out the $$$$ for this:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Suzuki-GS100...002929&vxp=mtr

And then we can borrow it because the S is the pure red sample that we need for our GS650s.

The other GSJim

[gsrick]

Looking sweet

Jim,

you could always fork out the $$$$ for this:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Suzuki-GS100...002929&vxp=mtr

I've bought my last three bikes for less than the, "Buy it now" price.

I've just been reading your build, The bikes I get are dead on arival and can only hope to look as nice as what you started with.

Looking forward to your air box carb solution, I picked up one to replace the pods on Suzy, my '78 1000C.

Still can't believe your frame has brush on paint. Any chance of a shot of the paint can. I've used VHT rattle can rollbar epoxy and Dupli Colour Paint Shop spray gun laquer and have been happy with the results, but the overspray from painting tubing results in alot of wasted material.

Do you know what was used on the engine?

Keep up the good work.