81 650E Refurb

[MAJikMARCer]

Oil change day

Well, decided to take care of my last project for the summer (still need to tune the carbs), changing the oil. Except it was a bit more than that.

I have wanted to remove the clutch cover to get at the oil fill glass since I bought the bike. The glass and metal cage behind it were so dirty that I could barely see the oil level. I wanted to rectify that, as well as polish up the cover.

No problem draining the oil and removing the filter. Those went well. Thankfully.

Went to remove the clutch cover. Every screw was really tight. With a good philips bit and a few adapters I used my socket wrench for leverage. Worked a charm on all but two. Those two...well they were stubborn to say the least. In the end I had to drill the heads off of them. Once the cover was off, the remaining posts came out with little difficulty with vice grips.

Cleaned the cover and the oil glass. The metal cage behind the class was difficult to reach, even with Q-Tips, but I got it to the point that it's usable now. I'm pretty happy with the results. I also polished up the aluminum, after removing what was left of the old clear coat. I didn't shine it up to the standards I've seen on GSR, but I'm happy with it.

I also cleaned, primed and painted the oil filter cover and nuts. It'll probably be the cleanest looking part of the engine for now, but I figured what the hell since I had it off.

Then to start buttoning things up... well...

The oil drain plug went back in without a problem. The filter cover still needs more time to cure, so that's not going on yet. The clutch cover... UGH.

Grabbed my new gasket that I ordered over the winter with other parts. It's not the right one!

There are two part number stickers on the gasket. One is the 3rd party number: 11482-47000-H17. This is the correct part number for my gasket. However the SGP sticker has 11482-49000-H17, with the 49000 marked out. What the? I wish I would have noticed this a lot sooner.



Hopefully Boulevard will be cool about this. Regardless, until I get a replacement the oil change is paused. Sheesh. If it's not one thing...

[MAJikMARCer]

Thankfully Brad at Boulevard has got me covered and a new gasket will be on the way ASAP.

[MAJikMARCer]

Status update

Got the proper clutch cover gasket and the cover is reinstalled! Went back on without a problem. Now if I more than just a quart of oil. Oops.

So after cleaning up the garage I got the used parts for the front lined up. I got a new (used) headlight bucket and new 'ears' since the old left side had been bent. Must have been a bit of a drop to bend it. The old bucket has been bent out of shape badly and the light veers to the left too. I don't ride at night, or at least I haven't yet, so this hasn't been a problem yet, but it's a project for the off season.

When I ordered the new bucket off ebay I thought I had a pretty good deal. I think it was about $15. Unfortunately when I got it, it had damage. The pictures on ebay had not shown any of that damage. Luckily when I emailed the seller he refunded my money right away and told me to just keep it. Guess his seller rep was more important that fighting over $15.

So here is the damage. There is some blistering of the plastic on the top right, as well as a small bend in on one of the tabs. The blistering I'm guessing I could fill and sand down and then paint the whole bucket, but what about the bend?



I tried using my heat gun but it didn't really help. Thoughts? I really don't know how noticeable it'll be once it's on the bike or if the headlight ring will compress it back into shape either. I really just don't want to spend the $50 to buy a new OEM bucket.

Oh yea...the heat gun died too. Harbor Freight ($8). Going to see if I can get it replaced. I knew that for $8 not to expect much, but I did expect it to work more than once! LOL

[MAJikMARCer]

I'm still a ways before I get to paint, but I've been thinking about this ever since I saw this bike:


I'm thinking about doing something similar, but with a blue frame, kinda a Cooley homage, with a nod to the GSXRs. The nod will be a Suzuki in Katakana (スズキ) on the tank. I'll use the GSXR R style as a model.
Here is a really quick and rough example of what I mean. I still have a lot more work to do to it. I did this in only about 10 minutes.


Not certain how it's going to look yet, so that's not set in stone, but I'm really liking the blue and white idea.

I've not seen many GSs that didn't have black frames though.

[MAJikMARCer]

Carb tuning

Well I still haven't vacuum synched but I was able to do some manual adjustment of the air/mix and shes running much better. I had her WAY too rich. After some plug chop runs the plugs are looking much better and she's running smoother too.

I've noticed some rear end squirrleness for awhile. It wasn't something I noticed all the time so I figured it was because of my old shocks, which are (were) next on my shopping list, but today it was just a bit more pronounced. When I got home and put the bike up on the center stand and gave the back wheel a jiggle, WAY too much movement. It's not the wheel bearings, but the swing arm. Guessing that shouldn't cost a ton, but I don't have a press so I'll probably have to take it someplace to have them set.

Any brand recommendations or gotchas I need to be aware of?

[MAJikMARCer]

Carbs are now vacuum synched! Wooo!

I think it's going to be suspension next. The forks are pretty worthless.