82 GS1100G repair/restore/mod project

[Guest]

So I bought this bike from a guy in Atlanta off Craigslist this past April for $500. He was trying to make it run without the use of a battery (jumper cables only off his car) and without an airbox. After installing a battery and some fresh fuel it fired up and ran but not very well. Since then I have installed an airbox, dipped and rebuilt carbs, replaced intake boot o-rings (even though mine didn't look bad), replaced petcock, replaced spark plugs, rebuilt front brake calipers and flushed fluid, replaced front wheel bearings, replaced coils, replaced handlebars with superbike bars, installed some turn signals that I had laying around (came off a Triumph TT600 that I once owned) and did a Harley muffler swap (got them free from a friend that works at local Harley shop) . It runs good now but not perfect, still needs some carb tuning i think. Also have discovered the charging system is not working. Im pretty sure the stator & R/R are toast. Now since I have a new baby coming any day now, I figured I would go ahead and tear it apart and get ready to clean & paint everything over the next few months. Hopefully I can get it back together in time for spring. I must also say a big THANKS to everyone on GSR (especially BassCliff's page) for all the helpful info I have found. There's no way I could have gotten anywhere near this far with this project without you guys!!

Here is a pic when I bought it:


After work I've done before tear down:


Pic today:

[wedoo2]

It sure was fun to see your tear down process
Don't we wish it was that easy? Good luck on the baby.

[motomike]

It sure was fun to see your tear down process
Don't we wish it was that easy? Good luck on the baby.

Yea sorry about the lack of tear down pics but it really didn't take all that long to get it apart. About 6 hrs last Sunday and about 4 more today.

Thanks, my wife and I are really excited about our soon to be new addition!

[londonboards]

Yes that was a brilliant job Mine was not so easy:

Engine removal video: Blog Engine Video

Engine removal pics: Blog Engine Pics

Now tell me what's next? Are you going for any type of engine blasting? My GS1100 G has black painted engine which is half coming off - so lots of work to do on that. Also what are you going to do to the frame?

Greetings

[motomike]

Now tell me what's next? Are you going for any type of engine blasting? My GS1100 G has black painted engine which is half coming off - so lots of work to do on that. Also what are you going to do to the frame?

Greetings

I'm still tossing ideas around in my head but for sure I am going to sandblast the frame and repaint in satin chassis black. The engine will be mostly all satin black with only the case cover emblems, chrome cam cover trims and starter cover left as factory. I'm going to sandblast the headers and attempt to repaint them in hi-heat aluminum color (wish me luck). As for the body color, I am still trying to decide on a color so I think I'll keep that a secret til the bike is finished.
I really want to do an USD front end conversion on the bike but I'm not sure how it will look on a G model without being able to change the rear wheel. Besides that I really have to keep my expenses in check as well.

[motomike]

So I've made a little progress on the engine so far. I checked the valve clearances (thanks to Steve and his awesome spreadsheet) and found every one was tight except for #1 exhaust valve that was way loose. After swapping shims around I got all the exhaust valves in spec, now I gotta order shims for the intake side along with gaskets, half moons and such. Since I'm broke and have some time I have been cleaning the engine and getting ready for painting. I already painted the valve cover just to see if I like the satin black and I do. Also I dipped the nasty, greasy, rusty valve cover bolts in carb dip just to see what would happen and the results were quite good. So next up is to prime and paint the engine so once that's done I'll have some more pics up.

Valve cover painted satin black




Checking valve clearance


Cleaning...


More cleaning (see you can find a use for a chain cleaning brush with a shaft drive bike! lol)

[LarryJ]

Looks like you are making some fine progress. You certainly are moving along faster than I did with mine.
How do those Harley mufflers sound compared to the original exhaust?

[motomike]

Thanks, they are a little bit louder than factory but not much. Not sure about performance yet, haven't really ridden it since I fitted them.

[motomike]

Making some progress this weekend. I got the frame sandblasted Thursday evening (sorry no pics but I was under a time constraint) then got the frame in primer last night & today. Hopefully if its not too cold tomorrow I can get some paint in the frame tomorrow.

[motomike]

Fortunately it warmed up just enough to get the frame painted. Next up will be engine painting.

[motomike]

So I have made a little more progress on the engine. I got the valve adjustment complete, every valve was tight except one that was loose. I also cleaned and repainted the engine. Let me know what yall think.

[londonboards]

Over here we would call that "tasty".

Good job.

Greetings

[GateKeeper]

Very nicely done.....

[motomike]

Thanks guys, I appreciate it.

[Zjohn661]

That engine is beautiful. Nice work.