My first GS ( GS1100GLZ )

[Guest]

Well I finally got to start on my GS1100GLZ, my plan is to do a light (minimal) resto firstly, with a view to a full resto next Winter.






I Checked the lights, horn, indicators all worked fine so went to turn her over but nothing. At this stage I thought perhaps clean the kill switch, but not wanting to spend too much time getting it started, as there will be other issues to deal with. Anyway I decided to keep stripping down first pulled off the 4-1 Motad, it had one oversize bolt and 2 of the other bolts seem cross threaded, so that’s going to be an issue.




Next it seems the wiring above the head seems to have been too close to the cylinder and has cooked some of the wiring and connector, so I guess it will be best to pull out the harness and give it a good going over… I need to find out what I should be testing for, either just continuity, or resistance as well, also what readings I should be expecting…Ideas?






The seems to be an oil leak coming from the boot on the shaft, but I can’t look at that till I have made a proper working space in my shed, so both wheels need to stay on for now.







Air box and carbs off both the air box boots and carb boots are very hard so they will be renewed along with all the rubber tubing. 2 of the carb boots still need to come off but I need some propane to get them off



Headlight switch needs tidying up or simply taking off and wiring the headlight direct….Ideas?








Respray is going to be done next winter.

Next…….
Strip harness, carbs/air box, switchgear
Clear shed space and remove back wheel / shaft
New propane bottle and remove carb boots
Polish off bluing from exhaust , wirewool or polish??? Ideas ??

[londonboards]

Paul - well done for starting your resto thread. I have been waiting to see what you are up to with the new bike.

Exhaust bolts look like mine when they came out but were not oiled enough with penetrating oil or concoction. I think you were lucky you did not snap a couple off. I spent nearly 3 weeks oiling mine up to loosen them. You might just get away with reaming the cylinder head to clean up the threads. Unless you can clean those bolts up perfectly, I would dump them for new ones then see how the head threads are. Not the end of the world.

I am not an expert (as you know) but from what I have read here, cooked wiring is usually because the wires have overheated with excess current load. This is a common GS problem possibly related to the rectifier/regulator and the stator. You will have to read the Stator Papers my friend.

If oil is coming from the boot (and not getting ON the boot from somewhere else) then it could be transmission fluid leaking out of the gearbox through the bevel drive (between the gearbox and the actual shaft) or transmission fluid coming up from the rear wheel hub (just guessing on this one).

I got my carb boots (engine to carbs) at Everett Power Sports but I don't remember paying the price they show now. See if they are available from a Suzuki dealer in the UK. They won't be cheap. I have now also realised that I will have to replace the boots from carbs to airbox as they are as hard as can be as well. It is essential on these machines to get a good seal around everything to do with the air intake and the carbs. It will make the machine super smooth at low revs.

Headlight switch was probably installed so that you could turn off the headlight when starting to give the greatest amount of power to the spark. Your call on that one. If you retain the switch, could you relocate it somewhere less obtrusive?

Good job. I am subscribed!

Greetings

[Paul]

Thanks Richard, hey did you get banged for import duty on your orders, I usually get stung for anything £40 and over, the admin fees tend to be more than the duty. With a couple of exceptions such as cycleorings, braded hoses and other non oem parts, I will make up one long list then order from here http://www.cmsnl.com/suzuki-gs1100-g...001/partslist/ they have almost everything and is within the EU, postal is cheap if I lump it all together in one order. Anyone else used them I'd be interested to hear?

Mid May is when I hope to be pushing the start button again....

Cheers

[Good Times]

Paul, congrats on the new bike. I like the GLZ. I have an 82 850 GLZ that I did a restoration on last year. It was quite a project, but I really enjoyed it and learned a lot. I started much like yourself with wiring issues. You can click on the link in my signature to see what I did. It's a long thread, but you may be able to learn from some of my mistakes.

The best advice I can give is to:
1) Use this forum whenever you have a problem. Be sure to post in the right area.
2) Visit BassCliff's site.
3) When you get frustrated with something, just put it down and walk away. Take a break and then come back to it. Can't tell you how many times I did that and the first thought I had after resting was the solution to the problem.
4) Keep at it and don't give up.

You are really going to like that bike when you finish it.

[retcol]

Welcome to the forum Paul and congratulations on your project. I recently restored a 83 GS1100G and now I bought a 82 GS1100GL basket case. These old bikes are so much fun to restore, but don't get frustrated over bumps in the road as you go along this journey. I don't know if I have electrical issues or not with my GL since my wiring harness is still laying on the floor! ha ha Good luck with your project and don't hesitate to ask for help. Everybody on this forum is more than willing to answer questions and offer advice. Keep us posted with pics on your progress.

[Paul]

Hey Guys thank you for the warm welcome!! OK since my last post I’ve done a little more stripping and thought again about the resto, I don’t think a light resto is the way to go as I hate the thought of putting parts back on the bike that aren’t perfect (ish). I continued with the strip down and all’s going OK….. Having thought on colour and think metallic blue and black rather than the stock tight metallic silver not sure yet, your views are appreciated! Coils were stock and showed 4.2 ohms primary and nothing secondary which doesn’t upset me as I’d planned to upgrade anyway

I’m going to pull out the motor….and thinking I will powder coat it, along with the frame and brakes, Is this a sensible thing to do?



Carb strip n clean all went well apart from one mixture screw that is still in, it does move but I just joined the gym and hope to get it out before the rebuild, the jets looked original though the 4=1 had been fitted recently (I think) so I’ll be looking at that again once the bike is running







I loosened off the screws first before letting my girl loose on the carbs






two 20 min cleans




sweet!





I love these boxes!

[Good Times]

Looks great Paul. What kind of sonic cleaner is that?

Everything sounds good on the plan. The only thing I heard that I may question is powder coat on the motor. Not sure it will stand the heat over the long haul. I would also be concerned about "insulating" an air cooled motor by powder coating it. I powder coated my frame and various other parts. Love how they turned out.

Most folks on here will paint their motors. I like the result with mine.

[londonboards]

Paul just a little something about the way you post. If you look at your above post in the Hybrid View, you will see that it is a sub thread of a previous post. This kinda makes it look like a comment on a previous thread rather than a "main" posting by the thread owner.

I can see by what you are doing that you have a tidy mind (man those compartmentalised boxes are simply OCD overload - I love it!) and that this thread is going to be good and long. For a big posting like this, click on the "Post Reply" button on the left. This sets your post up as a "Thread" rather than a "message" or "reply" to another thread (if you see what I mean). Turn on Hybrid view and see the box that shows the thread layout at the start. You can see what I mean.

When I have a done a posting like this by mistake, I copy the whole posting that I have made, then delete it, then paste it into a "Post Reply". All neat and tidy and very easy for some one to follow, especially if they are reading your thread in Hybrid view (I use Linear but sometimes get lost!).

I am receiving treatment for this "neatness" disorder. The doctor told me to take up bike fettling!

Greetings

P.S. And posting at 2.54 am! Well being a family man you should get some rest my friend. Or are you now smitten like the rest of us?

[Charlie G]

Glad to see your making some progress.

cg

[londonboards]

And now a reply to the thread.

It's great to see you have decided to go the whole hog. I was exactly the same as you when I started. I had no idea where the project was going to take me (tart up or total strip down) and no idea of where it would lead. Now I am 200 plus days into it, the choices do not get any easier but what is starting to kick in is the budget. I have spent £1,500 already and no painting, plating or rebuilding has been done yet! If I go on at this rate I could be looking at £5K (£1k painting, £1K plating and so on). It's not just the parts but also the tools, chemicals, little plastic boxes, new workbench, trips to shows, unnecessary eBay purchases (remember that £50 box of GS bits I bought?) and magazines (nearly £15 per month). This is getting totally out of control. No wonder I have not posted any progress recently. I am broke. And why did I buy ANOTHER set of exhaust pipes (they were a good price at £52 and look much better than the last lot I bought for £150. I had to have them shipped to my brother in Texas as they wouldn't do overseas shipping. He will send them on for another £75). This has got to stop!

Powder coating motor: I would have reservations about this too. Not had any experience yet but I have done a ton of research (see my Ultimate GS Thread which shows all the best 1000/1100 rebuilds over the last couple of years which are relevant to our rebuilds) and I would go with VHT paint from a can. I am going to have to go with black paint if I want to keep to the original but you can go with bare metal (after vapour blasting perhaps) or you can paint it with one of the "aluminium" effect paints out there. You could go with something like this: http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum...69024#poststop

Carbs: good job on the carbs with the US. I too want to know where you got it, how much and what chemicals you used. It has to be my next purchase. I had to use someone else's after my carbs were vapour blasted and filled with grit. Yours look to have come out very nicely. Hope you did all the internal little bits as well. I bought carb rebuild kits probably unnecessarily as in reality most of the internal parts and jets are in OK condition (bought the parts before I did the stripping - not the best way to do it!) and many on this forum do not rate the kits very highly.

Great that you have an assistant carb rebuilder.

My next job for the carbs is to do the plating on the gang bars and other bits of hardware. I also have the new hex bolts for the tops and bottoms. Very nice touch.

So good to see you doing an almost exact same job as me. We have to plan to meet up before, during or after we are both done.

Greetings

[Paul]

Paul just a little something about the way you post. If you look at your above post in the Hybrid View, you will see that it is a sub thread of a previous post. This kinda makes it look like a comment on a previous thread rather than a "main" posting by the thread owner.

I can see by what you are doing that you have a tidy mind (man those compartmentalised boxes are simply OCD overload - I love it!) and that this thread is going to be good and long. For a big posting like this, click on the "Post Reply" button on the left. This sets your post up as a "Thread" rather than a "message" or "reply" to another thread (if you see what I mean). Turn on Hybrid view and see the box that shows the thread layout at the start. You can see what I mean.

When I have a done a posting like this by mistake, I copy the whole posting that I have made, then delete it, then paste it into a "Post Reply". All neat and tidy and very easy for some one to follow, especially if they are reading your thread in Hybrid view (I use Linear but sometimes get lost!).

I am receiving treatment for this "neatness" disorder. The doctor told me to take up bike fettling!

Greetings

P.S. And posting at 2.54 am! Well being a family man you should get some rest my friend. Or are you now smitten like the rest of us?

I see the layout better now, thanks

Sunday evening went pear shaped, as I only drink on birthdays, funerals, weddings, camping and special occasions, my sister came to visit so I went out and got drunk with her, then spent most of monday in bed so my sleep pattern was messed up, I remember seeing my painter and advanced him £40 as he was skint, so I need to drop off the bits to him now and get going with that, I have decided to keep the same colours and have the gold decals hand painted on

Looks great Paul. What kind of sonic cleaner is that?

Everything sounds good on the plan. The only thing I heard that I may question is powder coat on the motor. Not sure it will stand the heat over the long haul. I would also be concerned about "insulating" an air cooled motor by powder coating it. I powder coated my frame and various other parts. Love how they turned out.

Most folks on here will paint their motors. I like the result with mine.

I will opt for a silver VHT paint, and polished alloy, I will probably zinc coat the frame before powdering for good measure.

The ultrasonic cleaner is a 6.5litre 300mm x 150 x150 generic chinese made bought from ebay works well!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1-7G-6-5L-Professional-Digital-Stainless-Ultrasonic-Cleaner-Heating-with-Drain-/400352660739?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item5d36e0cd03

And now a reply to the thread.

It's great to see you have decided to go the whole hog. I was exactly the same as you when I started. I had no idea where the project was going to take me (tart up or total strip down) and no idea of where it would lead. Now I am 200 plus days into it, the choices do not get any easier but what is starting to kick in is the budget. I have spent £1,500 already and no painting, plating or rebuilding has been done yet! If I go on at this rate I could be looking at £5K (£1k painting, £1K plating and so on). It's not just the parts but also the tools, chemicals, little plastic boxes, new workbench, trips to shows, unnecessary eBay purchases (remember that £50 box of GS bits I bought?) and magazines (nearly £15 per month). This is getting totally out of control. No wonder I have not posted any progress recently. I am broke. And why did I buy ANOTHER set of exhaust pipes (they were a good price at £52 and look much better than the last lot I bought for £150. I had to have them shipped to my brother in Texas as they wouldn't do overseas shipping. He will send them on for another £75). This has got to stop!

Powder coating motor: I would have reservations about this too. Not had any experience yet but I have done a ton of research (see my Ultimate GS Thread which shows all the best 1000/1100 rebuilds over the last couple of years which are relevant to our rebuilds) and I would go with VHT paint from a can. I am going to have to go with black paint if I want to keep to the original but you can go with bare metal (after vapour blasting perhaps) or you can paint it with one of the "aluminium" effect paints out there. You could go with something like this: http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum...69024#poststop

Carbs: good job on the carbs with the US. I too want to know where you got it, how much and what chemicals you used. It has to be my next purchase. I had to use someone else's after my carbs were vapour blasted and filled with grit. Yours look to have come out very nicely. Hope you did all the internal little bits as well. I bought carb rebuild kits probably unnecessarily as in reality most of the internal parts and jets are in OK condition (bought the parts before I did the stripping - not the best way to do it!) and many on this forum do not rate the kits very highly.

Great that you have an assistant carb rebuilder.

My next job for the carbs is to do the plating on the gang bars and other bits of hardware. I also have the new hex bolts for the tops and bottoms. Very nice touch.

So good to see you doing an almost exact same job as me. We have to plan to meet up before, during or after we are both done.

Greetings

My daughter goes to South Africa for a month to visit her mum in the summer, I plan to do some touring in the summer when I'm up n running, so I'll try and visit you in August.

The cleaning solution (ebay) is a metal cleaner cost £25 for a gallon 10:1 mix, I use 400ml per bath

I wont be buying new carb kits, just need new gaskets, hex bolts, orings kits and a jet kit if I run too lean, then polishing the tops and bowls....who did you buy your bolts from Richard?

As for cost, I'm doing OK so far, . I am mostly tooled up now. I still want to build a powder coat oven but that project is on hold now, my next big purchase is a compressor big enough to sand blast with, my student grant lands in my account later on in the month, so I might blast the frame myself and buy a polishing air attachment this month

[londonboards]

No I have never had to pay import duty. I guess I am lucky. Let me know how you get on with CMSL.

Greetings

[londonboards]

Flipping heck old boy. Compressors, sand blasting, powder coating oven. Man you are going the whole hog. That student grant is spent. I think I need to come over to yours!

This is getting serious. Do you know what you are doing?

Greetings

[Paul]

I need all this gear as I have lots of use for it, this is all new ground for me, as I've moved around alot I've lost all my tools and started from fresh collecting them again last year. I will have my GN250 to sort out next also a 1960s Dumper truck, two and a half British Anzani Iron horses, plus keeping my car and quad serviced, so lots to keep my busy.. Al my study will be finished mid may till october so I will take on some paid work to top up my finances

[Paul]

will do,

I ordered some hondabond today to repair a couple of small cracks on the diaphram of my 250, give me a shout if you need any