1982 GS850gl

[Guest]

Well here I go again, another bike, another build

I am a new fellow around here and hopefully I don’t let anyone down by asking stupid questions (which really there aren’t any, just some which annoy people) and doing crap work.

I picked up my 1982 Suzuki GS850 from a ad on craigslist.

$300 bucks with title and it started right up. It didn’t run the greatest but it started right up which was a step up for me. I have always bought bikes that didn’t run.

It is in rough shape, rust and scale galore.

No big problem in my book, just some elbow action, grease, paint and she will be looking sweet.





















I do plan on changing the bars, building a new seat and most likely doing some carbon fiber work for side panels, headlight and whatever else is necessary.

We shall see, first things first; ensure the bike’s engine will run well.

[blackstag]

Carbs are out and almost disassembled

Man....... some of those scews in the carb bodies were mother truckers to remove......

Either way carbs are out and nearly disassembled.

I noticed that one of the rubber passage plugs was missing when I tore them open. Anyone have a recomendation where to buy them? I see that I can get them on ebay; 4 for $10

I also just bought a few items from cycleorings.com

Mikuni BS series o-ring kit
Intake o-rings 38mm
20mm stainless screws

I plan on changing out all screws to allen head's. I have done enought of these carb rebuilds to know that good hardware will keep the swear words from flying out of my mouth and the project rolling along.

Just as the post above, pics tonight

[Dogma]

Z1 Enterprises is an excellent source. If it's on their site, it's in stock ready to ship. G&S Suzuki is someone I see mentioned a lot lately in a positive way.

Do not go to Bike Bandit, Alpha Sports, etc. They're just expensive.

[Good Times]

Welcome to the forum! I am partial to your bike since I rebuilt mine last year. You can see the build in my signature. I was just thinking about how much I enjoy riding it these days. It's a great bike.

One thing that will garner subscribers to your build thread is good pictures. The more the merrier. So post up some pictures of your bike and the progress you are making.

Also one more bit of advice. Be a proud "L" owner. We catch a lot of flak around here. All in good fun of course.

[eil]

Welcome! I have the 1980 version of your bike. They're quite easy to work on and this community is beyond fantastic.

Can't wait to see some pics!

[blackstag]

i do quite a bit of shopping with z1, good products and pretty good prices.

I ran into a problem yesterday trying to get my float pis out; its simple, they wont come out... I have tried spinning them and cant get a good grip. I have tried using a razor to try and get them to move a bit for me..... I have tried to use a center punch. Nothing!!!!

I had these soaking in PB for a day knowing that this was coming up.

Any suggestions? is there any other way to get the float seat out without removing the float itself?

[Good Times]

Good buy for $300. I don't see anything that can't be fixed. What are your plans? Are you going to restore it to stock, just get it running, or take the saw to it?

On the carbs, you have to take the floats out. Just be careful taking the pins out. The float posts are notorious for braking. That is a pain.

I'm sure you've thought of this, but are you taking them out in the right direction? Soaking them in PB should help a lot.

[eil]

Now I see the pics! She looks to be in about the same shape as mine: rusty but loveable.

Float pins should come out with a punch, just be absolutely certain to put a socket or something underneath the lower pin when you're hammering, otherwise you can break off the post that it goes into. (Not the end of the world if it does, just ends up being one more thing to fix...)

[blackstag]

Yea the float pins....... still working on that one. I swear those were a cake walk on every other project I have worked on, not this one.

As for what I am doing with the bike;

I have a vision to make this a hybrid bike where when its just me riding it will have a different seat, more brat style and when its me and the wife it will have the L seat on it.

because of the pitting in the chrome I am going to carbon fiber some parts. most likely the air box covers, headlight, headlight ears and possibly the front and rear fenders.

it really all depends on how things clean up really. I like to polish things but then again, I have always wanted a vastly black bike.

I am seeing the engine being either black or a dark metallic grey.

Really it all boils down to this; mainly black with modified seat or black and chrome.

I have always been a fan of older things still having that old feel so I usually dont go too heavy on the cleanup of things to get them perfect. we shall see.

Right now my main concern is getting the carbs rebuilt and ensuring that my entire intake system is ready to go so that I can see where I stand on the engines performance.

brakes work so i should be able to cruise around my local streets to see if leaks, smoke or other problems arise.

thanks everyone!

[Good Times]

One thing you will need to do is take that fuel filter off. They typically don't work well with these gravity fed fuel systems.

As far as your brakes are concerned, you probably need to replace those lines as well. Those look fairly original and Suzuki recommended that they be replaced pretty often. You can order up a set of Stainless lines for about the same price as replacing those.

As for the vision for the bike, that sounds like a good idea. You would have a lot of parts to replace to do a proper restoration. I like the brat style bikes.

Onward!

[blackstag]

I have been missing from here lately and I felt that it was time to update everyone on what I have been doing.

Carb Rebuild-

GOT EM TORE DOWN!!


I was finally able to get the float pins out. It took a few “more persuasive than I would like to be” thwaks before any of them came out.

I broke the float post on one of them. NOT MY FAULT!! It already had a crack in it from some previous service I am assuming. Either way, the dam thing broke off.

I poured through the forums looking for everyone’s favorite fix and I settled on the repair of using a piece of 12 Gauge copper wire and a 5/64th drill bit

First I gathered all of my materials
1- Drill
2- 5/64th drill bit
3- 12 gauge copper piece



With everything gathered I measured and marked the center of the broken and the remaining piece of post. (no pic)


I went really slow with the 5/64th bit keeping an eye on my level and ended up with a pretty center hole that went down about 3/8-7/16th deep


I then tapped in a piece of 12 gauge copper


I forgot to take a pictures for my next two steps…. but after this I made a mark on my post at about the 5/16th mark and then I proceeded to cut the wire at the designated spot after lining it up and checking the measurement.


I made a mark on my drill bit and drilled the post until it was the designated stopping point.


I made sure the hole was clean and tapped the post into position. I was already working with expoxy so I put a little on the copper before I tapped it into place.




The post lined up perfectly and feels very sturdy, I am definitely not worried at all.


After this I let them sit till the next day and began to reassemble
(remember, expoxy takes 24hours to truly harden)

pictures and more storry when I get home fellows!

[blackstag]

I had already soaked the carbs in carb cleaner before the post repair but I did another overnight soak because there was still gunk on the outside.

After taking a wire brush to the set they were pretty clean and ready to roll.


I found this paint at a local automotive paint supply store. It is by “plasticote” and is called “cast aluminum” It is a very unique color in that it is slightly metallic with a hint of brown undertones.


Before I began assembly on the carbs I tested the floats to ensure that they did not have any holes. I just tossed them in some water for a few hours per float. Just a little piece of mind you know.


From here I went through and re-assembled the carbs with the O-Ring kit that I purchased earlier. Took a lot longer than disassembly…… I did not replace the original screws on carbs because this is a temporary re-construction. I have since ordered some socket caps for the float bowls ect…. (sorry no pics of the assembled assembly)

Overall the carb rebuild wasn’t anything different than I have done before, the float posts however were the worst that I have ever had to deal with. Learned something from it though!!

Whats next? Airbox repair baby

[blackstag]

So after the carbs were rebuilt I performed a bench synch using a piece of wire, they are pretty close.

I am in the process of building a manometer and have synch adapters on their way along with a motion pro carb aduster tool. I have synched these things using a screwdriver and wrench before and decided that the $15 dollars was worth it.

Either way; carbs were ready to go but my air box was not!

First things first I popped the covers off…..


And this fell out of each..


I pulled out the air filter and found a K&N air filter. SCORE!!


The cage was ugly but I got it cleaned right back up again




I also sanded and added a fresh coat of heat and oil resistant paint to the air box and covers


While tore apart I added some outdoor rubber weather stripping to make this puppy nice and sealed



Before I got ready to put the box on the bike I made sure that my rubber boots were still good to roll, they are still nice and squishy

[blackstag]

and of course my little helper made sure to clean out the breather passage



So at this point, my airbox was up to snuff. My newfound air filter was cleaned and oiled and my carbs were rebuilt.

It was time to throw everything back on and fire it up! Right? WRONG!

While examining the carb intake boots I discovered that two of them were seperating from the metal mounting plate..... not good



at this point I knew I needed new intake boots but I really needed to know the state of the engine, I wanted to see if it leaked anywhere and how it performed mainly.

with this knowledge I threw my hands up and some extra epoxy to seal these things back on.

After a day I went back out and cleaned up the petcock and began to install my carbs and air box

Good help is hard to find till this guy shows up



after some oil and a a wee bit of force the carbs popped into those crappy boots.



I got all the proper cables connected again and almost started the bike.

I decided to replace the oil first because it smelled like it had some gas in it and I am paranoid about other people and their inability to change oil....

I added some marvel mystery oil to the mix and felt like I was ready to roll.

until I discovered my battery was not quite charged

so I waited till the next day to get it fired up. With the charged battery the bike sprang to life and idled quite well considering it was not quite tuned.

I gave it a few minutes then said to hell with it and rode it around the block a few times.

The bike has some nice power and rode very well considering it was not tuned.

I have some popping on deceleration and some hesitation getting off the line. All due to tuning and **** poor carb boots.

The only leak that I found after riding for about 30min was where the RPM tach goes into the motor.

Other than that, the bike ran great and has gotten me excited about the project!

[eil]

Cool beans! Looks like you're doing everything by the book. You'll have it running right and spiffed up in no time. Looking forward to the rest.

I have a little helper too, different gender but just as eager!