1980 GS1000S Reluctant Rebuild

[Kiwi Canuck]

Isn't that comforting, you pay the "professionals" to take care of your car and pay the ridiculous price cause you want it done CORRECTLY and the f you over and don't do what you paid for, seems to be a common trend these days. I had a similar experience with Toyota earlier this summer with my 2010 4 runner. Needless to say I freaked at them and it got rectified but I no longer will let them do any work for me unless it is warranty work.

fjbj40, thanks for your response, I have been intrigued by this topic as I run a serviced based business and I always try to make sure we offer good work and good value to our customers.

I am reasonably happy with the service I get at Mercedes Benz, including the nice lounge with the coffee machine and the awesome courtesy cars, but when I get the invoice I'm usually a bit shocked to say the least.

The warranty service, which I had two or three visits for small electrical issues relating to parking sensors and some safety restraint system was very good.

Not sure why the air filters were missed, it's not that difficult, but also not that easy to change out, as I needed to remove a few pieces of the engine compartment and the top part of the crossover air intake, but it should have been picked up during a maintenance visit, hopefully I never paid for it.

At those prices they should have pretty good mechanics working on my car, but they are probably just like a lot of the larger automotive/motorcycle dealerships were they have one or two very good well trained techs and the rest are either very inexperienced techs just out of some training school or just putting in time. Those are the techs who do the routine service work, which includes changing air filters.

Here's part of the problem as I see it.
For 20-30 years the trades were looked down upon and very few parents or teachers were prepared to have their kids look at a trade as a career choice.
It is changing now days with all the trade based reality TV shows which are bringing new blood into the trades and it's now being promoted by the main stream media. (not sure that's a good thing)
Not to mention how well paid trades people are compared to a university educated person working at a retail store or some junior position in a cubicle.
All those promises of "get a good education, get good marks and you will get into a good university was a big con job.
How long will it be before the new group of apprentices will become competent and proficient? Not sure but it's very hopeful for the future.

Things are changing so fast in my industry that I have to send my techs and support staff to training seminars and workshops for upgrading skills and knowledge, and almost every month we lose 3-4 man days to training, are other industries inundated with new technology that they can barely keep up with? Probably.
When we get a guy who grew up fixing stuff with his Dad and loves working with good tools, I am willing to spend what ever it takes to train them to become proficient in our industry, because they will be easy to train and will usually do an awesome job as they have the basics in their DNA.
When I interview new techs I always ask about what they love doing in their spare time,and what they did growing up for hobbies, (if it's playing video games, the interview will be over within a few minutes) and I ask them to bring their personal tool kit in to the interview.
I can tell a lot by what brand of tools they use and the condition of their tools.

Rant over,

[Kiwi Canuck]

Want to send an E or S to me in Aus mate ??/

Lovely work by the way. very thorough.

Sure, send me your address and I'll send you over a few.

Actually, you may just want to go visit Ozman, I hear he has a few spares.

Thanks for the compliments, they are always appreciated.

Cheers,

[Charlie G]

You have applicants that have tool boxes? I'm lucky if they have a drivers license and no DUI's.

[GregT]

You're dead right about the big gap in the trades educated people. I'm old enough that over 50% of the guys i was at school with went into trades straight out of school - probably similar to you, Dave. From the 80's on at least in NZ, it seems as though more than 50% went to university and from that point less went into apprenticeships or trades training.
It was seen as the alternative - and less desirable - path as guidance counsellors asked "do you really want to get your hands dirty ?"
What they should have been saying was "where there's muck there's brass!"

And yes, when hiring I've always asked about outside interests and made some surprising discoveries too. Some useful even....

[gs58]

Interesting to hear about your vehicle servicing (or lack of). My neighbour (single father) had two Audi's, a Q7 as a work vehicle, and a sedan for weekend driving (the one with the V10 Lamborghini engine). After taking the sedan in for servicing he was told that all of the brake rotors needed to be replaced. He wasn't surprised by this as he does a few track days and drives it reasonably hard, but a few days later he met the mechanic who had done the work outside of work hours and was told that the rotors didn't need replacing, that they were less than half worn, but he was instructed to replace them anyway. Needless to say my neighbour no longer drives Audi's. The Audi dealership refunded the $8,000 for the rotors, and bought both his vehicles from at a very good price for him. I have since heard of similar practices with other garages - hard times, desperate measures?. I don't think that it is a common practice, but in is not an unknown one.

[nikosg]

Pm'd mate, just let me know the import duties and ill sort you.... :P

oo who is Ozman? Is he in Melbourne?

Sure, send me your address and I'll send you over a few.

Actually, you may just want to go visit Ozman, I hear he has a few spares.

Thanks for the compliments, they are always appreciated.

Cheers,

[Kiwi Canuck]

Pm'd mate, just let me know the import duties and ill sort you.... :P

oo who is Ozman? Is he in Melbourne?

Nope, he's in NSW.

Look him up in the members list.

[Kiwi Canuck]

Refurbishing a set of mufflers

I purchased a set of 1979 GS1000L original mufflers from a member and picked them up on Friday from my US mail drop.

I finally got around to unwrapping them today and was hoping they would cleanup OK with the intention of using them as a spare set for my Canadian Cooley or maybe for the Boise Beauty if I decide to run stock pipes on that bike.
I had heard the GS1000L pipe should fit the Cooley with minor adjustments to the rear bracket, so I will know for sure in a few days once I try to install them.

They are OK but # 1 header has a few dents in it so I will need to figure out how to resolve that.

Here's a look at them as I unwrapped them.





These are in need of a good cleaning.
First stop was my simple green wash station for a good soaking and degreasing, and a few parts into the Evaporust bin to soak.

Then onto the polishing wheel for a few laps and then the best polish I know of Autosol, applied by hand with a cheese cloth.

First one almost cleaned.



Getting there,







One of the headers in need of some polishing, I could leave it in Evaporust for 24 hours but the buffing wheel with white compound works OK for this area as it's almost never seen on the under side of the pipe.



Here it is done, just a few minor pits left but plenty good enough.



That's about it for now, I'll update when I get them fitted and let you know how the fitting goes.

[Fjbj40]

All I can say is WOW! Hard to believe they are the same units!

Awsome job mister!

[Charlie G]

Very impressive polishing. I would have never thought You'd get it looking that good. Autosol hugh? I'll have to look for some.

cg

[Kiwi Canuck]

Very impressive polishing. I would have never thought You'd get it looking that good. Autosol hugh? I'll have to look for some.

cg

Thanks Charlie and FJBJ40 for your kind words, I was surprised how well they came up myself after first seeing them.

That Autosol is an awesome product, it costs a few bucks but that one tube I have has lasted me for 4-5 years or more.

Cheers,

[Fjbj40]

It is an awsome product. We use it on aircraft for spinner polishing or anything else that requires a high quality lustre.

Flitz is another great product that returns similar results.

[Nessism]

The pipes look awesome. Hopefully they will bolt right up. The indent for the brake pedal is going to be in the wrong place but I don't think this will matter.

[Fjbj40]

Just came across this set on ebay, painted black though!

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/SUZUKI-GS1000S-1982-Exhaust-Pipe-Muffler-clamp-OEM-GS-1000-/400570637718?pt=Motorcycles_Parts_Accessories&hash=item5d43dedd96&vxp=mtr&_uhb=1

[Kiwi Canuck]

Just came across this set on ebay, painted black though!

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/SUZUKI-GS1000...vxp=mtr&_uhb=1

Those are for a 1982 Katana "S" not sure if they would fit a 1980 GS1000S Cooley.