1980 GS1000S Reluctant Rebuild

[Kiwi Canuck]

Hi Dave

I may have missed this -- did the L pipes fit ok -- any mods required?

Nope, you didn't miss anything Mike.

I have not tried the "L" pipes yet, but will be test fitting them either this weekend or the next as the Canadian Cooley is not running very well yet.
Lots of popping and a slight back fire on both sides during warm-up and it doesn't get much better once warm.

I'm going to move the entire carbs and airbox assembly over from the Boise Beauty and see if the problem goes away.
That way I can isolate the problem to the carbs/air box side or the exhaust that's leaking, once I've done that I'll try the pipes.


Cheers,

David

[Kiwi Canuck]

In order to prime your carbs using the leverless petcock, you first must turn the petcock slot to the appropriate position then draw a vacuum on the vacuum port. A bump from the starter should be all you need to get the fuel to start flowing. The petcocks back cover has a rubber check valve that holds the vacuum once you get that pulse. To turn off the prime turn the slot back to the run position. Problem comes in because the check valve often fails. In order to prime the carbs then you need to crank and crank. I bought a brand new petcock and it was bad right out of the box. Didn't realize until much later though. Everytime the bike sat around for a week or so it took extended and protracted grinding on the starter to fill the float bowls. Not sure if this is the case here but you might want to check.

Good luck

Ed, I never did find out what the problem was, but I probably caused the problem by working on it when I should have been sitting down relaxing and enjoying a well earned beer
I think I tried to start it with the fuel cock in the wrong position and by the time I turned it to prime my battery was almost done, as I posted before once the battery was charged it started first go.

[Kiwi Canuck]

Swapping parts

I have not been happy with the way the Canadian Cooley was running, it was popping and backfiring and was not getting any better with time, so I hatched a plan to switch a few parts to see if I could find out were the problem was.
From my research it was either, a carb issue, or an air leak from either the carb side or the exhaust side. (or something electrical)

Today I managed to get an hour or so in the garage, so I pulled the carbs, air plenum and air box out of the Canadian Cooley and did the same on the Boise Beauty, installed the entire package from the Boise Beauty on to the Canadian Cooley and rigged up the temp fuel supply.
Double checked everything and then hit the starter, she fired right up and ran much better, no back firing or popping.

My conclusion, either the carb rebuild I did was not good or I have some air leaks from the new boots and the rear clamps that wouldn't tighten up properly.
To eliminate the carbs as the issue, I've pulled them apart and will dip them in Berrymans this time and check all the jets again.

I have rebuilt 3 sets since I did this set which was my first set and I'm pretty sure I missed a few things first time around.

What a difference today, as I managed to pull 2 sets of carbs, reinstall 1 set, test the bike, reinstall everything back to normal on the Boise Beauty and strip down a set of carbs and get the first one in the dip all in about 90 mins.
That took the better part of a day last time I did that and I didn't swap any parts.

I will soak the carbs for about 1-2 hours each, as I've checked how long it takes the Berrymans to soften up the gunk and it seems to take about 1 hour max and the really thick stuff was completely softened on the last set I did, these are pretty clean, so I'm sure that will be enough time.

I did the BB carbs and only dipped them for about an hour or so each and they work really well.

Should have them all back together by tomorrow as I don't have too much other work planned for this long weekend.

[Kiwi Canuck]

More tinkering

I got the Canadian Cooley carbs completed today, checked all the o-rings I replaced recently and all were still good, except the ones on the needle valve seat had white stuff around them, not sure if it was the synthetic grease I used, but it was dry and not greasy at all.
I cleaned it all off and reassembled everything and will test them tomorrow.

I also polished the caps and bowls to make them look nice.

Will post some photos later as I better spend some time with the family now that's all done.

[HaggisHombre]

Good luck I hope that solves your problem. I am rebuilding my GS1000 and I have the carbs mostly apart. I was going to try and get away without dipping, but I have changed my mind and will dip.

[Kiwi Canuck]

Here's a photo of the finished carbs from the Canadian Cooley, notice I've connected all the hoses and got the choke connected to the correct carb all while still on the bench.



I can not install them yet as I'm doing a plastic repair on the air box plenum, one of the screws that hold the chrome side covers on has stripped out and I'm trying a plastic repair product from Caswell's, it needs 195 F for it to cure, but it's still sticky and I'm sure I've had it that hot, gave it a blast from my MAP gas torch this morning so hopefully that will be enough to set it off.
Once that is done I will refit everything and see if I've cured the backfiring issue.

Finished putting the Boise Beauty back together, but still did not get the swing arm bushings yet, so I had to improvise as I couldn't get the bike outside to test it, so I found an old piece of 4" PVC pipe and made a 10' extension, worked pretty well.





And the bike runs well so that was good, just waiting on parts.

[Kiwi Canuck]

Chores and more chores today

Took some time out today to take care of a few chores to prepare for the coming winter, it usually sneaks up on me and I'm scrambling to winterize things at the 11th hour, so today I got a few things done even though I really wanted to be working on the bikes.

I enrolled my son's in helping with the chores and we ended up spending about 5 hours working together, it was a great day.

Mowed lawns, cleaned all the driveways and paths, winterized the outdoor hoses and the sprinkler system, 15 zones and 76 sprinkler heads to blow out.

I had made up a rubber bung for the shut off tap and would push the bung in and pressurize the system and run each zone at a time to blow the water out, problem was if I needed to adjust my position and I lost my hold on the bung it would pop out and I would have water blowing everywhere in the mechanical room.
It was time to improve the setup, so today I went through my plumbing spares and found enough parts to cobble something together but needed a small ball valve as all mine were 1/2 or 3/4" and I needed something with threaded ends.

I dropped by our local automotive store and picked up the ball valve and a few pieces to assemble a shutoff that would connect directly to the compressor.
I could then run the controls from the sprinkler system and not get the whole place soaked myself included.

Here's the fine contraption I got to make up, the brass reducer was threaded on both sides but I needed to solder it onto the copper pipe, so I needed to file out the threads by hand as I had no drill the right size and a suitable lathe is still on my wish list.

Finally got it done and here's the result, she's a beauty and worked like a charm.





And just because we were on a roll, washed and vacuumed both cars, now the boys are off to their swimming lessons so I get a bit of relaxing time.

[Charlie G]

I use something like that when I need to empty a hot water heater fast. Great idea!

cg

[Kiwi Canuck]

Well I'm officially stumped, the Canadian Cooley just doesn't seem to want to run properly.
I have switched the carbs and airbox from the Boise Beauty and the bike seemed to run well, no back firing or popping.
I put the CC carbs and airbox back on and the engine seems to be popping from #3 cylinder, #3 header pipe took slightly longer to come up to temperature as well.

I'm really losing my patience a little with this and definitely frustrated that it's taking this much time to figure this out.

I'm still waiting on new GS1000L rear air boot clamps which may help but I suspect it could be the seals around the butterfly valve shaft as I've tried almost everything else.

Well at least I have the winter to figure it out as the Boise Beauty should be back on the road shortly, as I heard from Brent at Boulevard that the last parts from my order arrived last Friday and should be on it's way here this week.

Also the plastic repair kit I bought from Caswell's didn't work at all, I've followed the instructions and the repair on the airbox is still soft and goopy, so not sure what's up with that, need to find a better solution.
I will try the plastex stuff MS Kiwi used on his Cooley mirrors and console.

[GregT]

Sounds like you've got a blockage in the choke or idle circuit of #3 carb.

Even after dipping etc it's still possible.

May also be an air leak on #3 - have another look at the choke plunger and associated rubber bits on that one. Checked diaphragms for splits ?

You'll get there...

[Kiwi Canuck]

News update

Well, I'm a bit embarrassed, I didn't mean to abandon my rebuild thread this long.

I have been working on my cars lately, new brakes for the front of the ML and new rear brakes for the Enclave.
I have been chasing a problem with Check Engine Light on the Mercedes which comes on when the fuel goes down to below 3/4 tank, trouble codes are fuel rail pressure related, I've been getting conflicting information.
One "expert" at a shop told me I needed a new fuel pump, but when I went into Mercedes to check pricing and availability they said "that's highly unlikely as we've never sold one, probably a faulty sensor".
Car seems to run fine, but just annoying having the CEL on unless I fuel up all the way to the top.
It also has a small oil leak in the Steering Rack and an OEM rebuild seal kit costs over $500 so I've been researching if I can find a rebuilt unit and replace it myself. Big learning curve so far and I'm reluctant to go to the dealer as the labour to re-re the steering rack is 9.5hrs @$140 hr. plus parts. Seems strange that a 5 year old 100,000 KM car would need this work already. Warranty ran out a year ago.


Anywho back to the Cooley's, I was waiting on parts and they seemed to be taking ages to get here.
Apparently they were still waiting on a few items to show up so I phoned Brent at Boulevard and asked if he could ship what they have right away, which he agreed to.
Then nothing showed up and after 2 weeks I contacted Brent and he gave me a tracking number, I though he probably forgot to send the parcel, I was wrong, seems the package sat in Customs for about 10 days in Toronto and when the package finally arrived it was Christmas break and I was busy with the cars and with family stuff and had no time for the bikes.

I finally opened the package earlier this week to see what I'd received, and found my swing arm bearing and bushing I'd been waiting for what seemed like months.

Took me a while to get things cleaned up and find where I'd left off with the Boise Beauty, the swing arm and all the pieces had been moved a few times so once I'd found everything I got to work installing the new bearing.

No photos as this was pretty greasy work and I didn't want to mess up the camera.
I was just about to press the bearing into the swing arm when I remembered the center spacer, pulled it out of the can of diesel it had been soaking in for the last month or so and after cleaning it up dropped it in and then pressed the bearing in with a long pipe clamp with a piece of wood to protect the bearing surface. Would have been a big hassle if I’d forgotten to put the spacer in, not sure if I could’ve got the bearing out without damaging it.
It seated in nicely, I then greased up the bushing and the end caps, assembled them onto the swing arm and got ready to put the swing arm back in the bike.
I used my floor jack to hold it in place while I got the bolt ready to install, but just before I did that I checked to see if I needed anything else, all looked good so put it together and bolted it up only to realize I’d forgotten to install the chain. (no master link) Pulled it apart and got the chain installed and got it all back together.
I torque the nut to the correct torque and tested the swing arm for play, it had no sideways play at all and I realised it was in there solid with no up and down play either.
I pulled it back out to investigate, the bearings were seated correctly, so I used a flat edge to see if the bushing sat proud of the bearings but it was too hard to tell, but obviously there was an issue with the total width of the spacer and bushings, so the only thing to do was to find a spacer or make one.
Couldn’t find a suitable spacer but I did find a brass washer the right diameter but needed to open the center hole up which I did with a series of round rat tail files and then I needed to thin it to just under a millimetre.
A lathe would have come in very handy, but that’s still on my wish list.
My locksmith apprenticeship training serves me well from time to time, as I was not allowed to use any key machines (manual or electric) for the first year and I was required to hand file all the safe deposit box, mortise and safe keys I made, then each set of keys oiled and then placed in a cotton cloth bag, at the time I thought it was a waste of my time but the old school way has it benefits as I became very good with hand tools as a result.
I have always made sure I have a good set of files so I was able to do a nice job on the spacer, I finished it on a piece of 320 grit paper, too bad I didn’t get a picture of it, I was very pleased as it looked almost factory made.
Once I’d made sure it fit properly, I refitted everything and torque it down and tested it for movement, this time it was free moving up and down and without any sideways play so I bolted everything back together, reinstalled the rear wheel and adjusted the chain and now just need to get some good weather to road test it.

Finally got to take it out today but the roads were still a bit damp and as the temps were only +2.5 C so I didn’t want to get too excited on the corners, I did get to test everything out and it was great to be back on the Cooley after so long without one of them road worthy.

The Canadian Cooley still has issues with popping and back firing, so I still have to pull the carbs and have one more go at fixing the issue.
In my latest shipment I also got some new rear carb boot clamps from a GS1000L and they are like the original ones from the “S” with proper machine threaded screws rather than the new style clamps that are slightly too large and have a self taping screws. They are also the correct black colour which is nice.

Hope to get onto that this week, so stay tuned for more.

[Nessism]

In my latest shipment I also got some new rear carb boot clamps from a GS1000L and they are like the original ones from the “S” with proper machine threaded screws rather than the new style clamps that are slightly too large and have a self taping screws. They are also the correct black colour which is nice.

Rock on with the L clamps! Noticed this same thing after wasting money on the superceded 1000S clamps listed in the fishe.

[Kiwi Canuck]

Rock on with the L clamps! Noticed this same thing after wasting money on the superceded 1000S clamps listed in the fishe.

Ed, Thanks for the heads up on those and now that I know they work great, I'm going to buy a bunch of spares while they're still available as the replacement ones for the regular GS1000 boots don't work worth a darn.

[Kiwi Canuck]

Got me a Ultra Sonic Cleaner

Finally ordered an ultra sonic cleaner, was looking at a 6L unit but found this one and thought I would try it.



If it was any smaller and it would not work for carbs, it's just big enough for a single BS34 carb body. I may send it back and get the 6L model as this ones only 3L's even though it probably only holds 2 litres.




I ran my # 3 carb through with simple green diluted to about 10% and used 50 degrees Celsius on the temperature setting, gave it about 30 mins.

I had to leave the garage while it was running as it bothered my ears if I stayed in there more than a few minutes.

Hope this resolves the issues with the cold starting on # 3 cylinder.

[Kiwi Canuck]

Well it's been a while since I checked in on the Canadian Cooley, so here's a quick update.

The bike was not running well and had a backfire that I did not feel like dealing with so I parked it while I road the Boise Beauty for the last year.

I was invited to bring it along to the Cloverdale/Tsawwassen swap meet this weekend, so I got busy and finished up a few items that where unfinished.

The seat needed finishing, I had purchased a few seat pans and passed a few on when I finally found a keeper, a Traveller Seat for the GS1000 provided the seat pan.
I had it sand blasted and powder coated by Wally Routledge and it came our very nicely.


more pictures to follow.

I already had the seat cover from Pit Replica and I used the original foam, just turned the bottom square over to show nice white foam through the seat base holes, almost looks new.

Quite a fiddly job to get the cover on and the seat base trim all lined up nicely, not to mention fitting the grab bar, but got it done and I'm happy with the result.


After getting the seat finished I got to work on the engine and the misfire/backfire, I found that the #4 spark plug wire was completely corroded and once I clipped it back and made a temp repair the bike ran much better.
It still has a mild back fire, also what is more worrying is the noise from the clutch when the bike gets down to about 1,000 RPM, it sounds a bit like it's about to eat itself.
I've had the clutch out and checked the basket and it all looks OK, there is a bit of play front to back in the basket but no rotational play, I did have the rivets welded and the springs had button washers fitted to take up any slack.

When I pull in the clutch the noise almost goes way or when I rev it above 2,000 RPM it smooth's out and sounds normal.

Not sure what's up with it but I do have a spare clutch at the border, just need to pick it up (thanks Rich) so if I need to change it out I'll have the parts.

I cleaned up and polished the old fairing screen, I had been promised a new one from a member but it never did materialize, so I took to the old one with Meguiar's #17 plastic polish, it works really well except when you use a clean rag that has bits of metal filings on it.



I installed the fairing with new hardware but re-used the existing black screws as they look so much better than the shiny new ones I got from Suzuki.

Also took care of refinishing the rear foot pegs, I had new rubbers but the old ones where in perfect shape so I just cleaned them up and now just need to reassemble and install them.


One of the best things to happen lately was I got to revive my old stereo system that I purchased in 1981, it had been in storage since I got remarried in 2002, so it's now fitted in my garage and I borrowed a set of speakers from my outdoor patio until I get a decent set of book shelf speakers, I have a new Shure Stylus on order and I've found a great station that plays 70's and 80 music before 9PM and a great jazz after, so enjoying time in the shop these days.


Here's the set-up, Braun Atelier System from 1980, same year as my 2 Cooley's.

Unfortunately the Klipsch Heresy Speakers that came with it are long gone.




I also built a new work bench and moved the shelving system around to make the shop work better, I bought a used 60 gallon compressor and installed 3/4" copper pipe around the shop and installed a few air hose reals, one from RealCraft and a cheap Canadian Tire one.