1980 gs450 project, oh boy

[tkent02]

How hard is it to do the valves on this engine, I did it on my ninja and it was a pain! But it did improve wheelie time 10 fold. J/K, but it made her purr way better. Needed carb sync afterwards.

The only hard part is cleaning the gasket surface. If the PO knew what he was doing, it will pop right off.

[MLow]

Ok update time.

Did a whole bunch of work on the wiring, really only an hour and half to wire it mostly up.

Tested the starter solenoid that came in them mail, clicks real loud. I assume it works it was listed as working.

The gear indicator panel doesnt light up on any gears, I cycled them all. The instrument lights work, the neutral light works it lights up on neutral correctly. Still a bunch of stuff like the headlight/tail light combo/signals not on the bike so I can't test them, I'm missing the mounts for them, and I'm missing one rear turn signal I think. it's the one with a soft mount, I have the 2 with metal stalks.(I assume the ones with metal stalks are the front.) Horn works.

And the starter motor works! I got excited about that one because the paper towel wads I had in the exhaust ports shot out across the garage. I hope thats a sign of good compression! I have yet to buy a compression gauge.

No spark, tested with the two plugs that were on the bike so hopefully they are bad plugs. Hopefully it's not a sign of more parts to buy like the ignitor unit which is $100....

Maybe I didn't have the electricals grounded correctly for the ignitor to work. Maybe the timing unit, I will have to look into how to test and diagnose a no spark situation. The only experience I have is with mopeds.

Where to go from here, I am going to just buy the bolts that i've been meaning to get from a bolt company. Strong bolts, not home depot stuff. Some new b8es plugs. I need to get the rubber bumper thing for the gas tank, and the clips for the airbox scoop. From there it looks like little things. And a whole lot of putting together and testing.

The grounding thing really has me confused. There are 2 bolt connector wires with black/white wire. I just hooked them both up to the battery negative. But it seems like maybe one goes to the battery and another to the frame. But there is already a solid black that bolts to the engine behind the swingarm then to the battery negative, so I assumed the engine was grounded and by proxy the frame. Aside from that I don't know what else to do.

I'm also at a loss as for how to mound the gauges to the triple tree. I guess I will have to order something or make something.

[jeffasaurus2]

Great news on your electrical work so far! Hopefully your spark issue is something easy.

Most of those little ground wires can go straight to the battery. There should be one larger gauge wire that leads from the negative terminal to a ground on the underside of the rear of the engine.

[MLow]

Ok the clutch is super sticky. I'm guessing it sat in gear for a while. Any tips for loosening it up? I have to push real hard on the wheel, and even then it's really hard to move, with clutch pulled in, and in gear. Neutral is free spinning though.

It's like gooey. Don't know how to describe it.

I bought some new plugs, going to check if they have spark. If not I have no idea what to check and how.

[MLow]

And it has big fat blue spark now. Note to self, if your going to hook up the kill switch, use it properly.

Got most of the bolt's I needed, and the tank is mounted properly. Going to change the oil, wait for the carbs/exhaust. Waiting game till I try to get fire contained in her.

On the topic of the clutch, maybe some kind of oil additive available? Just for this purpose? Rinse it out with straight oil afterwards or something. I'm grasping at straws here.

[pete]

Excellent news on the spark! Always good when something so simple fixes it

As for the clutch, don't worry about it.

Having sat for so long it is likely gummed up too much to release properly etc., so the best thing to do is wait until she's running.

When the engine has some heat in it, that's when you can try slipping it into gear and seeing if you can break it free.

Just take care that the clutch cable is good so it doesn't lurch away from you and end in disaster...

[MLow]

I would think that it would stall when I go from neutral to first, even with the clutch pulled in, cause it's so sticky.

Are you saying I do that a bunch? Or are you saying that by the engine running the oil near the clutch will get hot and eventually let loose?

[MLow]

Ok so ran into another snag, exhaust I bought doesn't fit...
http://www.ebay.com/itm/400386319240...84.m1497.l2649

Auction says gs450, but also says it's from a gs450lx, which I should have looked into better. As apparently the gs450lx has the mount tabs on the exhaust on the bottom. Where as the gs450e is on the top, at least I think so.

Took some pictures to demonstrate. I just have the exhaust sitting on top a jug right now, finger tightened into the engine.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/gqz4oiy8j918fjr/9LV8aPi4Yu

So I'm wondering what I can do to make the best of this situation. Make a bracket out of steel strips? The kickstand and center stand appear to clear just fine, just that the mounting tab is on the opposite side of the muffler.

There doesn't really seem to be a clean solution, so I'm not sure what is best to do.

In other news, carbs also came in the mail and I cleaned them as best I could, they were gross. Then tried for like 20 minutes to push them into the intake, oh lord it took a lot of effort. In the end I lubed the intake rubber up with oil and they popped right in.

There's 3 hoses, 1 of which I know is the vacuum line for the fuel valve. The other 2 come off identical places on the carbs, and I think they are bowl overflow drain tubes. Not sure though.

Just need to figure out the situation with the exhaust, change the oil...and I'm ready to test start it. I feel really good about it running as I made sure the passages and jets were spotless in the carbs, good spark, sounds like good compression.

[jeffasaurus2]

For a temporary solution I'd do the steel strips just to get those mounted. In the long run though you may look into something else.... With mine I run the stock headers and some aftermarket short reverse cones, sounds awesome!

The two hoses coming off of the bottom/back side of the carbs? Those would be drain hoses. You've also got the fuel Tee inlet in between the two carbs.

[MLow]

For a temporary solution I'd do the steel strips just to get those mounted. In the long run though you may look into something else.... With mine I run the stock headers and some aftermarket short reverse cones, sounds awesome!

The two hoses coming off of the bottom/back side of the carbs? Those would be drain hoses. You've also got the fuel Tee inlet in between the two carbs.

Yeah I've got the T hooked up, just wasnt sure about the other hoses thanks.

Really kinda a bummer about the exhaust.

[pete]

Bugger on the exhaust... the L's are definitely a little different with the mounting, but I'd also just do a steel strap or something for the moment.

With your carbs, sounds like you need to replace the intake boots on the head that they slip into, and get new O rings too. I got mine for about $US25 each from Boulevard Suzuki and they were well worth it.

With the clutch, run it carefully on the centre stand to start with and get it warmed up, see if it will release the clutch properly there.

If not, you will need to try with the rear wheel on the ground to break it free.

Don't forget to get a real good solid grip on the front brake if you need to do that!

[MLow]

Thanks for the advice. Something I read said to run it in gear on the stand, pull the clutch in and slam the rear brake, rinse repeat until it frees.

I'm changing the oil now. Think I have a steel bar at my dad's I may go pick that up. Have to leave for for work in an hour tho. Wanted to try and get her running before that but slept in. :P

[pete]

That could work, although I'd try increasing pressure on the rear brake rather than slamming it... inertia could knock it off the stand

[jeffasaurus2]

Are you able to unbolt and flip over the brackets on the exhaust? If I recall correctly my T had brackets that could be unbolted from the muffler...

[MLow]

Nope they are welded tabs, no bolts.

However, I have good news.

She runs. Well it seems. Filled the float bowls with gas, put some rags over the intake. Fired right up on choke, left it run for a seconds, then could take choke off. Idled very nice and smooth, no stuttering or anything. Just rhythmic idle.

From here I have little things. And the tires to worry about.

The clutch seemed to loosen up a bit after the new oil warmed. Was relieved. So I suspect, it will need to just be warmed up and worked a bit.

As far as the tires go. The size listed for front is 3.00-18 which I can only find moped tires in that size. The rear is 100 something so it's a motorcycle tired I don't think I will have much trouble finding it.

Thanks for all the help guys the finish line is near.