1979 GS 750L resurrect

[Crake]

Wheel change

I decided to spring on some new tires. Seeing as the ones on it are 30+ years old. I was having nightmares of a sudden and violent blowout in mid-traffic. Couple guys down at Regina Motorcycle Salvage are going to change them for me on Monday.

So I pulled the wheels off this afternoon. Was a lot easier than I expected. God bless the service manual, forever and ever, amen. Kinda looks like a hover-bike now...

[Steel Toed Tank]

How have I never seen this thread before?
Not many of us from Saskatchewan on here.

Good job getting it going while spending as little as possible!

That's how my first GS worked out too, although I didn't paint it or pretty it up.

[Crake]

How have I never seen this thread before?
Not many of us from Saskatchewan on here.

Good job getting it going while spending as little as possible!

That's how my first GS worked out too, although I didn't paint it or pretty it up.

Yup - St. Walburg I see. I've been up in that neck of the woods awhile back for work. Mostly hang my hat here in Regina these days.

[daturat100r]

while the wheels are out i would recommend pulling out the swingarm and giving the bearing a clean and a grease.lack of use is very hard on those bearings and also the steering head ones too.My bikes ones were history and expensive to replace after it had been in storage for years then taken out and ridden by the PO

[Crake]

All done - for now...

Its been a bit since my last update. I've had the 750 out of commission for a bit until I could work up the ambition to sort out the fuel line issues. Turns out the gas tank wasn't as clean as I expected. Fuel filter was plugging solid with crud after only about 45 km. Fuel economy was also terrible - a little better than 20 miles to the gallon!

I expected the poor fuel economy and the leaking carbs were likely related. Pulled the carbs off for what I hope is the last, last time, and re-checked the floats. Sure enough, two were set a bit too high. I evened them all out to spec and tested the needle seals by blowing into the fuel line. They all looked like they were sealing tight. Scrubbed a bit of powdered deposit out of the bowls and attacked the gas tank. After a good soak with CLR I flushed a goodly amount of rust and crud out of the tank. Followed up with a vinegar bath, a soda flush and a good splash of isopropyl alcohol to dry it out. The tank appears much cleaner now.

Re-installed everything and had a hell of a time getting her to start again. Once she was running she was pretty boggy and didn't want to hold idle. I expected some solidified crap in the carbs that had to dissolve as I had it laid up for a few weeks. Sure enough, after a few days she started and ran easily after a few puts out the exhaust. Took her for a run tonight and it looks like all systems are go.

For now.

So the wife asked me the other day, "I suppose our front step is your bike's new home?" Yes, my dear, noone has built a big Pillar of Awesome on which to perch my resurrected bike for the world to see, so for now, the front porch will have to do. After which I said, aloud, "just for a little while, honey..."

Cheers all...

"Crake"

[Crake]

July 2014 - Final fix

Well after a couple of months frustration I narrowed down the horrible fuel economy/gassy exhaust issue. I'd driven it for about a month and burnt a terrible amount of gas (one day I burnt 10 liters of fuel in only 50 km). The bike would typically leave a thin blue smoke trail in the mornings until she warmed up. And she always stunk of gas.

I'd assumed the gassy exhaust was a fuel/air mixture issue. Also, #3 carb had consistently refused to fire, which I figured was the cause of the poor gas mileage. After some good advice from a motorcycle salvage yard guy, I remembered finding a bit of trace gasoline in the vacuum line running from #3 carb to the petcock during one of my many carb disassemblies. Sure enough - there was a crack in the petcock diaphragm, just enough to siphon gas down the vacuum line to choke up #3.

Finding replacement innards for a 750L petcock was damn near impossible, so I elected to mod it. I already had a down-stream on/off petcock installed into the fuel line, so I pulled the old petcock apart, cut out the center of the diaphragm to make a half-assed gasket, epoxied the vacuum port shut, plugged vacuum line with a golf tee, reassembled everything and the bike fired right up (including #3 - yay!) I took the bike for a spin around the block - completely different bike!

I never would have thought these issues would require a 0$ fix - unless, of course, you count the golf tee...

A few days later - the gas stink has completely disappeared. There's no more smoke coming from the exhaust and I'm getting about 33 mpg (mostly inner city driving and a bit of tearing down the highway on the odd weekend ride). No drips, no leaks, and the bike's got plenty of jam. Just cracked 5500 original km on the odometer! - "Crake"

[eil]

Good temporary fix. It's always a great feeling to resolve long-standing issues like these. Now save up the pennies for a new petcock.