1981 gs450s

[Larry D]

I went behind a local supermarket and found the thickest cardboard I could find, it was a watermelon case, and laid it out on the garage floor. It did a fine job of keeping the garage floor clean. I actually kept it, it may come in handy later on....

[Larry D]

Yesterday was a huge parts day for 450S. First, the bodywork was completed. Thanks to Charlie and Brett !!!!



I also got the bolt kit from Z1. Here it is all separated out in an egg carton.



And finally, these two new sticky round rubber things.



There are still a few hurdles. A broken exhaust stud being at the top of the list. At least the re-assembly has begun !!!!

[rustybronco]

Larry, If you even need to install a caliper piston again, put the boot in its groove, lube the seal,bore and piston with brake fluid- place the caliper piston over the boot and lightly blow compressed air into the banjo bolt hole. The piston will seal off the boot so pressure can build expanding the boot enough to go around the piston. Then it a simple matter to rock and push the caliper piston into it's bore.

[Larry D]

Larry, If you even need to install a caliper piston again, put the boot in its groove, lube the seal,bore and piston with brake fluid- place the caliper piston over the boot and lightly blow compressed air into the banjo bolt hole. The piston will seal off the boot so pressure can build expanding the boot enough to go around the piston. Then it a simple matter to rock and push the caliper piston into it's bore.

I'll try that next time. Thanks.

[Larry D]

I didn't take a lot of pictures, but, to say the least, it was an exciting evening in the garage last night. A couple esteemed GSR members stopped by to help in the resurrection of the 450S. Alot was accomplished. Broken exhaust bolt is out, front brakes are braking, valves adjusted, new coils installed and 95% of the wiring is done. Not much more before I'm posting riding pictures !!!


I took a pic of the bike with all the body pieces, just to get an idea how it's going to look. It the first time I've had them all on there.





Brian tried his best to weld a nut on an offending broken exhaust bolt, but, it was just to stuck for even this method to work. Finally it had to be drilled out with a left-handed bit. Luckily, and due to Brian's skill with a drill, the threads were saved and a new exhaust bolt now sits in it's place.





Now....on to the entertainment for the evening....A kid, that lives about 8-10 houses down the street, was coming home and smashed into my truck that was parked on the street. I'm still sick to my stomach. Thankfully, no one was hurt. What an exciting evening !!!
These are pics from this morning.

[Larry D]

Last night, more significant progress was made thanks to the koolaid kid. 99% of the wiring was completed, the oil and filter was changed and the exhaust re-installed. At this point, I am a cam chain tensioner rebuild away from starting it up !!....Don't ask.....sometimes there are parts you forget to order....But, we have power and lights !!!!





Here's a look inside the oil filter housing. It was about the nastiest oil/gas combo I'd ever seen. Also, got to finally get rid of the drip pan since a new oil drain bolt gasket was installed.





As it sits.....with the reflection of the GK in the background.....

[Larry D]

Well, the 450S had a productive weekend. The starter button was re-built, a couple of offending stripped bolts were dealt with and replaced. More importantly, after much testing by the "A" team, (the "A" team does not include me, I know next to nothing about electrical) it has been determined that I need a new ignitor. 32900-47020. After doing some searching, there are a lot of threads about 450 ignitors.......Here's a list of compatible models and years.

1980 GS250T - SIGNAL GENERATOR
1980 GS450ET - SIGNAL GENERATOR
1980 GS450EX - SIGNAL GENERATOR
1980 GS450EZ - SIGNAL GENERATOR
1980 GS450L - SIGNAL GENERATOR
1980 GS450ST - SIGNAL GENERATOR
1980 GS450SX - SIGNAL GENERATOR
1980 GS550 - SIGNAL GENERATOR
1980 GS550E - SIGNAL GENERATOR
1980 GS550L - SIGNAL GENERATOR
1981 GS250T - SIGNAL GENERATOR
1981 GS450ET - SIGNAL GENERATOR
1981 GS450EX - SIGNAL GENERATOR
1981 GS450EZ - SIGNAL GENERATOR
1981 GS450L - SIGNAL GENERATOR
1981 GS450ST - SIGNAL GENERATOR
1981 GS450SX - SIGNAL GENERATOR
1981 GS450T - SIGNAL GENERATOR
1981 GS450TX - SIGNAL GENERATOR
1982 GS450ET - SIGNAL GENERATOR
1982 GS450EX - SIGNAL GENERATOR
1982 GS450EZ - SIGNAL GENERATOR
1982 GS450L - SIGNAL GENERATOR
1982 GS450ST - SIGNAL GENERATOR
1982 GS450SX - SIGNAL GENERATOR
1982 GS450T - SIGNAL GENERATOR
1982 GS450TX - SIGNAL GENERATOR


Here's a picture of it. If you happen to have a known good one lying around, PM me and we'll make a deal.

[Big Rich]

Larry, look into some older posts by Mekanix dealing with the ignitor. You could probably get one from a GS500 and wire it into your system since they do basically the same thing between the two models. IIRC, a GS500's ignition advance kicks on about 1000 rpm later than the 450's.

The bike is coming along rather well btw!

[jeffgs]

Larry this has been an entertaining thread. thank you

[Larry D]

Thanks Big Rich, I'll look into it. Entertaining is an understatement jeffgs. LOL !!!

So, while I'm trying to figure out the next step in resolving the ignitor situation, I thought we should go ahead and get the tires mounted. I'm going over to Indy Suzuki West.....uhmmm......errrrr.......I mean bwringer's garage.....on Wednesday night to do some tire swapping. I have a standing appointment every Tuesday night, there will be no bike work tonight, so, I removed the wheels last night.

On most GS's you can remove the top or bottom mount for the shocks and drop the swing arm below the exhaust to gain access to the rear axle. The '81 GS450S will not allow this, due to the rear mounts for the exhaust interference with the swing arm. I ended up removing the bottom mount for the shocks (the top mount would've been better), placing a car jack under the rear tire and lifting the swing arm until the rear axle cleared the exhaust from the top. It wasn't to difficult, however, you must be careful with the balance of the bike. It gets a bit unstable and an additional person stabilizing the bike would help, but I got the job done.

[Larry D]

It seems someone in Belgium has figured out how to reproduce part # 32900-47020 which is the ignitor.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/CDI-ECU-Suzuki-GS250-GSX400-GS450-1980-1981-1982-Blackbox-Ignitor-CD2406D-/331080917242?pt=Motorcycles_Parts_Accessories&hash=item4d15f5e0fa&vxp=mtr#rpdCntId

[pete]

Lookin' great Larry! Haven't logged on in a few weeks so I've missed the progress until now...

I've had all sorts of fun?? with my ignition since the rebuild... my stock ignitor was dead and I played around with the GM HEI ignition modules but the signal generator on these is different to the larger bikes so couldn't get it to work. I ended up with a Dynatek DS3-3C kit which includes the coils but you will need to get the spacer they can provide as well.

Unfortunately I've now gone through two DS3 setups... the original stopped working on 1 cylinder intermittently and eventually died altogether, so I got a DS3-2 kit and used the modules but I ended up in exactly the same situation... intermittent single cylinder until it too died completely. I would suggest that I have simply had bad luck compared to what others report so I wouldn't say don't go down this path, but I won't again purely due to logistics. Being over here means I don't have a quick turn around from Dynatek in the event of any future issues.

I managed to score a used ignitor from Greg (SVSooke) and that's now back in the bike and working well.

If this fails, I will be going down the path of retrofitting the later 83 and onwards GS450 signal generator and ignitor, or the GS500 up to about 2006 or so when they changed the ignition on them.

As Rich says, they're close enough and should work well.

As for access to your rear axle, I solved that on mine... got a custom 2 into 1 scrambler style pipe made up

[Larry D]

Thanks Pete, it is certainly a "work in progress" !!! I'm not to sure which route I'm going to take. I would really like to find a known good used igniter, but, that is proving to be a bit difficult. There are a few on ebay, so, I can get one of those if that's what I decide to do. Of course, it's all very pricey, whichever route I take. I am suspicious of the Dyna setup because of your troubles with it. It may be time to give them a call and have a nice talk.

Thanks for your help Pete.

[pete]

Well I'm hesitant to speak negatively of the Dynatek because the guys there are awesome and helped me out a great deal when I first looked into it. They stand behind their products and I know many people have good results with them, so I don't want this to be a negative against them, it's just my experience... Both were in for over a year before they failed so no warranty and I haven't contacted them about it either at this stage. I'm thinking about sending them to them so they can check them out and maybe see what caused them to fail too.

Anyway, yes good stock ignitors are hard to come by and usually aren't cheap either. For my money I'd seriously look into the GS500 setup if you're not comfortable going the Dynatek route, and GS500's should be a dime a dozen over there so in theory an ignition setup should be relatively inexpensive. All you should need is the signal generator, rotor, and ignitor. The stock 450 coils should be fine.

Let us know how you go!

[Larry D]

Some progress on the 450S. I visited CycleRecycle2 last night and did some "horse trading" with Rob. I ended up with new grips, bar-end mirrors, a clutch lever, turn signals, a bit of fuel line and most importantly an ignitor !!!! I have not tested it yet, I will over the weekend. Keep your fingers crossed folks !!!

The second picture is from a couple days ago. The bike now has two nice and shiney Shinko 712's installed thanks to Brian and his tire changing expertise.