Progress!!! 1978 GS1000E Restoration/Performance Rebuild

[philosopheriam]

More progress photos, compliments of Rapidray

Ports roughed-in
photo1 by Anthony Monteleone, on Flickr
photo2 by Anthony Monteleone, on Flickr

Almost done!
photo3 by Anthony Monteleone, on Flickr

[philosopheriam]

Looking GREAT so far! The paint looks FANTASTIC! I also like the over-size intake valves but must question why you didn't just use an '80-up head for the intake ports???

The small-port head has a lot of meat on it, thus, my head builder could shape the ports the way HE wanted to do it...

[JTGS850GL]

Those intake walls are getting pretty thin at the mounting flange. How do the intake boots seal against them?

[philosopheriam]

Those intake walls are getting pretty thin at the mounting flange. How do the intake boots seal against them?

Boots are sealed against the intake ports with RTV...

[JTGS850GL]

I take it you're shooting for a pure "period" performance build up.

[philosopheriam]

I take it you're shooting for a pure "period" performance build up.

Pretty much - I already own a 600cc naked bike. I bought my GS because I love the vintage look. While I'm at it, I figured a bit more oomph wouldn't hurt :-)

[rapidray]

The paint turned out BEAUTIFUL!! Hopefully, engine parts back to you by the end of next week. I just have to clean, reassemble & bench shim the head. I would like to ride this one after it is done to see how it pulls!
Ray.

[MikeyF]

Just curious what kind of hp you'll be looking at when finished?

[philosopheriam]

roundabout figure is 120 to 130

[philosopheriam]

Here's some progress on the engine cases:

Blasted everything with XL grade Armex soda
Washed the cases with Simple Green and a cold water pressure washer
Blew out all ports and bolt holes with compressed air

Engine cases right after blasting:
IMG_0922 by Anthony Monteleone, on Flickr

Everything washed
IMG_0926 by Anthony Monteleone, on Flickr
IMG_0925 by Anthony Monteleone, on Flickr
IMG_0927 by Anthony Monteleone, on Flickr
IMG_0924 by Anthony Monteleone, on Flickr


Ready for final masking, priming, and then painting!

[Arronduke]

Great work.
Interested to see what paint you are going to use?

As others have said it will be a real head turner.

[philosopheriam]

Great work.
Interested to see what paint you are going to use?

As others have said it will be a real head turner.

Plan is to wipe down everything with acetone and then prime with VHT gray engine primer and then paint with VHT universal aluminum engine paint. After everything air dries for a couple days I will bake everything at 200F for an hour.

[callahanoffroad]

Looking really good bro.

[Wraith]

Looking nice. Lots of work there. Can you tell me why you're using the shaft drive clutch? And how many plates are you going to be using in it? And apart from shaving it down and heavier springs in the back, have you needed to do anything else?

[philosopheriam]

Looking nice. Lots of work there. Can you tell me why you're using the shaft drive clutch? And how many plates are you going to be using in it? And apart from shaving it down and heavier springs in the back, have you needed to do anything else?

When subjected to larger amounts of power, the fingers on the stock 1000 basket can shear off - the solution is to take a 1100 basket and cut it down to the height of the 1000 basket and have a heavy duty backing plate/springs installed with welded rivets.

The number of steel/fiber plates remains the same as the OEM clutch - I will be using fibers from Fast by Gast and I will reuse the stock steels (I will verify their flatness and bead blast them). As for the pressure plate springs, I will use 3 OEM springs and 3 EBC springs - this was suggested to me by my head builder, as it will provide a good clutch feel and more than enough force to lock up the clutch.