Progress!!! 1978 GS1000E Restoration/Performance Rebuild

[philosopheriam]

Are the pin stripes on your seat trim under clear..? If not, those two colors are available at auto paint stores for cheap (15 bux or so). It would be a snap to redo if they can easily be removed. Mis-alignment would drive me crazy, too.

Under clear, my friend...

[philosopheriam]

Ordered my mirrors, company said they wouldn't have them for 3+ weeks, I said cancel...

Before I reorder, I saw these... Now I'm thinking again.

[steve murdoch]

I like them better than the oval.
The up and down adjustability is nice.
Price?

[rudeman]

Updates - it has been a couple weeks due to working a bunch of OT at my job - when the opportunity presents itself, I take it, as it is how I pay for toys and delicious dinners :-)

Anyway, here's what's new:

PS: I KNOW the pinstripes on the rear trim piece do not line up with the pinstripes on the seat trim - they didn't line up from the factory, either :-) I had my painter put the decals in the same place as the originals, and that's where they are going to stay. At some point, I'm not going to let perfection be the enemy of damn good!

Beautiful work Anthony! Just FYI you can shim the tailpiece to close the gap between it and the seat and to align the pin stripes.

Otherwise HOLY SH!T!

[nvr2old]

Yes, it's a beautiful bike, such attention to detail is praise-worthy. That's the only reason I submitted a remedy to the pin stripes. When I was painting these types of paint schemes, I taped the tail and the seat trim together and laid out the stripes so when assembled they would have a good chance of lining up. They never did that at the factory and that's why so many of them didn't line up. Knowing now they are under clear, my suggestion won't work w/o a total respray. As nice as it is, the stripes are always going to draw a comment when compared to how great the rest of the bike looks. Just trying to help..I apologize if it came off as being critical.

[ptegsotic]

In this instance, the juice isn't worth the squeeze, if you know what I mean. Suzuki never intended the stripes to line up from the tail to the trim piece to the tank, and trying to make this happen will require some serious additional $$$

? you could figure a clever cheap 'engineered' fix !

great stuff. Thanks.

[philosopheriam]

Beautiful work Anthony! Just FYI you can shim the tailpiece to close the gap between it and the seat and to align the pin stripes.

Otherwise HOLY SH!T!

Rudy,

You gave me an idea... I didn't take a good photo of this, but the bottom of my rear tail piece sits about 3/16" below the bottom of my seat trim piece. If both pieces were even, my stripes would line up perfectly - apparently, my painter did in fact rest both pieces on a flat surface and line up the stripes before laying clear over them.

I will post pics of the solution this weekend...

[philosopheriam]

Yes, it's a beautiful bike, such attention to detail is praise-worthy. That's the only reason I submitted a remedy to the pin stripes. When I was painting these types of paint schemes, I taped the tail and the seat trim together and laid out the stripes so when assembled they would have a good chance of lining up. They never did that at the factory and that's why so many of them didn't line up. Knowing now they are under clear, my suggestion won't work w/o a total respray. As nice as it is, the stripes are always going to draw a comment when compared to how great the rest of the bike looks. Just trying to help..I apologize if it came off as being critical.

Long story short, read the response I wrote to Rudy... When I got home from work I checked the lineup (like in your photos) and my painter did in fact do what you described. I need to raise the rear tailpiece a smidge and there will be no more trouble in paradise :-)

[philosopheriam]

I like them better than the oval.
The up and down adjustability is nice.
Price?

I ordered the round ones today - more expensive but I think they will work out better.

[nvr2old]

Long story short, read the response I wrote to Rudy... When I got home from work I checked the lineup (like in your photos) and my painter did in fact do what you described. I need to raise the rear tailpiece a smidge and there will be no more trouble in paradise :-)

Ahh..must've missed that post. I have the utmost confidence that you'll be able to fix it..'cause admit it, it would drive you crazy, too.. I had to shim the tail section on my S also so that the bottom edge would line up with the seat trim. It's all in the details, and you are a master of that as evidenced with this build.

[T8erbug]

Dooooooood. Just wow... Seeing a bike that clean makes me extremely happy. What a beaut! Also, my vote goes toward the round black mirrors you just found. Don't worry about the black between parts matching exactly unless it's two body panels. Black varying between parts is A) a lot less noticeable B) generally still looks good C) widely accepted because anyone who has ever built something of varying metals and finishes knows it's darn near impossible to get a match part to part/brand to brand. In the end, most people who lay eyes on the bike will be almost entirely distracted by the overwhelming cleanliness of the bike anyway.

[boris.h]

A full wes cooley front fairing?

[limeex2]

What a beautiful build. Better than new! At this rate it will be BOM before it is even finished...

[philosopheriam]

A full wes cooley front fairing?

Not likely :-)

[philosopheriam]

OPERATION MAKE THE PINSTRIPES LINE-UP
Idea: Shim the tail piece upward by placing a couple washers/spacers underneath the standoffs that mount to the rear fender.
Problem: Once the piece is moved upward 1/8" to 3/16", the threaded studs on each standoff are not long enough to install a nut to clamp it to the fender (insufficient thread enagegment)
Solution: Make shoulder nuts from 5/16" grade 5 bolts. Cut them down, drill them on center, tap for M6-1.0 threads, and voila!



Right Side:


Left Side (not perfect, but significantly better, the striping is a bit high on the left side seat trim):