1978 GS1000 - Restomod

[steve murdoch]

Beautiful!
I am assuming it was the 16mm Nissin?

[mattfeet]

19mm piston.

[mattfeet]

Looking good Matt. Love the BIG rotors.

Thanks!! I'm loving the bike.

[mattfeet]

Got my new exhaust welded up and installed. I bought a Yoshimura RS-3 can "used" on eBay but it was MINT. Only paid $120 for it, too. Anyways, I had a custom flange created for it since it was a bolt on can then welded up a new mid-pipe to connect to my existing 4-1 header. I wanted to do something a *bit* different, but still stick with my resto-mod style and also pay homage to the Suzuki/Yoshimura relationship from the old days.

[mattfeet]

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEeJLlNNcco

[dorkburger]

Nice. Very tastefully modded, yet still retains the spirit of the original....well done sir.

[russr33]

Hate to say it but I liked it with the V&H better. I thought the lines flowed much better. I love the rest of the bike very nice job.

[Morrison]

Im a fan. Looks and sounds good!

[Rob S.]

Liked your start up video.

Request for the next one: walk around back so we can get the full effect of the exhaust.

Looks beautiful, I'm going to go back to the start to reacquaint myself with the details.

[mattfeet]

Been awhile but Im about to kick this into high gear with some new parts, custom parts, and custom paint. All of which will be stock in style but modified enough to set itself apart. First off, I wanted to get rid of the stock briefcase of a taillight. Unfortunately, nothing available would fit into the existing space without looking terrible. I decided I wanted to find a way to make a rear cowl, close off the taillight area, and use a modern taillight.

Enter fiberglass.

And a huge mess.

So I have a friend who makes custom car audio speaker enclosures who offered his help on making a custom part for me. I told him my idea, he said it'd work, and we were off. First we were going to make a mold of the existing piece then cast the new part out of the mold. It'll be about a week process.

First step was to sculpt some foam to the shape of the cowl. This took me an entire evening to get it *just* right.


Next I taped everything up to get ready to lay fiberglass.


We had some issues with out bottle of resin. Womp womp.


And we're off! We put chop in the detail areas (reflectors and stripe indent) then mat overtop and on the flat areas for strength.


Mold is finished! Time to tape it up to basically do the inverse of what we just did.


Detail taping the inside. This is critical since what comes out of this part is the new piece. Prep is KEY.


Here we are putting chop in the detail areas for the new piece.


And here is my custom 1978 GS1000 style full cowl fresh out of the mold!


Here she is....in front of my four wheeled motorcycle.


(cont)

[mattfeet]

Loosely trimmed up to remove all sharp bits.




We also made the interior structural fins so I can remount my toolbox! Just have to attach these, secure the toolbox, then she'll be ready for body filler and paint!


If any of you are on the JVBC on Facebook, you may have seen this rendering of the paint scheme Im going to do.


Pair that with a custom tan Giuliari seat and cover and new leather tan grips, and it should be a pretty nice looking ride!

Thanks for looking!
Matt

[Mista M]

Nice solution for the tail piece, going with Led's and a custom light/tail on mine.
Look forward to how it all comes together

[Fjbj40]

I can't envision what you are doing with the tail cone. To me it looks way too long, sorta like a fantail boat/car.

Waiting to see the end result though, I am sure you have a plan. Nice looking 1000 overall.

cheers

[mattfeet]

It isn't fully trimmed and the giuliari seat will also end up covering the first 1.0" or so at the front. It'll end up looking quite a bit smaller. I only added 2.0" of length to the cowl itself.

[mattfeet]

New taillight came in. Had to modify the mount to fit the radius of the cowl. I think it makes the cowl look shorter. Thoughts?