1978 gs1000

[1978]

Time for another update!

Hello everyone. I got a part in so I figured it is about time for another update. Lately I've been focusing on the carburetors. My plan is to make them perfect, or as close as possible, and adjust the valves on the engine and clean it a little and hopefully it will start and idle.

The part that I got in this past week is the #1 Carb body for these Mikuni VM26SS carbs (I think that's what they are). I bought it from SpyderCycleWorks on eBay. I HIGHLY recommend them. The part came in looking like it just came out of the factory. Here's a picture of the old one and the new one side by side:



I also started stripping down the carbs completely. I want to buy all new gaskets, a few rebuild kits, and a stage 3 jet kit because I am using K&N type pod air filters and an upgraded exhaust.




The final step to prepare the carbs is to clean them!! How do you guys recommend I clean my carbs? I've been soaking and spraying them with carb and parts cleaner but it definitely does not get them looking really good. I think ultrasonic or soda blasting would be the way to go, but those aren't so easily available to me. What do you think?

[78550GS]

Good luck finding a jet kit for VM's.

http://www.aircooledtech.com/tools-on-the-cheap/soda_blaster/

You might be able to do this as I have too. (not my page)

[Big T]

Did you already clean them per the tutorial?

Scrubbing, soda blasting,vapor blasting to clean the exterior

[1978]

I basically just hit them with carb and parts cleaner and scrubbed with rags and toothbrushes. That seemed to work very well to get rid of the large chunks, but a lot still remains

[1978]

I found this online: http://www.motosport.com/motorcycle/...KI;GS1000;1978
Do you guys think that motosport.com is a reliable place to get this?

Great link!! I can definitely try that method out! Thanks!

[dorkburger]

Wow, you're a young fella. Which is cool. Nice to see people from the digital age playing in an analog realm.....

[1978]

Haha yes sir, 18 years old. I absolutely appreciate mechanical excellence

[eil]

To get the carbs clean on the inside, follow this guide: http://members.dslextreme.com/users/...rb_rebuild.pdf Carb spray is good, carb dip that comes in a 1-gallon pail (Barrymans, I think it's called?) is better.

To get the carbs clean on the outside: Cleaning solution and a good stiff plastic bristle brush! Re the blasting route... people have done it but myself, I would be worried about getting media stuck in the little tiny passages inside the carb bodies. Not sure I would worry about carb costmetics at this point anyway given the state of the rest of the bike.

Buy your carb rebuild kit here: http://cycleorings.com/ Maybe float bowl gaskets if yours are torn or otherwise damaged. If they are not, reuse the old ones.

[steve murdoch]

18 years old and appreciating the GS line....excellent!
Good luck with the resto.

[81GS850]

Ok very first... Adjust the valves. Can't get the bike running correctly without this done first. Buy the tool to remove the shims. It's worth it. Look up the shim club for this site when you need new shim sizes. Also search bikecliff on google and click first link for plenty of rebuild tutorials. Be careful with this bike, it could easily turn upside down. Get it running as cheap as possible to figure if it's mechanically sound and worth the money. Watch out for electrical issues. Good luck.

[1978]

Update -- Valves, carbs, starter?!?

Okay well looks like it's about time for another update!
I'm home from school until the 21st so I have some time to work on the bike. Guys! The carbs are just about ready!!!! I followed eil's advice and bought a 3/4 gallon bucket of Berryman's Chem Dip. Best $23 I have spent so far, for everything cleaned up looking like the "new" carb I posted a pic of a while back. I let the carb bodies soak for 24 hrs as well as the brass parts. They honestly look almost good as new.


Since I've been home, I bought new main jets (currently running 110s for open pipes and pod filters), a new #3 carb body (old one was broke), 42mm pod filters, all new rubber, gaskets, and stainless screws. All the parts came in as I was writing this so I put them all together and put them on the bike!









Hahaha just realized that a few months ago I posted asking if a DJ kit was suitable. Well, everyone learns! Don't worry I did PLENTY of research! Bought the jets the proper way and fiddling about with the needle and all (got it one notch up from center as of now).


Speaking of open pipes, here's a shot of the 4-into-1 with the baffle removed:




I also took off the points cover and valve cover so I could begin to adjust the valves. Honestly I think it was a mistake to do it this early. I know the bike has fair compression because I was already able to get it to start. The problem is that four bolts on the valve cover broke off in the cylinder head of the engine. It's going to be a royal pain to extract those screws without a good bit of disassembly (removing the cams and such). I checked the clearances and they are all more or less within tolerances. What I am going to do for now is put a new gasket on and tighten the valve cover as much as I can, just so I can get the carbs on and balanced. While I'm doing that I'll buy a new thickness gauge and get ready to remove the cylinder head section.








By the way, once I get the cylinder head off, anyone know how to clean this thing??? The whole engine has tons of white residue and stuff on it from years of sitting and it's between the fins. Not really sure where to start to be honest. Is it safe to bolt it all together and sand blast it? Should I take the whole engine apart and clean each section piece by piece? I also have some Simple Green around. Let me know what you think.


If you remember early on, I replaced the spark plugs. This did a bit to help, but the spark is still not as bright and white as it could be. That said, I'm going to spend on the electronic ignition and new coils. Hopefully that'll reclaim a bit of power, but that's a long ways away after this engine gets cleaned up...


Last thing (actually first thing I did when I got home) was I stripped down the brakes. Nothing special to show. I don't think a rebuild is worth it when I can just as easily upgrade to beefier GS1100 or nice new Brembo's. Got the parts here if anyone's looking to buy. I'll post photos in my next post.

OOOOkay. So tonight I just buttoned the carburetors back onto the bike. Closed up the valve cover for testing. Here's the problem, when I try to start the bike, the starter solenoid goes "Bzzzzz, Click!" and the nothing happens. Anybody have some insight on this?

[Big T]

Buzz click is probably low voltage

Check the voltage at the battery
At rest
Key on
Key on and pressing the starter button

I hope you went to 125 main jets for that set up

[Big T]

Do NOT sandblast the motor
Soda blast it
Or vapor blast it

[GSX1000E]

You didn't buy that nasty, rusty exhaust that someone posted for sale with no baffle did you???? After you spend tons of time and money making it nice,
you can buy a new muffler insert for about $50-75.00 plus shipping. Or, you could have bought a NEW V & H for about $360.00 plus shipping.

[1978]

Do NOT sandblast the motor
Soda blast it
Or vapor blast it

Thanks! Will do. I'll probably send each bit out to a shop to get blasted, probably painted as well.

Buzz click is probably low voltage

Check the voltage at the battery
At rest
Key on
Key on and pressing the starter button

I hope you went to 125 main jets for that set up

Okay, sounds about right! I had killed the battery running the starter a while back, charged it up a bit, must still be a little low.

For the jets I went up to 110 based on this:-

http://motorcycles.wikia.com/wiki/Rejetting

and this:

http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showthread.php?199275-Pods-Pipes-Panic!-(Help!-Your-Bike-has-Pods)/page8

But nothing's stopping me from going up even further! (I currently have 95's, 100's, 110's, 120's, and 142.5's)