Weasel's 1978 GS750 cafe racer project

[Weasel]

[Chuck78]

I wish I had the budget for all your suggestions Chuck but I just don't. But do keep them coming for future reference!

Well I can relate to that... that's why it took me 5 years to get my GS750 built 95% the way I wanted it! the major upgrades all came in a few sporadic waves of lots of updating though.

don't worry though, when I first got my gs750, I was so thrilled about it and very very happy with what I had to ride finally. The only things I could really complain about besides usual maintenance and cosmetics, would be the tires were fairly hard generic high mileage tires, and the sharp bumps in the road were a bit too harsh while the suspension at other times felt too soft. These things you are getting to address some on the first phase of most of the major work, so hopefully you'll get even more enjoyment/pleasure out of riding it. Heck, to see you excited about the build potential itself and your kids helping you and looking to love it, now that's AWESOME! You aren't even riding it yet, and it's looking like it brings a lot of happy times into your days... I can relate!

Can you post a link to the company that makes that seat pan? I'm just curious what else they offer. Thanks

Chuck

[Weasel]

I bought the seat pan on eBay off a seller called edrivestore. They are out of Greece. Surprisingly, they offered free shipping and it was an "eBay guaranteed" item. As I said, it was the longest one I could find anywhere so I took a shot. There were no tags or manufacture marks on the seat pan. The picture on the eBay item has a logo that says "tech shope" but I was unable to find any info on that name through Google. The link below is to their eBay store.

http://www.ebay.com/sch/edrivestore/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_ipg=&_from=

[Weasel]

Heck, to see you excited about the build potential itself and your kids helping you and looking to love it, now that's AWESOME! You aren't even riding it yet, and it's looking like it brings a lot of happy times into your days... I can relate!

Definitely! It's been a lot of fun so far and I am really excited about the potential. We're moving quickly away from the few hundred dollars I originally invested but it's been manageable. Spacing out the parts orders every two weeks for a few bucks out of the budget makes it hardly even noticeable. Compared to the high priced HDs I've owned in the past, this is nothing. And bringing something back to life, back to like new with my own hands, with my family, you bet it brings a lot of happy times.

[Weasel]

More goodies from the powder coat shop today. Triples in gloss black and some engine covers in flat. I'm going for a mix of black & polished aluminum on the motor.

[Weasel]

I believe I found the burgundy I'm after. It's called Lollypop Red over Cool Charcoal.



I think doing the wheel hubs in red and the wheels in just the Cool Charcoal (below) would be a great combination. Plus it would give me two other color options if I want to add any accents anywhere else.

[Zagg]

I believe I found the burgundy I'm after. It's called Lollypop Red over Cool Charcoal.



I think doing the wheel hubs in red and the wheels in just the Cool Charcoal (below) would be a great combination. Plus it would give me two other color options if I want to add any accents anywhere else.

Like the burgundy!

[Weasel]

Like the burgundy!

Thanks Zagg.

Chuck the All Balls tapered steering bearings I ordered do not seem to fit my triple trees. The widest bearing stopped about a quarter inch before seating on the bottom of the steering stem. They are the 22-1005 for a GS750 77-99 but they're not going to work.

[Chuck78]

you do have to very carefully press that lower bearing on, and have to have just the right size steel tubing as a press/driver to get in between the stem and the bearing cage on to the inner race, as you will ruin it if you hit the bearing cage.

some of the steering stems require a slight bit of machine work to bring the upper bearing down further on the stem slightly. None of mine did, however. That would be for the upper bearing, you said the wider bearing, so I assume what you are talking about the lower.

[Chuck78]

The widest bearing stopped about a quarter inch before seating on the bottom of the steering stem. They are the 22-1005 for a GS750 77-99 but they're not going to work.

the way you describe it, sounds like you just need to press the bearing on further.

The mod that you posted the link to is for some 77 through 79 stems' upper bearing surface (and early 70's 2 stroke zuk's). for the ones that need this upper bearing stem mod, the stem needs taken to a machine shop and turned down slightly, fairly simple mod, but this is for the top of the stem, not the bottom of the stem as you described, only for the upper bearing. The bottom bearings have always pressed on perfectly for me.

do you have micrometer calipers to measure the stem and the bearing to make sure you have the right one?

[Weasel]

Thanks Chuck. Victory is mine! LOL



Test fitted on the frame & all is good to go.

[Weasel]

With all the work complete under the valve/cam cover, I added new gaskets, polished the bolts/screws and installed the powder coated covers.



40 year old bolts & screws brought back to life.

[Chuck78]

make sure you anti seize those threads on the phillips screws holding the decorative cam end cap covers. I generally always replace those with a similar allen head stainless steel screws, as those things frequently get stuck in there and the phillips head will strip out when trying to remove. those are one of the fasteners on the bike that if I have not touched it ever, I always soaked in penetrating oil 4 days and then only remove with a hammer and handheld impact screwdriver. looks like you got lucky.

glad you got the lower steering bearing and with no problems. Looks like you will be riding in no time!

I just realized today I should really focus on getting the few parts I need to get my primary bike running (carbs got stolen, need to redo the crankcase breather setup since the airbox delete, wringing the **** out of it leaves lots of oil vapor venting out & dripping all over the rear half of the bike) vs obsessing over how to mod out my project bikes and make all the parts fit.

[Weasel]

I hit pretty much every bolt & screw with penetrating oil not long after I brought her home. I haven't had any issues yet but I'm very careful. If it doesn't move easy the first time, I go to the manual impact driver.

Any tips for cleaning up the original motor parts/fins? Not sure when I'll get to them but they really look bad next to all the cleaned up stuff up top.

[Weasel]

No major updates to report. Pulled the carbs and some more covers to clean/polish and some will go to powder coat. The aluminum fuel rails & T joint I ordered for the carbs were not the correct ones. Now that Z1 is back up & running, I have the correct ones on the way. Dropped parts off to be powder coated and they're going to media blast my gas tank for me. I'm still looking for a painter.