Kiwi Canuck tries his Luck with a Six Fiddy

[Kiwi Canuck]

I lost track of this while hiding out on vacation. The bike is looking fabulous.

Thanks Glen, appreciate you stopping by to see the progress.

[Kiwi Canuck]

After a bit of progress last week I went in reverse this weekend and pulled everything apart to paint the subframe, as I mocked everything up to see if the body work sat straight after I had straighten the subframe a month or so ago.

It was pretty close to as good as I could get so I removed all the body work and masked up the bike with a sheet of plastic and old rags, then painted the subframe with VHT Roll Bar & Chassis Gloss Black.

I also cleaned up and painted the air box and lid, which was on the list for re-installation this evening.

So what were the Suzuki engineers thinking when they designed the mounting system for the air plenum and airbox, it seems the only simple way to get them in place is to assemble them on the bench and install them before the motor goes into the frame.

Maybe that's how I removed it when I disassembled the bike but I can't actually remember doing it that way.

To get them installed I ended up pulling the airbox and plenum apart, removed the carbs and used a small screw driver to install the screws through the air plenum into the airbox, from the engine side, doable but pretty difficult by myself.

I sure hope the carbs are OK as I'm about done with removing the carbs and reinstalling them after all that work with the airbox installation.

I finally ordered a battery for the bike and forgot to pick it up today before the store closed so I'll have to wait until Tuesday next week to see if the engine will fire up.

Still got plenty of work to do so no real hurry, but it would be good to hear how it sounds as I did not run the bike when I originally got it home.

During the reassembly of the air box etc. I was short a few screws (yes I know I am as well) and rather than wait on some from Suzuki I discovered a pretty cool way to repair JIS screws when the head is damaged from a Phillips screw driver caming out, as long as they aren't too bad I can get them almost like new, I'll post some pictures of the process shortly.

David

[Sam 78 GS750]

I discovered a pretty cool way to repair JIS screws when the head is damaged from a Phillips screw driver caming out, as long as they aren't too bad I can get them almost like new

This I would love to see!

[Kiwi Canuck]

This I would love to see!

Here it is, unfortunately the pictures are not that great as I couldn't get my iphone to focus on the screw head, these are the best I could get for now.

I use a vise with cutouts for holding round things, but a regular vise would work as well if you thread a nut up to the head for support.






Here's the hammer I use, it's a small ball pein hammer, maybe 5-6 OZ and I usually use the flat face, not the ball end, a few light taps to roll the edges back down and if I go too far I can drive a JIS driver into it to re-establish the profile.



After that I give it a few buffs on the polishing wheel, here is the first one, not perfect but very usable.

[Kiwi Canuck]

I did a few that were very rusty and they still had good plating underneath, but required a minute or so more on the buffing wheel.





It's a bit of work but in a pinch it works and keeps the project rolling, I've probably refurbed 40 -50 screws and bolts on this rebuild as I didn't do a very thorough job of ordering when I placed my orders and now that Parts Outlaw cancelled the low cost shipping I'm restoring more parts as I find it costly to keep placing small orders.

All of these screws were refurbed, they look very good from 18" and I have a few containers and ziplock bags full of used screws that I can go through to find the best ones when in need.



To buy new at $1.30 to $1.50 or more per screw, I suspect I'll be doing more of this in the future.

Just need to get setup with a plating kit and I'll be set.

David.

[Kiwi Canuck]

Quick video, never posted one from this site before so hope this works.

http://sendvid.com/8gq0iv24

So that works if you click on the link.

I learned a few things today,

Engine oil will leak if you leave a washer on one of the studs then install the oil filter cover, took me a while and a flash light to see WTF was going on, now fixed.

If you try and start a bike in the garage for the first time the carbs will flood and stink up the garage with fuel, hopefully fixed.

If you put your fuel cock together incorrectly it will cause the above problem to be worse than you can imagine especially when you have a large square of carpet under the bike and you are distracted for 10 mins, now fixed.

Patience pays off and I finally got all those self inflicted issues dealt with and the bike fired up for the first time tonight and ran quite well.

A few minor issues to deal with, but so far it sounded pretty good and was firing on all cylinders.

I did notice the clutch needs some attention, when on the center stand I put it into gear with the clutch lever pulled in, I could not stop the rear wheel from rotating even using my boot so I'll need to look into that.

Not sure what the issue is, hopefully just adjustment of the cable or it maybe warped plates or ??

Anyways, very happy to hear it run.

David.

[SVSooke]

The video worked fine.Always a great day when all the work starts!

[steve murdoch]

Well done, David. Sounds great.
yup, 10 minutes of a faulty petcock is more than territory marking. haha.

[Charlie G]

I'm curious to hear what you find out on the wheel turning. I have a 1100g that does the same thing.

[dorkburger]

I just glossed over the thread so sorry if I missed it, but did you open up the clutch side and look at the fiber / steel plates? Mine were stuck together after sitting for 12 years so no clutch release. I ended up rolling it to the street, starting it in gear, and rolling with the clutch pulled in. A couple of good whacks of the throttle unstuck them. I later replaced the fibers.

[Kiwi Canuck]

I'm back, I got busy and sidetracked and put the bike on hold for a while.

Thanks for the comments, I will hopefully answer the questions in this post.

I had a few difficult jobs to complete so I was procrastinating on tackling them.

Bike was only firing on 3 cylinders when first started and then I couldn't get it to run at all, so it got put aside until I could focus on it fully.

Brakes were causing issues as I couldn’t get them to firm up.

Clutch was dragging badly and I had pulled it apart without improving it much.

I needed to complete the seat but found the original seat cover was about to come apart, no visible rips but when held up to the light I could see through it.
I finally ordered a new seat cover which came in a few weeks ago so I got the bike out and started on the list of outstanding items.

I ordered my seat cover from ebay seller Pit Replica, but when it arrived realized it came from Pit Clone not Pit Replica.

The quality looked cheap and it was very creased and the creases did not relax after a few days out of the package and the use of a heat gun on low heat.

I had resigned myself to returning it and ordering from the real "Pit Replica". The next day was hot sunny so I stretched the cover over the seat foam and left it out in the sun for a few hours.

After about 2 hours it was looking a lot better, all the big creases were gone and the cover was very pliable, so I slowly stretched it into place on the base, I took my time and got it looking really good.

After that I just had to deal with the strap and the fastening hardware which is usually the make or break part of the install for me, once the hole is made for the bolt it's final so it needs to be very exact.

I purchased a few Knipex tools last year and also bought the hole punch tool they sell as my cheaply made one didn't work very well.

I've used this tool so much lately, it works great and is really fast, so I used it for the strap and wow it made the job so easy.

The strap hardware was a mess, really rusty and should have been replaced but could not find anything for sale except a whole seat.

I painted the clamp and the screws and they actually came up OK, here's a picture of the first side.



Knipex Hole Punch.


I got to work on the brakes, I had the rear master cylinder assembled wrong so once that was sorted I got to try out my new Mityvac which worked quite well.

I still have to get the front brakes sorted and are awaiting a set of new pads as the original ones were worn on an angle.

Next I worked on the carb issue as I figured the spark was good on cylinder #1 so it was probably fuel related, as it wouldn’t run for more than a few seconds I decided to pull the carbs to see what was up.

I removed the tank and just about hit myself in the head with it as it was so light, no wonder, it was empty. doh.

After reinstalling the tank and adding fuel that solved the issue with it not running, but was still not firing up on cylinder # 1 when cold, I took it for a ride around the local roads and it was running on all four, but not well.

I’ve ordered a Morgan Carb Tune kit so should have that soon to sync the carbs properly.

Here is a few pictures of the bike before and as it sits now.

How I found it, it sat here for about 30 years, this is after removing all the stuff off of it and piled against it.




On the hitch carrier, probably 50 -100 lbs too much for this unit, but made it home OK.



The start of the tear down, lots of enthusiasm and energy,this part goes fast.



Nearing the final stretch, almost done and very rewarding to see it looking so good.

[steve murdoch]

Amazing transformation, Dave.
You should send a pic to the seller.
What was the test for a properly made bed....i bet you could bounce a quarter off that seat cover.Very nice!

[Kiwi Canuck]

Amazing transformation, Dave.
You should send a pic to the seller.
What was the test for a properly made bed....i bet you could bounce a quarter off that seat cover.Very nice!

Thanks Steve, appreciate the kind words.

I'm very pleased with the outcome, it's better than I expected and it's a really good looking bike.

BTW I did send a picture to the previous owner and he asked if I would sell it back to him.

It's actually still in his name so I will return it to him once I finish getting it running well.

I'm also going to install better suspension as the existing shocks are shot and the front end needs some work.

David.

[2BRacing]

Really fantastic job done on this bike!

You should submit the last photo for Bike of the Month, you deserve it.

[Kiwi Canuck]

Really fantastic job done on this bike!

You should submit the last photo for Bike of the Month, you deserve it.

Thank you, I really appreciate the positive comments and maybe I will submit it for BOTM

David