1980 GS1100LT Cleanup

[LOTO]

Since the tank came out so good I decided to wet sand the side covers and add one last coat of clear coat. Used the same process as the tank.......wet sand with 1000 grit and wipe with semi-clean cloths (no oils on them), wipe with clean cloth and water, wipe with a clean cloth that is lightly soaked in a 50/50 mixture of water/Isopropyl Alcohol, blow dry with air compressor, hang side covers, wipe side covers with tack cloth, apply clear coat that has had the can sitting in hot/tap water. The other thing I do is was my hands a lot to keep oils/dirt off them.

I hung the side covers by electric fence wire to keep them from spinning around and anchored them to a paint can.
Been removing clear coat from the engine off and on and will concentrate on this once the side cover and tank painting is done. The little white Dremel tips (not the Scotchbrite ones) are working pretty good for polishing the hard to get places on the engine....White Diamond Metal Polish is my favorite today but tomorrow it might be something else
Once I am satisfied with the engine I'll remove the swingarm and start sanding the frame for paint.

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[nvr2old]

Looks like things are improving for you as you take more and more preventative and precautionary steps. Hanging the parts is the right thing to do. Clean, clean clean. Washing your hands, even using rubber gloves, very smart. Tack rag, check. The only question I have now, is why, after sanding the slight run out of the base coat on the tank, you feel it's necessary to spray more base coat? It's not critical to get a base coat absolutely orange peel free, creamy smooth. You need to sand it with 600 anyway to get it ready for the clear. Your final last couple coats of clear want to be as wet as possible to aid in final sanding before polishing, not so wet as to create a run, but still better to do it in the clear then the base coat. If you sand the sag out of the base coat and it's clean and ready to go, just clear the thing and get it over with, my friend.

[LOTO]

The run disappeared after the base coat dried so no need to sand and clear will be next

[LOTO]

Been busy and cooler so no painting/clear done but did get a soda blaster from Amazon....$14.99 delivered and I'll try this out next. Didn't have time to pick up any bulk soda but I wanted to try this out and my wife wouldn't let me have any of her baking soda:

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[LOTO]

Progress has been slow but I did try soda blasting (outside)and it really cleans things up nicely. I decided to pull off the carbs to better clean the engine and also to soda blast the carbs...I'm a little hesitant to paint the carbs (worried about gas leaks on paint) but have decided to use VHT engine enamel on the engine and buff some of the cases. I tried a couple of test spots on the fins and the paint looks great.

Getting the airbox off on my Suzuki was a whole bunch of fun...watched several videos and it was even a chore for others that seemed to know what they were doing. Kind of crazy that the only way to get the one piece airbox off is to remove the carbs first but with my year/model that appears to be the only way.

Before started this cleanup my Suzuki was running but had a slight miss probably due to the fact that it had not been started in a long time. I may just have the local Suzuki dealer clean my carbs, install them, and do a safety inspection which I will need to license it anyway.

Soda blasting the carbs still assembled might not be the preferred way of cleaning but I have fat fingers and limited carb knowledge and would end up with a pile of parts and not smart enough to put them together correctly...I'm going to speak with the Suzuki dealer and get his thought on this too


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[LOTO]

Painted most of the engine with VHT paint and it came out pretty good...the VHT paint is really thin and gets in all the corners well but doesn't run easily. I pulled the rear wheel and swing arm off last night and now on to prepping frame for paint


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[thebrandonbeezy]

This may sound kinda dumb, but do you use baking soda in a soda blaster?
I know its a sand blaster but im interested in less abrasive medias

[thebrandonbeezy]

Also, your engine looks top notch

[LOTO]

This may sound kinda dumb, but do you use baking soda in a soda blaster?
I know its a sand blaster but im interested in less abrasive medias

Yes I used baking soda and it works well for grime/dirt and cleaning around bolt heads...removes all traces of oil or grease.

[LOTO]

Sanded the frame twice with 600 grit paper then taped up everything and blew off any dust, then cleaned the exposed parts of the frame with a damp hot towel, wiped down 2 times with 50/50 alcohol/water solution and then wiped the frame twice with a new tack cloth and shot some Rustoleum primer. Looks like a pretty flat finish to apply Rustoleum enamel on and that frame was clean enough to eat off of. Temps are still in the high 60's here so trying to take advantage of this nice weather to paint.


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[Sam 78 GS750]

Looking good. Don't be afraid of the carbs... Yes, there are a lot of small parts in there, but if you were able to strip the bike down to the point you have it at, a carb clean/rebuild should be a breeze.

Grab an egg carton or something similar to keep things organized and go to town.

[LOTO]

Looking good. Don't be afraid of the carbs... Yes, there are a lot of small parts in there, but if you were able to strip the bike down to the point you have it at, a carb clean/rebuild should be a breeze.

Grab an egg carton or something similar to keep things organized and go to town.

Oh I am real good at tearing things apart...it's just putting things back together again when I have a problem
I've tried to keep parts separated and I've taken a bunch of photos and video's to help get things back together. The carbs are probably going to be one of the last parts to put back on and if everything else goes back together I might work on them...thought about just buffing the top and bottom/bowl cover and leaving the main body of the carb alone

[LOTO]

I had most of the day off today and told myself I wasn't going to get in a hurry about anything and whatever I accomplished was going to be good enough. It just felt like a good day and I had not planned on painting the frame and clear coating it in succession but amazingly I got 3 coats of paint and 3 coats of clear on the frame and not one run or sag I went with 2 light coats of paint about 5-7 minutes apart and then the 3rd coat was a bit heavier and then 2 light coats of clear about 5 minutes apart and then the last coat was a heavy one....I was holding my breath waiting for a sag or wrinkle but they never came.

I also made a Ozark engineering exhaust/vent system and it actually worked pretty good and was 100% better than without.
Picked up a spray can trigger this morning for $3.50 and this also made the job a WHOLE lot easier and enabled me to paint more precise...if you are going to paint very much this is a must have.
Plan on taking the rear wheel/tire to the tire shop tomorrow and taking tire off the rim and then will clean and clear coat the rim...I'll have the tire shop give me their opinion of the tire..probably has less than 500 miles on it and only time it was ever wet was when I washed it but the tire is about 10 years old.

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[swanny]

Looks really good!

As for the carbs, all I did was wire wheel the top and bottom covers. I can't see spending a lot of time to make the stockers look great.

If the tire is 10 years old I wouldn't trust it for traction. They get hard the older they get.

[LOTO]

Looks really good!

As for the carbs, all I did was wire wheel the top and bottom covers. I can't see spending a lot of time to make the stockers look great.

If the tire is 10 years old I wouldn't trust it for traction. They get hard the older they get.

The tire was kind of hard after I let the air out of it so that is why I'm getting my tire guy opinion....looks like I may have to ask for new tires for Christmas