1982 GS450L Resurrection Project

[Guest]

Hey fellow GS-folk! I'm going to keep this thread as documentation for my ongoing GS450L project. I've spent a lot of time reading these forums and on BikeCliff's site and I know that I wouldn't have made half the progress that I've made on this bike without the knowledge yall have shared, so thank you!

History
I've been out of motorcycling for a number of years, life/family/jobs etc. got in the way and I sold my last bike in 2007. Recently got the itch get back into riding and had my eyes out for a bike I can wrench on as well as be able to ride. I'd been watch craigslist and the local shop sites for a few months and nothing really popped up for me, then one day a neighbor posted on our neighborhood listserv that he had to move out of state and was getting rid of a ton of stuff that had been accumulating over the years. One of these items happened to be a 1982 GS450L that he offered for the price of $50 to the person that would come take it out of his shed and haul it away. I hopped on it right away and went over the next day to pick it up.

The bike had a clean title and had been sitting for at least 10 years under some tarps. The owner said that he had the bike winterized in 2004 when he lived in Ohio, then moved down here to NC that winter and the bike sat untouched for all of those years. Here's what it looked like when I picked it up and got it back to my house

And after a quick bath



It sat like this for a couple of weeks while I got familiar with this site and started planning how I would tackle this project. I read all the stuff about the newbie mistakes/what to start with on a 30-year old bike/etc and started tearing down/inspecting and accumulating the parts that I would need to get it running. First big step was the carbs. I pulled the original carbs and took them apart, they were nasty - there had been old gas sitting in them for at least 10 years and the metal was rotten. I tried cleaning them, but there were holes in the floats, pitting in the metal, and just overall nasty - they looked like this after dipping them.
I consulted on here and decided to just find a new/used set of carbs and go that route. Ebay solved my problem and I was able to get a set for $80 in decent shape that just needed the dirt cleaned and orings replaced.
Original trashed carb

[jsandidge]

Looks like a fun project. Enjoy it!

[tarheel]

Thanks! At this point I'm elbow deep in air and fuel system stuff. The electrical is ugly and I plan on cleaning it all up, but everything is functional. I put in new sparkplugs, headlight, mph and neutral indicator bulbs. Likewise the brakes are functional and wheels turn with no bindings so I'll address that later in the process.

I've turned my carport into the motorcycle repair shop to the dismay of my wife, I'm amazed that she still puts up with me. Petcock is a bit trashy, I try to clean and rebuild it but end up back at Ebay for a better one for $10.

The gas tank was fairly clean, but there were still some chunks of rust that fell out when I took it off and removed the petcock. I went with the Evaporust method and let it sit overnight like this

The towel was wet the next morning, found a tiny leak coming from the seam of the tank right above the petcock. I got a picture of it here before I took off the old petcock, under that paint bubble is where the leak was coming from

[tarheel]

I ended up sealing the tank with POR15, let it cure for 5 days then put everything back together. I got some new handle bars, wasn't really into the old ones, and realized that the master cylinder didn't sit right so started looking for a replacement. I had some parts ordered for the brake job, but wanted to see if it would fire up.


It started right up after a few turns! The carbs and throttle position needed to be adjusted, but after a few tweaks it was idling nicely. I couldn't resist taking it around the block a few times and was amazed that it was actually running decently. I ended up tweaking a few things on it over the weekend and riding around the neighborhood, put on 50 miles and got it through all the gears (really stupid now that I think about it after the fact considering the condition of the brakes and the dry-rotted tires that still hold air).

The brake parts arrived the next week and brought the winter with them. A bunch of cold air and snow moved into NC and so I brought the bike into my heated shed to start looking at the front brakes. The old master cylinder was disgusting - it looked like mud in there and I'm amazed that the front brakes still worked with that sludge in there




I got one of the universal master cylinder replacement units from eBay for $20 and materials for an Earl's brake hose.


The new master cylinder is ok, but I think it's seeping a little. I'm keeping an eye out for a more reliable replacement, but either way the brakes are a lot more solid than they were before

[sam000lee]

Cool project and nice work! I have used master cylinders from 4into1.com and have nothing but good things to say about them. Cost is ~$40 and the look the part. Just make sure you get the ride sized piston. Nothing fancy but a little more reliable than ebay.

[tarheel]

Awesome, I'll check out 4into1.com and see what they got!

[tarheel]

Valve adjustment is up next. I'm getting very familiar with all of the nuts and bolts that hold this bike together.

Only 1 shim needed swapped out, went from a 2.55x to 2.55 on the left intake.

The biggest challenge was removing the old gasket material. I scraped and sanded for 2 days to get all that crap off of there.

The cover was equally bad, here it is after cleaning

I got the wrong gasket initially off of eBay, so that delayed me for a few days until I could get my hands on the correct one. I ended up getting an oem version and one that was cut by a bike shop in Ohio. Went with the custom cut one, no leaks so far. I got a real gasket for the breather. Here's the reassembled shot


I got everything put back together on the last 60 degree day before a nasty cold snap set in. I put about 10 miles on with the new valve shim and gaskets - everything is running smoothly now, just waiting for the weather to warm up so I can get some more seat time in.

Next up is suspension. I've already received some progressive springs for the front, will probably go with the Hagons for the rear.

[OldTwin]

Nice work tarheel, bike is looking good...you may want to check the swing arm bearings before you start putting serious road miles on the bike, they'll likely need to be re-lubed or replaced.

[tarheel]

Thanks OldTwin, hadn't even thought of that and will for sure order some parts. I plan on keeping this bike for as long as I can keep it running and/or until I stop running!

[tarheel]

It's been a while since my last post, we've had some winter weather here in NC, 11 inches of snow during one storm here in Durham last week. I've been traveling for work some this month so haven't had a lot of time for the bike. What I did just finish is the front forks with new seals, progressive springs, oil, as well as the steering stem bearings. Back into the shed for the time being:


Squat rack is good for draining the forks - I got about half the total amount of oil that should have been in the forks and it was some nasty stuff:


One thing I did notice about these 450 forks that was a little different than the procedures on BikeCliff's site is that the fork caps aren't threaded - they are held in place by a retaining ring. I had to refer to the Clymer manual (I know, I know RTFM should have been done first) to figure out how to get them off. Gotta push down on the caps, pop the retaining ring out, then the cap will come off with some coaxing. I tried to get a good pic of the cap/retaining ring setup:


The progressive springs that I bought for $85 came with the necessary spacers as well, didn't need to fab my own:

I put it all back together tonight, temp is supposed to get up into the 60's over the next couple of days and I want to try out these new springs. A set of Hagons for the rear is on the way, they should be here next week. Also I plan on doing the swingarm bearing and rear brake shoes then.

[tarheel]

Oh man these new fork springs make a huge difference in stability as well as comfort - no more dive and bottom out anymore!

[tarheel]

Haven't updated this thread in a while but rest assured, I've been spending my time either working on or riding the 450L. Also been traveling a bunch for work which doesn't leave a lot of time for updating here. Most recent effort has been new tires. I got a set of Kenda K671's from amazon for ~$130, 100/90/19 and 130/90/16 which I figured out after the fact is a size up from what the manual says. I was going from what was on the bike already and didn't really thing about it. They barely fit on there, some rubbing on the rear but not too much. I'm running them tubeless, the previous tires had tubes in them.

The front rim was dented a little bit and when I pulled it off I found that it was cracked

I ended up ordering a good one from eBay for $40, don't trust the cracked and bent rim. I needed some valve stems, researched on here and found these ones that fit perfectly on the 450 rims for $8 from napa

I also picked up some universal mirrors from eBay for $7/pair. They actually work decent, or better than nothing I guess and I think they look ok. I also put a new oil filter on and a fresh load of rotella. I put about 200 miles on over the past couple of weekends

[LAB3]

I'm working on an 82 450t that came from a similar situation. Looks like they both have the same issues, fuel system, brakes and tires. Not sure on the suspension just yet since it's not quite road Worthy.

[tarheel]

I'm working on an 82 450t that came from a similar situation. Looks like they both have the same issues, fuel system, brakes and tires. Not sure on the suspension just yet since it's not quite road Worthy.

Good luck - hope you have as much fun with it as I have! Tons of great info on this site!

[LAB3]

I've rather enjoyed this project so far, everything is pretty simple and straight forward, parts are easy to find and prices are reasonable. I'll be ordering a couple valve shims later today and once those are installed it should be ready to fire up. I'm taking pictures and will post some in the next few days, it's "that time of the month" for me and my bandwidth is reduced a few more days.