JohnnyL's 1980 GS550L Cafe Build

[JohnnyL]

Getting real close to starting this bike up. The tank won't be done for another two weeks but I plan on firing the bike up before then. I've tried searching for jetting suggestions for air pods and a MAC 4 into 1 exhaust but there are about 8 million threads on jetting. Is anyone that is following this thread able to point me directly to a thread that might be able to get me in the ballpark in regards to what jets I should order? I'd really appreciate it. The carbs currently have the stock jetting installed.

40 Pilot
92.5 Main
150 Pilot Air Jet

[steve murdoch]

Passing the milestone of having a roller is always a good feeling in a build.
It might just be the photo but are the rear shocks straight up and down? To my eye it looks like they should be a bit further out at the top?

[JohnnyL]

Passing the milestone of having a roller is always a good feeling in a build.
It might just be the photo but are the rear shocks straight up and down? To my eye it looks like they should be a bit further out at the top?

I think it's just the photo. It would be impossible to have the shocks perfectly plumb without the aide of some spacers because the top mounts are narrower than the lower mounts on the swingarm. I actually placed three washers inside the shock mount on the top to get them as close to plumb as possible.

[JohnnyL]

I think I've arrived upon a new triple clamp design. Not sure when I'll get around to cutting it but let me know what you guys think of it.

[Cipher]

a cup holder, ashtray and cell holder wpuld really set it off,
it a nice design.

[adalah]

I officially have a roller. The sun finally came out today so I rolled it outside to get some pics. Ignore the gas tank. That's an old one that I'm not using. The good tank is currently at the bodyshop being prepped for paint before it goes to Corby Concepts. Still waiting on a headlight bracket from Z1 so I can't mount the headlight.

The M-Unit arrived today! Pretty excited about that. I'm hoping Brian and I can get together this weekend and wire this thing up!

Anyway...here's some pics of the roller.







And to get an idea of what it looks like with an actual person on it.

Great looking

[bwringer]

nah, he hardly ever gets on here.

LOL!

And yep, I've always suffered from a bad case of noassitol. Still a bit to go around the middle; I might be close to goal weight by June.



Anyhoo, back to the topic at hand, that thing looks great on its wheels, John.

And it looks like the forward lean and overall riding position for your arms might not be too uncomfortable. Your knees are pretty folded up, but IIRC those rearsets are adjustable. Or maybe you'll just take lots of breaks. Or Ibuprofen.

[Spyder]

Dude... You're not done yet?!? Dam slacker...

Looks really good man. I agree about the upper triple. It looks good, but I suspect that new design will look a LOT better. Bike is looking great! Can't wait to see it in person come June. Have you decided on colors / scheme yet?

[JohnnyL]

Dude... You're not done yet?!? Dam slacker...

Looks really good man. I agree about the upper triple. It looks good, but I suspect that new design will look a LOT better. Bike is looking great! Can't wait to see it in person come June. Have you decided on colors / scheme yet?

Haha! Believe me....I work on this thing every second I get. Brian is coming over Saturday and we'll be wring this thing up. I'm hoping to hear it run before this weekend is over.

The tank, rear cowl and front fender will be white red and black. Haven't quite figured out a design yet but I'm pretty much giving Corby Concepts full discretion on that. He'll come up with something fast looking. Check out some of his work here: https://corbyconcepts.com/our-work He also has tons of pics on his instagram page.

[JohnnyL]

When Brian was over last Friday, he did a resistance test on my stator and it showed to be bad. I ordered a new in the box stator from eBay for $33.00 and it arrived today. I have it replaced but in the process of removing the stator cover, I ripped the darn gasket! Grrr....

[Rijko]

Going by the price, is that a Celox stator ?
I was wondering if anyone has experience with those.

[JohnnyL]

Going by the price, is that a Celox stator ?
I was wondering if anyone has experience with those.

The brand on the box was Caltric.

[Rijko]

Thanks. I'll start a new thread for this, to not hijack yours

[JohnnyL]

Well I discovered a MAJOR screw up yesterday. I'm actually embarrassed to post this but the whole point of this thread is to help anyone who is rebuilding their bike. That includes mistakes and all. I majorly screwed up. I don't know how I did it. I'm not even positive it's my fault. I remember clearly putting the case halves together without any issues. However, when I removed the stator cover to replace the stator yesterday, I noticed a crack in the case where the stator side crank shaft bearing sits. It appears as though I didn't have this bearing retaining pin in place when I put the case halves together. Again...I don't remember encountering any resistance when I put the halves together. I even have a photo of everything lined up. This is REALLY f'ing bad. Brian and I will be removing the rotor and starter clutch on Saturday to survey the damage. Regardless, I won't be running the engine like this. I ordered a set of cases off of eBay and will have to rebuild this motor....again. Very disappointing and I'm pretty ashamed.

[Cipher]

howd it happen? misaligned case halves? is there a gap in the join? have you fired it up yet? will it blow out and cause catastrophic damage or will the engine outlive us all?

id get an organ donor dead engine this is sad.