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This may not seem like much, but it took me awhile to figure it all out, and so I thought anyone else trying to do the same thing might benefit from the tips and tricks I learned doing it.
I bought a set of NOS case protectors (the 2-piece kind) for my 1978 GS550 (pix will follow if anybody wants to see). They came shrink-wrapped with a cryptic set of instructions, and with a replacement, thinner bolt and lock washer to put on the end of the upper front motor mount bolt due to the thickness of the case protectors' mounting brackets.
Here's my step-by-step "dummy's guide" to actually putting these things on, in lieu of the nearly useless printed instructions, in case anybody gets a similar set and wants to save some time vs. re-inventing the wheel like I did:
1. You don't have to loosen the right muffler mount bracket. I don't know why the instructions said to do that - it all fit just fine without doing that.
2. Loosen the nut of, and completely remove the upper engine mount bolt _first_ - then stick the upper bracket of the left case protector over the bolt (on mine, the bolthead goes to the left side of the bike, nut goes on the right) and stick the bolt back into the motor mount hole in the frame and thru the case, to hold the upper engine mount in place again against gravity, before removing the _lower_ engine mount bolts. While it's out, check the upper engine mount bolt for corrosion or damage, and put a thin coat of grease on its unthreaded shaft so it will go back in easier and protect the metal from moisture.
3. Remove, _one_at_a_time_ (meaning, remove and finish re-installing one before you remove the other), both left and right lower engine mount bolts, and find/set aside the cam-shaped nuts that secure those bolts under the engine case. I had no idea there was such a nut there, and I tried for a long time to screw the bolt back into thin air when I re-installed it, thinking it was going into some kind of threaded fitting on the case itself - it doesn't* - until I noticed one cam nut lying on the garage floor under the bike. The other cam nut had hung up somewhere under the engine and hadn't fallen out so I didn't even know it was there until I felt around for it then it fell out too. FIND BOTH OF THESE CAMNUTS and set them aside before the next step, as to each side in turn.
* [Which I guess makes sense, because the engineers at Suzuki didn't want some ham-fisted wrench to over-torque the engine mount bolts and have them break off _inside_the_case_ or otherwise damage the case if that happened. With the actual design, the only thing you need to do if you over-torque and snap an engine mount bolt is buy a new bolt.]
4. Inspect and grease the shafts of, then replace the lower engine mount bolts, through the hole in the lower mounting bracket of the respective case protector and then re-install each of the lower engine mount bolts (with the case protector bracket on it) into its proper hole in the frame, then through the aligned hole in the engine case. I found you have to use your fingers to feel around under the case for where the end of the bolt is sticking out after it goes thru the aligned holes for it in the frame and in the case, then hold the camnut up there by hand, onto the end of the bolt, while you gently turn the bolt by hand (with the other hand) to get the bolt started into its threads. Then, you can wrench the bolt to the proper tightness from the outside side alone, without having to grip the camnut with anything. The camnut turns freely until its tip butts up against something under the case, which keeps it from turning as you continue to tighten the engine mount bolt. What a clever design!
5. Don't quite tighten the lower bolts all the way yet. Tighten both of them just enough to cause it to press the upper mounting brackets of the case protector very close to the upper engine mount holes in the frame. If the lower bolts are too loose, the brackets at the upper end of the case protectors tend to fall away from their proper alignment and closeness, due to its own weight pulling it down and outwards; but if the lower bolts are too tight at this point, you can't wiggle the upper bracket of the right side case protector around enough to get it perfectly aligned with where the end of the upper engine mount bolt pokes out of the frame hole on the right side.
6. There is only a _very_small_ amount of the upper engine mount bolt sticking out on the right side, after adding the thickness of the two case protector upper mounting brackets to the material that bolt is holding together. So, you will need to push the left (bolt-head) side of that bolt manually toward the right side of the bike (that is, push it deeper into the hole) as firmly as you can by hand, and (at the same time) push the new locknut and new thin nut** onto the right end of the bolt with the other hand, then gently get their threading together started by hand, before you can start wrenching it on. Once the threads start to catch and you are sure they are not cross-threaded, you can wrench it up tight (you will need one wrench or crescent or vice-grip on the bolt head to hold it steady in place, another socket wrench on the thin nut to actually turn it).
** [I'm assuming the NOS case protector makers made this new thin bolt out of some tougher/stronger material than the original, thicker OEM bolt was made of, so it will still do its job even though it looks _really_ thin.]
7. Maybe I shoulda made this tip #1. If you buy _used_ case protectors, make sure they come with the thin nut and lock washer. From the pix I saw on Ebay of several used ones I had considered, they didn't come with any mounting hardware. I'm guessing that if you try to mount the case protectors using the OEM Suzuki-supplied upper engine mounting bolt's regular nut, it will not be adequate to the job somehow - the threads will not be deep enough to actually catch, or will strip off, or something, and you will be left with a loose upper engine mount. Not good.
8. Now, stand back and admire your handiwork, put away your tools, and then go ride!!
I bought a set of NOS case protectors (the 2-piece kind) for my 1978 GS550 (pix will follow if anybody wants to see). They came shrink-wrapped with a cryptic set of instructions, and with a replacement, thinner bolt and lock washer to put on the end of the upper front motor mount bolt due to the thickness of the case protectors' mounting brackets.
Here's my step-by-step "dummy's guide" to actually putting these things on, in lieu of the nearly useless printed instructions, in case anybody gets a similar set and wants to save some time vs. re-inventing the wheel like I did:
1. You don't have to loosen the right muffler mount bracket. I don't know why the instructions said to do that - it all fit just fine without doing that.
2. Loosen the nut of, and completely remove the upper engine mount bolt _first_ - then stick the upper bracket of the left case protector over the bolt (on mine, the bolthead goes to the left side of the bike, nut goes on the right) and stick the bolt back into the motor mount hole in the frame and thru the case, to hold the upper engine mount in place again against gravity, before removing the _lower_ engine mount bolts. While it's out, check the upper engine mount bolt for corrosion or damage, and put a thin coat of grease on its unthreaded shaft so it will go back in easier and protect the metal from moisture.
3. Remove, _one_at_a_time_ (meaning, remove and finish re-installing one before you remove the other), both left and right lower engine mount bolts, and find/set aside the cam-shaped nuts that secure those bolts under the engine case. I had no idea there was such a nut there, and I tried for a long time to screw the bolt back into thin air when I re-installed it, thinking it was going into some kind of threaded fitting on the case itself - it doesn't* - until I noticed one cam nut lying on the garage floor under the bike. The other cam nut had hung up somewhere under the engine and hadn't fallen out so I didn't even know it was there until I felt around for it then it fell out too. FIND BOTH OF THESE CAMNUTS and set them aside before the next step, as to each side in turn.
* [Which I guess makes sense, because the engineers at Suzuki didn't want some ham-fisted wrench to over-torque the engine mount bolts and have them break off _inside_the_case_ or otherwise damage the case if that happened. With the actual design, the only thing you need to do if you over-torque and snap an engine mount bolt is buy a new bolt.]
4. Inspect and grease the shafts of, then replace the lower engine mount bolts, through the hole in the lower mounting bracket of the respective case protector and then re-install each of the lower engine mount bolts (with the case protector bracket on it) into its proper hole in the frame, then through the aligned hole in the engine case. I found you have to use your fingers to feel around under the case for where the end of the bolt is sticking out after it goes thru the aligned holes for it in the frame and in the case, then hold the camnut up there by hand, onto the end of the bolt, while you gently turn the bolt by hand (with the other hand) to get the bolt started into its threads. Then, you can wrench the bolt to the proper tightness from the outside side alone, without having to grip the camnut with anything. The camnut turns freely until its tip butts up against something under the case, which keeps it from turning as you continue to tighten the engine mount bolt. What a clever design!
5. Don't quite tighten the lower bolts all the way yet. Tighten both of them just enough to cause it to press the upper mounting brackets of the case protector very close to the upper engine mount holes in the frame. If the lower bolts are too loose, the brackets at the upper end of the case protectors tend to fall away from their proper alignment and closeness, due to its own weight pulling it down and outwards; but if the lower bolts are too tight at this point, you can't wiggle the upper bracket of the right side case protector around enough to get it perfectly aligned with where the end of the upper engine mount bolt pokes out of the frame hole on the right side.
6. There is only a _very_small_ amount of the upper engine mount bolt sticking out on the right side, after adding the thickness of the two case protector upper mounting brackets to the material that bolt is holding together. So, you will need to push the left (bolt-head) side of that bolt manually toward the right side of the bike (that is, push it deeper into the hole) as firmly as you can by hand, and (at the same time) push the new locknut and new thin nut** onto the right end of the bolt with the other hand, then gently get their threading together started by hand, before you can start wrenching it on. Once the threads start to catch and you are sure they are not cross-threaded, you can wrench it up tight (you will need one wrench or crescent or vice-grip on the bolt head to hold it steady in place, another socket wrench on the thin nut to actually turn it).
** [I'm assuming the NOS case protector makers made this new thin bolt out of some tougher/stronger material than the original, thicker OEM bolt was made of, so it will still do its job even though it looks _really_ thin.]
7. Maybe I shoulda made this tip #1. If you buy _used_ case protectors, make sure they come with the thin nut and lock washer. From the pix I saw on Ebay of several used ones I had considered, they didn't come with any mounting hardware. I'm guessing that if you try to mount the case protectors using the OEM Suzuki-supplied upper engine mounting bolt's regular nut, it will not be adequate to the job somehow - the threads will not be deep enough to actually catch, or will strip off, or something, and you will be left with a loose upper engine mount. Not good.
8. Now, stand back and admire your handiwork, put away your tools, and then go ride!!