1983 Suzuki GS850 Shaft Drive hard tail

redahtamn

Active Member
Sooooo im new here, new to the chop scene as well. but I aint new to the game of rebuilds and moto crafting.

I have a 71 cb450, 74 and 76 cb360, newly aquired 1975 xs/tx650 and as the title suggests a 1983 suzuki gs850l.

I purchased my 850 non running for 300 bucks. after rebuilding the carbs, expoxying the cracked and falling apart carb intake boots (temporary of course), sealing the tank with por 15 and rebuilding and sealing the airbox I had it running. ran like a beast, no smoke. i was happy. took it around the block a few times and tore the thing down.

This bike was built with the intention of getting it running, selling and doubling my money..........

well damned it I didnt like the thing and become a to my wife for saying, you know id like to keep it.

so there it sat in pieces as i TRIED to figure out what I wanted to do with it.

keeping it stock wasnt going to fly.

turning it into a cafe wasnt going to fly, i already had one

and honestly rebuilding it to the point of greatness to make any money off of it wasnt going to happen. it just needed too much cosmetically to allow that to fly.

so I was lost, and I really became lost when I found a xs650 a few weeks ago in great shape for 300 bucks. I was officially in the hole with my wife and I basically myself in the head.

So I went back to the drawing board and then I found this by a fellow from the internet... http://www.thechopperunderground.com...howtopic=31229

dam thats cool, at least to me.

so thats where I am headed, at least in the general direction. I plan on keeping the original big ass tank. may not go with stacks, may run turn signals, may use the flipped over clubmans. dont really know.

alot of what I do is dependent on color scheme and the fact that the bike has mag wheels. I dont really want to make the investment to gain spoke rims for the bike, gonna use what i got

if anyone cares; heres the topic I started over at the GS forums http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum...d.php?t=207502

I have the rear end of the bike hacked off and should be getting some steel on friday to start the swap to hard tail

if anyone has tips or tricks, please please please help me out.

I am already going to make a change to the way that the hardtail section of the bike mounts to the shock mounts, but I will know what im talking about before I talk about it.....

in advance, nice to meet everyone; this community is full of some bad mother truckers

btw heres some pics of the bike pre teardown; (if you didnt follow my link)


 
Re: 1983 Suzuki GS850 Shaft Drive Bobber!

Got the rear end chopped off, aint no going back now... well I suppose I could if I wanted to.. either way

the steel:


chopped and semi smoothed;


current top down view;
http://s1294.photobucket.com/user/redahtamn/media/gs850l/PB060081_zps561df187.jpg.html?sort=3&o=2

as she currently sits; on 2x4's and 6's


rearview; i love the fall but the leaves, rain and the use of tarps is a pain in the a
 
Re: 1983 Suzuki GS850 Shaft Drive Bobber!

So now that you guys are caught up with all the ruckus that I have been making I suppose its time to let you all know the direction of the bike.

1. I plan on keeping the tank, no sportster conversion on this one. too much work, plus I like the look
2. Hard tail is going to connect to the existing shock mounts; ive seen true proper hairdtails done on these and im not a fan
3. stacks are going to be made out of 2" shchedule 40 pipe, slash cut
4. exhaust will be extended and staight piped to just behind foot mounts, slash cut
5. I need to build a battery box that will hold the battery, regulator/rectifier, starter relay in it
6. all the fusing and most of the wiring will happen behind the tank where the coils sit
7. no turn signals
8. no tack, contemplating a speedo..... just makes sense to me
9. hand built solo seat, this will be a first

I already have bought or found all the steel that I need for the project. The last thing that I need to get to get going is the pipe for the exhaust. I will design the seat once I have the hard tail setup all finalized.

Hope you all enjoy
 
Re: 1983 Suzuki GS850 Shaft Drive Bobber!

Got to work on designing some velocity stacks. I wasnt able to figure out the exact length that I needed based on calculations because so I decided to wing it. I tired a few different offsets at first.



decided on this one


3/4 inch offset looks like this from the side


setup for the cut


I followed the factory weld


SHAZAM!


I am not sure how the offset is going to affect engine operation, with the center two being 3/4" longer than the outer stacks

I am not too concerned because someone has already did it. plus, this was free. if all else fails I can buy some pods
 
Re: 1983 Suzuki GS850 Shaft Drive Bobber!

Bro, just curious as to why you are not a fan of a proper hardtail? Is it the shaft situation?
 
Re: 1983 Suzuki GS850 Shaft Drive Bobber!

by the time you get the supporting members in place the rear end becomes so fricking cluttered. honestly a reason for going the route of a hard tail is to eliminate clutter and excess. due to the face that it is a shaft drive the existing swingarm is going to need to stay in place to keep the linkage protected. unless I can fabricate some sort of cover for the linkage the hardtail is going to be like the others I have seen.

really its a aesthetics over substance decision, alot of em on this bike
 
Re: 1983 Suzuki GS850 Shaft Drive Bobber!

Nice choice for a chop, i'm partial to GS's tho... ;) You can do a shafty hardtail without the cluttered look....at least in my opinion. Keep in mind, if u add a solid strut in place of the rear shocks you might be setting yourself up for failure. the shock mount on the shaft side final drive is not held in very deep, thay are known to pull out when strutted. My 2 cents.


 
Re: 1983 Suzuki GS850 Shaft Drive Bobber!

awesome ride!

any chance that you could snap a few pics of how you took the rail down to the axle?

im definetly not opposed to the idea, honestly I would much prefer going that route. I have read of the mounts becoming loose or warping the pipe. that was an initial fear of mine honestly.

did you just extend the rail from the backbone down to the axle and weld on a plate?

thanks,
mike
 
Re: 1983 Suzuki GS850 Shaft Drive Bobber!

I went ahead and added my bobber in the post. Might give you some more ideas.
 
Re: 1983 Suzuki GS850 Shaft Drive Bobber!

I see what you did there. pretty fricking awesome. The only thing is the exposed drive line. I would have to figure out how to properly seal the driveline before I ever attempted that sort of modification.

what you did would REALLY clean up the rear end of my bike. definetly an awesome mod.

Right now I am thinking of running the backbone down to the rear axle.

fab up some mounting plates, probably bend the tube and then right then directly down to the rear axle.

if i can find a way of installing a oil seal or something onto a plate like you made, then i will be doing what you did
 
Re: 1983 Suzuki GS850 Shaft Drive Bobber!

The drive hub part should be sealed oil tight. Its the spot where the drive shaft meets the hub itself that needs to be sealed off from dirt and crud. I can't see why a cv type boot wouldn't do the trick. The area where the shaft passes through the swing arm is not oil tight so this would almost be no different. Check out some old BMW shafties. Good luck, I'll be keeping an eye on this one.
 
Re: 1983 Suzuki GS850 Shaft Drive Bobber!

ill have to do some eyeballing and measuring tomorrow. I would really love to do what you did with the frame.

those old BMW's are titties, the exposed shaft is definitely a wicked detail

i never really though of doing the hardtail like you did until I saw it. ill blame it on the fact that I am a visual learner

thanks for the info man
 
Re: 1983 Suzuki GS850 Shaft Drive Bobber!

No problem. The hub is at least intended to be a structural memeber in this same fashion.
Oh and I got the idea from a pic that I saw of a vtx1100. Can't take credit for that one!
 
Re: 1983 Suzuki GS850 Shaft Drive Bobber!

I can snap some better pics when i get home as i am traveling now. Basically i tagged off of the axle with 1/4 inch plate and welded that plate to the end of the driveshaft torque tube. 2500 miles and no issues. On the opposite side i welded it directly to the swingarm where the shock mount is.
 
Re: 1983 Suzuki GS850 Shaft Drive Bobber!

thats what makes sense

truth be told, i used your username in a google search and found your build at the chopper underground among other sites.

I saw a few pics but I couldnt get that clear of a view of the plate that you welded on the shaft side.

another question for you mech; did you end up using a stage 3 dynojet kit for you bike? i see the open exhaust but youve got a couple air filters. just wondering for reference


as for the exposed shaft.....
I would love a exposed shaft but theres too many "other" things that I have to fab or change to accomodate the design choice.

by getting rid of the old swingarm I would have to come up with a new way to mount the rear disc brake, rear brake cable stays.... all kinds of crap.

maybe ill do that when I do a 1100 or a 1000 or something. or maybe this 850. lol im torn between bad ass and thats just too much work at the moment.

I am in the process of building a sandblast cabinet to start using for these projects so crazy design choices arent super high on my priority list.

The next thing that I have to do is get some semi exact measurments for the hardtail and put a slight bend in the pipe that I have.
 
Re: 1983 Suzuki GS850 Shaft Drive Bobber!

I'll be checking in on this build which ever way you go. Don't get in a rush and always think things through and you'll be fine. There's nothing that looks more rad than an inline 4 hanging out on each side of the bike. Well there are a few things that are more rad but you'd have to drop a couple of strokes ;)
 
Re: 1983 Suzuki GS850 Shaft Drive Bobber!

The carbs are tricky.... MY 80 has carbs from a 79 which are VM's and have more options available when tuning than the standard CV carbs. No I have no kit installed on these. In fact I drilled a spare set of mains but it didnt run any better and used more fuel, so I put the stock ones back in. My tuning was basically adjusting needle position and needles...

Altho my pipes look nonrestrictive, they are indeed baffled. They sounded nice under load, and were a real head turner... In my never ending need to change stuff, I will be changing my exhaust this winter, I want a different look.

When you remove that magical airbox, be prepared to spend a lot of time tuning.... And I mean a lot.... Mine still isn't right, but I go at it methodically. There is no kit, no matter what anyone tells you, that will solve your issues. You will get "close", but thats it, you will be fine tuning from there.... Have you done any maintenance on yor valves? like checking shim clearances? They are typically done every 5000 miles and arnt hard to do. My advice is if you havnt, to do it before you do any carb/ airbox mods. The rubber boots (carbs to head) on these old bikes also have a rubber oring that should be replaced, they are cheap, I have some if you want, just pay for shipping I can send em. If the boots are hard/cracked replace em.


http://s774.photobucket.com/user/mvalenti/library/BIKE
 
Re: 1983 Suzuki GS850 Shaft Drive Bobber!

engine adjustments; havent gotten into seeing how much adjustment is needed for the shims. the bike was running just fine after I got the carbs and tank all cleaned up so I know it runs and doesnt smoke, good compression as well.

I plan on tearing into the engine once the mockup is complete and I am ready to begine disassembly and cleanup.

I also plan on getting a set of real gaskets for my top end;
http://realgaskets.com/files/motorcycle.htm#suzuki
Head RG-11173-45011 (19 hole)
Head Cover RG-11177-45000

I hear you on the tuning. I mentioned the dynojet kit because it includes a different tapered needle for actual mid range adjustment. I can figure out the jetting but from what I have read I am bound to run into issues in the mid range because I do not have a true adjustable needle on my carbs. beyond using washers to adjust the height.

I have a new set of orings for the carb holders and I am going to be buying a new set of intake boots. I also went ahead and replaced all of the orings in my carbs with a kit from a fellow over at the gsresources.

I am also going to be making my own set of mufflers that will imitate the look of a straight pipe but be baffled and somewhat controllable. still working on the theory of doing such a project but straight pipes just aint gonna work. I want the look, not the lack of performance.

heres a link to what im looking to do, REPLY #84
http://gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php?topic=40382.80

a question for you on the piece welded to the final drive flange. is this just for added structural integrity?

also, was the plate that goes to the axel meant to look like a fender head stock? :)

later fellows
 
Re: 1983 Suzuki GS850 Shaft Drive Bobber!

redahtamn said:
a question for you on the piece welded to the final drive flange. is this just for added structural integrity?

also, was the plate that goes to the axel meant to look like a fender head stock? :)

The piece was indeed added for that, may not have been necessary but it was easy enough to do. As for the Fender headstock, no, but now that you mention it... wow... yeah I guess it does looky like it.... GSresources is a great place, I'm on there too. Guys know their shit.
 
Re: 1983 Suzuki GS850 Shaft Drive Bobber!

I see that you switched to vm carbs on your setup

what were the components that you needed to change to accomplish the task if you dont mind me asking.

I am going to be running velocity stacks so the cv carbs may cause some issues for me down the line.

any help would be appreciated.

my main concern is the jetting you ended up with and whether or not you had to change the carb boots to pre 80 carb boots.

much thanks fellows.
 
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