82 GS550L - Tracker-ish

Re: 82 GS550L - Resto Mod?

So the PO for some reason had the #4 cylinder's vacuum port plug removed and never reinstalled it. I missed it on my initial run through. That explains why #4 wasn't firing. Damn PO's.

Got the headers and muffler stripped, cleaned and painted flat black. No more toxic melting paint fumes. Looking like I might have a roadworthy bike in a couple days here.

Side note, I noticed the blinkers have a pretty significant delay from hitting the switch til the light flashes. I've tried a couple different flashers I had lying around the shop. Is this a common problem with these bikes? I never noticed a delay on my 450.
 
Re: 82 GS550L - Resto Mod?

Good news is, turns out the gasket on #1 carb was causing the float to bind up.

Bad news is, the gasket kit I bought is complete shite, and they basically fell apart when i pulled the bowls off. Great, another week long setback.
 
Re: 82 GS550L - Resto Mod?

adventurco said:
Good news is, turns out the gasket on #1 carb was causing the float to bind up.

Bad news is, the gasket kit I bought is complete shite, and they basically fell apart when i pulled the bowls off. Great, another week long setback.
Good detective work. Care to share the kit info so we dont make the same mistake? Thanks.
 
Re: 82 GS550L - Resto Mod?

adventurco said:
http://www.ebay.com/ulk/itm/230603318032

I posted it earlier in the thread but here it is again. They're not rubber, they are some sort of felt-ish paper. Rubbish. Stay away.

Had her running anyways for a few minutes, and it seems that the charging system is not working, as the battery would not crank fast enough after a few minutes running to start her again.

Problem is, I have no idea where the R/R the PO installed came from, it has no markings other than made in China. Looks like all the Regulators I've seen on eBay, does anyone have a wiring diagram for something similar?

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Re: 82 GS550L - Resto Mod?

If i'm reading this right, wiring should be as follows:

red: battery (+)
yellow x3: to alternator
green:neutral switch or? ground (at engine)
 
82 GS550L - Resto Mod?

Here's how she stands as of earlier today. Mostly cosmetic shit/cleanup. Brakes, tires and cables taken care of. Painted the headers and muffler matte black.

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And because I was waiting for epoxy to set up on another project, I had to start fooling around. Got rid of the square ends on the frame, ditched the giant taillight and sissy bar, and tucked the fender under the seat about 6". Starting to look like something I wouldn't be embarrassed to ride.

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Yanked the foam and covering off the seat. Plan is to modify/repair the existing pan to have a slimmer and more streamlined look. More on that later.
 
Re: 82 GS550L - Resto Mod?

DohcBikes said:
Lookin good! Love matte black exhausts.

I was going to wrap it but agreed, it looks too good matte. Save the wrap for the next project. TBH I can't believe it came out as presentable as it did, the chrome on the headers was pitted to all hell.

Once I get rid of that goliath seat I'll be happy...for a minute.
 
Re: 82 GS550L - Resto Mod?

The biggest downfall with matte black exhaust is that it marks easily. That said, it repaints easily too.
 
Rewiring the R/R the correct way, and I've got 2 wires that I can't figure out. I've got 2 wiring diagrams, one that's missing these two wires, and one thats pixelated to the point where I can barely make out the letters.

SO. From the alternator, the shop manual diagram says White w/Grn tracer [W/G], Yellow [Y], and either Red/Black [R/B] or Red/Blue [R/Bl]. Cant quite make out the last one. Thing is, the wires from the alternator are all 3 black, so now I'm thinking the stator may have been replaced.

The [W/G] wire leads from the alternator to the RH switch, then [W/R] leads back from the RH switch to the R/R. I am assuming this is a kill switch function of some sort.

Question of the day: is the [W/G] wire from the alternator a hot wire? I would assume it makes a difference which of the 3 wires from the alternator goes up to the RH control, but I can't be sure given that I don't know the function of each wire. Here's a sketch of the specific area of wiring.

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Nope, been trying to get the 360 running right.

Going to take the stock pan and modify it to sit lower, and wrap it with a new cover, is the plan right now. Not sure if I'm going to do any pan fabrication, besides modifying/reassembling the stock pan. Needs some mounts fabricated for th front of the pan. Get the charging system sorted, Other than that budget is tight for motorcycles right now.
 
Alright time to get down to business. Now that the 360 doesn't (really) need anymore work, I have some time to get this girl out of the shop. I'm moving out of New England in about a month, so this bike needs to be buttoned up and either on the road or out the door by the end of May.

Finalized the mounting position for the fender, welded up the frame and added some directional mounts. Tail is starting to look a bit cleaner, I'd say.

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Fixed the forward mounts on the seats, and generally franken-steined it together. I made a bunch of extra work for myself by getting antsy with the grinder, deciding not to change the pan all that much, and basically welding it back together. :eek: Cut back the foam and got a vinyl cover sewed up (thanks mamadukes). Should have the seat finished this weekend.

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Doing a little bit of fill work to the tank/side covers. I'm thinking of whipping up some real 80s looking decals, maybe red/orange/yellow stripes or something. Keeping everything flat black right now. If i decide to keep this bike, I'll strip it down to the frame to paint and clean everything. But for now it just needs to be 'sellable' in case I run out of room during the move ;D.
 
Got the seat covered up. Was able to stretch the vinyl material a bit to get it fairly tight. Good enough for me. Throw it on tomorrow and should give it a more streamlined look.

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Got the directionals and taillight all wired in and shrink wrapped, and I'm pretty sure I've got the RR wired in correctly now. Gotta fire it up later this week and measure the voltage at no load/5k rpm.

Went to use my new-ish 4 carb manometer to sync up the carbs, but the damn starter is in the way and I can't get access to the #2 sync port. Going to have to cut the brass short and make some new threads to make it work. Now that I'm thinking of it, the sync port on the Honda may be the same size....
 
I'll have to keep my eye on this GS550L for ideas on my 450L. If you put as much work into it as you did your CB360 it should be pretty impressive! :)
 
Finally getting this old girl back together. I've only run it on a fuel bottle so far. Installed the fuel tank and apparently the petcock is out of whack. Can't turn the lever to prime/reserve, and I am led to believe that in order to start fuel flow with these petcocks you need to bump the engine a few times while on prime (let the vac line start fuel flow), let fuel flow, then turn to "on" and start it up.

Time to open 'er up.
 
Disassembled/reassembled the petcock. What a garbage design it is, but that's besides the point. The lever is still a bitch to move, I even compressed the spring because it was putting too much pressure onto the cover plate, but it does work. Tossed on an in-line fuel filter and routed the fuel line in an odd way that doesn't flow properly so that will need fixed.

Made a new bracket for taillight/plate mount since the original placement didn't clear the key latch on the seat. Seat installed. Going to make the badge mounts disappear, a couple of the screw heads are snapped off anyways, so I'll fill and paint over them, then put matching "Suzuki" decals on the tank.

Looks much better now, and comfortable as hell. Feels like a La-z-boy compared to the 360 ;D
 

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