1978 GS750 - Brat Tracker, First Bike

i thought i had a oil leak at the head gasket, but now im not so sure...
it seems to be leaking from the bottom of the exhaust valves... if thats true, does that mean my rings are shot becuase im getting oil out of the ports? my exhaust is not smoky... so im a little confused...

Check that it is not leaking from the tach drive.

here's some pics... i just realized i must have broken the cam cover gasket because im getting oil on the right inside spark plug wire... which is a new leak... that was an expensive gasket too...





tach hole dry


oil on the lower fins but not upper


higher exhaust bolts dry, lowers wet...





I torqued the head bolts...
i put a little pressure on the exhaust bolts and they all turn freely (which is great because i hear they get stuck and break off easily) but may have been loose... so maybe just 4 new exhaust gaskets? but still if oil is coming out, and not gas, thats a bad sign right? do these bolts touch oil jackets within the head/case?

Where did you get the battery from, how much and which one? I have a window and relocated the stock battery but I really don't love it. The swing arm idea that a lot of people do it perfect.

the best price i could find is from MC powersports out of holland MI... i bought it through amazon for 138.07 free shipping.. but when i just searched amazon the best price was 141...

its sooo much lighter than the stock battery, and with a couple bolts tacked to the swingarm, i put the rubber mat under it, it fits right between the brake junction from metal tubing to soft tube with about 3/4" left for the chain... if i push the chain really hard sideways it just barely touches...

Any problem starting a 750cc bike assuming you got an 8cell? Even when cold?

it hasnt gotten cold here yet, but it seems like it starts right up... and by cold, it doesnt get very cold, so itll probably be fine...
i rode about 100 miles the other day and had no troubles... the battery didnt move and it didnt explode (which i hear can be a preoblem at high rpms with a closed cell battery)

If you haven't upgraded the charging system on that bike you're going to want to do so, or that battery won't last long. LiFePo batteries have a very small window that they'll accept charging voltage within, and I'd be much more worried about turning it into a paperweight than it exploding (one of their many benefits is that they are very very unlikely to do so).

Rich Ard said:

If you haven't upgraded the charging system on that bike you're going to want to do so, or that battery won't last long. LiFePo batteries have a very small window that they'll accept charging voltage within, and I'd be much more worried about turning it into a paperweight than it exploding (one of their many benefits is that they are very very unlikely to do so).

Click to expand...

^ Excellent suggestion. The Suzuki GS750 wasn't known for the greatest charging system either.

by upgrade, do you mean the dyna s electronic ignition?
my bike has been upgraded that way...

Nope. Upgrade the stator and reg/rec to new units. I plan to do the same as I don't want a LiFePo paper weight.
Check out electrosport, they are where I plan to grab mine from.
http://www.electrosport.com/street-bikes/suzuki/gs750-8-valve-models-76-80.html

If that's outside your price range, we can walk you through wiring in a modern r/r from a sport bike. They're cheap and plentiful on eBay.

Is the stator on these bikes known for poor output?

Yeah they are known to be junk.

the reg/rec has been changed too... but not the stator...
ive not had any problems with that yet...

is it really worth it to spend 195 for a stator when my output is great?!
the one they seem to suggest at gsresources is from rick's

The problem with the old stators is that they are basically a time bomb waiting to go off. When they go they tend to take other things out with them like the reg/rec and battery. It would be worth replacing it unless you want to ruin a perfectly good new battery or your new reg/rec.

so i tried for a second time to bend my own seat hoop...







filled it with baked sand, duct taped the ends... heated it up bright red...
it started out really good and then i let it cool a little too much between a few attempts and then i put too much pressure on the end rather than at the pivot point touching my buck... you can see the nice then tighter bend action...

now im thinking im going to try the sand and harbor freight bender, put a couple 90 deg bends in opposite ends of a 3 foot pipe and then cut them and weld them to my liking... i was actually pretty optimistic about this try... i think i just executed it poorly...

tomorrow im going to get some tires mounted
i went with the shinko 712s... the rear had a 130 on it but the right side rubbed the torque tube for the rear caliper so i went with the 120
it rained for the first time here and so i figured it was time
on a great note, i got the best price at bikebandit and they came next day without me paying for even 2 day... i was stoked when i saw them on my front porch!



made myself a front stand for the axles if i ever need to work on it long term... the rear is held up by two jack stands on the rear peg loops...

i feel a little bad about this post because ive been working my way through sonreir's very informative cafe treatise about how one should work on the engine of a cafe before the asthetics... good thing im not building a cafe...

i saw a bike on pipeburn [ http://www.pipeburn.com/home/2013/8/29/75-honda-cb360t-cowboy.html ] and then here [ http://www.dotheton.com/forum/index.php?topic=52141.0 ] that i really liked the seat idea... im thinking of putting a little cafe-ish hump near the back to put the tool kit and small bits and pieces, then wrapping a couple gardening pads with a serape...



my plan right now is to take the bike summer 2014 with my brothers and make a trip out of it... stringing a tarp from the bike for a tent and camping... maybe on the way to born free... that would be pretty sweet... then the seat can double as a pillow and blanket, its 36x72 which i thought was perfect, but i should have probably bought a bigger one because its not nearly as thick as i thought it would be... but heres the general color idea with maybe a couple belts holding the bundle down... maybe ill sew a couple magnets into the blanket near the end so that the area right before the tassles at the end of the blanket sticks to the little steel bump...

i guess looking at it, its looking a little more like a craigslist cafe... i guess thatll help my resale value for as long as this trend lasts...
and now really looking at it before i post this one, im thinking the blanket is too bright for the bike... maybe i should have gone with more blues... or more browns... or scratch the whole idea all together and put a blanket on the forks like the chopper guys...

well see

10 months later... a new house and addition to the family...


i got a week off so...

i got a seat hoop from my brother who had one left over from a project that went another way...

i chopped the rear off, welded the new one on (not that great, im new to welding)



then cut out a bracket for the tail light and turn signals



then i decided to try to put the turns outside the frame because with that bracket it looked like the tire might be hit... i jumped on it a little to see if it would bottom out on the tail light... so i welded on a bolt to the frame rail after capping the shock mount arch...
and then cut off the ears on the original bracket and moved the mounting holes up a quarter of an inch or so to close that gap...



then cut out a seat pan and welded some studs to it to mount it o a cross bar



then i painted it (can you tell?) to keep it from rusting...




so my question is:
has anyone had an issue with the seat pan vibrating?
i was thinking plasticote on the underside or something like that...


next up:
wait for the paint to dry, install tail and turns, rewire
then seat foam spray glued and shaped, marine vinyl riveted on, ride

great idea in theory.. first bump i hit knocked all the tack welds off... good thing for me im a horrible welder... and i learn

i i was going to take the scuffed up cat eye lens and mount it flush to the pan.. but mounting the light and then creating a space that would not get really hot was driving me nuts... i really didnt want to do a metal seat bump... then i saw 2" trailer markers....





so i trimmed the oval-ish shaped hole i cut for the cat eye and filled in the middle... these markers twist into place... but i had to grind off the lip on the back of the light
one is the running light and the other the brake... not symmetrical by any stretch but cheap at $3 a pop





i stacked left over pieces of the seat foam and made a little cavity... there are right angle pig tails for these which ill get later, but just hadnt gotten that far...



and heres what she looks like now...