GS650E First build

schwartzy1024

Schwartzy
Hello anyone who is bored enough to read my post! I decided I wanted to build a cafe racer, had a few bucks laying around to do it and said what the hell. The bike I bought fell into my lap in a pretty good way. It is a 1981 Suzuki GS650E. It had the makings of a cool bike when I bought it, but it looked like a 3rd grader did it with a spray paint can. The first few picture were of the bike when I started. It was way to wide in the rear end, the front end looked clunky and bulky. The paint was crap and bike didn't run. Quick story about the bike not running. I show up to look at it, everything looks good, the guy says he rode it to his house and it sat for the past year and doesn't run anymore. I put the key in and hit the starter, cranks like a champ, sounds good but doesn't fire. He says its maybe the timing, I say ohhh yeah probably it doesn't sounds right (sounded fine). I tap the gas tank where there looked like a little bondo (there wasn't just really really crappy spray paint) sounds empty, and say, well with it not running, needing tires yadda yadda yadda, i'll buy it for X. I get it home, check the spark (looks great) put gas in the tank (which was bone dry) and it fires right up!!!! Thanks for the discount dude.
 

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This bike is pretty much completed but I need to keep adding pictures. Read on!
 

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New rubber on powder coated wheels. I replaced the wheel bearings and tubes as well.
 

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Cut the rear part of the frame to weld in a matching seat hoop. I had the metal and a custom car shop bent it in 10 minutes for 15$.
 

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Sawed off the horns on the top triple tree clamp. Used a file to get it close then sand paper by hand. I started with 180 but got up 600grit.
 

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I got the tank bank. The color is called Black Rose (very cool in the light). To buy paint and do it myself (I do custom paint on the side as a hobby) would have cost ~$250 so I decided to try a company called SCS wraps to wrap the tank in this vinyl. Turned out okay, but it was not really as promised. I think on my next project I will defiantly paint the tank and a few other parts to match.
 

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I got the frame back from powder coating and that night I had 2 friends come over to help me get the motor in. I think it was rolling like this within 2 hours of getting off work!
 

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This was taken just last night. I got the motor to fire, now I need to figure out a fuel delivery problem and finalize all of my wiring.
 

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Another picture from last night. I need to finish the wiring and bolt the seat and tank down.
 

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One more with it just about complete. Please ask any questions about what I did or didn't do. I took pictures about every day I worked on it. All told this project has been 5 weeks start to finish and has cost me about 2200$ including buying the bike! This has really been a budget build and almost everything on the bike (for accessories) is new.
 

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well, that's a fast project :p
Been busy with mine for about 1,5 years now, with roughly the same budget

Anyway, I like the result man 8)
 
Well, not sure if i'm lucky or unlucky but i don't have a wife or anyone special in town, so i have a little more time to devote to this girl :) ha. Getting really excited for it. There is a show this weekend I was hoping to get this into but i don't have it registered and not 100% sure I will have it running right. Sure it could sit around a look good, but what fun is that!
 
I have the wiring finished, all bolts double checked but I'm fighting a fuel problem. I pulled the carbs ( I'm admittedly new to carbs) and took the tops and bottoms off. Everything looked pretty clear but I did spray carb cleaner and used a qtip to get everything really clear. I pulled the petcock and made sure that looked good and replaced the fuel line. I need to but a few new screws for the carbs today but if that didn't solve my problem I'm stuck. Any suggestions where you guys would start or go from there? I have spark and just replaced the plugs.
 
schwartzy1024 said:
I have the wiring finished, all bolts double checked but I'm fighting a fuel problem. I pulled the carbs ( I'm admittedly new to carbs) and took the tops and bottoms off. Everything looked pretty clear but I did spray carb cleaner and used a qtip to get everything really clear. I pulled the petcock and made sure that looked good and replaced the fuel line. I need to but a few new screws for the carbs today but if that didn't solve my problem I'm stuck. Any suggestions where you guys would start or go from there? I have spark and just replaced the plugs.

Be sure to remove all the jets carefully with the correct size flathead screwdrivers. Spray carb cleaner and compressed air through ALL jets (hold them up to light to make sure they're clear) and all air and fuel passageways in the carbs. Then do it again just to be sure. Check your float heights against the manual while you're in there.

If the 650 has the same petcock and carb setup as the 550, you need to be sure you have a nice smooth downhill routing from the petcock to the fuel inlet in the carbs. Also make sure the vacuum line from the petcock is attached to the vac port on the engine side of the carbs (should be a brass nipple aiming upwards on the second carb.
 
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