83 Suzuki GS650 Shafty - Better Late Than Never

Alright, so I started working on my tank again. I'm going with the bare metal look and will just coat it with some 2k clear, wet sand and polish. I'm trying different designs with the finish. I'm thinking of doing bushed look with 150 grit and spirals in the knee dents.

Unfortunately something has been bothering me, and I think I extended the rear loop out too far. What do you guys think? I'll have to redo the seat and have a new loop bent up, but I think I should move the loop in a good 3 or 4 inches (as shown in the 2nd picture). I think I might switch to a side mount plate bracket as well as the flexible integrated turn LED strip from DCC just to clean up the back end too.

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All depends on your personal taste, but I think the proportions you've got now look quite good, and that if you shorten the rear end, the bike may end up looking front heavy - particularly with the size & shape of the tank.
Having the hoop further forward might bring in clearance issues with the tyre (if that isn't already an issue)

I reckon a bobbed rear alloy fender would tie it together, but that might not be your style.

Like the project so far, look forward to seeing what you come up with.
 
One minor update. I wanted to try my hand at some welding again so I decided to modify my swingarm so that I could mount my lithium-ion battery on it, then decided to mount the R/R underneath it. It might have been a stupid idea overall (will take more of a beating being mounted on a suspension component), but I've made enough stupid decisions so far I might as well not stop. There's an awesome new shop in town that does powder coating, so I had them blast and coat it for $50.

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Very nice work on your build. I especially like how you look for opportunities to fab up your own parts/brackets and to solve your minor problems that way. It's definitely a dying art/lifestyle with so many bolt on crap you can buy on eBay. I love the look of the tank on your bike and approve of the selection to go bare metal with it. The rear section does look good, however I think I would agree with you that pulling it in a couple inches looks rad. It might give you a chance to change up your seat or use different foam like you mentioned, now that you have some experience with it. I have built like 3 or 4 different seats for my bike and each one gets a little bit better and closer to what I really want. Keep up the good work and always work through the frustrating points! It's worth it in the end, no matter how long it takes to do the job the way you feel is right.
 
Hey, thanks for the kinds words! I think I'm going to leave the frame as-is for this season, but hopefully next winter hack the rear and make it shorter along with making a different seat, before sending the frame to be powder coated. But I agree, it does look nicer with a shorter rear end.
 
Minor update.

Bullit Customs top triple installed

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I decided to make a little windshield/fairing for the headlight. Tried to get a shape with a paper cutout, then realized the stock rear fender might actually work.

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After weeks of drawing out wiring schematics, I finally got around wiring a harness from scratch for the second time. This time I'm using OEM-like connectors instead of the extremely bulky Weather Pack ones. Built a smaller electronics tray with welded in studs for mounting 3 relays. It's a bit overkill - ignition, coils, headlight/starter (kills power to headlight while starting). The Eastern Beaver PC-8 is awesome, but it really would be nice to spend the money for something that has integrated solid-state relays just to reduce the amount of space and wiring needed. I ditched the RFID switch as well. It was cool, but more proof of concept than actually necessary. I need to add one more wire to the loom and then I'm going to tape it up with Tesa Tape 51036.

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Great looking project. Keep up the good work and stay motivated. I just took my GS750 frame, swingarm, stands & some other final pieces to the powder coater today. I can't wait to start final assembly once they're back.

You asked for input on your seat length. I personally wouldn't go any shorter. These bikes have a long tank and making the seat too short will throw off the lines. But, as said above, it's your project. Just my two cents since you asked.

Love seeing another GS here...
 
Longer seat, way better looking. Also nice neat work on the wires, I am about to do the same to the GL. Amazing how much extra the factory wiring has in it.
 
Got the electronics tray back from the powder coater, only cost me $20. Wiring harness is done all wrapped with Tesa tape. In the last picture you can see a somewhat hidden LED to indicate the charging system health.

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Well, I can finally ride this thing. Sanded down the tank for a brushed look, applied adhesion promoter, then two cans of SprayMax 2K gloss clear. I wet sanded after a day, then hit it with the DA with Ultimate Compound. Sent the tank out to a radiator shop to get cleaned and lined.

I'll get some better pictures over the weekend.

Any suggestions on the aesthetics? I was considering a gloss black on the engine side covers instead of being polished. I'm also not certain on the headlight, I just might switch over to a larger bucket light.

The Tarozzi low-rise clipons kind of suck. I got them so that they would be spaced out from the forks a little bit so I didn't have to limit the turn radius as much, but I should have just gone with standard clipons. The single mounting bolt design makes it so that you have to torque the crap out of it to prevent downward pressure, such as riding the bike, from rotating them down (which happened already). They are aluminum too, so I don't want to torque them too much. Actually, I just found the torque values online (up to 40 ft/lbs), so I'll give that one more shot.

List of TODO's:
  • Carb tuning w/ plug chops
  • Polish things up again
  • Resolve the Trail Tech tach issue as it still just bounces all over the place
  • A few more parts need to be powder coated

Over the winter I plan to remake the seat, possibly shorten the tail, entirely rethink the rearsets by welding brackets to the frame, and clean up the frame and send it out for powder coating.
 

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Are you still keeping the flyscreen?

I don't usually like that headlight, but with the screen its ace! That gets my vote.
 
Green199 said:
Are you still keeping the flyscreen?

I don't usually like that headlight, but with the screen its ace! That gets my vote.

I appreciate the feedback. I kind of gave up on it, but I'll toss it back on again and see if it fits alright with the new headlight brackets I made.
 
Hmm here is another vote for the existing seat length.. and I think a period 7" headlight would look more in line with the rest of the bike... just my2cents.

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Psycrow said:
Hmm here is another vote for the existing seat length.. and I think a period 7" headlight would look more in line with the rest of the bike... just my2cents.

Sent from my SM-G903W using Tapatalk

I agree on the light. Thanks! I'll start shopping around for one.

EDIT: Of course I integrated the separate H11 and H9 connectors into my wiring harness :(
 
This is looking great. I just got done with a 81 650. I had a hell of a time getting the jetting just right when i switched to pod filters. Where did you get your air cleaners? I think that would have solved a few issues I had. My post is on here under 650 first build (or something like that). Just got the plates today for it, can't wait for the weekend to ride!
 
schwartzy1024 said:
This is looking great. I just got done with a 81 650. I had a hell of a time getting the jetting just right when i switched to pod filters. Where did you get your air cleaners? I think that would have solved a few issues I had. My post is on here under 650 first build (or something like that). Just got the plates today for it, can't wait for the weekend to ride!

Awesome! I'll have to look up your post. The air filters are K&N RC-2382. However, just because I feel like spending money, I just ordered some velocity stacks from Steel Dragon Performance.

I too am having a hell of a time getting this thing to run right. Just got a colortune kit to dial in my idle mixture screws. Already sync'd my carbs and double checked my timing. Getting another set of plug wires, 7mm copper core this time with NGK resistor caps because I wasn't happy with the Dyna 8mm supression core crimps, and they had a hard time fitting in the Dyna green coils. Tried to do a WOT plug chop, getting the bike up over 100mph, and yet the reading didn't give me anything to go off of. Afraid I will need a longer pull, but that's just not feasible.

Oh, along with the velocity stacks I also got new intake boots because mine were looking like crap (although spraying starting fluid around them didn't seem to do anything, so they are probably good). This thing is a money pit!
 
So do I just go with this headlight?

http://www.dimecitycycles.com/7-1-2-inch-satin-black-modern-british-style-headlight-assembly.html

I wanted to go this route, but it's out of stock

http://www.dimecitycycles.com/black-and-chrome-7-inch-metric-style-headlight-assembly.html
 
http://www.dimecitycycles.com/7-inch-gloss-black-modern-british-style-headlight-assembly.html

Well if your buying new from Dime city I'm partial to this one... but if it was me I'd find a junk yard and grab a 7 inch bucket off of any 70's UJM. But that's the little bit of hipster in me...

Psy

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