1982 GS550L

So let me first start by telling you how I got this thing. I trade stuff on craigslist. First it was on a kind of bet. My dad wanted a new phone and I told him that if he did an insurance claim I could hock his phone for enough to cover the 200 insurance deductible + the 200 for the new phone. He bet me that I couldn't, So he gave me the old blackberry 9800 which I found a trade for, a new htc vivid. I then found a guy who wanted the Vivid and traded me a crossbow but the value wasn't there for me so he threw in $100, it was an old tenpoint (one of the guy's from horton started his own company doing the same thing) with a red-dot. A month later I was trading that for a CVA Optima, the breach plug was stuck ( I assume it was not properly greased and then fired and set up) I had to soak it for 2 days for it to come out. After I got it cleaned up I traded it to this guy with a 1985 Honda ATC250 that needed the seat redone but was pretty well preserved. I found a girl that didn't know how to work on scooters (but oh, she thought she did.) So she traded me this for the 3 wheeler.

Its a 2011 Roketa 150cc with 800 miles on it. She was running it with lower octane fuel than it called for and let the gas sit in the tank and carbs. So I opened it up and it looked like the petroleum had been separating out of the gas, I cleaned the fuel pump, lines, carbs, and put a fuel filter on the carb gas intake, some staybilt in the tank. And she fired up like a dream.

Now here's where it gets tricky. And I lost a little bit of value but got something I like. I saw this guy who had this suzuki posted on CL for 1200. I though well, thats a bit steep but I was willing to do an even trade. So I called him up and asked if he'd do an even swap. This guy was so hillbilly that he didn't know what a vespa or moped was. I tried to describe it and ended up just sending him a picture (but my phone takes hours to push pictures out, for some odd reason). So he's like, just come on up and we'll swap. So I'm like ,"YES!!" After I get off work I get my scooter loaded up in the truck, strapped down and head to the gas station. I call him to get directions and he says, "Man, I just got your picture. And I'm sorry but I can't do anything with that, I need a full blooded street bike." I was a bit down but said something like, "Cool, dude. Have a good night." At least I wasn't on my way or anything. The next day some other dude emailed me about the scooter. He wanted to trade a ruger security six, 100 rounds of 357 and $200 bucks cash. So I told him I'd think about it. A day later the guy with the bike texted me and told me that he was in a pinch, and needed some cash. He wanted to let me know he'd take 500 for the bike. My first inclination was to ask, "Would you take a ruger revolver?". He said yes. So I traded the scooter for the gun, ammo, and cash, grabbed my buddy, and headed north. We got out to this place in the middle of nowhere and knocked on the door. This guy popped out and looked just like I'd pictured him. Meth-toothed, beer gutted, and balding. He even had on a bud light trucker hat. So we went out to take a look at the bike, it was in decent shape apart from some cosmetics, but all of the parts were still there. We shook on the deal, he handed over the title, and then went to bullshitting about how he got the bike. My arm was stinging, I could smell rain, and I let him know it. He said that they had already gotten the rain for that day and that the forcast said they weren't supposed to get anymore. At that moment it began to rain so hard that my hand was hard for me to make out from more than a foot away. We struggled to get it uphill through the mud and into the back of the truck (which took alot of cussing and evenually me picking the back end up off the ground and walking it up the ramp.) Here's what it looked like when the rain finally let up.

When I got the thing home and unloaded I started doing what I could in the dark and ended up only pulling off the seat, front fender, and handle bars.



and the next day.



More pictures to come.

I work about 60hrs a week so I'm working on this think for about 1-4 hours after I get off of work at 7 so its moving pretty slowly.

A day after that last shot, I ripped the sissy bar off and the back fender. Also started cutting the electical that I'm not going to use, and started pulling the gauges off.

The day after that, I pulled off the front fork to take it apart and cut down the preload spacers for a lower stance up front (can't figure out how to get them apart tho). I also pulled off the tank to let it soak before I drill the keylock cap out. I also need to find some 2.5 ID steel exhaust pipe (preferably locally). I ordered the battery, ignition, manual, and wheels about a week ago, and some of them came in. Bikebandit gave me both wheels (bridgestone S11 spitfires) for 195.50 shipped. The battery, ignition, and back tire came in. So I hooked up the battery and ignition to try cranking it. Nothing. I grabbed a multimeter and checked the power to the solenoid/starter/thingy. Its hot but the switch isnt getting any power to it. Pulled apart the headlight assy and cut the tape that's bundling the wires off. Looked like someone tried to rewire, one of the bullet connectors was bad? Replaced and now she is turning over but not cranking. I am going to order a smaller air intake (probably k&n) and figure out some kind of container for the electrical stuff. I am going to pull off the carbs and let them soak overnight, clean them the next day (I don't think they'll need a rebuild, the bike has only 14k miles on it), and then re-install them with the new intake manifold pipes and the Air filters. Here's how it sits as of 3 days ago. I'll take some pictures of it sans carbs tonight and post updates tomorrow.

So I checked all of the info for parts that I have shipping to me.

The K&N filter should be in by monday.
The intake manifold pipes are coming today.
The seat is MIA. Should be in by Friday though.
The manual is MIA too, but its supposed to take a few weeks (might have the bike running by then.... :-\)

I also ordered something I'm going to use as a box to kinda cover the battery/fuses/starter/elecrical/etc. Its a M1 .30 Cal ammo canister from WWII i think.

Digging those tires. Plan on picking up some just like them for my 73 CB450, especially if they're only 200 bucks. Interested in seeing where you go with that ammo box too! Good luck!

One of the best lines used over on theGSResources.com is "L's feel no pain!" so cut that mutha up!

Ima chop everything up on it. Including the tank.

I got the seat in yesterday and set it on there to get an idea of there to cut the frame, opened up the carbs to soak them (since the intake manifold pipes and K&N filter came in.) and ruh-roh raggy, one of them is fucked. I'm going to take the four carbs apart from each other to see if i can just swap (1) into the place of the one on the far left and see if they'll run. Or should I just get a whole new assembly of 4, idunno. But I'll figure something out. I'll take a picture of the carb thats screwed up when I work on it today.

So, I've made alot of headway since my last post. I pulled off the carbs and opened them up and I'm not sure how but this guy demolished the inside of the far left one, which could be why the plug was black, was running way too rich, i assume. So I ordered an entire new assembly since one of the floats was messed up and another was gone. Figured it would be easier to just start with a set that wasn't abused. As a side note, if anyone needs 2 decent mikuni carbs for their gs550 hit me up. I soaked the new carbs in carb cleaner when I got them in, opened them up and they look great. I put the carbs in, then put the air filters on, looks great. The air filters take a bit of a negotiation to go on. It's a tight squeeze to say the least. I went and picked up new fuel and vacuum lines. Slapped em on and they're a go. I re-attached the gas tank, It looks like a bike again. Went to the shell, loaded up with gas and put it in the tank. Try to crank, nothing. Try again, not this time either. I decide the battery is dead, put it on the charger overnight. I went back again yesterday, one of my grandfather-in law-in-law's (its complicated) friends was there, he apparently stopped in to help (been working on bikes since he was 16). We tried to crank with a juiced up battery, nothing. We pulled off the air filters to see if its getting gas. Yup. sure is. Some of the gas got on his hands when I was trying to start it. He said, something doesn't smell right, whats in this gas?? After a few minutes the gas still hadn't evaporated off of his hands and there was this oily residue. We drained the tank and the carb bowls. I went and got some new spark plugs and a new gallon of gas from somewhere other than shell. I put all of this stuff in, it roared to life.

I now have a running bike!!!

Something tells me you grabbed the Diesel fuel pump handle by mistake... ???

this particular gas station has one diesel pump. I wasn't at it.

1982 GS550L

Hey man what's the model number on those k&n filters? And how much did they run you?

Its pretty cheap.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/140419920656?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649

Nice work so far, bad gas sucks balls when you get it, in car it will still run, like crap but still run, a bike, forget it. I'd stay away from that particular station for all future fill ups.

Maritime said:

Nice work so far, bad gas sucks balls when you get it, in car it will still run, like crap but still run, a bike, forget it. I'd stay away from that particular station for all future fill ups.

Click to expand...

Sound advice.

A few updates since my last post. I did my homework, watched a few videos on how to properly mount and balance your bike tires, these are tubeless (woot!) so I wasn't worried about pinching the inner tube. They both went on earlier this week and give it a fresh new look. I also placed 2 orders through the oldbikebarn.com and dimecitycycles.com , I asked DCC to rush the stuff to me so I can get the bike on the road sooner and their stuff came in. I still haven't gotten the package from OBB, which I'd like to have gotten before the end of this week, but what can you do? The shipment included:

1 black 2.5" tachometer
1 black 2.5" speedometer
1 black drag handlebar
1 set of black nylon grips
1 set of black lightweight dimpled headlight clips
1 "dragon's eye" taillight
1 OEM tachometer cable (since mine snapped into peices)

I had to fight the forks to get them back on and pry open the lower triple tree a little bit but they're on the bike and it looks great. Still can't figure out how to get the forks open but i'm going to post a picture so you guys might be able to fill me in on it. The little nut thing just keeps turning so I can't just unbolt it. I put the new drag bars, headlight clip, and grips on and it looks like a whole new bike. It took a while to re-route all the cables so that they don't stick out or kink, but it looks alot cleaner now. Anyone know where I can get some shorter cables that will fit my bike? I'd like to replace the cables and re-wire it before I call the bike "done!" Well, enough talking, here's some pictures.

So I went and got her titled, registered, and insured. Called OBB about the tack cable and taillight and they're hung up cause apparently the light is a popular one.... figures.

Anyways, I put in an order for the pipes I need to mod my tank and am going to Lowe's in a few days to grab a hole saw. I found this place on line that claims their "holecutters" make a more precise hole with less tearing and more actual cutting. I feel like its a gimmick so I'm just going to grab a dewalt hole saw and baby it.

I am also going to get in touch with a guy that I used to send metal cut files to, back when I was working on installations in Arch school. He makes all the machines for a company called frosty factory, and will laser cut pieces for a small fee. Steel is also pretty competitively priced through him. I need him to cut a few small pieces out for a license plate bracket. I was originally going to buy one to save some time but the exhaust that's on the bike has grown on me and the one I was going to get was pricey and would block the back of it. Here is the 3d mockup in rhino and here's where it's going to go.

Sorry guys, been super busy with work and they've upped my hours to 72 a week. :/

Anyways, between that, the newly released D3 for console, and NFL fantasy I've had my hands full. I finally got my hands on a laser cutter and fabbed that taillight/license plate bracket. Turned out better than I expected, I replaced the rubber seal on the gas tank and ordered a rubber gasket for the oil plug that is leaking at the bottom (but no cracks so we're good). Also found the trim peice from the cylinder head cover that was missing and put it on. I'm procrastinating on working on fabbing a bracket for the seat to mount directly on and for the electrical box that I'm hatching. Good things to come.... slowly.

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