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Well good morning. Just brought home a 1981 GS850 in boxes. Purchased for $450 and came with a title, a turning motor and a plethora of spare parts. Time to get greasy and turn this thing into some gold. Inspiration for this will be the 76 Hundred GS750 as seen here:
This is my third bike, had a '75 CL360 that I sold to a buddy and a '02 Suzuki SV650. Time to crack open these boxes and see what I'm dealing with. Immediate needs are wiring harness and possible some new ignition coils and to tear apart the carbs to add a Dyno Stage 3 jet kit. Following that I will focus on getting the bike running, then work on the seat tank and bars situation.
Been a quiet couple of days. Been cleaning all the extra parts and waiting for things to arrive.
So far I have ordered a wiring harness, two coils and an O ring kit for carb, intake boots. Big shout out to http://cycleorings.com/ for having the exact O ring kit for the GS much cheaper than trying to find elsewhere.
A lot of waiting for things to arrive before I can really begin to dig in. Including waiting on a new carb and fuel pump for my pressure washer so I can get the frame in a better state and get her all painted.
Goal for the coming weeks.
1.) Change gear, final gear and draft oils. Should have this done tmr night.
2.) Rebuild carbs. These GS850G's are notorious for not running right with pod filters and aftermarket exhaust hence my plan on ordering the Dynojet kit. At this point though I am just trying to get the bike started to see if anything critical should be the focus of my time and budget.
3.) Clean up the wiring harness and get it powering everything. Holding off on a battery and using my SV650 battery for testing. There were a lot of extras on this bike, including a fully functional gas gauge. I'd really like a simple and clean look on this though so I'll be removing everything not deemed necessary.
4.) Fire it up and see what we are working with.
Cool. I think my next project will be a shafty. I'm subscribed! By the way, I have a GS750E and a GS850 tank. PM me if you are interested and I can send you some pictures. The 750 is in awesome shape inside and out, the 850 needs some help, but is in decent shape...
I just picked up an '80 gs850L yesterday. I'll be watching this post closely! Excited to see what you do with that hacked off frame. Mines the same way but a little longer and I can't decide what to do with it.
Sweet deal man, let me know if you need to bounce something off of me, I've been spending a ton of time researching these things. I'm sure you came across http://members.dslextreme.com/users/bikecliff/ by now? Awesome write-ups for getting the criticals done.
NomadicVar said:
Excited to see what you do with that hacked off frame. Mines the same way but a little longer and I can't decide what to do with it.
As far as the hacked off frame goes, the guy before had it set up as a soft-tailed bobber, which I though long and hard about heading that direction. Definitely going to weld up an angeled hoop and have a custom seat upholstered.
STILL waiting for my damn harness. Looks like it was in PA yesterday, in the mean time:
Carb cleaning day. Bought some prep and etch for the fuel tank so I'll get all that rust out tmr.
Yep... regular Guiness Draught that I have drank enough to recognize the unique bottle from the back... I am not yet gifted with being able to read bar code lables.
Yep... regular Guiness Draught that I have drank enough to recognize the unique bottle from the back... I am not yet gifted with being able to read bar code lables.
DING DING DING we have a winner. You score a completely useless No. 4 position carb with a stripped mixture screw and pilot jet. Sourcing one from the GSResources, looks like I should have one next week. Also ordered the DynoJet Stage 3 kit and new float gaskets.
Wiring harness is out for delivery. Will try and get to it tonight, possibly have a running bike by the first weekend of April?
Also need to tackle some aesthetics. Would prove for some much needed instant graitifcation. As the Fiance is out the next two nights I'll try to get some better pics of the rig.
NomadicVar said:
But of course! Awesome site with plenty of good reads, several of which I'll definitely be using.
Since it was stated to be "the best beer in the world", what is it that you're drinking there? Always looking for new beers to try.
If you are an IPA fan at all, my new favorite is Firestone Walker's Double IPA. It's pretty spendy for a 22oz but by far my favorite. Saving a bottle for when I get this thing fired up the first time.
Hey since I've already got a few people checking out this build, I'm going to need some professional insight here.
I'll post a pic of the mostly stripped fuel tank tonight. Couple dings and the like. Originally thought about rocking a rough polished, unpainted gritty tank, but may just end up getting sprayed gunmetal.
It may not look like much, but the "new" harness looked like it Had spent the last ten years in a mud puddle. Cleaned it up and retaped most of it. Found some possible shorting points so good thing I went through it.
Cleaned the track, not a ton of rust came out but looks pretty shiney on the innerds.
Waiting on a new carb housing and dyno jet... Fiance would love to get the dining table back. What's next? Painting the frame!
What I failed to take a picture of, was taking all of this wiring apart and removing a bunch of nonsense. Works well now!
At this point, I'd love to get her put back together as quickly as possible, get her running and then sort out any remaining gremlins. Each time I get out there, more parts need to be replaced.
Tons of work this Saturday though, carbs back on, linkage cables all hooked in and started to get the harness on. Hooked up my SV battery and couldn't get anything so I'll need to check out my grounds points.
Also painted the frame with epoxy, took the rust down on the exhaust and the wrap off. Painted with VHT exhaust and probaby will wrap again down the line. Changed engine oil and final drive gear oil. need to do shaft, but that'll come after I overhaul the brakes.
Got the bike started tonight!!!!!!!!!!! First time in 3 years according to previous owner. Wasn't as loud as I thought it'd be for no muffler.
I stripped down the wiring harness to a very simple set up. Several things to work out electrically but almost done with that so I can move onto the fork, brakes and aesthetics. Could be riding her as soon as this summer!
Any more progress on the bike? Looks like you were off to a good start. I have to do a lot of the same stuff on my GS650. How did the carb rebuild go? Anything specific to look out for?
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