84 GR650 Tempter - Centennial Falcon

Cookie

God help the child who grows out of everything
Hi all! I figured, in celebration of my 100th post, Id actually start the build thread of the bike I've had for almost a year now.

A bit of history (of the project, not the Tempter - Big Rich has covered that one! ;))

So, about 5 or 6 years ago, my girlfriend and I were on a walk. she asked me, "What would you say if i offered to buy you a hot rod project?" Natural response was, "Well, I think I'd have to marry you!"

3 weeks later, we towed the 1963 Studebaker Lark 6 into her parents' garage. I started hacking out the shoddy previous "repair" work and was content. The following summer, we moved out of their basement and into our own house. The Stude had to stay with the in-laws, as we had no room for it at the new place. Her dad asked me to move it out back, as he needed the garage space.
The car languished out there for three more years :'(. After 10 plus hours a day fixing other people's cars, I couldn't bring myself to go and hack at my own car, in my in-laws' back 40, with no power, no real shade, super nasty bugs and with no heat in the winter. Ashley and I married and my new mother-in-law, sick of seeing the lump of a Lark behind her house, threatened to "turn it into a planter" if I didn't do something with it.

So, onto Kijiji.ca it went. After a couple weeks, I got a message, " Hi there, I have a running Suzuki Tempter that I've made into a chopper/bobber. I have a couple other bikes and doin't really need a third. What I'd like is a car project. Can we meet?" It was a match made in Heaven. I towed the wreck to his farm, he dumped the bike in my driveway.
 

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Re: '84 GR650 Tempter - Work in progress

Some tings needed to happen: The Maltese Cross LED tail lamp and mirror had to go, as did the knock-off and non-working bullet signals on the rear. The 1" drag bars made for a terrible riding position and hit the tank at about 3/4 lock. There are "clearance" dents in the tank from the signal and starter switches. The OEM megaphones have been drilled "to give it a better/louder tone". No.
The solo seat is kind of just there. And I hate the Princess Auto trailer fender.
 

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Re: 84 GR650 Tempter - Starting to lose the ugly

Found myself a set of Tarozzi adjustable clip-ons for $30 8).

Not sure why, but i kind of love the ghetto fuel gauge...
 

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Re: 84 GR650 Tempter - Work in progress

1. My son likes it!

2. Now, about seat options... Skateboard? better than it was, but...no.
3. Around the end of September, my friend Scott (rubin around here) brought me his CL 350 to try and figure out what he did to the engine. Got it running, and we hit the Milton Swap Meet, where he picked up a nice seat from PACOMOTORSTUFF (Thanks, Pat!!).

4. He had the seat from the CL to toss away; so I scored it. PERFECT!
 

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Re: 84 GR650 Tempter - Operation Blackout

It's nice having friends who owe you favors!!!
So, I worked for Mazda as a technician until just before Christmas. Over the years, I had reconnected with a few friends who ended up driving Mazda vehicles. Nice guy that I am, I'd help them out where possible with little jobs for no charge on their cars; just to keep them in top form.
Well, it turns out, my friend Bruce worked for a powder coating company. WOOT! Trade Banking!! Got me some shiny black rims! Sadly, he moved on to bigger and better things before I could get my frame stripped...Not going to complain that much though!
 

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Re: 84 GR650 Tempter - "Bare Naked Brawler" - Tank is stripped

Well, I've run to a conundrum. Got my hands on some nice off- white leather that was graciously donated by a roadside couch. Was planning on brown (Toyota Sunset Bronze Mica, to be exact) paint with the white leather seat. It looked sexy in my head...but then, I decided to mock up the frame, tank, seat and old factory fender, just to see how it looks this far. I think I'm happy!

Going to strip the frame of its paint, clear coat the whole mess, repaint the motor (no more flaky BBQ black!) and get this beast all put together. No paint, she's bare naked, hence the working title.
 

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Things to do/ Plans for the Falcon:

- Relocate electrics under the seat; Going with a Shorai 14Ah battery.
- Trim tabs and general ugliness/previous welding - Ilike how it's starting to look in mockup, Want to make use of negative space as well as reduce weight.
- New rear shock - Got my hands on a like-new condition CBR600 shock. Some fabrication required. It's about 3" shorter than my original shock and the OE shock stroke was only 2". Also, the mounting bushing on the CBR unit are somewhat larger than the shock eyes on the GR shock...
- Tail lamp. I have a significant lack of finances (new baby etc), but I have a collection of LED tail lights from my time at Mazda. Going to fab something up, I think.
- Rearsets? not sure. riding position isn't too bad right now, but could get crampedif riding more than to work.
- New carb boots - Discovered an air leak causing run- away idle once it gets warm. Pinpointed to cracked carb boots. Need to ditch the "POS/pod" filters as well.
- Foek brace/front fender. I currently donthave either...
- Drill/polish backer for rear brake and cush drive cover - Just think it'll look snazzy with the gloss black wheels.
- Tyres. I lilve in North America, but I work for Jaguar/Land Rover. Everything is spelled in British these days. Gotta ditch the mismatched set I have and get something nicer.
- Reupholster the seat. As much as I like the feeling of 40 year old vinyl chewing on my nads...Might put some new foam in there at the same time.
- Oil cooler. Is it worth it?

- That should tide me over for awhile...More to come!
 
There's a disturbance in the Force.....ah, another GR project! :)

I'll catch up on this after I get some sleep......
 
Seems nobody makes a nice, single exhaust for the GR (Had a similar problem with the Studebaker. When nobody has heard of your bike, aftermarket support is mighty weak, I'm learning). I've seen people modifying MAC exhaust from GS twins. Think I'm going a different way.
I came into a Hindle 4-2-1 complete system with aluminium silencer for $0.00 from a friend who bought a wrecked CBR900RR. The two header pipes on the RH side are pinched from where it was dropped. Also, the exhaust ports on the 900 are smaller than the ones on the GR. Going to frankenstein my header pipes into the 2-1 portion of the Hindle. Free, lightweight performance system! Woot!
 
Love that Tempter motor. My craigslist radar is on search for a local one.

Subscribed!
 
Sorry, been slow going; what with New Baby, Soccer for Big Brother and spring cleaning all butting the brakes on. I have had soe time to play though. Engine is painted (still have to acquire hsiny new bolts to complete it), got my CBR 600 rear shock mounted and have started cleaning the frame for repaint. Still have to upload pics from my phone and get them posted. So many stories, so little time!

Pics to come.
 
Cool! Glad to here good build stuff and good family stuff too!

Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk 2
 
CBR rear shock you say? I've heard the Monster shocks would fit, but never a CBR's. Details please - when you get the chance of course.
 
If you look closely, you can see the CBR shock in the mock-up pics.

All that's really needed to make it fit is to widen each mount by about 6mm total. You run into trouble when you sit on it though. due to the GR's progressive rear linkage and 73mm shock travel, installing a shock that's about 2" shorter than stock causes major load-up. the rear is now waaay too low and may as well be a hardtail. Some fabrication will be required to relocate the lower mount and lift the rear back up.
 
Sorry for the delay, life gets in the way...
No real progress to date on construction, but I have had some fun at work while things are slow...

Got bored and polished the drive hub and brake plate.

Also made an LED Tail/stop light using an old MAG-Lite and some spare, re-purposed brake light LEDs I had lying around.
 

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Just realized how little I've posted...seems I've accomplished more in the past month than I thought!
I Painted my engine in June, got the rear lower shock mount welded, then found out that, if your numbers are wrong, it won't matter how many times you measure before you cut; you'll be wrong :eek: d'oh!


I'll post pics of my swing arm saga as soon as I remember to take some. Hopefully tonight.
 

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Looking good Cookie.

I can't remember if I asked: running the stock mag wheels? Or swapping to spokes?
 
Thanks, Rich.
I'm running stock mags. Lacking a surplus of funds, I'm trying to purchase as few items as possible. Had them powder coated in high-gloss black by a friend who owed me a favor right before he left the coating company he worked for.
 
Re: Centennial Falcon - Ruh Roh...

So I mentioned last week sometime that, when I remember I'd post pics of my modded swing arm and what went wrong.
Looks like it's back to the drawing board with correct measurements this time...

It appears I forgot to account for the added girth of the shorter CBR shock. I can get it to fit in there, but it hits the swinger and make a terrible noise. Going to need to cut off and relocate my bottom mount again. Think I'll add some bracing, too.

*sigh* back to the drawing board...
 

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