1978 GS550 cafe - CHECK IT OUT!

havent gotten around to much yet, but figured id start a thread for it as i work on it this fall/winter.

heres the bike the day i got it.





after removing the fairing and bags, getting some headlight brackets, a big ol' headlight off an old goldwing, a new battery, a new regulator/rectifier as it had a charging problem, and some basic clean up. heres how it is now till its too cold to ride.



picked up some clubman bars. my wires are on the outside and im probably gonna keep it that way for less hassle while installing these. i need to pick up a bar end mirror or two and some new grips.



i need to sand and primer and paint the extra tank i have, hopefully this week. i was gonna go military green for the bike, bu i think im gonna go with super glossy black. typical i know but hey this is my dream bike right?



also need to make or get a seat, along with more cleanup of the engine and frame. the frame is black but has rust in some spots which i want to paint. ill post progress as i go. thanks for lookin!

Re: 1978 GS550

MAN what a difference without the (ugly :-X) fairing and bags! I was thinking about getting a GS, very similar to the CBs.

Re: 1978 GS550

Good transformation, and selling those panniers and the fairing will probably give you enough dosh to fund the rest of the build!

Nice work - boingk

Re: 1978 GS550

ok so i finally decided that if i start tearing my bike apart, i wont have any "shucks, its nice out i wish my bike was together so i could ride" days now, it being november 28th and all.

i started a seat build out of foam and was gonna fiberglass it. i scrapped that idea.

jrk pointed out that my exisiting cowl in the back of my stock seat would make a good cafe bump stop. so i took his advice and went from there. my extra cowl i got with the bike im sending to jrk so he can do the same.



i noticed that on the bottom of the cowl, there were three nuts on the bottom, which made everything 1000000 times easier for me so far.



picked up some wood from home depot. $6

did some measuring, and cut it out with a hand saw.



drilled the holes. woops, little misdrill. its ok though.



bolted it on.



and here it is so far.



still need to sand the wood and the cowl. and prime them, and paint them. make upholstry for it, as well as a back piece.
i have a good plan for mounting the seat to the frame as well. but ill have to remove most of or all of the inner plastic fender because they rise up out of the fram quite a bit on GS's.

i was thinking about frenching a light in the back, but im going to mount my licesne plate in the back of the cowl, and use a versa-light on the bottom of the plate.

as for the rest, my spare tank has been treated on the inside as well as sandblasted and primed for painting.

and my gf is being nice enough to buy me some bar end mirrors and new grips for xmas. more to come...

Re: 1978 GS550

since i posted this i cut 3 inches off the front of the board, i thought it was a tad too long, now its a nicer size.

Re: 1978 GS550

looking good. only issue i see is that the wood will get totally destroyed if it gets soaked in the rain. fiberglass really isnt too hard to work with... making a pan to attach to that cowl wont be too time consuming...

plus itll be loads lighter and you wont have that extra 1/4 inches of height

Re: 1978 GS550

true, but i dont ride my bike in the rain or days where theres a chance of rain. i may do this until i read more into fiberglass. cause people have some some niiiice stuff with it

Re: 1978 GS550

fiberglass is like meth. its scary at first, but then when you get used to it, the scratching at your skin and the fumes going to your brain are simply irresistible.

oh yeah. ;D

Re: 1978 GS550

did some more to the seat. today i went to joann fabrics and got some seat cover material, and some foam. i also gt a thinner piece of wood, and cut out the shape of the seat pan part. cut the foam to that size, wrapped the cover on and got to stapling. the wood/foam/cover parts arent attatched to the seat yet, just resting there for the pic



i still need to sand the original cowl, and primer the whole thing including the wood base, then few coats of paint and some clear coat it, so no wood will really be exposed. and im hoping to pick up my inside-treated and primed tank tomorrw.

Re: 1978 GS550

got my tank back today. inside treated, sanded and primed. niiice. you can scroll up and see how nasty it was before hand.

Re: 1978 GS550

Excellent progress!!! Keep it up!
-KR

Re: 1978 GS550

Mike, I know it's probably too little too late but you could try looking for vinyl decking for the seat base. Being that it's plastic you would never have to worry about it getting wet. But the tank looks 100 times better!

Re: 1978 GS550

ah the recycled plastic lumber? i use that when building benches to skateboard on. its not too late, the wood its just bolted to the cowl right now and nothing further.

Re: 1978 GS550

man that seat is looking great man!!! just great! that tank does not even look like the same tank!

Re: 1978 GS550

the inner fender on gs's comes up about 2 or three inches above the frame. i sawed it so it the portion sticking up is now flush with the frame. so theres still inner fender there protecting my engine. i just laid the upholstered part of the seat im making on it in the pic.

and i think for the tank, im gonna go with my original of an olive army drab green, as opposed to black. suggestions?

Re: 1978 GS550

i like it... i would do olive green with huge white numbers on the tank, oulined in black

Re: 1978 GS550

i was thinking olive with my oem suzuki emblems, but painting them gold. but seeing theres nothing else on the bike thats gold, itd look out of place. cause everything else is black and silver.

Re: 1978 GS550

but i like the big numbers idea. maybe a big 78?

Re: 1978 GS550

shoot them white... or!!!!!

use a huge suzuki "S" and lay that across the whole top and side of the tank. kind of like a sport tuner or rally car would do on a hood decal that flows on to the fender

Re: 1978 GS550

funny you say that. in the bin of extra parts the guy gave me when i got the bike, i found two perfect 3x3" emblems like those that were contoured to fit on a tank with the new adhesive backing still in tact. i thought about using those, but id have that big long area where the emblem goes, and i wasnt planning on bondo-ing my tank at all.