1983 Suzuki GS750E Cafe/Brat/Tracker? or whatever

hillsy said:
Carbs overflow because the float valves are either full of crap, worn out or the floats don't float / are stuck open. Nothing to do with jet sizes or jet caps.


Have you blown out the passages with carb cleaner and compressed air? I don't know why / how you are using q-tips but if you aren't using compressed air then you may as well just throw some Seafoam in the fuel and run it until the carbs (hopefully) clear themselves.
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Uh, yeah...I'm not sure what I was thinking about the pilot caps....brain lapse

Q - tips down in the needle valve housing where the valve actually seats...an ability to scrub with a non abrasive to get the gunk out...apparently not enough though. I've done this before only with better results.

Carb cleaner yes, compressed air no...I thought I had good flow from the cleaner in all passages, but apparently was mistaken. Round 2 of cleaning will likely happen this weekend and will hopefully be the last round.

Meanwhile I need to get the clutch cable hooked up so I can take a spin once the carbs are clean.
 
I was out again just for a few minutes last night...just to hit the starter button without having flooded the cylinders first. It stumbled like it was going to start for about a half a second then just cranked with not so much as even a pop. I'm going to have to completely tear into the carbs again...oh well.

Also, I took another quick look at the regulator. I was trying to figure out about the cut red wire which I was thinking was the actual red wire that's supposed to go to the battery/fuse...which is why I was thinking maybe charging wasn't happening all to well because it wasn't actually hooked to the battery...

Then upon a closer look at it and the wiring diagram the red wire that is cut is actually supposed to be yellow from the generator which you can also see is cut there. After looking at the actual plug for the regulator, it's obvious that it got very hot and melted at some point. A PO had cut it apart having the red and 2 yellows in one piece and the black/white wire in the other piece. The 3rd yellow wire must have been destroyed in the meltdown and was replaced by a red wire with a female blade connector. I can't tell that it was ever hooked to anything...it looks like I'll be hooking that 4th post on the regulator to the yellow cut wire in the harness. I don't know what the meltdown was about though...maybe it was over charging and clipping the one wire eliminated that??? no idea...
 
hillsy said:
I cant recall if you had a manual for this bike? If so, do the tests for the charging circuit.
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I do have the manual and I plan on testing both...sooner than later... I'm just finding it odd that the regulator isn't even fully wired up. I'm going to get my meter and get to checking per the manual and hopefully everything checks out and I just need to hook the regulator back up
 
It's probably not wired up because it's fubar'd.


Bad reg/recs tend to take out the stators as well so you might be up for both.


Second hand bikes, eh? :eek:
 
I did notice the wires going to the regulator were warm last time I had it running.

Here's the results.

First I checked the regulator...
I didn't get ANY continuity from ANY tabs at all....none zilch nada. Ok, new reg needed.

Next I checked continuity on the generator coils. All checked with about 1 ohm.

I started it up and had it idling at about 1500-2000ish (I think....no tach hooked up). Each lead combo checked at about 52ish volts. I cranked the idle up a bit...maybe 2500-3000 and the voltage went up to 60ish. I didn't check it at 5000rpm like the manual says but jumping 10volts for 1000 -1500 rpm increase would have to get me close to the 80+ volts the manual suggests. I think the generator is good.

Now to hunt down a regulator and get these carbs cleaned....still won't start without starter fluid on a cold start. Once it's running it's fine on restart.
 
It looks like I have several choices for replacements, GSresources has a huge list of the compatible regulators for this bike.

I have found several used SH232-12 units for around $20...of course they are as old or older than the one that failed on this bike...

I found an SH541-12 equivalent that is new for $45(probably some cheap junk from china who knows)

I don't know if going used is a good idea or not...or if the new stuff is made as well as the older ones. I've heard all sorts of guys replacing the R/R's on these GS with old salvage yard units and get man years of service out of them...

Any opinions on which route to go.
 
Shunt style RR's are not really complex pieces of circuitry, so it's possible a cheap new one will be OK.


I bought a Chinese one for my Intruder and it worked fine (my problem ended up being the stator so I kept the original RR).


Series style RR's are a different beast and are far more costly - but they help prevent stators being burnt out from shunting the power back through them. There's a bunch of articles on GS Resources about these.


If you were at the point of replacing both your stator and RR then looking at the series one would be the best option for the long term.


If I were you right now I'd just go a cheap new one.
 
Well, I went ahead and pulled the trigger on a new FH012AA equivalent made who knows where for $14.95 shipped(from USA and not on a slow boat from china). I'm not sure how these can be sold that cheaply but I suppose at that price it's worth a shot.

2nd thing today is that I'm a total idiot....more on that later.

I checked the carbs today, actually pulled them off, filled up the fuel line with the funnel attached, and checked them to find that they weren't leaking a drop of fuel. I must have just had some particulate in there getting washed out for the first couple of run throughs earlier.

As I was doing all of that and checking a few things I realize that I hadn't plugged the vac line for the fuel petcock...no wonder I was having issues with starting...and why it was running on the rough side...it was only running on 3 cylinders.

After plugging the port I started it up and it ran really well, pretty smooth idle and while I was at it I checked the battery voltage again. It was near 14v at idle and then would drop to about 13.5ish at higher rpm. The 3rd wire from the regulator still isn't hooked up to the stator, so I may make a quick connection there and see what readings I get. I will most likely still replace the r/r anyway, but it definitely seems a bit better than it was. The fact that the stock connector melted at some point though is grounds enough for me to go ahead and replace it.

Hopefully tomorrow I can get the clutch cable installed, dump the old fuel out of the tank and see if I can't drive this down the road before I wire it up.
 
After pacing my brother to his first ever marathon finish I had some time to work on the bike yesterday lol

I was able to get the clutch cable installed pretty easily once I found the adjuster screw that's supposed to be in the perch. I thought I was losing my mind for a second there...I couldn't figure out why I couldn't get all of the slack out of the cable...haha

Once I got it going I was able to dump the old gas and the tank really doesn't look too bad. The petcock looks ok as well so I greased the o-ring and bolted it back on, filled it with gas, and hooked it all up.

I have no electrical hooked up except ignition and charging systems right now, so I was hoping to at least hop on and go for a ride up and down the road a few times and see how the carbs would do. Here it was outside the barn for the first time...still waiting on sew foam so I can get the upholstery done, the carpet pad looks especially nice haha



At first it was running pretty rough with a lot of stumbling and some popping, but after several trips up and down the road it seemed to get better and better. Then I went down the road and around the corner a little further and lost all power after cranking it up a bit. Turned out the main fuse blew...they had a 10A in for the main where a 15A was supposed to be, so I stole one from the turns or headlamp and got it back home. It definitely got better the longer I ran it, so I think I'm at least close as far as carbs go. I just need to figure out the choke circuit. I think some of the stumbling at the beginning was the petcock...that old vac activated valve may have had trouble delivering fuel until it got to really flowing again.

Here's a video of it again sounding much better than it did in the last video. You can definitely hear the clutch rattle go away when I bump the throttle up just a bit near the middle. I think this could be a fun bike to ride once I get it done.

https://youtu.be/wdTeoBbiDVg
 
Have you thought about adding some foam to the front of the seat to smooth out the transition between the seat and the tank, similar to the stock seat from this bike, but with your own twist? There just seems to be no flow between the flat seat and that sharp angle on the tank.A rear fender or seat cowl may help with the flow a bit as well. Just a thought

Looks like my GS550 has the stock headers from this same bike put on it at some point. Sounds just like it.

If you get the RR thing figured out, be sure to post your solution here. I've been messing around with the wiring on the GS550 for a while here and there and its just given me a headache, although I'm sure the wiring is not identical but pretty similar.
 
adventurco said:
Have you thought about adding some foam to the front of the seat to smooth out the transition between the seat and the tank, similar to the stock seat from this bike, but with your own twist? There just seems to be no flow between the flat seat and that sharp angle on the tank.A rear fender or seat cowl may help with the flow a bit as well. Just a thought

Looks like my GS550 has the stock headers from this same bike put on it at some point. Sounds just like it.

If you get the RR thing figured out, be sure to post your solution here. I've been messing around with the wiring on the GS550 for a while here and there and its just given me a headache, although I'm sure the wiring is not identical but pretty similar.
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Yeah, I completely see what you mean and I totally hate the shape of this tank and I can't picture in my mind any way to fix that with the seat. I'm trying to stay away from a complete crotch rocket look with this tank which is nearly impossible IMO. I'd really like to find another tank for this, so I don't want to do anything out of the ordinary to make anything about the bike specific to the tank. Unless I find something out there somewhere I'm going to cut off the side cover mounting brackets and fill that area, paint it up, and call it an ugly but fun bike to ride hahaha.
1. I'd like to find a "normally" shaped tank
2. Most people are asking what I would consider WAY too much for tanks in decent shape
3. I'm not sure what other suzuki tanks would even fit this bike at least close enough
 
dilbone said:
I'm trying to stay away from a complete crotch rocket look with this tank which is nearly impossible IMO.
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Yeah I don't quite see that happening with this tank the way it is. I'd either embrace it and put a bit of an angled fairing on the tail, or scrap that tank and fit something with a teardrop shape.

Got a welder? hack that rear facing angle off and try and smooth it out. You could always try a shaping hammer, but I doubt you'll be able to do much since that crease will be a pretty strong point. Maybe a combination of cutting and shaping you could make something more that you're looking for. Just be sure there's no fuel left in the tank if you start going crazy :eek: Dunno if it would actually be worth the effort to try and transform the tank, guess it depends whats worth more, time or money ;D

I've seen some pretty mediocre tanks on ebay for pretty short money. But you get what you pay for, and you'd probably end up having to do some work at least to the inside of a relatively cheap tank
 
You'll probably find a GS750/1000/1100 tank will fit. The front mounts are pretty much the same on most of the Suzukis it's just the rear mounts that will be different / wont line up.
 
I had the same problem with my tank, in the end I also chopped off the side panel mounts and added a bit of sheet steel to make the sides look a bit different and widen it a bit....not really happy with the look of it but decided to paint it before I changed my mind and tried again!
 

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Pull the tank and lets see what were working with here... a million tanks may be an easy mod to get what you want.
 
adventurco said:
Yeah I don't quite see that happening with this tank the way it is. I'd either embrace it and put a bit of an angled fairing on the tail, or scrap that tank and fit something with a teardrop shape.

Got a welder? hack that rear facing angle off and try and smooth it out. You could always try a shaping hammer, but I doubt you'll be able to do much since that crease will be a pretty strong point. Maybe a combination of cutting and shaping you could make something more that you're looking for. Just be sure there's no fuel left in the tank if you start going crazy :eek: Dunno if it would actually be worth the effort to try and transform the tank, guess it depends whats worth more, time or money ;D

I've seen some pretty mediocre tanks on ebay for pretty short money. But you get what you pay for, and you'd probably end up having to do some work at least to the inside of a relatively cheap tank
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I don't think metal work on the tank is gonna happen for me here...I'm either gonna leave it as is or find another one. I'm not sure I care enough to do either one truthfully.
 
hillsy said:
You'll probably find a GS750/1000/1100 tank will fit. The front mounts are pretty much the same on most of the Suzukis it's just the rear mounts that will be different / wont line up.
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Yeah, I was thinking that most of the 2 hole rear mount tanks would probably at least be close....
unclerob said:
I had the same problem with my tank, in the end I also chopped off the side panel mounts and added a bit of sheet steel to make the sides look a bit different and widen it a bit....not really happy with the look of it but decided to paint it before I changed my mind and tried again!
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unclerob, I'd been meaning to stop back in to see how yours finished up. I think it looks great. I'm not a huge fan of that style of bike itself, but you took a 30+ year old machine and made a very nice looking modern bike out of it. Kudos to you
Tune-A-Fish said:
Pull the tank and lets see what were working with here... a million tanks may be an easy mod to get what you want.
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I may end up pulling my 1980 GS750L tank off and sitting it on there to see where the mounts are and how it looks.
 
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