82 GS450E Scrambler from Aus - Done!

WOW... it's going to take me a few weeks to take all this in and go over it. I love reading about builds on the same bike I am working on now. So cool to see what you did with it, looks great and some really cool custom things you did there. Very nice!
 
Hey mate, cheers! First time doing anything like this and it took me a few years all up but well worth it and I'm enjoying riding it every day now.


I'm currently in the fun bit finally of getting the tuning done right... and that's been a challenge!


I noticed elsewhere you're keen to get a handle on issues with these, so definitely get yourself onto the GS Resources to get that sort of help but here's a few things to look at:


- The stock charging system on all GS series bikes is known to have issues. Replace the R/R with a good Shindengen unit, preferably the 6 wire version with the sense wire.
- If you had charging issues, you likely have a burnt out stator.
- The ignitors on these seem to be quite susceptible to failing with the dodgy charging system. No spark may be simple or a failed ignitor. The definite alternatives to fix it are the Dynatek DS3-3C kit (what I have) or the later '83 and onwards GS450 ignition setups or GS500 ignition setups.
 
Cheers mate! Gave it its first big run after the changes yesterday, all up about 480km's in the rain.


She's definitely much stronger except I think I'm still missing something at WOT so I'm going to go back up to the 8 size up mains (137.5) and see how they go.


Currently she's not looking quite so pristine... covered in crap from yesterday and at one point we ran through some "mud" that I think was more cow manure than actual dirt...
 
Glad to hear the Zook is getting dialed in.

peteGS said:
Currently she's not looking quite so pristine... covered in crap from yesterday and at one point we ran through some "mud" that I think was more cow manure than actual dirt...

OH MAN! I can relate Pal. Riding in the rain past a Dairy Farm and mud slinging up from the front wheel onto your face shield.... suddenly it dawns... "This ain't MUD!" Been there, done that!
 
Pete,
I am new to the forum, so I am not sure how to search in your build thread, but I really dig your bike and I was wondering if you can tell me what your fork boots or gaiters are off of, or how to find some to fit my gs450?
Thanks
 
Welcome along!


The gaiters are just generic ones my local dealer happened to have in stock at the time I went looking.


The key things will be the outside diameter of the fork legs is the inside diameter of the bottom of the boot.


The outside diameter of the fork stanchions or sliders is the inside diameter of the top of the boot.


The other key measurement is to find out what your fork travel is (I think mine is 140mm from memory) and make sure your gaiters fully extended are at least that long. A bit longer is ok, but if you go too long they will bunch up under full compression of the suspension and pinch.
 
Looking great Pete! Signing up to all the GS threads so for inspiration for my GS450. Glad to hear yours rockin and rollin.
 
peteGS said:
And one final carb adjustment for the moment:


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Just under 20mm's off the slide springs.


Test ride on the commute today and I reckon it'll be either really good or really crap...


I'm also contemplating the 6 size up mains again tonight. Now the needles are at their richest I'm wondering if 4 sizes is enough...


Thanks Pete.This solved all my running issues.No more bucking and cutting back from idle to 3000rpm.I only removed 10mm and tested.Works like a dream.I think I can up my mains from 142.5 to 145 and shim my needles back up 1 washer.I know it's a little lean.I get just a bit of surge above 4500.It's almost un-noticable except when running long straights at steady rpm.I have a lot of areas around me that are 55mph(?kph) which equates to 4500rpm in 6th gear with my gearing.So it gets just a little surge.I also upgrade to iridium spark plugs.I was surprised how much smoother the engine is with them.
 
Good stuff Ben! I have heard Iridiums are good but haven't even thought about that yet.


I've got two things left to do now, bigger mains and drill the vacuum hole in the slide. I'll tackle the mains first which I should be ordering tomorrow. Will get 145's and 150's and see how they go.


On the down side I've got to put the 450 in for an insurance assessment on Monday as I got rear ended Monday just gone... not badly damaged and it's still rideable but the rear mudguard is cracked and the tail light bracket is bent.


Hopefully mid next week I'll have a better idea of where the mains are at.


Also, the Katana forum guys are organising a dyno day so I want to get the 450 sorted before then so I can give it a run as well, keen to see how it goes now!
 
Dyno run sounds fun.I haven't found one around here for motos.

On the GS500's I have owned,I have never went bigger than 145's on the mains.The 450's have 2 intake valves so they may take more.The one time I was persuaded to run 150's I had a bit of a soggy low to mid range transition.I fouled plugs when cruising long distances at rpms less than 4500 rpm.There may have been other contributing factors,like the old original ignition and charging systems.

BTW,I hope to be back on project Lite Tourer soon, that I have posted on here.We're in our rainy season and I work outside.Hope to change that soon also.
 
Cool, the dyno session is very cheap because there'll be 7 or 8 of us apparently, mostly on Kats though of course.


I've got a bit of a jerky transition from closed throttle to just cracking it open at the moment, so in tight slow turns I have to hold the throttle open just a touch or it feels like it will stall out if I close it then crack it open a little. Partly that's mixture screws, but I think I may have to up the idle a little too. Definitely still working on that, but I won't try to fine tune it until I get the mains sorted.


Good info on the 150's there and it'll be interesting to see how mine goes with them. I do know that I pretty much hit a wall at 130kph at the moment which is not right.


Will be good to see Lite Tourer getting some more work too!
 
Please post your results with jetting and dyno.It'd be interesting to see what kind of numbers a 450 makes compared to a 500.It maybe surprising results.There is/was dyno results on a GS500 on the GST homepage.I don't know if it's been removed or not.

Here it is.
1999_dyno.jpg
 
Yeah will do... I should've said though that I'm not 100% on getting it done yet. If it ends up being scheduled for a Saturday when I'm on call for work or if the GS is stuck in getting repaired, then I'll miss it... I'm very keen to get it done though!


I'm looking at potentially hacking up my stock rear mudguard and putting a new connector on my stock tail light so I can keep riding it while the others get repaired/replaced, but I need to wait to talk to the assessor on Monday. It'll look ugly as sin if I do that but at least I can still ride.
 
Most definitely! Hate being without my bike... 145 and 150 mains ordered today finally too, so they'll go in next week some time and see how she runs.
 
Ohhhh I've been a little negligent here...


Since the last post, I have got the 150 mains in and have drilled the vacuum holes in the slides to 3mm.


The difference is quite awesome :D


Probably for someone else it's not a huge difference but I can really feel the much improved throttle response... much snappier!


I also discovered I'd messed up my mixture screw settings yesterday and had the left one at 3 turns and right one at 2 turns... ::)


So, after setting both to 2.5 turns yesterday and more fiddling today, I ended up at 3.5 turns but still feel like it's a little poppy on decel with a closed throttle, so I've gone 3.75 turns this avo and will see how that goes tomorrow.


I need another good test run to check it all out thoroughly (commuting isn't good for that) but I think I'm pretty close and will probably leave it like this at least until the dyno day, which is 18th May incidentally.


So, just to summarise where I'm at:


Pilots: Stock 17.5
Mixture Screws: 3.75 turns
Needles: Stock, richest (lowest) notch 4C3
Mains: 150


Slide springs shortened ~20mm
Vacuum Holes enlarged to 3mm
 
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