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Last month I drove 4 hours to pick up a 1980 Suzuki Gn400 singled cylinder bike. It had previously been chopped up and welded to look like a bobber.
My intentions quickly changed from a quick fix up and ride around town before winter hits to tear the entire bike to the ground and start from a bare frame.
Do it the right way. Do it my own way. Do it completely Different than anyone else.
It all started one afternoon when I wanted to take off the chrome plated bits to clean up the look of the bike. I realized a few bolts later the swing arm bolt/axle had to be removed in order to do so. That came off and a few moments later I realized almost half the bike was on the ground in pieces. The rear wheel, rear brake, and chain, swing arm, and a million bits of hardware were all on the concrete. At this point I thought 'why not take the engine out'.
This is where the Different Little Thumper's new life began.
This was my first engine removal so it took a while to massage the engine out of the frame. I ended up using a rubber mallet to persuade the last knew inches, and during those persuasive nudged I accidently smashed in the oil filter cap.
Oooppps :-[
Eventually It was removed and the next day I took it into a self-service car wash and power washed the engine.
Now its sparkly clean.
It this point in the project I have about a week till I left for a 10 day vacation to Northwest US and Canada.
Determined to get as much progress finished as possible my next step for this Suzuki was detabbing the frame.
So many tabs were for the original airbox, original side panel covers, and a battery box. I dont have any of those original parts and I will not run with a battery because of the magneto in the engine so the decision was easy.
Grinding little bits of the same was a TON of fun.
Wish there were more tabs.
To me the Gn400 is a lost and forgotten bike. It never came close to following the Yamaha Sr500s/400s and had a very short 4 year production. Its hard to see why it wouldn't make a great project bike.
-They are cheap because there is no demand
-Parts are still readily available because many swap over from numerous other Suzuki's
-Simple construction makes working on it a breeze
-Great on gas
-Vibrate like a real motorcycle
After grinding all the useless tabs off, I hit it with a few coats of primer and set to work on the triple tree clamps.
Frame Detabbed
This is the triple tree before.
And this is after.
-wire brushed it down to bare metal and clear coated it so it may stay shiny for a while.
-also painted parts matte black and alternated them from black and silver
Finalising my decision on the color was the single most difficult part so far on this build. I searched for paint schemes of race cars, trucks, guitars, and other bikes and become fond of the british racing green color.
Inspiration for the color scheme came from this bicycle:
The frame sat in primer for a couple weeks awaiting for the paint to arrive. So in the meantime I went to work on the tank. The original dark red was in pretty decent shape but the red was not going to fly with my paint vision.
Sprayed the balls off of the old paint with a whole can of paint stripper. Sanded out the little rust underneath, and hit it with some primer.
Since I didn't have any intent on keeping the Suzuki tank badge I Bondo-ed over the mounting holes and fixed a few small dents
PAINT DAY IS HERE!! The Frame and tank will finally get some color. The quality turned out pretty well for never painting a bike before.
Since most bikes almost always have a black frame, this one had to be different. This metallic green with a hint of blue just looked killer.
Since the frame is a glossy metallic the tank couldn't be shiny or flashy at all. So I thought a flat off white would seem neutral and allow for eyes to be drawn more to the frame. Fingers are crossed for the colors to go well together.
Steering steam bearing were next inline.
The previous ones felt like they were made out of corn flakes.
The day I replaced these bearing was the day my garage door spring broke, leaving the door closed. Unfortunately my tool box was I side so I was forced to improvise.
Found an old sludge hammer head. It works perfectly when they don't pinch your fingers.
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