Hillsy's GS450 project

[hillsy]

G'Day there chaps. Finally found a project bike to start a cafe build. It's an '88 GS 450 in ...err...."interesting" condition
Here's some pics

Oh dear.....

A bit of wiring to clean up (and a few important bits missing )

And maybe a visit from the headlight fairy might be a good idea....

And the tail light fairy...

Holy crap!

And now - a box of FZR bits I've had sitting in the shed waiting for a rainy day.....

Which includes a serviceable M/C and some neat rearsets..

A set of clip-ons

And a set of wheels (not sure if I will use these or try to find spoked ones)

I had originally thought that I would get it back on the road as stock, and then cafe it. But after a brief inspection, it's too far gone for that. Which means I'll start the cafe mods straight away.....Well, straight away for me means maybe before Xmas.. :-\

 

[colpumpkinnuts]

That's a pretty cool looking bike, it definitely has some potentional. Good find.

 

[CaTacl1sm]

wow. what a piece of crap.... that just means more props to you when its tits

 

[chrisf]

No, this bike is going to kick ass. Make sure you pay attention to the details and not try to take any shortcuts. A new tank and seat with a lick of paint and you'll be in business. Keep us posted.

--Chris

 

[Canuck Plumber]

Any updates?

 

[lunar_c]

I'm doing a Wes Cooley-esque replica GS1000 for a mate of mine .. I'll post some pics up once I make some more progress .. making a new wiring loom for it at the moment.

 

[hillsy]

Any updates?

Updates will be few and far between - especially since I broke my collarbone during the week falling off my stupid bicycle

This hurts to type (on so many levels) :'(

 

[Canuck Plumber]

Holy Shat Dude.

I hope you heal up quick. A fellow I know races Buell out here in Calgary and has snapped his collar bone twice. I hear it sucks.

Get well.

 

[hillsy]

Just got back from the hospital now (1st check-up after the break) and have to keep my arm still and in a sling for at least another week, then they'll xray it again and see how it's going. 6 weeks all up if things go OK

Anyway, gives me time to think a bit more about the "look" of the GS

 

[kneedragger]

Broken collarbones DO suck; they seem DESIGNED to break in a fall... don't ask me how I know...

That said, do your best to keep your arm immobile; moving it will slow the healing process. Keep it STILL as much as possible; sleeping is always a problem, but if you do the wrong thing while you're asleep, you WILL wake up, then suffer the consequences for the next few hours, until the pain subsides, and you can go back to sleep again.

Keeping your arm immobile seems simple to do; your collarbone will get your attention every time you fail at it... Hope you heal soon.

 

[hillsy]

Found the energy / motivation to have a look at the bike today - and got it fired up!. Seems to run OK (no nasty knocks), but will need a HUGE carb overhaul, etc, etc.....At least I can now proceed without having to tear the engine down ;D

No other updates, I'm afraid - still trying to get over this broken collarbone thing

 

[zimm]

use the fzr swing arm!

 

[Drewski]

use the fzr swing arm!

Ya!! ;D ;D

Sorry about the bad 'break'! Sounds like you've got a good plan for the GS! Go nuts! 8) 8)

Lookin' forward to seeing your progress! ;D

 

[hillsy]

Well, I've been stripping the bike a little (probably not the best thing to be doing with a busted collarbone but I like to think it is somehow "therepeutic")

And you wouldn't believe it, but the FZR swingarm is EXACTLY the same width at the pivot....

And it looks like this....

Now, do I go monoshock or keep the twin shocks?????


Also I got lucky with the rearsets - they line up to the GS mounts....

And another piece of luck - the stator off the GS was missing, but I kept the FZR stator....which fits!.

I guess this build was meant to be ;D

 

[hillsy]

Oh - a few other things. The FZR front wheel will not fit in the GS front end. I don't have the FZR forks (and they are made of "unobtanium" apparently....), so I have lined up a front end off a 90's GSX250F (Across). The good thing about Suzuki is they ran the same headstem bearings from 78 - 92 on pretty well all their bikes from 250 - 1100 So, the conversion should be fairly straight-foward (I hope :)

Also, I am in 2 minds about using the FZR swingarm as I'm thinking the box section will not look as good as the GS's round steel (and the FZR rear axle is smaller, so no go on a wheel swap). Next time I'm at my wreckers I'm going to measure the GSX250 rear wheel and maybe slot one of them in the original 450 s/arm...... ;D

 

[zimm]

thats crazy every thing fits so well!
i think the swing arm looks good on there but more of a fighter thing i guess

 

[hillsy]

Collected a few parts today...

Also measured up the GSX250 front and rear ends. Same size axle for the rear wheel and same spacing between axle plates as the 450, so I will probably go with the GSX250 rear wheel and use the twin shock swingarm off the 450. The only problem now is that I have to wait until I'm fit / well enough to be able to take the front and rear ends out of the donor bike by myself before I can continue (my wrecker works alone - and I get the parts at a VERY good price if I do this 8))

Here's an example pic of the donor:

Also have lined up a fibreglass replica Ducati 750SS seat unit off eBay. Now I'm looking for a more retro style tank. Next time I'm at the wreckers I will see if I can scrounge around the back where all the really old parts are..

 

[hillsy]

WOW! I can't believe it's 2 months since my last update....but hey - I did say this was going to be a slow build....and I did break my collarbone (all OK now - thanks for asking ;D)

Finally got the FZR wheels on (with the GSX250 front end). I gotta tell ya - it was a P.I.T.A. The axles between the FZR and GS were different sizes, so I had to search for new wheel bearings with the inner dia of the GS and outers of the FZR wheels. Which was OK for the rear, but the front was an "odd" size bearing which was going to be about US$50 EACH..... .....so I ended up going for a larger inner diameter bearing (IE cheaper) and made a sleeve for the axle. The only reason I persisted with the swap was because I already had the wheels sitting in my garage.....

And the front end swap involved a stem swap and swapping the forks around to fit the RHS caliper off the FZR (the GSX caliper was LHS). It all kinda worked out in the end

I found another tank off a GS650 which looked like it might fit - and was more rounder / retro than the boxy 450 tank (on the left). I didn't get any keys with the tank, but I took it to a locksmith who sprung the lock....and the inside had NO rust

Also bought a Ducati SS style seat off eBay for a decent price from a local fibreglasser. It's pretty good quality.

And here's the mock up pics

Oh, and finally for today, I made up a bracket to mount the FZR caliper to the GSX fork. I might trim this down a bit, but I like to err on the side of caution when it comes to this "safety" stuff 8)

Next will be to wield the trusty grinder on all the unnecessary brackets, join the rear rails "horse shoe" style, fit the tank and seat, and........Oh God I feel tired just thinking of it....

 

[colpumpkinnuts]

If you continue to take your time with this and you don't hurt yourself anymore : this is going to look awesome.

 

[JRK5892]

hell ya it looks awesome!!! nice work man!