Hi, i'm new here although i've been lurking a bit for the past few months, tons (no pun intended ;D ) of great information on this site, i will be needing all the help i can get as i'm not very mechanically inclined.
I've acquired a 1978 GS750 this spring, seemed to be in allright shape but it had been apart in my buddy's garage for a year or so, and was parked in somebody elses barn prior that for another year or so. Heres how she looked after we put the wheels, handlebars and tank on.
She probably was started once in a while, cause she fired right up after we put everything together. Now that i knew for sure it started and ran smoothly, i gave buddy his money and took my new toy home
So after some mild wrenching, i was able to make this out of 'er.
She ran fine and smooth, but i started seeing some oil seep out of the head gaskets after a few rides, most probably because of dried gaskets from being parked so long. i drove 'er around all summer like that till a few weeks back when i took it for a 800km ride to get home and realize the oil level was almost on empty.
So a couple days ago, after reading through a service manual i found online, here's what i decided to do:
And while taking the engine out, i noticed my clutch cable was a bit worn, if you catch my drift...
So far, so good. Now here's how the engine looks, and you can see pretty much where the oil is comming from all 3 top end gaskets and tach gear.
It seeps through the head, cylinder and bottom gasket for sure and it's practically spraying out of my tach gear, running on the tach cable and dripping on my exhaust giving me the wonderful smell of burnt oil.
Now here I come with the technical questions.
Considering the amount of oil that is finding its way out through the motor, a top end gasket job would probably be called for. But considering my mechanical ability, i have a hard time convincing myself i can do it myself when i don't have the slightest clue on how to work on an engine. I have the shop manual, but its one i downloaded off the internet and it only explains a complete teardown of the engine, which i dont even know if is really necessary just to change a few top end gaskets. If i get this right, from the manual anyway, when you put everything back together, there are lots of adjustments to be done like valve tappets, timing, etc...
So what would you guys recommend to a newbie like me? Find a new shop manual? Get the job done by somebody else? clean up then engine, stick it back in and keep putting a quart of oil/month in it?
I have SOME mechanical abilities, i've been friggin' around with bikes for a while, i just never really did any other engine work besides changing the stator on a sportster which was kind of easy.
Any help would really be appreciated, thanks in advance!
Dick.
I've acquired a 1978 GS750 this spring, seemed to be in allright shape but it had been apart in my buddy's garage for a year or so, and was parked in somebody elses barn prior that for another year or so. Heres how she looked after we put the wheels, handlebars and tank on.
She probably was started once in a while, cause she fired right up after we put everything together. Now that i knew for sure it started and ran smoothly, i gave buddy his money and took my new toy home
So after some mild wrenching, i was able to make this out of 'er.
She ran fine and smooth, but i started seeing some oil seep out of the head gaskets after a few rides, most probably because of dried gaskets from being parked so long. i drove 'er around all summer like that till a few weeks back when i took it for a 800km ride to get home and realize the oil level was almost on empty.
So a couple days ago, after reading through a service manual i found online, here's what i decided to do:
And while taking the engine out, i noticed my clutch cable was a bit worn, if you catch my drift...
So far, so good. Now here's how the engine looks, and you can see pretty much where the oil is comming from all 3 top end gaskets and tach gear.
It seeps through the head, cylinder and bottom gasket for sure and it's practically spraying out of my tach gear, running on the tach cable and dripping on my exhaust giving me the wonderful smell of burnt oil.
Now here I come with the technical questions.
Considering the amount of oil that is finding its way out through the motor, a top end gasket job would probably be called for. But considering my mechanical ability, i have a hard time convincing myself i can do it myself when i don't have the slightest clue on how to work on an engine. I have the shop manual, but its one i downloaded off the internet and it only explains a complete teardown of the engine, which i dont even know if is really necessary just to change a few top end gaskets. If i get this right, from the manual anyway, when you put everything back together, there are lots of adjustments to be done like valve tappets, timing, etc...
So what would you guys recommend to a newbie like me? Find a new shop manual? Get the job done by somebody else? clean up then engine, stick it back in and keep putting a quart of oil/month in it?
I have SOME mechanical abilities, i've been friggin' around with bikes for a while, i just never really did any other engine work besides changing the stator on a sportster which was kind of easy.
Any help would really be appreciated, thanks in advance!
Dick.
