Pics above indicate the overall condition of the "bikes" as they arrived in Wisconsin on 3/8/03 (from Birmingham, via Bucyrus). First revelation was that no keys were included; the good motor/bad frame bike was already hotwired, so a battery was purchased & installed; it cranked over, but was reluctant to fire. Slides, after being unstuck, seem to work fine; throttle & cable are turning well, presumably there's bad gas in the float bowls, not unusual for a bike that's been sitting a while. Oddly, I was unable to get any fuel into the carbs via the fuel line, almost as though there was some type of blockage there.
3/10/03 pulled the carbs off for the usual cleaning. Had to gently pry the float bowls off, and here's the reason; they were completely frozen solid. Lotsa water in that "gas" I guess. Ironically, they're relatively clean in there, outside of all the ice. They're thawing in the basement now, will have to wait & see whether the plastic floats suffered any cracks from this. No luck finding rebuild kits for the stock carbs yet.
3/11/03 disassembled the carbs last night, cleaned everything in the ultrasonic, and reassembled; they're in the basement, awaiting fitment. Nor further surprises, I couldn't find anything broken, the jets look to have cleaned up nicely, everything sliding smoothly now. Suzuki used some unusual ideas in these carbs, including a press-fit plastic slide holder. The rest of the fuel delivery system is, in my opinion, unnecessarily cumbersome for such an otherwise simple, straightforward bike; two lines coming off the tank to a remote vacuum-operated petcock assembly, and multiple lines from that to the motor. Hopefully we can simplify that a bit, but first things first; need to see if we've got combustion.
3/12/03 carbs are back on, but despite 1/2 hour of cranking, we're still not running. The bike would occasionally "try", but not very reassuringly. What I got mostly were backfires ... big, window-rattling, irritate-the-neighbors backfires, mostly through the carbs, but sometimes through the pipes. The float bowls are full of fuel, no filters on the carbs yet. We've got good spark on both plugs. Not sure where to go next, it's possible the timing is off, as the right-side timing cover was removed from the bike when I received it; maybe the p/o was fiddling around down there? Will try resetting the timing once the shop manual arrives. Why didn't I order that a month ago?
3/13/03 nothing positive to report today. Removed valve cover to check the timing, thinking maybe it was off. Appears fine, everything inside the head is exceptionally clean; cam lobes look brand new, good oil is getting to the valvetrain, etc. Did notice that there's no spark at the advancer/pickup area. Haven't seen any there at all, ever, in fact. Hmmm. How is it the plugs are firing, when there's no sparky at the pickup? Very curious. Too many questions, and one elusive answer out there somewhere.
3/15/03 it's official, I'm a moron. After several days of checking timing, charging system, electrical connections, carbueration, and my horoscope, I splurged $4 on a pair of new plugs, and the damned thing fired right up. I felt at once elated and ashamed. The motor seems willing enough to start and sort of idle; once I've got a set of filters on the carbs, and can let it run for a while, it ought to be fine. I even managed to slip it into gear and test the clutch, which (in the confines of my small garage) seems to work fine; it wants to move forward, a good sign. The calipers are pretty well locked in place, but it's willing. Work begins again, hope springs eternal, blah blah blah.
3/17/03 there's no secret to painting a frame; take your time with the prep work, trim off the extraneous brackets neatly, sand and/or blast everything down to bare metal, prime, and paint, using the usual mist coat/medium coat/finish coat procedure. That's what I usually do, anyways; this job was destined to be of the half-assed persuasion. Almost out of blasting media, I didn't get the rusty areas perfectly smooth. So sue me. My angle grinder wheel was almost gone, so I didn't get the unnecessary tabs quite flush. The paint, sensing that I wasn't being careful, refused to lie flat; I was getting fish-eye all over. Three coats of primer were required to make things presentable.
And then the top coat. Time constraints ruled out the hour-long trip to Fleet Farm for my paint of choice (Plasti-Cote, which goes on nice & easy, great spray pattern, high gloss, great stuff to work with). Local stores didn't carry lacquer in any colors excepting black & white, so I used (*shudder*) Rustoleum. The folks over at the Rustoleum plant have never heard of a "mist coat"; this stuff comes out thick & heavy, but whattya gonna do? I'd have spent more time on painting if this frame had a title, but since it doesn't, it'll probably be relegated to track duty, or swapped out. Close enough for gov't work; the base coat is drying now (slowwwwly), and will be accented with a mist coat of metalflake, which will look much less pimpish than it sounds, trust me. It'll also serve to distract the eye, hiding the paint sags and leftover rust flecks.
Started taking the forks apart too, didn't get very far. Prying off the rubber plugs on top revealed caps that were (a) rusty, and (b) square. Yes, square. Like a giant hex key, if hexagons only had four sides. Faced with visions of crumbled caps and rounded-off allen wrenches, I decided the springs were probably plenty stiff, and the fork oil was probably fresh anyways. Back on went the caps, and a little WD40 & 000-size steel wool cleaned up the tubes. Lowers were passably fresh looking. Done. Once the bike is running, maybe we'll go back & rebuild the extra forks, and swap them in. Goal at this point: have frame painted, wiring installed, misc frame brackets back in place, triples & forks on, swingarm refinished, and the best set of wheels back on by the end of this weekend.
3/18/03 further evidence of stupidity; after priming the frame with self-etching lacquer, and topcoating with an enamel product that rhymes with "Bustoleum", things were looking good. Tonight I applied the mist coat, which looked GORGEOUS for about a minute; it then wrinkled into a fair imitation of alligator hide before my very eyes. Next time, I'll heed the directions: recoat within one hour, or after 48 hours. Never had this happen before. What a friggin mess. Nothing to do now but wait, sand, and topcoat again, then leave it the hell alone. Swapped the coils over to the new frame, removed the exhaust (very rusty, but mostly intact), painted the upper triple pieces, frowned at the frame some more. I'm bummed, and going to bed now. G'night.
3/19/03 sanded down the main frame spars on the right side to bare metal, then put another base coat & top coat (no primer) on. Still wrinkly in small areas where I was unable to remove the last coat. Too bad, time to move on. Cleaned up the footpeg assemblies (black, with polished heel guards); mounted the triple clamp pieces, and handlebars. Tomorrow, paint other side of the frame, drop off the tank for dipping, and start getting the forks on. Decided to use the forks from the bad-frame bike, if they're straight when they come off. That swingarm is much cleaner too. Oh, and did I mention that the GS came standard with tapered roller bearings in the steering stem? That was a pleasant surprise!
3/24/03 lots of progress since the last update. Frame paint is finished (or rather, I've decided to stop wasting time on it!); every time I move it now, a little rusty water dribbles out a hole somewhere & streaks down the paint, staining it. The triples were cleaned up, and the triple clamp cover sanded & painted (see pic); this is the effect I was trying to achieve with the paint. Triples, headlight brackets, a new black "Superbike" handlebar, and forks were installed. I sanded & wirebrushed the headlight shell, leaving it "bare" ... similar treatment was given to the sidestand.
Out back, the swingarm from the bad frame was removed & cleaned up, as it was in better shape than the other. At this point I noticed the linkages were different between the '89 and the '91; the manual confirms that there was a change. I used the alloy linkage, and reassembled using the Katana 600 shock sourced on Ebay. Lots of Suzuki shocks will bolt into a GS; most require modifications to the linkage or shock clevis; not so the Katana unit, which slides right in. Should help keep the rear planted, and raise the ride height slightly. Today I'll get the newly-repainted battery box and related bits installed, and wiring run. Tuesday night I'll get both brakes systems apart & cleaned, then installed, along with the wheels. Wednesday the motor goes in, anyone want to come over & help lift?
3/25/03 Snapped these pics this morning before work. Wheels are on, and seem to be straight; didn't get to the brakes last night, so that's tonights goal. Installed some more of the electrical components. Spent some time tallying up what's left to do, and there's quite a lot. Motor swap, clean up & install instruments, hook up remaining wiring, fabricate a seat and pad, paint the tank & seat, fix & install brakes, fab a brake light, need mirrors, need an air cleaner element, pick up a master link & see if the chain is usable, and pray that it runs well.
3/26/03 I'd like to pause here for a moment, and send out a personal note to the Suzuki design team who put together the GS500. One of you pseudo-engineers apparently thought it appropriate to weld all the rear motor mounts to the frame, probably saving about a dollar per unit as compared to putting a proper bolt-on mount back there. Well bully for you, f*&k-knob, I hope you got a big ol' bonus for that brainstorm, because here's what; there's a special place in Hell waiting for you, and all the other engineers who practice that sort of close-enough, common-denominator sort of decision making. I spent four hours today trying to wrestle that humongous lump of an engine into place, and it's still not in. Don't waste your time pointing out that it's a two-person job; "get more people to compensate for my failure as a designer" doesn't carry much weight with me. I've installed a variety of motors into frames myself; singles, twins, even an old GS1000 powerplant, without undue strain. Your design sucks, and I suspect that you yourself do as well. If, by some unusual circumstance, you had wandered into my garage tonight to find me bent over this bike, heaving, shaking with frustration, I would have attacked you with an angle grinder, with intent to harm. I'd have punched you so hard, by the time you woke up, your clothes would have been out of style. You understand me? I'm fully expecting to wake up with a stiff neck, bruised arms, a stiff back, and possibly a hernia in the morning, and I blame you; I'm sure that will amuse you, you sick sonofabitch, so go ahead and yuck it up. Your day will come. Idiot bastard.
3/28/03 Okay, I feel better now. The motor is in; with the aid of a co-worker (thanks Kurt!), it went in pretty quickly. The key was running a 3' length of allthread through the upper rear motor mount; that helped us get it into position. My arms still ache from earlier in the weekend, and forearms are all pumped up, but it's in and I'm happy. More good news: Jared from the GS list is trading me a pair of fuel caps (one with cylinder but no key, one "modified" to open with a screwdriver) for one of the fenders I had, and a tail midpiece. Thanks much Jared! Tonight: install carbs, hook up all wiring, and start on the brakes, which I was supposed to have done by now.
4/3/03 Sorry, it's been a while since I last updated. Lots of good news: the tank is back from the resto shop, after a thorough dip in their acid tank. Several layers of paint and rust are now gone (see before/after pics); the inside was horrible, and actually had a half cup of rusty water in it ... it's now shiny clean. Last night I gave the front and rear caliper pieces a nice soak in the ultrasonic, and those too came out sparkling; front caliper went together (with new pads), is now installed & bled, and working great. Dashboard template has been finalized, I'll cut the real one today; on the way to work I picked up a toggle switch & some tubing to mount the oil & neutral lights. Picked up some Pro Grips and a cheap bike speedo at Torque Center this week. Still looking for some cheap aluminum sheeting, for the tail section; I hear there's some in the lab here at work.
4/8/03They say "anything worth doing is worth doing right." Well screw them, they were obviously not under this kind of time pressure. Heh. The tank is painted, and the best I can say about the paint job is that nobody got hurt. I hadn't bothered to fill in any but the worst of the dents, so why spend a week painting? Anyhow, I like the effect; it is befitting the cheap-guy nature of this competition.
I seem to be in the final stages of this build, as everything is taking 5x longer than it should. Replacing the brittle fuel lines was a half day affair; two trips to find the 1/4" clear fuel line, and lots more time struggling to get them on the fittings; this stuff isn't very flexible at 30 degrees. Suzuki uses a dual-stage petcock system on this bike; two lines from the tank to the frame-mounted fuel tap, three lines from there to the carbs, and a vacuum line, with the airbox in the way of it all. What a pain.
With some scrap aluminum, a length of brass tubing, some epoxy, and a HawkGT indicator light lens, I fabbed up a dash that would display at least the vital info: neutral, oil light, speedo, toggle switch. Looks nice, and it'll save several pounds of weight compared to the stock instruments. The pipe was quickly sprayed (I prefer "mottled blackish" to "flaking rust") and installed, need to cut a hanger for the rear, since the passenger pegs were sliced off. So does it run? You betcha. Had to jumpstart it (the month-old battery won't hold a charge), but it does seem to want to run. The idle "lags" upon closing throttle, but we can worry about tuning after the roads clear up & I'm able to road test. I'm just glad it runs, that's a great emotional boost.
Sometime in April, three days till rally time ... busy busy busy around here. Things are pretty well finished, and I just got back from a lap through town. Bike seems to be running adequately; starts, almost idles, pulls my overgrown butt around without too much trouble. There's a rattle I've GOT to find soon, a leaky bowl gasket on the left side that I won't have time to fix; speedo needs to be calibrated, seat isn't bolted down yet, a couple similar issues, but by gawd, we're gonna be ready!
