Another One?

So I finally got around to buying that parts bike I mentioned a couple of months ago.

It's got 21,000 miles on it, and is in almost exactly the same shape as the bruiser.

I haven't decided what to do with it yet. Maybe a streetfighter with modern suspension and wheels but oldschool bodywork?

I was planning on using the tank on mine, but other than the white stripe it's in no better condition. The paint is a little worse, but it doesn't have the big dent on the left side. It's missing a few parts but they're all cheap and easy to find.

Before and After Summary

If you've been following my blog from the beginning you'll remember that I performed a thorough inspection of the bike when I got it home. If not, check it out here.

To wrap up the project I'll summarize what I've done and what it started as.

Front End
- tire old and hard New Tire (Bridgestone S11 Spitfire)
- wheel lightly corroded Cleaned and polished with steel wool and alloy polish
- fender heavily corroded Painted black
- fork tubes heavily corroded Replaced with good used set
- fork seals cracked Replaced with new OEM parts
- brake lines cracked Replaced with new aftermarket stainless braided lines; rebuilt entire brake system with new OEM seals and new fluid.
- gauge backs lightly corroded Polished with chrome polish
- switches, fork area dirty Cleaned
- headlight rim heavily corroded Polished with chrome polish (still not perfect)
- top nut and misc. hardware corrodedPolished with chrome polish or replaced with new
- levers and hardware lightly corroded Cleaned and polished with steel wool and alloy polish
- missing cushion over handlebar clamps Still missing because it won't work with the shorter superbike bars.

Tank, Seat, Airbox, Sidecovers, Wiring
- tank rusty inside Cleaned with Phosphoric acid
- petcock frozen in "ON" and leaky Replaced with NOS petcock
- one dent in tank Still there, but not bad
- grab rail corroded Polished with chrome polish (still not perfect)
- rearstand handle corroded Replaced with good used
- missing airbox and sidecover harware Replaced with new OEM hardware
- paint dull in general Cleaned, polished and waxed
- mis-matched sidecover Still mis-matched, but you won't be looking at both sides at the same time
- all four turn signals in poor, corroded shape Rears replaced with good used - front signals cleaned and polished but not perfect
- electrical panel lightly corroded; contacts corroded Panel re-painted, all connectors cleaned or replaced; late model Honda RR added.
- exhaust looks like crap - totally rusty Polished with chrome polish

Frame/Rear Suspension
- minor scratches/chips in frame paint Touched-up paint; cleaned and waxed frame.
- rear brake MC leaks Rebuilt entire rear brake system and replaced hose with new stainless braided line.
- rear wheel lightly corroded Cleaned and polished with steel wool and alloy polish
- rear brake pedal lightly corroded Polished with chrome polish
- some hardware corroded Polished with chrome polish or replaced
- rear tire old and hard New Tire (Bridgestone S11 Spitfire)
- chain dry; unknown condition Lubricated and inspected

Finally Coming Together

With the petcock finished and the engine side covers polished, there isn't much left to do but ride this thing. I gave it a quick once-over, checked the air pressure and hit the road.

I visited a friend from the GS Resources to synchronize the carburetors. Thanks Ed! ON the road the new regulator works great - 13.8v at idle with the lights on, and a fully charged battery after 200 miles and sitting around all weekend.

With the carbs synced, the bike runs really well although I do notice the odd backfire and stumble. I may pull the carbs again soon to check them over, but only after I put some more miles on the bike to make sure it's not just "clearing it's throat". I'll also adjust the idle mixture screws a little too.

Other than that it's running perfectly. Being the perfectionist that I am, I might still play with a couple of small details. I don't have to, but I'd like to tweak the front suspension to perfection. I'm getting 65mm of front sag, which is about 30mm too many. And I'd like to maybe remove the passenger grab handle and plug the holes, but I haven't decided yet. In addition, the clutch cover seems to be oozing oil, but it's hard to tell because of the small amount.

Petcock the Third

Well, my second attempt at petcock repair failed because of a poorly-designed aftermarket diaphragm. The O-ring was too small. I should have learned my lesson by now but it almost never pays to mess around with stuff like this - just buy a new one and forget it.

So I did. I bought a NOS petcock on ebay for $36, which seemed like a good deal to me. Bolted it to the tank and no more gas oozing out.

Anyone need a slightly used petcock rebuild kit?

Alloy Swing Arm

The later GS1100 and Katana ('81 up) came with a neat fabricated alloy swingarm that looked a lot like aftermarket swingarms made during the 1970's. It weighs about 8 pounds less than the steel one (seriously!) and it's a lot stiffer. One would look just right on the Bruiser, giving it a touch more of that "Superbike" vibe.

There's nothing wrong with the stock GS1000 swingarm, and if I was doing a factory restoration I would leave it in place. However, I like to do easy mods when I get the chance, and this is definitely an easy mod. It's also reversible as long as I keep the stock swinger around.

I traded an extra set of Progressive fork springs that I got (long story) to a nice guy named Dennis in Connecticut for the swingarm. With the bike in pieces and lots of parts on order, there wasn't a better time to make the swap.

It's a bolt-on mod, or rather should be a bolt-on mod. My bike didn't quite have enough clearance on the left between the passenger peg bracket and the swinger. No big deal, I just used my trusty Craftsman trolley jack to push the peg brackets a little (like 1/8") further apart. Now they're perfectly even.

The other modification I made was to the original GS1000 chainguard - it's a nice plastic piece in comparison with the GS1100 swingarm's steel guard. The front hole is in a different location but it was a simple change. I drilled a new hole in the proper location and added a stainless bolt from the backside and a locknut on the outside.

I took the opportunity to grease the pivot needle bearings, re-route the brake hose and adjust the chain tension again. I also cleaned the back of the motor and bottom of the battery box since this area is normally obstructed by the swingarm.

I'll give a handling report next time I take the bike out, but it sure looks trick sitting in the garage!

Charging System

The bike seemed to charge OK, but the lights were dim at idle. They brightened up with a rev, which made be think that the stator and regulator were doing their job but the battery was weak.

At idle voltage was just 12 volts, but above 5,000 it climbed lethargically to 13.8. Within specs, but not very impressive. After a few days of charging the battery wouldn't give more than 12.2 volts, which is pretty low.

These bikes are known for having weak charging systems, though, so I wanted to head such problems off before they appear in the future, without spending a fortune. Since it was down for the engine work, I figured I'd do a little creative re-wiring.

The problems are many, but they come down to a marginal-sized stator, over-use (mis-use?) of bullet connectors, one stator phase (of three) that's completely unregulated and a regulator that's not efficiently grounded to the battery.

I formulated a plan to upgrade the weak spots of the stock system:

- Marginal stator: This I couldn't do much about - I measured the resistance of the stock one and it seemed fine. Looked fine too, when I pulled off the cover.

- Sub-optimal bullet connectors: I replaced all connectors with 1/4-inch spade terminals

- One unregulated stator phase: I replaced the separate rectifier and 2-phase regulator with a modern unit (from a Honda CBR929rr) that will control all three phases instead of just two. I wired the third phase directly to the regulator instead of through the lighting switch (and a bunch of bullet connectors).

- Poor rectifier/regulator wiring and design: I wired the regulator directly to battery instead of through the harness. The GS originally has a separate rectifier and regulator, which just adds resistance to the circuit. The 929 combined rectifier/regulator had two positive and two negative outputs - I ran one positive and one negative directly to the battery. The second positive went to the wiring harness like the stock regulator and the second negative was grounded to the starter solenoid along with the harness negative wire.

I took the opportunity to do some more cleaning of the battery box area. I also removed and painted the electrical panel for more bling. And finally, I replaced the weak battery with a nice new 12N14 battery from Wal Mart.

Now, even though the new regulator is about double the size of the old one, you can't tell. Looks good, doesn't it?

That should cure my electrical and charging problems for the forseeable future...

Clutch Rattle

With the covers off, I had access to the clutch. I removed the springs, spring bolts and plates and found the source of my noise - a loose clutch nut. The reason for the loose nut was very clear - the stock setup uses a large lock washer under the nut that is then bent up to lock it in place. The problem with this is that the lock washer is made from soft steel so that it can be bent up. The initial torque of the big nut plus the constant shock of power transfer through the clutch eventually crushes the soft washer until it releases the tension in the tightened shaft. It's a common problem with this kind of arrangement.

After a while of floating free, the shaft splines beat up the aluminum splines in the clutch hub and it gets even more loose. The ultimate solution is getting rid of the lock washer and using a billet clutch nut with red loctite and a brand new clutch hub. I don't have a billet clutch nut or new hub, but I do have red locktite which will hopefully solve the problem. There are available, but I'll see if this works first. It's easy enough to get at the clutch by putting the bike over on it's sidestand, so I'm not too concerned about re-doing it.

I gave the steels and fiber plates a quick measurement to make sure they are OK, and they're within specs. I thought I felt a little clutch slip on one of my rides, so the springs might be getting weak - I'll change them later if it returns. The springs in the clutch were loose and rattly, but just tightening down the hub should cure the worst of the noise.

I knocked the new seal and sight glass into my freshly-polished clutch cover and got ready to bolt it on with new allen bolts. I also changed the oil yet again, and replaced the oil filter and it's o-ring.

Looking good!