Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Branches New England My Suzuki GS500 Story, by baco99

OK. So, I now have a motorcycle. I am reassembling it little by little. I will use this thread to communicate my progress and field any questions regarding to the bike's resurrection or operation.

Thank you for your time and patience. Please don't hi-jack this thread with things that are Contour related.

hey brian, do you think my SVT would look cool with SE side skirts?

Will the SVT kit fit my car???

UPDATE: got a plate and insurance today. the plate is so little!

Pics, pics, pics.....Are you going to the Museum of Transportation Miata day?

i left my camera at my folks' place and it's killing me!

yes, i should be able to make it on Aug 5.

LOL If you're not picking up the camera any time soon, I can swing by an snap a few for you.

I don't think tomorrow night should be a problem, but Thursday may be even better, as we'll be in Greenwood anyway.

Let me know... PM me with your address, I'll PM you with ours!



J

Sweet. more at mazda-speed.com in NE forum.

almost there. tonight i bled the brakes, reinstalled both axles, set up the chain tensioners, installed the choke cable, mounted the license plate, and did a loose install of the tank, fairings, and seat. it's starting to look like a bike.

I need 2 screws for the tank, 2 for the side fairings, and 2 screws for the fuel line bracket. i should be able to get them at Home Depot tomorrow night. then i just need a small piece of hose for the tank evap line

and THEN she should be ready for fuel. oh, also need a new battery.

hopefully she'll be running tomorrow night so i can get an inspection before Tues!

battery?
that battery was brand new....6 years ago!
haha.
wont hold a charge?

nope. i got a digital charger thingie. it gets to 8.3 volts and then throws and error. no big deal, batteries are cheap.

well that sucks.
i think it was only charged once.

I think there's a negative force field around Elky's house that drains batteries!!

probably!

but that one had a good excuse..it was charged once...6 years ago!

got her running today! for about a minute, then the engine flooded. time to adjust the carbs.

thanks Jason for the pics.

it's so weird to see that thing put together!
nice job on the painting.

woot!

awesome!!havent seen her like that in 6 years!
almost brings a tear to my eye.
haha

crybaby

hey now!

be nice!

sumbitsh...i just noticed i put the fuel petcock on wrong and need pliers to shut fuel off instead of the usual screwdriver. poo.

i think the carb float is sticking, probably has a family of spiders living in there. i think i need to take the intake off and open the top caps to clean the bowls and make sure the float is floating correctly.

i sincerely hope i don't have to do a complete rejet, as it is a PITA.

i also have no idea why the headlight stopped working. hi beams are OK, but low beams do nothing. all other lights work. my only suggestion is that the contols need to be tightened down more to make contact. had to take it apart to put the choke cable in. horn don't work either, probably the same issue.

The paint looks even better in person.

Glad you got it started, even if just for a moment!


Let me know when she's ready to roll, and I'll stop by again!

i thought the fule shut off had a little lever on it so you could shut it off by hand.

the horn defintly did work, as did th eheadlight.
the horn is cute sounding.
hehe

float is probabaly just sticking a little.
shouldnt have to rejet it since that was done before i bought it.

found a pinhole leak in the tank today. back to square 1.

aww damn!!!
i spent forever getting that tank to not leak!!
shouldnt eh POR15 stuff have taken care of that?

shoulda got the eastwood kit!

i must have just missed that one area with the POR15.

anyhoo...i drained the tank and let it air dry, then used liquid weld for tank repair on the hole from the outside. let it dry for 3 hours and then tried again. it seems to have bonded and is holding OK for now.

took her for the first ride tonight! had to run with the hi-beam on, still not sure why the lo-beam and horn aren't working. i may try to find the fuse box. i may have blown something from trying to jump the old battery.

oh, got a new battery too.

still having some funkiness with the fuel petcock. it doesn't flood in "run" anymore, but it stalls after a while. I think the "run" and "reserve" lines are swapped. after the stall, i switch to "prime" for about 10 seconds and then it's fine.

shifts great! all 5 speeds synch up nicely.

only new issue is the tach, it's pinned at 11k RPM all the time. i think the spindle is stripped.

OK, so here's the update:

Gas tank is leaking in a new place for sure. The good news is the patch stuff I bought seems to be working. So, I need to drain the tank, strip the paint and bondo out some more and find the other leak. I also might be getting a second tank just in case.

Fuel petcock is all messed up. I think I'm going to just get a new one. Apparently these bikes are notorious for having a fouled-up 'c0ck.

Real GS500 gauges are in the mail! The 1980's CB gauges I've been running will be seen on eBay shortly. I just need to find out how to run the mileage up on the new gauges to match all my paperwork. I think an electric motor and little gear will do the trick (it worked for the GL back in the day).

Also, I recently discovered an exhaust leak. Seems to go away once the bike warms up which is a tell-tale sign of cracked exhaust gaskets. I'll take the pipes off and paint them and replace the gaskets maybe next week.

; )

It's really cool to see you so into this bike and putting it together in such great time.
I'm loving these updates.
Keep 'em coming!

go brian!!
i wish i had spent more time on it, but too many projects at once stopped that quick!
sucks cuz i wont find a deal like i got on that bike again.
oh well, its better to see it being used than sitting on blocks in my garage!

that's great to hear! i really liked that car. happy to see it still on the road.

and yes, it was for the V6 gauges. never got that tach to read properly, so i took it out.

OK. So I FINALLY had some time to finish putting the bike together.

- Got a rust-free tank, ground off the finish and primed it yesterday.
- Ground off the rust and scale from the pipes and painted with high-temp manifold paint.
- Replaced both exhaust seals.
- New upper fuel petcock installed.
- Cleaned lower fuel petcock and fixed a vacuum leak to carbs (Now PRIME, RES, and ON work properly). New one is on order anyway.
- Rebuilt carbs with new bowl gaskets, float needles and o-rings. Cleaned with carb cleaner (lots of old fuel deposits)

Funny thing about the carbs, the float needles were in the wrong holes, so they weren't floating at all; they were jammed into the main jets. Explains why the carbs kept filling with gas and overflowing.

Took her our last night and she works like a charm. Going to double check the rear alignment and then try for a longer ride some time this weekend. Anyone wanna come?