Background Check

Ok so I guess I skipped over the whole "who are you" thing here, figuring whoever reads this would know. But I think it is necessary to give a little background into why and who I am at this point in my life.

I am a hobby mechanic, meaning I don't do this for the money, I do it for fun, for learning, and for the challenge. I have worked on things my whole life starting out when my I was very young helping my Dad fix things around the house. When I was 14 I purchased a '69 Oldsmobile Cutlass convertible, then sold it to buy a '72 Oldsmobile Cutlass 442. My Dad and I restored the 442 through my highschool years, and sadly I sold it to pay for a reliable car so I could go to college.  

After college and getting a real job I got into Miatas. Well getting into Miatas is a loose definition of what I'm all about when it comes to Miatas. I won't say I am the authority because I learn something new all the time about them. I do find that I am very knowledgeable about most any question people might have on them and pride myself on having a very good handle on repair and maintenance of them. Currently I have 2 Miatas along with this motorcycle project. One is a daily driver type that has some nice upgrades that were factory options from Mazda that I've collected over the years, the other is an all-out performance project with a BEGi brand turbo kit on it. Both are never finished, but both will be taking a little holiday while I work on the motorcycle, who knows the turbo Miata will probably get a blog going this spring when stage 2 of the turbo takes place.

I love working on mechanical things, machines fascinate me. After working all day at a car dealership in the service department watching techs wrenching on broken cars you'd think I wouldn't want to work on cars when I get home (and some days I really don't!). However, it is very rewarding to take something that doesn't work/run, and make it run or work better than before. That is why my hobby exists, I love fixing things, or making things work better than before.

Parts parts and more parts

Nothing too much to report on right now.  Just waiting on more parts to arrive.  Ordered new chain, brakes, tires, fuel tank sealant.  The shop manual and ignition switch finally arrived.  The Old Bike Barn was pretty slow in shipping, took twice as long as Bike Bandit, so you can guess who I ordered through this time.  I need to go out and pick up some oil and filter so I can change that as well.  

Next I'll be cleaning and painting parts.  I also need to find out what thread size I need to re-cut into the right rear shock mount, the threads are barely there now.  I also need to measure and start making intakes with PCV tubes like Brad did so I can run some air filters other than the huge airbox that came with the bike. 

Stay tuned.

More progress with the help of Brad

Ok so Brad came over on Sunday, and although I was expecting him to just look at the bike, he immediately set to work taking everything apart.  When I say everything I mean all of it.  If you look at the pictures, the last 5 in the set are the newest ones.  Alright so I have a much larger list of parts to get, but I now have a much better understanding of how my bike works and comes apart.  Don't worry we bagged and tagged all the parts that came off.  It didn't help any that I decided to rearrange the whole garage just before we started so the tools were a total mess.  Here's the link to the photos. 

http://picasaweb.google.com/spmccallum/SuzukiGS450L#

Let there be light!

So I found the bulbs for the speedo and tach at PepBoys today.  There isn't really a cross reference chart for early 80's motorcycles so I just guessed by size and wattage.  Guessed right and now I have illuminated gauges.  I also found a couple bulbs for the neutral and high beam indicators.  Next I need to find out what my friend Brad used for the illumination on the gear indicators.  He said he switched his to LEDs because the bulbs are soldered onto a circuit board and impossible to replace.  I diagnosed the rear lights as well over the weekend.  I did a quick diaghram of the wiring since the rear signals and brake light/fender were off the bike when I picked it up.   

Parts are on order too.  Surprisingly you can find just about everything you need to work on these bikes online.  Between bikebandit.com, oldbikebarn.com, and Cycle Re-Cycle I have a small initial order in to get me started.  I still need to get some RedKote to seal the tank ordered up so I can get the tank back on it.  

It's Alive!

Sort of...

Tonight I went out and began some further inspection of the bike. I figured I need to start with removing the battery because it was holding the airbox up and I wouldn't be able to free up the carburetors with it where it was. Well once I got the battery out it struck me to test the battery, maybe it wasn't dead and there was another reason why we had no power. I test it and it's good. I put it back in and figure that since the ignition switch is damaged I'd just take it apart and click the switch around until I get some power. Get the switch apart and find the "on" position when the oil light came on, tried the signals and lights, they work, tried the gear indicator, up and down through all the gears, works fine, so will it crank over? I accidently discovered that while checking for power at the starter relay when I crossed both terminals with my screwdriver and it started to crank. Put the bike in neutral, no light on cluster for that, in fact gears 1 and 2 don't illuminate either, so put the bike in neutral, clutch pulled, switch to "run" hit the starter and crank crank crank putt putt putt putt. Ok so the carbs were off, and it didn't start, but it did turn over pretty easily. Also good news I took the bowls off the carbs and only found some green goo in one, the other was perfectly clean. The choke lever moves well, and the needles go up and down fine with the floats. So I need to get the gas tank clean and sealed, check the petcock, replace the fuel filter, put it back together and see if it'll start. Stay tuned.

Pictures

Ok so somebody asked me to put a picture in the body of the text.  There is a link to the Picasa album, but here goes my attempt at putting a picture of me on the bike in this post.

Ebay Success!

I found the side covers on Ebay tonight, in great condition, not expensive either.  I'm bidding on them now.  Ends in 4 days.  The starting bid is .99 cents.  LOL.  Found a couple fenders, but they seem to be common and for around $20-$30 so I'm not rushing on that.  I removed the fuel tank and took a look at the coils and wiring.  It appears that Brent installed the new Suzuki coils already, wonder if they're wired correctly?  I'm still amassing a list of things to get, and trying to figure out how the hell the carbs come off.  From what I've read on the GS forum getting the airbox out is next to impossible.  My list of parts is getting bigger too.  My buddy Brad gave me a recommendation on a coating for the tank called Red Kote to seal the rust in the fuel tank.  Going to give that a try.  I am slowly figuring out the wiring, but it's a little confusing.  Progress is slow but coming along.  

Bike in the garage!

The motorcycle is in the garage now.  I had the help of my neighbor Keith getting it out of the back of my truck.  Oh and yes I drove it back and forth to work in the back of my Tundra.  It's kinda like saying, "oh yeah I have a motorcycle, you see it there, oh ride it?  No no no, I'm still working on it..."  Keith helped me get it down out of the bed of the truck, far less eventful than when putting it in there.  Got it situated in the garage in front of my black Miata.  I went ahead and took about fifty pictures of it right off the bat documenting all the parts etc...  I'll get started on it this week, need to make a list, and a plan so I can get started on it.   You can click the link below and see more pictures on my picasa album.

I think I'll put up what I'm listening to while I work on this thing.

Today I'm listening to George Thorogood and the Destroyers "One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer"  awesome song.

The Motorcycle Saga Begins

So I bought a motorcycle today.  I usually buy vehicles around my birthday, and this year is no exception.  I think I buy a vehicle a year lately it seems, hmmm, I'll ponder that later. The Dent Wizard, paintless dent removal, tech at work said he had this old bike that he intended to fix up and ride but times are tough and he needs money so the bike is for sale.  I find this out from a friend who's wife said quite sternly, "No you can't buy that motorcycle, I don't care how cheap it is!".  My friend with the not so motorcycle friendly wife tells me I should buy it, since I'm looking for a cheap bike so I can learn to ride.  It's an '81 Suzuki GS450L by the way.  How much?  Oh, he was talking about $250, sounded too good to be true, so I asked the Dent Wizard, Brent, and he said he's just going to take it back to Indiana and sell it to his brother to make a go-kart out of it for $350.  I told him I'd give him $400 and I'd fix it up so I could ride it.  A deal was struck, and after much flaking on his part on what time he'd be home my dad and I drove down Sunday morning and picked it up.  Brent lives in a neighborhood that I can't quite describe other than picture one of the worst inner city run down neighborhoods and you'd be close.  The sets from "Training Day" or "The Shield's" Farmington District would be close.  We had the Springfield XD .40S&W in the truck with two magazines loaded, maybe too much, but I wanted some protection in case someone tried to car jack us.   I haven't unloaded the bike yet, my friend James, (the one who wasn't allowed to buy the bike) begged me to bring it to work tomorrow so he could see it.  I'll unload it tomorrow night when I get home.  I'm pretty excited over the whole process, but I'm a little overwhelmed with the idea of learning a new system, motorcycles, and doing a restoration on something I don't really know anything about.  I do have some plans to do a little resto/modification to it, more of a vintage cafe/racer style like my friend Brad at work did to his Suzuki GS650.  I'm attaching a link to my Picasa album about it, and I'll send out updates when I make progress on it.  Thanks for taking the time to read this I know I'm long winded.

http://picasaweb.google.com/spmccallum/SuzukiGS450L#