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.