Bombsquad's 1993 GS500e refresh

[Manaenrc]

What was the name of the soy based stripper that you used? The PO of my bike did exactly what you had with por15 flaking off. So I either need to take on the stripping project or look for another tank. Whatever direction I go I already have the new por15 kit to seal the final product. nice project btw glad you got most of your issues worked out.

Sent using tapatalk from somewhere in an andriod world

[bombsquad83]

Stripping out that old lining was a huge PITA.  Honestly, I would probably recommend getting another tank that hasn't been lined before and doesn't have any pinholes corroded through it, then line it with your POR-15 kit.

I think this is the stuff, and I'll verify it when I get home if the label is still on the container.  It's not cheap.

http://www.amazon.com/SoyGel-Urethane-Remover-Stripper-Gallon/dp/B0002Z11MO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1333984020&sr=8-1

I got it for free from a friend who does woodworking for a living.   There was only about a quart left in the container when I got it.  Keep in mind I had already hit the old liner with the POR stripper, and acetone before I used the soy stuff.  I think it would have worked on it's own though if I had a whole gallon of the stuff.  Acetone, MEK, Xylene and other solvents are almost useless against that old liner.

[Manaenrc]

Yeah after reading through your experience with your tank I think I am going to take your advice and use the tank the way it is until I can find a replacement. The PO even JB welded the upper petcock to the tank. I don't mind when people use their head and do things in a different way, heck I'm all for thinking outside the box. But I just cannot take things that are not done properly to save time.

Thanks for your help and great thread BTW you did an outstanding job on the tank. Something you can look forward to using for years to come.

[bombsquad83]

Yeah after reading through your experience with your tank I think I am going to take your advice and use the tank the way it is until I can find a replacement. The PO even JB welded the upper petcock to the tank. I don't mind when people use their head and do things in a different way, heck I'm all for thinking outside the box. But I just cannot take things that are not done properly to save time.

Thanks for your help and great thread BTW you did an outstanding job on the tank. Something you can look forward to using for years to come.

Thanks for the compliment.  I'm hoping the paint turns out good on the tank and the lining holds  up better than the previous one did. 

JB welded the petcock to the tank....ouch.  New tank sounds like a wise decision.  Plenty of them come up for sale here.

[bombsquad83]

Slightly off topic, but I was taking apart the carbs that I got from steezin last night.  I thought my carbs were dirty...I hadn't seen anything yet.  (keep in mind I got 2 sets of carbs for relatively cheap, so it's perfectly ok).  One of the diaphragm cover screws was so seized up that I had to drill it all the way through and use an ez-out.  Unfortunately, it cracked the carb body on the outside when it came out.  I nicked the choke circuit with the drill too.  It's not leaking, but carb spray won't go through it like the other side.  Might have been clogged with something already.

Pics...
Broken off end of the screw on the ez-out bit


Crack and nicked choke circuit


We'll see what I can do with these extra carbs, if anything other than part them out to people who can use some parts.

[bombsquad83]

Question for everyone.

I put on my new tires and put everything back together.  I noticed that the front brake drags a bit when I try to spin the front wheel after putting it back on.  Is this normal?

Also, the adjustment on the right side of my swing arm doesnt want to move to where it needs to be to be even with the other side.  I get my chain to where it should be in tightness,  but the right side just doesn't want to move to the same mark as the left. What's up with that?  It wasnt a problem before I changed the tire, but obviously the tire isn't the problem.  Is it my brakes holding the alignment out of place or could it be something else?

Pics of tire mounted to come later.

As promised...

I used a big woodworking clamp to break the beads on the old tires and it worked pretty well.



I cut the sides out of a used 5 quart oil jug.  They worked great to protect my rims.  I did very little damage to the paint, only one or two chips when my iron slipped off the plastic.

[knowles]

I just bring them in to have them mounted and balanced, found a guy that does it for $16 a tire. good to see you making progress. 

[bombsquad83]

Took me 2 hours and it was my first time.  Paying yourself $16 per hour isn't bad.  I haven't found anyone around here that will do it for that anyway.  Thanks for the compliment.  Progress is relatively slow, but it's moving.  Hard to find time with all the house projects I'm involved in right now getting ready for the baby.

Anyone have any thoughts on my questions?

edit:
I did some forum searching, I think the dragging front brake is probably ok.  I think I will loosen the caliper on the rear in case it is preventing me from getting the alignment in the swingarm to move.  Then I will try to get it to move into place and align the rear wheel.  Then I will put the caliper back as the last step.

[dropitlow88]

Dragging front brake is A ok.

[bombsquad83]

Took the rear brake off and the wheel aligned just fine.  Took about a 30 mile ride today, other than it being massively windy, it was a great ride.  These new tires are awesome.  They are so much stickier and confidence inspiring in the curves. 

[bombsquad83]

Flushed out my brakes last weekend and I finally figured out why my bike didn't run right on the choke today.  The jet that is in the float itself that provides gas to the choke circuit was clogged on the cylinder that always cut out when I put on the choke.  I cleaned it out with a guitar string and it fixed that issue. 

Tried again to fix the gas level issue in my float bowls.  Cleaned my old needle valve seats and replaced the new ones that came with the kit.  Several tries at adjusting the float height yielded decent results.  I will be checking my plugs for richness periodically until I'm happy with it.  I also resynched the carbs. Seems to be running great now!  Can't wait to paint it.

[knowles]

Yeah after reading through your experience with your tank I think I am going to take your advice and use the tank the way it is until I can find a replacement. The PO even JB welded the upper petcock to the tank. I don't mind when people use their head and do things in a different way, heck I'm all for thinking outside the box. But I just cannot take things that are not done properly to save time.

Thanks for your help and great thread BTW you did an outstanding job on the tank. Something you can look forward to using for years to come.

I still have mine to get ride of. $85 shipped in USA.

[bombsquad83]

After adjusting the float height and then riding for 80 miles yesterday, I took a look at the plugs this morning.  I think I've got her dialed in now.    Some of the black on the plug is from when the gas level was too high in the bowl.

Right cylinder

Left cylinder

[bombsquad83]

Sigh...

After thinking I was done dealing with the needle valves for a while, I took the cap of my airbox drain this morning.  A full tube of gas drained out on my garage floor.  Soooo...looks like I will be springing for new OEM needle valves soon. 

I also noticed that one of my forks has a slight oil leak.  Just enough to make the tube wet and have a couple drops pooled on the dust seal and no more.  I just replaced the fork seals when I got the bike 500 miles ago!  I have been riding it around with no front fender....could this cause quicker seal death, or is my fork not capable of taking a seal and I need to replace the fork?

[Snake2715]

Wow man you have really made some progress.

Keep updating and the fork seal hopefully works out for you.

[bombsquad83]

Thanks man.  I have the new needle valves and a new fork seal on order right now from ronayers.com.   I'll get some more practice with replacing fork seals and hopefully the needle valves will be much better.

[bombsquad83]

The paint process has begun.  Will hopefully be done by early next week.


New fork seal on the way as well as new needle valves and some other random little parts like a new SUZUKI emblem for the engine cover, white decals for the tank, and molding for the bottom edge of the tank.

[bombsquad83]

Replaced my leaking fork seal this weekend.  I used the homemade tool intructions found here: http://beergarage.com/GSForkSeals.aspx .   It worked awesome.  I was planning on reusing my old fork oil until I spilled it all over my work bench and garage floor, so I need to get some more fork oil today before I put the front end back together.

I recently discovered that my front brake must have been dragging more than it should have been.  I noticed after a ride that the rotor was VERY hot, like too hot to touch even after 5 min of parking.  There was also a nice cloud of brake dust deposited on the inside of my right fork tube. Hopefully I can get the rotor aligned better when I put it back together this time.  Any tips for aligning the front wheel other than not tightening the fork brace screws until after everything else?

[bombsquad83]

Put on the base coat today.  Clear will go on early next week.

[bombsquad83]

All done with the paint now.  Buffed some of the clear that didn't lay out quite right the first time.  Starting with rubbing compound and rotary buffer with wool pad, then moved on to finishing compound.  Applied decals and a pro-grip tank protector (after the photos so that's why you don't see it.  Anyway...time for pictures!

Parts coming home.

Last night before buffing and decals

Finished Product

My buddy's DRZ-400SM in the background



She's not perfect.  I think I would do some more sanding of the primer coat to make sure I have a super smooth base.  I love the color.  It looks almost purple in some lights, and has a green tint due to the metallic in direct light.  It's a really brilliant blue.  Got a few tiny bubbles under the decal too, but they aren't too bad.

After adjusting the new needle valves (which I was able to do without tanking the carbs and tank our due to installing my socket head screws), I rode around most of the evening.  I noticed a new knocking noise in the front fork when it first compresses and then at the top of uncompression sometimes.  I think the spacer might be moving around a bit or something.  I'm not to worried about it because it handled great.  Didn't notice any leaks from the fork, but I didn't pay too much attention too it.  The brakes performed much better than they were after taking the front wheel of last time.  I think I got things better aligned this time so it's not rubbing too much.  My buddy said riding behind me he noticed a "burning smell" from the exhaust.  I think I've smelled it too after riding.  Smells a bit like metallic or rubber burning.  Hopefully it's normal.

Thanks to everyone for watching and for their help along the way.  I'm hoping this bike is going to be providing grins for me and my family for at least a few years to come!