My first bike!

[adidasguy]

I think you misunderstand me. If you're going to mount the gas tank, then you should do it right rather than fab up something. Anytime you repair something, try to get it back to stock or at least make it better. Not saying to stop and make everything stock again, but if you are working on a part, fix it the right way.
Putting back a bit of the tail is maybe 20 minutes then the plastics, rear fender, light and everything would fit right on.
I'll stop pressing the issue and will quite down.
Post pictures as you do your work. We like pictures.

[MrTrimTab]

So, I was able to meet with motoarch today and score the following pieces:



I think I am going to follow adidas' advice and use some square tube stock to attach the rear end back onto the subframe and then mount the fairing. More updates to come...

[motoarch]

Good meeting you today.  Let me no if you need anything else and ill see if I can find it.

[MrTrimTab]

Super weather yesterday meant that a lot of work got done on the bike. Unfortunately, I only have a few pictures for you, but I will describe what I did and post some more pictures very soon.

Basically, we removed the valve cover to check the clearances (they all looked fined). We also removed the old hacked-up fender and installed an intact fender. We also mounted the rear luggage brackets so that the fairings and fender are a little more secure. Finally, I installed and wired up the rear stock blinkers (thanks again Motoarch!), which look great and provide a lot more visibility. The tail light is hooked up, but is non-functional because I am missing one of the sockets. The other socket and bulb are installed and work fine. We also removed the front LED blinkersand installed some traditional incandescent bulbs. The LED blinkers were just too small and were not bright enough. They also didn't blink, which is a problem. These bulbs look a lot better (IMO) and make the bike much more visible on the road. They'll do fine until I can order some stock blinkers for the front.

The only remaining thing to do is to replace the rear tire and front brake pads and to reconnect the back-end of the sub-frame. This will give some stability to the back (which is already pretty stable), but most importantly it will allow me to re-attach the grab-bar to the back of the bike. Once this is done, the only thing left to do will be a paintjob. The bike was originally purple (I noticed this color on the bottom of the tank when I removed it), but was re-painted green some time ago. It looks like the paintjob was actually pretty well done, no blemishes or areas of peeling. But the tank is dented and rusting in some places, and at the end of the day, green is not my favorite color. I'm going to strip and sand the tank, rear-grab bar, and rear plastics and repaint everything a nice blue.I'm also thinking of ordering a white "Suzuki" decal for the tank so this bike doesn't look so plain-jane. But, she is returning to stock form (slowly but surely) and I am very happy with it.

In fact, the weather was so nice yesterday that me and my dad headed over the parking lot of our local elementary school and I learned the basics of starting and going in 1st gear. After several stalls, I got the hang of a smooth start and spent a few hours practicing my figure 8's and emergency stops. So far, my experiences with the world of motorcycling have been nothing but pleasant!

Best,
MrTrimTab

The new (used) fender next to the old hacked-up fender. Goodbye streetfighter style and hello stock commuter style!

[motoarch]

Nice report.   Happy to hear things are going well.

[MrTrimTab]

More pics from the weekend:

Switching out the old lock into the new subframe:


Rims cleaned up very nice:


New rear. Everything works except I'm missing a rear light socket.


Changing out the front lights. I'm not a fan of LEDs! Stock lights should be coming soon...


New lights make a big difference:


New rear:


Beginning to strip the tank. You can see the original purple and the red primer:


Yikes, this is hard work!


Finishing touches:


Tank stripped, almost ready for paint. Looks pretty cool!


Another angle:


My girlfriend hams it up. Her verdict: Looks fast!

[W79]

Looking good

Must be a good feeling: all that progress

[MrTrimTab]

This weekend I painted the tank. I had already stripped it, so the only prep work was some minor touch-ups. Here's some photos:

The tank at the beginning of the project. The green paint is already stripped off and a couple of dents and low areas are filled w/ Bondo. In this picture, the tank is being washed with soapy water to remove any oils before painting. Gloves only from here on!


Scrubbing the tank.


Ready to paint!


All painting was done in my garage. Not an ideal situation, but I kept it ventilated and mostly dust-free. Here is the tank after 4 coats of primer:


I used masking tape and wax paper to create stencils for the design. Very easy, and worked like a charm.


Here is the tank with the first set of stencils applied. I used a towel to firmly press down the edges of the tape without hurting the primer.


Here is the tank with the first coat of blue applied. I used Rustoleum Metallic Blue and it ending up looking fantastic, in my opinion.


After three coats of blue, the tape is ready to come off!


I was planning on using the negative of the original stencil to mask the bottom of the tank, but I ended up forgetting. I just went ahead and made more stencils that were of a similar style. Here is the tank after the bottom was sprayed red. I used regular Rustoleum Red.




Here are some pics of the tank on the bike. I still need to clear coat it, but this gives you an idea of what the final product will look like:

[motoarch]

Pretty cool.  Looks like a lot of work into that so far.

[MrTrimTab]

So, based on reports from the PO and on issues that I have run into, I suspect that the vacuum petcock is bad. This isn't a surprise because the bike is pretty old and I believe that the petcock is original to the bike. Anyway, I don't like the added complexity of the vacuum operated system, so I'm just going to route some tubing from the reserve port on the tank to a ball valve and then on to the carbs.

Now I did a forum search about this issue before posting this and I noticed that some members on this forum react very badly to posts disparaging the vacuum petcock. I'd just like to ask if there is any advantage to the vacuum system besides simple laziness. I don't mind turning off my fuel whenever I get off the bike.

Thanks!

[mrslowpwr]

Vacuum petcock on my bike went bad.  I put a petcock meant for a lawn mower on it.  Works like a charm.  Just dont forget to turn it off. 

[MrTrimTab]

Well I used a vacuum gauge to test the valve. I do have a slow loss of pressure which was confirmed when I opened the valve up. The diaphragm has some deterioration around the edges which is probably causing the leak. I set the valve to "PRIME" for now, which is doing the trick, but I have to remember to set it to "ON" when I turn the bike off so that the carbs do not flood.