oh y'know, just another build thread.

[iamhiding]

couple of wee things.

leant against my old 'temporary' indicator bracket and snapped it haha, rust is a Buddha Loves You. i had already sketchily repaired the other side with a cable tie to i figured it was time to make some a bit more solid.

nothing special just a quick, dirty alloy strip with a couple of 90 bends. i must say every time i make something like this, i'll get everything nice and measured out, i'll get the counter punch in the right place for drilling and then either the pilot hole wanders a little or i wind up having to stretch holes. my fabrication skills suck when it comes to drilling, every bracket gets better though. think i really need some fresh sharp drill bits to be fair haha doesnt bother me so much with the gs, but on any other bike i wouldn't let it slide so much







also popped on some smaller indicators i had lying around as the other ones were seized to the brackets, couldn't be bothered with the faff. same ones i posted before, they're just under 30mm. i'm not a big fan of clear lenses though, think they look tacky.

//

my 120 mains turned up, played about setting it up. it's very very close but the top end feels a bit fluffy so i've ordered the next size up.

so in the dynojet kits you get a DJ 128 and DJ 132. DJ 128 is mikuni 120 which i'm currently on, DJ suggests a DJ 132 for my setup however there isn't a mikuni equivalent, it falls in between 122.5 & 125   on their chart so i'm just picking up the 122.5 next and seeing how it goes.

so currently after a lot of trial and error i'm on 120 mains, needle lifted position 3 from top, one slider restrictor plug removed and mix screw on 1 & 3/4.

- i've gained a lot of top end speed in spite of it feeling fluffy, had the speedo to 125mph last night. (speedos are always way inaccurate remember) lean also gives a better top end.
- low and mid are super punchy.
- 1/8 throttle when cruising in 6th at 30-40 feels a bit off. it feels like it drops to one cylinder on and off.

so the plug after a full throttle run doesn't look too far out, the base ring is quite dry and sooty though, i suspect thats down to something else though.

these are just my tuning notes so i dont forget  but hey it might help someone out



i'll have to repeat the whole process when the larger mains come but honestly i'm really impressed with how the bike has responded to the kit so far. i have to say for ages i've kind of been against buying proper jet kits and have opted to just buy individual jets and set it all up cheap but how the bike ran previously on big mains and tweaked (when it was actually set up well) in comparison to how it is with the Dynojet kit's needles and modified sliders but the difference is there, i wish i had dyno sheet to quantify the differences but it just feels so much sharper than it ever has.

i've spent a lot of time dicking around with setting carbs up the gs / other bikes and getting them right without buying a kit and well now i'd genuinely consider splashing the cash out on a kit for the right bike in the right circumstances. i'd probably lean towards factory pro just because they give you different springs to alter the speed the slide works rather than to drill and tap for the dynojet but hey... i've had this kit in my spare carbs just sitting for years, i would never have went out and bought it but damn... i'm just super impressed with how its transformed the low-mid punch on what was already quite a well set up bike.   just thinking it's probably why i could never get my spare carbs to run right!! unknowingly tuning to completely different parameters

[ShowBizWolf]

New/sharp drill bits make a huge difference omggggg and a sharp center punch too. But who has time for that, right?? 

When I was making my headlight brackets and my heel guards, I found myself drilling a smaller hole first instead of using the dull a$$ punch I have at my house. But then I realized my home drill needs a new chuck so I ended up getting my good drill from my dad's garage and kept the smaller bit in the crappy drill... :blah blah: haha

As you were

[crackin]

What spark plugs are you running? They dont look standard to me.
You want a full turn of sooty color on the base ring, which you do have. You my have a plug with the incorrect heat range.
Johno

[iamhiding]

New/sharp drill bits make a huge difference omggggg and a sharp center punch too. But who has time for that, right?? 

When I was making my headlight brackets and my heel guards, I found myself drilling a smaller hole first instead of using the dull a$$ punch I have at my house. But then I realized my home drill needs a new chuck so I ended up getting my good drill from my dad's garage and kept the smaller bit in the crappy drill... :blah blah: haha

As you were

haha yuuuuuup... but you only ever remember these things when you go to use them or maybe thats just me  that and the battery is usually half dead haha i like jump between 3-4 different places to work on the bike so my tools are never where i need them. oh to have a nice pillar drill to hand though, one day.

[iamhiding]

What spark plugs are you running? They dont look standard to me.
You want a full turn of sooty color on the base ring, which you do have. You my have a plug with the incorrect heat range.
Johno

they're not the usual cheapie ngks Brisk... think they are the BR12ZC off the top of my head, heat range equivalent of the gs's NGK DPR8EA-9 if i remember correctly or whatever the gs uses again. done my research prior to using them but it's been a while and the bike was much happier on the brisk multi spark vs regapped and cleaned low mileage ngks.

yeah the base is looking alright but thats just one quick clean and plugchop run, after a few runs about it's a bit sootier than i'd like. 4/4 throttle isn't feeling quite right up top yet and even jetted suuuuper lean on 115's and tweaked to suit i was still getting what looked to be a nice sooty colour on the base ring which i really shouldnt have been getting. so going to go a main jet size up from where i am, see if i can get the top end feeling a bit crisper again and just keep tweaking. my gs goes through a fair bit of oil when used hard so i'm kinda thinking it could be fouling things up a bit. in terms of ignition the cam chain tensioners good, timing marks line up, wiring is all good, ignition pickups are in spec, ignition timing isn't advanced at the moment, valve clearances recently done so at least the fouling shouldn't be timing related. you're quite right though, could be too cold a plug, hadn't even considered that. going to get the fuelling right and if i'm still fouling a little, i'll throw some spare hotter plugs in to see how it responds. just kinda working through it all as it comes, if it were an actual project bike opposed to my daily at the moment i'd rattle through all these little things and get it bang on.

new jets turned up today, might get round to it later on but if not then tomorrow if the weather behaves.

[iamhiding]

previous tune: 120 mains, needle lifted position 3 from top, one slider restrictor plug removed and mix screw on 2.

current tune: 122.5 mains, needle on position one ie the top one, one slider restrictor plug removed and mix screw on 1 & 3/4.

only had it out for tuning and not a proper run but i think i'm finally happy with the tune, good top end (saw 125-130mph on the comically inaccurate gs speedo), strong low and mid  just need to clean the k&n and balance the carbs again.

haven't been happy with the tune since i first rebuilt it on the new frame but no doubt i'll find reason to tweak it. it's also amazing how much the super short gearing masked it's slight midrange boggyness previously. it'll be interesting to go 13/44 again with the decent dynojet kit and tune. heres hoping the plugs don't continue to foul. also going to be a laugh when i set the quick action throttle up.

got some funny looks doing roadside carb tuning though 

[Endopotential]

Wow that's a beautiful country road.  Where do you live?

130mph???  I had no idea our little bikes could go that fast... or how far off is your speedometer? 
I think mine would start catching air at that speed.

[crackin]

previously tune: 120 mains, needle lifted position 3 from top, one slider restrictor plug removed and mix screw on 1 & 3/4.

current tune: 122.5 mains, needle on position one ie the top one, one slider restrictor plug removed and mix screw on 2 & 1/2.

Which slider plug did you remove? The one with the small hole in it i presume.

[iamhiding]

Wow that's a beautiful country road.  Where do you live?

130mph???  I had no idea our little bikes could go that fast... or how far off is your speedometer? 
I think mine would start catching air at that speed.

yeah man, so lucky to be surrounded by little bike roads like this i don't think i could ever live in a town or city.

they don't but people will claim they've done 120-125, it's soooo funny looking down and seeing just shy of 130  pretty much every speedo is comically off unfortunately. my front tyre 120/70 (84mm height / C=1884.3) should actually correct the speedo a little more than the standard 110/70 (77mm height / C=1840.3) would. i need to gps it but i'd expect it to be 105-115mph real world speed ... give or take but it's not what the gs is all about its it.

rear tyre size technically makes the gearing marginally longer as well. 130/70 C=1928.3 vs 160/60 C=1959.7

based on the 16/44 current gearing and tyre size i should expect to see 109mph ish at peak power 9500rpm in 6th. i reckon thats quite a respectable figure for a 4valve 500 twin. if the bike had enough oomph to get to redline in 6th on 16/44 and my tyres it would do a theoretical 126mph ish real world speed. i guess it would still do it downhill with the wind chasing you 

bottom line being speedos are accurate enough for typical road use and obeying the limits but really... they're not accurate.

[iamhiding]

previously tune: 120 mains, needle lifted position 3 from top, one slider restrictor plug removed and mix screw on 1 & 3/4.

current tune: 122.5 mains, needle on position one ie the top one, one slider restrictor plug removed and mix screw on 2 & 1/2.

Which slider plug did you remove? The one with the small hole in it i presume.

correct, the one with the hole in it removed. although dynojet doesn't specify which plug to remove   there was a typo i'm about to sort.

on the 122.5 main tune i wound the mix screw out to 2 turns to make the idle a bit more stable.

after living with the tune for a bit i've realised that at the moment its really strong once HOT, as i tuned it when hot, but not so good until it gets there. still want to jump back to the other mains/tune to see if it was any better low down & mid. purely for my own curiosity.

[iamhiding]

had an idea... got bored... did a thing... changed my mind... but it's cool, i wanted to strip the tank either way, been wanting to do it for years.  









yeah so theres a technique i've been using for about a decade, no idea what you would call it but you stencil something onto bare metal and lacquer it, leaving the rest of the metal bare so that it preserves the stencil but the rest will develop a patina or full on rust if you want. decals are great for it as you get a super clean line with little effort. similarly you can sand around decals to create age effects. it's just a bit of craft really. the plan was to strip the tank, use some yoshimura decals either side to replace the suzuki logos, so lacquer the jap yoshi symbol logo onto the tank either side, peel the decals off and let the tank patina. so that was the plan but i don't like the dimensions of the decals i got.

i'm now just going to clean the tank up giving it a brushed steel look and maybe use the yoshi decal on top instead. i wont be lacquering the entire tank so i'll need to wipe it over with wd40 etc every so often so that the rust doesn't take over, winter will be interesting haha. on the plus side any scuffs etc that would ruin a painted finish can just be taken off with a scotchbrite pad if desired, it'll be quite functional in that regard.

paintstripping took about an hour and a half with Synstrip, it's hands down the best stripper i've used, even better than the old formula of nitromorse. in the uk we can't get good paintsrippers off the shop shelf unfortunately but found this stuff on ebay. kind of cool seeing all the metal grain and prep work done in the factory as you'll see in the pics. i've since started removing the mint humbug or beetle like markings, try get a bit of a cleaner more consistent finish.

and hey less paint = less weight hahaha more fastererer and better mpg... right, thats how it works rust makes it faster as well 

[iamhiding]

put a bit of time in taking the heavy marks out, not aiming for perfect or a mirror finish, just taking the worst of it back to flat so theres a good starting point for it to do its thing.







that lighting doesnt flatter the dents before the staining actually helped disguise them.



50 shades of grey.  think i might need to ditch the dominators now, starting to miss the big single.

just used a big 120 grit flapwheel / steel wire wheel and a 400 grit mirka scotchbrite pad. it's good i can now see where the deeper scratches are and get them out.

[ShowBizWolf]

+1 for going back to the single

And yet again, I'm super entertained by this thread! I really never know what you're gonna be doing next... simply great!!!!

[Endopotential]

Our bikes are starting to look like twins, with the twin headlights and brushed tanks! 

Looks great.  I ended up clear powder coating mine.  There was a bunch of rust on the inside of the tank when I first got the bike, so didn't want the outside to end up the same.

It took me forever to strip the paint and figure out the polishing!
http://gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php?topic=71108.msg854112#msg854112

[iamhiding]

+1 for going back to the single

And yet again, I'm super entertained by this thread! I really never know what you're gonna be doing next... simply great!!!!

think you might like the next post as well then haha i just have these moments of sporadic madness where i'm like ''F*$K IT'' and i just do something just to entertain myself, always happy to hear folk enjoy my nonsense  definitely creeping back to my original vision for the bike now.

[iamhiding]

Our bikes are starting to look like twins, with the twin headlights and brushed tanks! 

Looks great.  I ended up clear powder coating mine.  There was a bunch of rust on the inside of the tank when I first got the bike, so didn't want the outside to end up the same.

It took me forever to strip the paint and figure out the polishing!
http://gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php?topic=71108.msg854112#msg854112

it's far too funny  not intentional for the record, we've just both got good taste it seems    i've since ditched the twins, there was just too much silver going on and they didn't quite work with the retro vibe the clipons & tank gives on mine.

thanks man. i dread to think how long it would've taken me to strip it without that mental paint stripper I've got! proper polishing takes a lifetime! days and days of polishing anyway. i'm interested to see how well your powercoating lasts without chipping etc, usually you need to key the metal with sandblasting. eventually it will start to haze in the sun as well. small prices to pay for a lot less work overall though.

so far its a bit of a pain keeping the tank oiled, my knees slide about in the corners 

if you're still having rust issues inside the tank, have a look at electrolysis  super easy and strips rust from steel without effort.

[iamhiding]

so... ghetto cable tie quick action throttle. 



^ untouched throttle pulley.



^ initial diamater, 29.91mm ish



cleaned it and cut a cable tie to size to run the length of the pulley, superglued it in place and used some wire to hold it in until the glue cured.



^ new increased diameter of 32.91mm ish.

the idea behind this is that the larger throttle pulley makes for a shorter throw between zero to wide open throttle, ie quicker to open and more responsive in feel.

theres a lot of different ways to DIY it, PVC pipe being the preferred method but i thought i'd give it a bash with what i have to hand. i've heard of people using the SV650 throttle tubes and various things to achieve quicker action, i used the thunderace throttle tube previously for 1/4 (ish) throttle but it was a bit nuts and the throttle stop wasnt big enough allowing the throttle to rotate in the opposite direction if you weren't gentle. do you're own research before modifying anything to do with your throttle, last thing you want is it jamming open albeit very very unlikely. also once once the cable is on top of something, ie the cable tie in my example it shouldn't budge.



after a quick test ride, throttle feels much sharper but it's still a little milder than i was aiming for so i'm going to double up the cable ties by using 2 and see how it feels. once you go too extreme it becomes so responsive that things you don't normally think about like blipping down shifts becomes more difficult and you actually have to nurse the throttle at junctions. i guess what i'm saying is that the more responsive the harder it can be to ride smoothly.

also ^ big single headlight is back! i lowered the bars 7mm to get past the top yoke allowing for rotational adjustment. so she's looking purdy and with the bars at a wider angle she's riding well too, feels much more natural than it did before. 

[iamhiding]

just a quick and dirty low res edit but i had an idea. really want to make a sheet metal seat cowl. kind of eyed it up on the bike and it really shouldn't be a great deal of work, might even be able to knock it together almost seamlessly without welding. potential future project but i just don't have the time to spend on cosmetics this now.



i've got a wee rearset project i'm going to start shortly, just reutilising spare parts from other bikes i've got sitting, should lift the pegs a little and set them back a little as well which should adjust the rider triangle to sit better with the dropped clipons just need to find a little time to mess with it.

[cbrfxr67]

yea,...an update with pic!

[iamhiding]

yea,...an update with pic!

haha yeah cbr, quite looking forward to turning that seat cowl idea into reality, total classic race bike vibes 

how're you getting on with that mental gs/cbr sleeper build? ever get it running right?