SOOKIE '99 GS500e

[the_63]

I once bought a high end paintball-marker off eBay and it didn't show up after a while.  Got in some conversations with the seller, who was a shop out of state, basically I was just complaining about the time passed with no shipping update or anything. They tried adding a few incentives to "make it right" and when I refused all saying I just want the gun shipped they broke contact with me.
Opened a PayPal dispute.  A week later I had my money back.

I'm guessing the shop didn't actually have possession of the gun.  One thought is that after I bought it they went to the manufacturer to have one built, and due to the hand-made nature of them it was taking a while.  They were probably trying to stall me.  But, why didn't they just tell me the truth?
They could very well just have just never planned to deliver me anything...

Or, being a shop, maybe another employee sold it to a walk in customer by accident and rather than apologize to me and refund me they were scrambling to find another one they could box up and send to me.  Good luck, these are pretty rare.

Who knows.
All I know is it was a waste of a few weeks and they suffered bad feedback.

I mean, the majority of people get annoyed because people aren't being transparent. Like you say, if they were honest with you and offered an update to the situation you'd be more understanding.
Before Christmas I ordered a carb diaphragm from them, and 2 2.6mm shims from a listing for shims for a 1990something-2001 gs500. After a week they hadn't updated my order to show it had been posted, so I called them. They told they'd contact the postal service to try and find my order. When they called back they had been unable to locate my parcel and offered to send me a carb diaphragm, but didn't have the shims in stock. I personally don't think they posted them in the first place.
They had another listing of valve shims for newer versions of the bike, so I ordered some for a 2007-2008 gs500 instead. So far it's been a week, and they haven't updated my ebay order to show the items have been posted so I mailed them to find out if they were ever going to post them and that's when they told me they were going to post them tomorrow.
But they wouldn't have updated me if I hadn't contacted them. It's just bad customer service.

Chris

[pattman]

Some good work going on dude, don't give up!!  I lost interest in one of my projects and it sat on the bench for six months without touching it.

Have you rejected your carbs yet?  I'm curious as to what I should jet to with cone filters and minimally baffled exhausts.

[the_63]

Some good work going on dude, don't give up!!  I lost interest in one of my projects and it sat on the bench for six months without touching it.

Have you rejected your carbs yet?  I'm curious as to what I should jet to with cone filters and minimally baffled exhausts.

Thanks dude, I'm plodding along. I'm too invested in this bike to quit on it to be honest.

No I'm still running stock exhaust and airbox. I need to change the muffler as I'm quite sure there is a hole in it, and I hate the airbox, so it's coming out. I'll need to rejet then, but I honestly don't know what needs to be done to rejet. I haven't even read what would be involved.

[the_63]

Put the bike back together on Thursday, so got the wheel back on, lined up, chain adjusted, cut fender on. Think the fender needs a little more trim.

Shims arrived on Friday and I got them switched. Checked clearances and they've all messed up.  I also installed the new throttle cable.  Stopped when my landlord came around to look at the broken door, then I lost day light. I was very start stop anyway because it was snowing, so I'd work until I lost the feeling in my hands then I'd come in and warm up, then go back out.

Yesterday I reinstalled the rear brake caliper but I had ohana come stay this weekend so I haven't done anything since. Need to bleed the brakes.

Here's how the list stands:
-Replace intake shims with new shims and replace exhaust shims with old intake shims - ordered (£16.50) - done
-Check valve clearance - done, needs more work
-Possibly replace front wheel bearings (£12.47)
-new turn signals (£60 budget)
-Rebuild the rear caliper and bleed the system - parts ordered (£23.90 spent, £47 left) need to bleed brakes
-Replace the muffler (£unknown)

Post MOT:
-Replace swing arm - ordered (£22.50) - received, looks epic. pictures soon.
-Shock mod - (£60 budget)
-Hugger install (£50 budget)
-Swap airbox for k&n luncbox and rejet (£75 budget)
-Oil change (£35)
-Replace the throttle cable (will probably get this done before MOT tbh) - ordered (£7) - done
-Replace breather cover gasket (£5.69) - done
-Paint the headlight bucket
-Paint the bottoms of the forks
-Paint the tank
-Paint the tail plastics
-Paint the luggage rails
-Paint the grab rail
-Paint the pillion pegs
***I'll probably leave all painting tasks until the summer when the the weather is a little warmer***
-Recover the seat (£25 budget)
-Swap tailight to an F version (£15 budget)
-Replace all brake lines (£100 budget)
-New tyre set (£130 budget)

Chris

[the_63]

My new GS500F tail light came this morning. Squeezed it onto the back end and bodged the tail plastics on as well.

This is with the light on, not a very good picture to be honest:


And without:


You can also see my mini fenderectomy here too.

That's it for now...

Chris

[ShowBizWolf]

Awesome!!! 

[the_63]

Just a little update. Got shims fitted and cover back on, new breather cover gasket and cover installed, air box back in, tank on and connected, haven't managed to get it to start yet though, but it's sounding healthy when I hit the starter.
Got it started. sounds perfectly reasonable, although i only ran it for a coupe of minutes and then it ran out of fuel.


Next job, will be bust off the exhaust headers. They are STUCK! Hopefully I can coax them off. NOPE! warmed the bike up, tried the allen key, rounded off my allen key, tried the pliers which just slipped of, tried a centre punch and a hammer. resisted the urge to kick the stupid thing over! Guess I'm drilling the heads off then...

Chris

[mr72]

resisted the urge to kick the stupid thing over! Guess I'm drilling the heads off then...

If you're going to drill it anyway, you might use a reverse drill bit. Might actually pull the bolt out while you drill. Otherwise getting the guts of the bolts out may be quite a challenge with the jug on the bike. It'd be a pretty difficult task for a home DIYer even with the cylinders on the bench and using a drill press to make sure you drill the bolt and not the cylinder. The cylinder aluminum is much softer than the bolt so IME the drill will want to "walk" off of the bolt and very rapidly can drill the wrong thing, I mean in like 1/10 of a second, when trying to do this with a hand drill.

[the_63]

resisted the urge to kick the stupid thing over! Guess I'm drilling the heads off then...

If you're going to drill it anyway, you might use a reverse drill bit. Might actually pull the bolt out while you drill. Otherwise getting the guts of the bolts out may be quite a challenge with the jug on the bike. It'd be a pretty difficult task for a home DIYer even with the cylinders on the bench and using a drill press to make sure you drill the bolt and not the cylinder. The cylinder aluminum is much softer than the bolt so IME the drill will want to "walk" off of the bolt and very rapidly can drill the wrong thing, I mean in like 1/10 of a second, when trying to do this with a hand drill.

In my head, the plan was to hope that the head will pop off so that I can pull the headers away, then work on twisting the bolt out with the pipes out the way. I'm not experienced at all, so if you have another way for me to get these off I'll try anything

Chris

[the_63]

So, after some fine tuning and loving attention, Sookie started making some very pretty sounds:

Naughty girl!

Chris

[mr72]

In my head, the plan was to hope that the head will pop off so that I can pull the headers away, then work on twisting the bolt out with the pipes out the way. I'm not experienced at all, so if you have another way for me to get these off I'll try anything

That plan will work, but with an ordinary drill bit you are also tightening the bolt even more (potentially) as yo drill it. If you use a reverse drill bit, it will (hopefully) loosen the bolt a little as it drills it, and might even extract the bolt altogether. At least when the head is removed it will leave a loose stud stuck in the head rather than a super tight one that might not come out. In that case you would be left with drilling the center of the bolt out and re-tapping the hole, which would require a way to ensure the drill was going straight through the middle of the bolt.

So I'd say just do what you were planning, only with a left-hand bit.

By the way, did you already try heating the bolt/head to see if that loosens it enough to remove with a wrench? A heat gun should heat it sufficiently (or a torch if you have one), the aluminum head will expand much more than the bolt which tends to loosen the grip of the head on the bolt. If it's corroded then it might not help much, but worth a try, before something truly destructive like drilling.

[the_63]

Been doing some online window shopping, first I'm planning on an awesome shock I've found on eBay, just praying it'll be relisted and stay unpurchased until I get paid. 2nd on the list is the bandit400 hugger I've found. Takes my wish list to £85. Then I'm planning on a fresh new number plate (£15), indicators (£50) and then I've decided on a Delkavic DL10 exhaust (£199.99/£299.99 depending on muffler or full system). I'm leaning towards the full system, that way I can fit the can onto the existing headers for the MOT, then later on fit the nice headers when I figure out how the get the old ones off. I'm getting HEL brake lines too, front and back.

Now all I need is a massive cash injection.  Gona be a couple of weeks though 

I don't wana wait!!! I want to ride my bike

Chris 

[the_63]

Just realised that the awesome shock, which included the linkage for less than £50 shipped from the states, is the wrong one 

Its the ball end, not the horseshoe end. I'm both gutted that it won't work because it's epic value, but relieved that I didn't just go ahead and buy it. Ah well, going to keep searching and try to land the hugger as cheaply as possible.

I'm just trying to accumulate parts as I go along right now, shock fell through, hugger is up next 

Chris

[the_63]

Bought a gsf 400 bandit hugger this morning for £30 ($37.40 us).

That is all

Chris

[ShowBizWolf]

Hooray!!!! You're gonna love it

[the_63]

Hooray!!!! You're gonna love it

Won't be on for a little while. I'm planning on replacing the muffler and fitting some turn signals for the MOT, then once it's road legal swap the shock, swingarm and fit the hugger at the same time. I'm just kinda stocking up the parts shelf for the moment.

Chris

[the_63]

A little while ago I said I'd post pictures of my new swingarm, then I forgot, but now...


Little chip on the chain guard mounts


The ends are a little chipped, nd theres a little spot in the middle of this picture where the paint chipped


It's really in wicked condition!

And as an added bonus...here's my new gsf 400 bandit hugger:




Chris

[the_63]

Just ordered some GSX-R 600 turn signals. They're flush mount at the front and stalks at the back, but I'm going to fit them in reverse so they're stalks up front and flush mounted in the tail plastics. Just like I originally planned. And as an added bonus, they only cost £24.99 delivered. Result 

Just need:
-licence plate, £15 (24/2/17)
-HEL brake lines £45 (30/4/17)
-rear shock,
-exhaust, £299.99 (31/3/17)
-tyres, £150 (24/2/17)
-k&n air filter, £45 (30/4/17)
-rejet,
-and a fix for the crank case crack and I'm done. Until the summer when project paint commences.

Chris

[ShowBizWolf]

oooh that's awesome 63! I love my gixxer signals (stalks)... what year did ya get 'em from? I bet they are gonna look super cool 

[the_63]

oooh that's awesome 63! I love my gixxer signals (stalks)... what year did ya get 'em from? I bet they are gonna look super cool 

Actually you were my inspiration behind them. I got them off eBay (where I buy all my parts  ). When you said you had gixer signals I started searching for suzuki fit signals and came across them. I came across 4 stalks for a 125 for the same price too, but thought that I wanted the flush mount signals since the start so I decided to just pull the trigger.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/112280962784?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

These are what I've bought. Obviously I don't need all the wiring or the resistors, but they tick all my boxes. LED, look good, stalks up front, flush mount rear and their E-marked.

Chris