Hi, and thanks for all that contribute to this excellent forum.  I've been lurking for a while now.  Recently acquired what I thought would be a quick little project just to get on a fun bike for the summer.  This is my 3rd Suzuki but probably the most extensive project I've taken on.

Literally, a barn find as the pics below attest.  .  Somebody had the good sense to drain all the fluids when it was parked.  





Even had wasp nests in the tail light.

Have new controls and a new wiring harness on order (ebay) so that I get back to the factory connectors in as many locations as possible.


The engine spins over ok and clutch gets through all the gears.  

I'm sure this is going to get fun and I'll have lots of questions along the way.  Fortunately I have a Clymer manual for it.  The carbs are all there and look clean.  The tank only had a light coating of rust and no sludge at all.  My hope is that the wiring will go easy and this bike will fire up but I'm prepared for the worst.  At least parts and plentiful and fairly inexpensive.  .  

sounds like the engine and frame are in good condition.  doesn't look like too much trouble actually.  i ended up doing all that and then some for my bike and it's my first bike.

good luck!

Nice!  How much?  If you want to share what you paid for your barn find, that is! 

Quote from: cbrfxr67 on June 14, 2011, 09:19:48 AM
Nice!  How much?  If you want to share what you paid for your barn find, that is! 

was wondering the same, doesnt look that bad..

Good luck! keep us updated, oh yea, welcome to the forums! 

I have around $800 total invested so far including state tax and title transfer.  The state of Texas really rapes you on taxes now.  Even if the seller signs a statement that you bought the bike for xx $ amount, they charge you tax based on a standard presumptive value which in this case was something like $800.  So I paid about $80 just for the title and I have not even registered or inspected it yet.  

My goal is to come out with a good riding bike for under $1K.  I'll play with it for the summer and then hopefully get my money back and somebody will get a nice bike for cheap.  

Ok, I'm running into an issue on the painting while I'm waiting on my wiring harness.  I know I'm being ultra cheap, but I had some rustoleum black metallic in the garage and I like that color so I thought I might as well give it a try.  Started with the new front fender, then the side skins.  Cleaned, removed the remnants of the factory decals, degreased and just wet sanded with super fine sandpaper enough to dull the factory paint.  Then a couple of light coats of the rustoleum followed by a clear coat.  They actually look really good.  I was a little shocked.

However, the tank is a differnt story.  Cleaned it, removed the decals and did much the same prep as the plastic except there were some paint gouges down to the metal.  In those areas I sanded a small spot down to the bare metal and gave that area a light primer coat.  Then I sanded and repeated the process until the scratch areas were perfectly smooth.  By the time that was done I figured I might as well go ahead and sand and primer the whole tank, which I did.  It came out really smooth.  Now the problem is that the color coat won't come out even.  If I hold the can close to the tank I get a darker color but it comes out really rough in some spots and looks blotchy.  Sanded that try off and did another coat holding the can at about 12 inches.  I can get everything smooth and uniform and it looks pretty good after a thorough rub down with rubbing compound.  However, it lacks the gloss and depth of the painted plastic and is not going to look good when mounted up.  I tried a gloss clear coat and it just left more haze.  Not sure what to try at this point.  The paint just goes on kind of rough whereas it went onto the plastic nice and smooth. 

What I had to do on my rims when I painted them was sand them with 200grit then had polish them.  I would do that to all of the pieces and it should look preety much matched when you are done.

Note-  Just don't sand to much, just enough to level it out.

Maybe a few coats with wet sanding in between and once it's all cured, throw on a couple coats of wax to bring out the shine.

Quote from: Texarican on June 14, 2011, 07:56:31 PM
Ok, I'm running into an issue on the painting while I'm waiting on my wiring harness.  I know I'm being ultra cheap, but I had some rustoleum black metallic in the garage and I like that color so I thought I might as well give it a try.  Started with the new front fender, then the side skins.  Cleaned, removed the remnants of the factory decals, degreased and just wet sanded with super fine sandpaper enough to dull the factory paint.  Then a couple of light coats of the rustoleum followed by a clear coat.  They actually look really good.  I was a little shocked.

However, the tank is a differnt story.  Cleaned it, removed the decals and did much the same prep as the plastic except there were some paint gouges down to the metal.  In those areas I sanded a small spot down to the bare metal and gave that area a light primer coat.  Then I sanded and repeated the process until the scratch areas were perfectly smooth.  By the time that was done I figured I might as well go ahead and sand and primer the whole tank, which I did.  It came out really smooth.  Now the problem is that the color coat won't come out even.  If I hold the can close to the tank I get a darker color but it comes out really rough in some spots and looks blotchy.  Sanded that try off and did another coat holding the can at about 12 inches.  I can get everything smooth and uniform and it looks pretty good after a thorough rub down with rubbing compound.  However, it lacks the gloss and depth of the painted plastic and is not going to look good when mounted up.  I tried a gloss clear coat and it just left more haze.  Not sure what to try at this point.  The paint just goes on kind of rough whereas it went onto the plastic nice and smooth. 

You're probably going to have to do several thin coats of the paint, with wetsanding with a high grit in between each coat. Then several coats of clear, sanding in between as well.

How hot is it in the area that you're painting in? Hazing like that could be paint drying too fast / not wetting out.

Texas, June... betting it's above good painting temps. Unless you're in a climate-controlled garage. In which case, I'm jealous.

I considered the heat being a factor but that does not explain why the same paint comes out good on the plastics. 

Went down to the parts store at lunch and bought some new packages of quality sandpaper.  The tank currently has a nice uniform coat on it but rough to the touch and lacking the gloss.  I'm going to hit it with 200 then 600, 1000, 1500 until if feels absolutely smooth before I try another coat.  Then if there is any improvement, I'll do that process again the same with the clear.  I'll try to get some pics tonight too.  Waiting until after dark so at least my garage will drop below 90 degrees. 

Well, the quality sandpaper and a slight change in spraying technique made a big difference.  I used 200 to sand the tank very smooth, then hit it with 1000 (skipped the 600).  Gave it one more color coat and that already looked much better.  Although it still dried a little rough, just an easy pass with the 1000 made it factory slick.  Then I hit it with the clear coat and repeated the 1000 grit sanding when that dried.  I did end up with one cloudy area right on top of the tank so I ended up taking that off with the 200 and hit just that area with color again.  Waiting on that to dry now.  I think since I understand the process and technique now, I can finish this thing up tomorrow with decent results. 

Progress and setbacks

Got the paint finished and I was ok with it but not thrilled.  There were just a couple of spots on the tank that looked hazy to me still.  Wife and Daughter could not see it and said it looked great.  

Spent the wee hours of Fri night / Sat morning getting the wiring mess replaced.  Went from this

to this

I'm not thrilled with those radio shack connectors but they'll do for now.  Only the left front turn signal and low beam on the headlight are not working.  I have not gone through to diagnose that yet.  Could be bulbs, may be connections.

where ya from man? Im in austin if your around this area i would love to hang out and tinker!

Quote from: crzydood17 on June 18, 2011, 03:45:25 PM
where ya from man? Im in austin if your around this area i would love to hang out and tinker!

I'm in Cypress, NW of Houston.  Neighbors spent last weekend up your way just like everybody else with a bike that runs.  Wish I could have been there!

would of loved to see more GS's out there, only saw one a 04+ with no fairings and stock light was a bit weird...

get her running and we should organize a texas meetup

Forgot to add that I installed the new bikemaster daytona bars and new bar ends this morning.  Had also ordered bikemaster levers but they did not fit right so they are going back.  Maybe I just ordered the wrong ones?  Guess I'll find out when bike bandit calls me. 

Went out and started the bike again.  Needed a little choke but it started up pretty easy.  I let it idle through about a quart of gas with techron.  It sure drinks the fuel quickly   Sounds nice when I rev it but the idle seems rough.  Maybe I'll put a video up tomorrow.  Tonight I'm sanding the tank for a repaint. 

Found a wire had separated from the solder joint in the turn signal bulb housing.  Fixed that and also changed the headlight bulb which fixed the low beam issue. 
Also found out, thanks to some nice pics on this forum, that I'm missing one of the O-rings under the upper vacuum port on one carb.  Ordered that and a missing gas tank spacer/cushion last night.  Since I'm waiting on those and new levers, looks like I won't be riding until next weekend.  Can't wait!

Connectors... would love to find a source for 2-4 pin automotive connectors with real water ingression protection.

I've dumped gas on new paint jobs in my hurry before... it happens to us all. Looks like you get to color sand it again. The plastics vs. steel glossing issue... two things. 1) Sounds like the plastic started out smoother to begin with. I typically put final coats after finishing with 600 grit. 2) This is a stretch, but steel has more thermal capacity than plastic... perhaps the steel surface stayed "hotter" after spraying than the plastic surface did? I used to have the opposite problem, trying to spray in sub-freezing temps, and heating things with lamps to get paint to cure.

Bike should not be using that much fuel at idle. Keep an eye on your oil; make sure you're not filling the bottom end up with gasoline. Bhudda sells new float valves individually if you need them.

Quote from: noiseguy on June 19, 2011, 09:31:14 AM
Connectors... would love to find a source for 2-4 pin automotive connectors with real water ingression protection.

I've dumped gas on new paint jobs in my hurry before... it happens to us all. Looks like you get to color sand it again. The plastics vs. steel glossing issue... two things. 1) Sounds like the plastic started out smoother to begin with. I typically put final coats after finishing with 600 grit. 2) This is a stretch, but steel has more thermal capacity than plastic... perhaps the steel surface stayed "hotter" after spraying than the plastic surface did? I used to have the opposite problem, trying to spray in sub-freezing temps, and heating things with lamps to get paint to cure.

Bike should not be using that much fuel at idle. Keep an eye on your oil; make sure you're not filling the bottom end up with gasoline. Bhudda sells new float valves individually if you need them.

I use the GM style weather pack connectors.I get mine from All Pro or NAPA.They are better than the cheapos at other parts stores.I use dielectric grease in them.It's easier to put them together if you use the crimper pliers made for them.