I've been collecting parts since I picked up this bike a few months ago.  Now with everything in hand (or at least in transit) and the CBR newly shod so it can handle commuting duties for a week or so, it's time to get to work.

The bike is dead stock right now, with the exception of the turn signals and the bar-end mirrors.

It will be getting a pretty generic list of "standard" GS upgrades  Many of these are things I did to the first GS I owned and which I was very pleased with:

Yamaha R6 shock
0.90kg/mm Sonic Springs
1989 triple tree cover with clip-on bars
Vance & Hines Supersport fell exhaust
K & N "lunchbox" filter
carb rejetting
breather filter
removal of center stand


Cosmetic stuff includes:

black reflective rim tape (which should thankfully be almost unnoticeable on my grey wheels.)
swingarm cleanup (the only rust on the bike is on the right side of the swingarm.)
black fork boots


Things for the near-term future:

weld on bungs for swingarm spools (when I have access to my welder again)
stainless or kevlar brake lines (when I decide what color I want)
small windscreen (Skidmarx, possibly?  If A: they'll ship direct to US and B: it's less expensive than buying from the crazy priced importer.)
SW-Motech case guards
rear seat cover / solo seat (If I can get someone to translate.     )



Enough prattling on, let's get to work.

Hooray!  I loved having the clip-ons on my '89 when I got it.  That was the one thing I missed most while riding this '96.  I'm very glad I was able to round these up.




Stock condition




Wow!  In 20+ years of wrenching on bikes, this is the easiest exhaust that I've ever taken off.  Hell, the bolts weren't hardly more than finger tight.




This bike looks really good with no muffler hanging off the side.  (Not all of them do.)  I'm beginning to seriously consider welding up a snaky extension and putting the can up under the tail like mab32 did in his streetfighter build.




Side panels off.  Tank off.




Nifty magnetic mat.  Sticks to stuff and stuff sticks to it.




Shock off, with the 2008 R6 shock next to it.  Also pictured are a mechanic's two best friends.  A can of penetrating oil and a 1/2" air powered impact wrench. 




And that's all I got done today, as I spent most of it cleaning the garage and organizing tools.  Speaking of which, one would think that with the plethora of plastic storage box options available in today's advanced society, it would be a simple enough matter to find a box which properly addressed your storage needs, no matter what they may be. One would be wrong.

These are all boxes which I've acquired to try and store one category of like tools together, preferably in one box. That's just not going to happen. I'm currently doing extensive modifications to the largest, which will STILL need to be used in conjunction with another. This irks the anal/OCD part of my tool organizing self to no end.



I was gonna give some bonus internet points to anyone who could name both of the motorcycles you can see in the background, but then I realized that the one under the V&H box is basically unreconizable. 

Diggin' those mirrors. Info?

Expensive!   $110 each!

http://www.constructorsrg.com/mirrors/index.html


Luckily for me, they were on the bike when I bought it. 

They're great.  Solid & vibration free.  And, as you noticed, very slick looking.

Quote from: dougdoberman on May 16, 2012, 06:35:20 PM
rear seat cover / solo seat (If I can get someone to translate.     )

Google translate does a decent job on their web site. Hopefully this URL works:

http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.balu-racing.de&act=url

BTW, they seem to be faster to reply if contacted through their Ebay store than if you go through their web site. You can find their Ebay store here:

http://stores.ebay.de/balu-racing

Couple steps forward and one leap back


Old bars off.





Carbs disassembled for new jets.  Except for the stripped pilot jet.  Damn!

Hope that the carbs I sold you work out well!  Bike is looking good.  Classy color scheme that year with the charcoal frame and wheels.

Old triple cover off, '89 installed





Front end started making a clunking sorta noise on the CBR.  I just replaced the wheel bearings.  The left side one was not a super tight fit.  I'm worried that it's ovaling out the bearing seat.    So it's apart to do some checking with a micrometer and redo the whole deal.





New carbs arrived today to replace mine with the completely trashed pilot screw & tube.  Thanks bombsquad83!  Hopefully I'll be able to get the GS back on the road this evening so I can do some riding on this long weekend.

Too damn hot to do much work today.

Set the netbook up on the workbench and streamed the Indy 500 and last week's MotoGP races via my Slingbox as I rejetted the new carbs and cleaned up a few other things.  Took a trip to the hardware store for a handful of Allen bolts to replace various Phillips screws.  (Pretty much any time I take a screw off of a bike I replace it with an Allen.  Saves a ton of hassle down the line.)




Old triple cover & handlebar.  Anyone need it?  I'm debating whether I should keep it in case I even wanted to go back to stock, but might be willing to give it up.




New (well, 1989) triple cover, clip-ons & carbs installed.




New air filter ready for installation.  Might need to drop the shock in from the top though, so it'll wait in case I need the maneuvering space.




R6 shock top bolt installed




Repacking the bearings in the linkage.  They didn't appear to need it, but doesn't hurt.

Went back out once it cooled down some and got a little more done. 

Exhaust installed.  R6 shock installed.  Slight surface rust cleaned off the swingarm.  Bike running.



Unfortunately, there's a leak in the drain on the right carb.  (Hence the rag.)  It's very slow, but never the less, I'm going to pull them back off and replace the bowl with one from my old carbs.  Not interested in starting my bike on fire or wasting gas, even if it's only a drip every few seconds. 

Bike started and ran a little rough.  Gotta play with the idle mixture and sync.


Also, CBR front wheel reassembled and reinstalled.  Haven't ridden it yet to see if the clunk is still there though.  Tomorrow.

Sorry to hear about the leak.  I didnt notice any leaks when I tested them so it must be slow.  Might be the gasket after you removed and replaced the bowls to rejet.  The gaskets did look a bit old and stiff, but I have seen worse.

It's actually coming from the drain tube.  It's like the drain screw isn't fully seating.

Oh, hmmm.  Just crank it down with an 8mm socket?  I've never had them leak from there.  I never close the drain screws with just a regular screwdriver either, I have been able to get a seal that way.  Either way I'm glad you can just swap parts from your other carb.

Cranking didn't work.  (First thing I tried.    )  Nor did replacing the needle with one from the other carbs.

Carbs been in & out multiple times today.   Pulled them and replaced the bowl.  Back in and the drain is fine but the bowl itself was leaking.  Might have pinched the gasket.  Pulled them back out, replaced the gasket with the one from the bowl that just came off.  Back in and everything seems okay at the moment. 

Of course, during this process the main fuel line between the tank petcock and the frame petcock started leaking due to being nicked trying to get it off the nipple on the frame petcock.  And one of the two nipples actually pulled out of the tank petcock.  A few drops of red and a few taps with a plastic hammer hopefully remedied that issue.

This whole weekend weekend would have been more tolerable if it hadn't been 85+ degrees every day.

And back out once again.  I THINK I may have knocked a float out of adjustment as one of the cylinders was flooded with fuel when I went to start it a bit ago. 

What had started out as a ridiculously easy project has devolved into something a little more annoying.   I LOVE a well-tuned set of carbs on a bike, but man I hate getting them to that state.

The floats on the GS carbs are definitely a huge pain.  I finally broke down and bought a brand new OEM set for $80 freaking dollars.  That's how fed up I was with the floats on my carbs.  I was hoping that the ones in the ones I sold you would yield more luck, but alas maybe not.

I really think that I messed up your setting when I was dicking with them earlier today.  I didn't have any trouble with it flooding yesterday when I first got them up and running.

Those things are touchy, just keep going at it and testing with the u-tube method.

Any progress on the project?