just whilst i remember, last time i was out tweaking the mix i managed to almost cure the hesitation by raising the needle two steps then taking the mix screw back in to 2 & 3/4 or 3, i can't actually remember now. still needs a spot of tweaking but every time i get the chance to open them i get it slightly better. trial and error.

also noticed that the rhs plug is fouling. reckon its weak spark or possibly at a push float height or needle seat related as I've had an issue there before, yet to prove anything wrong though. its not oily so that rules out valves. compression is acceptable so that rules out head gasket and rings. anyway she's still running damn fine. but yeah black and sooty so fuel mix on one side me thinks.

thanks man thinking you're thoroughly prepared, pulling things apart, realising you don't have what you need so putting it back together to repeat another day hahaha happens far too often man. atleast the gs is easy to work on.

yeah you have a couple of options for it but you can remove the frame mounted secondary petcock and block up the vacuum pipe/s without any bother. so option 1. i replaced the petcock on the tank which allows me to just run the one fuel line from the tank to the carbs but option 2. if you stick with the standard under tank one you'll have to put a t-junction in to take the original main/res lines into one before running it to the carbs. if that makes sense. 

if you're running a pre 01' gs id recommend upgrading the system as they are definitely prone to issues but if its post 01' you're just creating more work for yourself as they aren't as prone to the fuel starving issue. the whole vacuum system is actually really clever, I'm quite a fan of it and plenty of bikes run it without having any issues. id previously upgraded to the post 01' petcock and ran problem free for a long time, my main reason for doing this was ditching a bit of weight and clutter but really if its still working its all good and when it finally starts starving you switch it to prime and it runs fine.

another thing to note is that should you accidentally leave the fuel tap on without the vacuum system and your float sticks or the seals under the needle seat go your crank case is going to get a petrol enema. and trust me when it gets hot in there things go bang! all you're really doing is swapping a potential problem for another.

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as for the pegs, these bandit ones I've got aren't going to be straight forward but the gsxr pegs i was running before just needed a wee bit of grinding, downside being that getting anything to work on a spring return is going to be hell without swapping rearsets it seems so i just had mine safety wired down. been juggling other projects around so I've just not had the free time to do anything with the gs other than run it about.

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insurance, theres so many variables but i shop around quite a bit and MCE have been the best prices for me for the last 3 years, they don't charge for modifications but should you need to claim they also don't cover the cost of mods so it boils down to where your priority stands with that. when i declare mods from what would be for example £150 TPFT on my gsxr11 in stock trim it becomes 5-6-£700+ with other companies... its just absurd so in that regard i think mce has my corner of the market. heres hoping i never have to claim haha

yeah i was 105 for my modded cbr600 f3 + 70 i think to add a thunderace streetfighter and then when i binned the fighter it was 40 to switch the insurance from it to the gsxr11. i do love multi bike policies

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Yea I'm slowly realising that I took a LOT of junk photos when I pulled everything apart and unfortunately, my mental notes appear to be a bit of a mess, don't think they'll be much use, so the things I don't have will undoubtedly be things I did have originally...

I was mostly looking to just simplify the bike to be honest, I just seem to have a nest of bloody vacuum lines on the carbs that just get in the way when working on them, T-junction seems to be a good idea. It's an 08 so it's not really fuel starvation that I'm worried about, next time I lift the tank, I want just wan't to turn a valve and pull off one fuel line! That's awesome about the petcock, good find, was contemplating a Pingel until I found out the price!

Maybe I'll leave the pegs then, I've already bitten off far more than I can chew, have spent a ton on tools and powdercoating!

MCE are definitely once to look into then. I know it's insanely varied, not so fussed on having mods covered tbh, exhaust can always be polished back up and might get lucky with fork springs etc surviving. Wow that's really reasonable, I need more bikes!

Yea I'm slowly realising that I took a LOT of junk photos when I pulled everything apart and unfortunately, my mental notes appear to be a bit of a mess, don't think they'll be much use, so the things I don't have will undoubtedly be things I did have originally...

I was mostly looking to just simplify the bike to be honest, I just seem to have a nest of bloody vacuum lines on the carbs that just get in the way when working on them, T-junction seems to be a good idea. It's an 08 so it's not really fuel starvation that I'm worried about, next time I lift the tank, I want just wan't to turn a valve and pull off one fuel line! That's awesome about the petcock, good find, was contemplating a Pingel until I found out the price!

Maybe I'll leave the pegs then, I've already bitten off far more than I can chew, have spent a ton on tools and powdercoating!

MCE are definitely once to look into then. I know it's insanely varied, not so fussed on having mods covered tbh, exhaust can always be polished back up and might get lucky with fork springs etc surviving. Wow that's really reasonable, I need more bikes!
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yep I've been there hahaha looking back over photos like why the feck did i take that? especially when rewiring from scratch but yeah the gs is forgiving when learning how to work on a bike.

can't say I'm too familiar with the later models (only real difference being carbs i think), isn't there only one vacuum line going to the secondary petcock? most of the hoses should be just breathers, overflow or fuel.

always hated trying to squeeze the two fuel lines onto the tank haha yet again part of the reason I've got my setup the way it is. yeah I've looked at pingel taps as well but daaaaaamn not at that cost! well what i can say is that most jap bikes undertank petcocks seem to share the same spacing in terms of bolts so there is always the option of finding a tap with a good lever on it and using that. my thunderace lever is tiny and although you can access it with the tank on, its very difficult otherwise i wouldn't have an inline tap. once again you're doing away with the reserve function which makes life entertaining at times. i had contemplated using the sv650's undertank vacuum petcock as just the main supply, plug the vacuum lines in and boom no worries just jump on it and go but should it fail you have no means of just turning the fuel on via prime. so yeahhh I'm still working on ideas for further simplifying it down to just the petcock.

must say the gs looks much, much better with tidier pegs but id stick to getting one job done at a time else you'll end up in a mess chasing your own tail about. save doing the pegs for another day I've got a set of cbr rearsets that are just sitting from when i got aftermarket ones for it so i may end up modding them to fit the gs.

and hey the good thing about having one bike is that you only have one bike to fix multiple project bikes is a difficult one to juggle. I've got parts everywhere, 3 bikes in different states of build coupled with very limited time and finance... hopefully this summer i'll have the option of bikes to jump on though.

if you're not fussed about declaring mods then probably best go with whoever winds up being cheapest but otherwise definitely look at mce even if they are a bit dearer. i could get a policy about £70 cheaper elsewhere but when your bikes obviously not a stocker and things need declared no one can touch mce for prices unfortunately. ohhhh the joys of being young...(ish) 

hows your bike coming along anyway? any (decent ) pics or that?

Yea those wiring schematics make zero sense to me so I bet that's a nightmare! To be honest I'm struggling to remember where everything is grounded, let alone what every bloody wire does!

Well I seem to have a few vacuum lines running all the way around the carbs, likely due to the emissions crap on later bikes, I'll probably just leave it, I'll be relieved to finish it to be honest has taken far longer than planned.

That's good to know, don't seem to have found much talk on the petcocks to be honest, especially surprising given how useless the tank one is, especially in an emergency. Got a funny feeling though the later bikes are 33mm spacing, will have to measure up.

Yea bloody horrible squeezing the lines in there, I'm also completely at removing fuel lines anyway and like to tear them which helps!

Yea like you say, future project when I know everything else on the bike is good!

Rebuild is coming along OK, its really nothing exciting, was just in an awkward position where bike was so crusty it was worth nothing, so decided to have it coated and clean and replace everything, was making me really miserable seeing brown patches all over. Starting to really regret it now that I've spent about 2/3rds the bikes worth on mods, powdercoat and parts! Guys who coated the bike are jackasses so now i have to tap all the threads and clean bearing surfaces... Joy... Won't hi jack your thread though, if I end up with any worthwhile pictures I'll post them up!

Quote from: baronduff on March 13, 2016, 02:04:27 PM
Yea those wiring schematics make zero sense to me so I bet that's a nightmare! To be honest I'm struggling to remember where everything is grounded, let alone what every bloody wire does!

I feel your pain, man. I spent a full day mapping the wires out and listing everything in list format. (I can scan and email it all to you if you want)
I've found everything black with a white stripe is "ground" or going "going to ground"

Hope that helps.


Sorry if its a hijack. . .

Black and white stripes, nice one. As far as I'm aware, where you ground doesn't make any difference right? As long as its on the frame and there's no paint underneath?

I may well be in touch for that info, hopefully everything will start to make sense when I put it back in, luckily it seems everything has a different style plug on the harness, so with bog standard setup I shouldn't be able to go too far wrong... But this is me...

Yea, sorry Iamhiding for the thread jack!

The grounds go to the negative terminal on the battery.  You could ground through the frame if you wanted, provided that you also run a wire from the frame to the negative terminal.

Thanks Lucas, I could've monumentally screwed up there, no wonder I couldn't remember where the grounds ran to on the frame!

nah fire on guys  can't say I'm too familiar with the gs's schematics, I've never really had to problem solve with them. spent 100 hours + on just the physical work involved on wiring the cbr though, never mind everything else  needless to say I'm a dab hand with electrics nowadays, not so much on FI bikes though

//

new link for that chain turned up today so hoping to get the gearing sorted tomorrow  couple of other things to see to as well.

wee update 



nipped the old master link down from the tsubaki with ye ol grinder.



couple of steel plates and a ball ended hammer is the best way I've found to rivet a link without a chain tool, takes no time at all link took a bit of a beating from me being careless but its not going to effect its performance.



slight size difference between the 39t and 44t, massive weight difference the renthal really does weigh nothing in comparison.



quick test ride of the -2/+5 (14/44) & 520x112 setup... WAW! the gs isn't meant to pull like that, can lift the front wheel in 4th doing 40 with a pop of the clutch haha good fun not enough oomph to keep it up but it lifts.

honestly its not that ridiculous a setup gearing-wise as you would expect. yep its a bit buzzy, yep i wouldn't want to do massive motorway or dual carriageway miles but for squirting about town and ragging it around country roads... W A W! had an accurate 98mph out of it at 10thou rpm, should do 106 at redline. seriously good fun on such a little bike.

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now for the pegs, the slimmer ones are aftermarket rear gsxr 6 ones with an elongated hole (giggidy), honestly can't remember which gen, possibly srad and the larger ones I've got to replace the broken set aren't from the bandit, the guy who gave me them has no idea what there from, there just from his spares box so if you recognise them give me a shout and let me know.



obviously the hole was never going to line up.



marked it through the hole previously pictured.



drilled a pilot hole then drilled it out to 6.5mm which is slightly bigger then the 6mm pivot that goes through to attach it so that it allows for a little jiggle room to get it on. once in place i used a couple of washers to close down the slight slight gap and reduce movement. these are completely fixed in place and do not lift and spring back, if the bike is dropped then these are likely to snap.



definitely not the best picture of them on but you get the point massive improvement over the gsxr pegs i had before and even a bigger improvement from the chunky stock rubber covered beasts. its one of the little things that just tidies up the old gs tenfold over stock i reckon.

//

now thats all the good stuff but i found something that i really don't like when doing the chain. theres a significant amount of backward/forward play between the counter sprocket (front) and the spline of the driveshaft... not just the usual jiggle you get with the spline/clip setup. so yeah, thats not good is it. it'll be fine for a while yet but I'm going to have to look at either braking the engine right down to replace the driveshaft assuming go can get a good or new one and rebuild it or find a new engine to fire in if it proves to be more cost effective be it another gs motor or something a little more interesting. its a perfectly good engine with just a spot over 22thou miles on the clock so its probably justifiable to rebuild it, that and like I've probably said before the gs's parallel twin is one of the things i love about the bike, awesome sound so i might look at going for a single thumper over an inline 4 swap if it were to come to that but even so I've got no idea what i'll end up doing down the line at this point. really kinda sucks but its not an end to it.

Dude that sucks about the driveshaft! Chain riveting is way better than the last attempt I made and I had a funny little tool to do it too. Pegs looking good, definitely need to mod mine.

Quote from: baronduff on March 25, 2016, 04:59:15 AM
Dude that sucks about the driveshaft! Chain riveting is way better than the last attempt I made and I had a funny little tool to do it too. Pegs looking good, definitely need to mod mine.

yeah its definitely not ideal with the driveshaft/countershaft or whatever its called again haha it might even just be the old sprocket on it thats moving about but its not actually that old, maybe 2500-3500 miles which isn't all that much, can but try before bodging it or tearing the engine down. yeah rivet links never seem to come out looking good do they haha not without a proper rivet tool anyway.

so after putting about 500miles or so on the gearing I've come to the conclusion that yes its very entertaining in the slow stuff and it pulls like hell (for a 4/ 500 twin) up to 70 but cruising at 70-80 is intolerable never mind ringing its neck out at the top of 6th. it still has the same top speed as my previous gearing (14/39) 102mph before it just doesn't want to give any more except you're really tickling redline on the 14/44 to keep it there which isn't great in terms of longevity of the engine is it.

so I've been thinking about going up 1 tooth on the front to 15t just to make it a bit more tolerable and hopefully find a middle ground whenever i get round to it. can't actually find a renthal 14t for the gs anymore but i know it shares the same part with several things like gsxrs (can't remember which models off the top of my head) but that makes it easy to find a 14t should you be looking for one.

must say the -2t (14t) front i was running before really wasn't all that extreme, well certainly not as much as people made it out to be, it was actually a really well suited gearing to the bike. either way the whole things been a fun experiment and a good laugh.

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raised the needle down one clip to its highest setting, massive improvement midrange.

Would it be correct to say that with this type of needle there is no need to install the often suggested 1-2 #4 washers?

Quote from: TheGreenWeenie on April 01, 2016, 05:33:57 AM

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raised the needle down one clip to its highest setting, massive improvement midrange.

Would it be correct to say that with this type of needle there is no need to install the often suggested 1-2 #4 washers?

No need for washers with the clip style dude. Consider 1 washer to be 1 clip movement. UK spec carbs got the clipped needles as did some euro countries but as far as I'm aware the the non clip type is predominantly a US thing.

Saying that my 11 has clipped needles but also came with a washer fitted from the factory but yeah you would only "need" a washer on a clipped needle if you wanted to lift it even higher for adjustment but it's unlikely you'll need to.

I feel lucky then. i got the clip type in the US. So would stock setting be the very top rung? IIRC mine were set to the second clip down. Thanks for the info though. love following the build thread by the way.

Quote from: TheGreenWeenie on April 01, 2016, 06:28:46 PM
I feel lucky then. i got the clip type in the US. So would stock setting be the very top rung? IIRC mine were set to the second clip down. Thanks for the info though. love following the build thread by the way.

it could be that the early us ones didn't get it or its the cali spec ones that don't have it or something like that, I'm just making presumptions so don't hold me to it haha but someone on here will know 

honestly couldn't tell you, i bikes first jetting was over 2 years ago, maybe 3 lolz but if you don't have a workshop manual to check you can get a free pdf manual on carlsalter.com // typically the manual will say something like position 1 or 3 or whatever and you count the clips from the top so for example in that pic mines is on position 5.

oh and thanks dude it really is just a bit of honest, zero fecks given, cheap fun. have to see what happens with the driveshaft yet to see what I'm going got have to do with the engine but I've still got some pretty substantial plans for the bike when i get the others back on the road and I'm still tearing around the roads using it as the current daily.

Haha. given zero fecks means having more fun usually. I picked up this GS from a friend for free. (it wasn't running of course). and now it is,yay! but its requiring some serious tuning. Post like yours are helping me more than you'd ever imagine. I told my wife I was gonna get this up and operational for her and teach her to ride. but the more $$ i spend, the more emotionally attached i'm becoming. waiting on this Delkevic pipe to come in so I can hopefully tune the carbs properly for it.

Big thanks for the info on the manual btw. heading over to get that right now 

Quote from: TheGreenWeenie on April 02, 2016, 05:36:22 PM
Haha. given zero fecks means having more fun usually. I picked up this GS from a friend for free. (it wasn't running of course). and now it is,yay! but its requiring some serious tuning. Post like yours are helping me more than you'd ever imagine. I told my wife I was gonna get this up and operational for her and teach her to ride. but the more $$ i spend, the more emotionally attached i'm becoming. waiting on this Delkevic pipe to come in so I can hopefully tune the carbs properly for it.

Big thanks for the info on the manual btw. heading over to get that right now 

excuse the late reply haha I've got more projects than hands at the moment. honestly thats really cool to hear  as motivational speakery as it sounds I'm just trying to give back to the community that got me going with modding bikes, taught me some of the mechanical details and kept me interested with these kinds of builds/posts, i know exactly where you're coming from and that kind of feedback just confirms that its getting somewhere
absolutely the perfect bike for teaching someone, its not twitchy like the 125s etc, or thats what i found anyway. i hear what you mean man, so much emotional investment the more you work on or build something lolz I'm actually really bad for not parting with bikes. I've currently got 3 and the half of the one that tried to kill me haha. bike hoarder

Going to start getting some more bits together for the build in the next few weeks, back wheel/spacers machined up shortly hopefully. Just need to clear my feet financially. Going to be maaaaaaaad when she's done  hopefully get the new  front end ready in time for the 1100 coming off the road in October for Tattie season and then winter shortly after.

Have to source appropriate yokes/triples, callipers, disks and a front wheel for the gsxr 750 WP forks I've got sitting. Had hoped to use the blue dot callipers from the old exup I had but the bolt spacing is different, may end up getting brackets made but I'd like to have something to just bolt on with zero fuss. Just have to see how it all plays out but Suzuki are known for making parts bin bikes which will play in my favour 

bikes been parked up for an age now with a sticky front master cylinder, just havent had the time to deal with it so i figured i should probably get it riding again. first time i've ever done a master actually and that circlip is a bastard without the right pliers you know how youve thought about getting a set of circlip pliers about 100 times and never done it? yeah seriously go buy a set or 2 or 3 even haha handy to have. it makes a 5 minute job take 10x as long without them



yeah so old just pulling the old piston and seals out the cbr master.



fresh seals and spring ready to go in.



fired back together and taken out for a victory shralp.



so, i figured out what caused the master to fail as well... funny noob mistake, should really know better last august or something someone moved things around and i ended up using gear oil in the brake as it was an identical bottle and similar coloured fluid. i can remember doing it but i cant remember if i flushed it out. anyway gear oil has some rubber conditioning stuff in it i think that reacts with rubber, it had made the cap diaphragm swell so that it was unusable and I'm guessing it made the seals swell causing the piston to stick in the master, makes sense anyway. so im expecting the calliper seals to start sticking sometime soon  had to use instant gasket to seal up the reservoir cap as a short term fix, obviously leaving the air gap clear. far from ideal but its functional  i'm an idiot i know but im glad it wasnt on the 11 with the 6 pot callipers expensive one to sort.