Yay I'm not alone! 

You're not alone Pete! I'm always following along and enjoying the updates and pics

  glad to hear Showbiz 

My OEM seals and gaskets are on their way for the Kat head, and I think I'll order the head and valve cover gaskets this week. I don't have budget until next pay but that starts getting real close to Christmas so I might bung them on the credit card for now and pay that off then. This way I'll have everything ready to swap the head out when I get time to do it, otherwise guaranteed I'll get time to do it and won't have all the bits ready to go.

I'm also re-thinking that back to scrambler mode for the 450. While I'd love to do a bit of dirt, I don't really want to make it harder to get through traffic on it. I was running late the other day on the way home and had to get to the post office by 5pm, and the traffic was horrendous for that time of day. Having the clubmans and 'bar end mirrors made filtering through it such a breeze, and I suspect with motorcross 'bars I really would've struggled, even if I did have the mirrors mounted underneath the 'bars. Decision, decisions!

Love me some filtering and splttin!


woo hooooo

Hahaha I'll pass on the splittin' but the filterin' is a life saver, especially in the heat at the moment!

Got two parcels in the mail this week, the Kat head swap is finally a go sometime in the next week:

Untitled by starpoint73, on Flickr

Kristmas Katana Katch-Up done and dusted yesterday. Hot morning but great fun!

Untitled by starpoint73, on Flickr

Getting the loaner head off the Kat is... "fun".

The manual says "lift the head straight up". Yeah right!

This is going to take lots of perseverance, can't separate it from the block just yet...

At the moment I am very (very) tired but I wanted to post again that I am following along!

I am very jealous of that hot morning... these cold winter days suck all the life and energy out of me... but at least it was dry enough that I got to ride to and from work today.

Your post about "fun" is similar to how I feel about the Sebring right now. In addition to the wrong diagnosis I feel that happened with the transmission problem, I think there is a current issue that was inherited from the used transmission I had swapped in.

Hopefully, I can remedy it on Sunday, by swapping the original solenoid pack for the one that came with the used trans.

Not to mention the fiasco with trying to get the first two speeds on the heater/ac fan switch to work

I took a step into the world of newer vehicles... and all I wanna do is further baby and snuggle my "ancient" rides!!!

Glad to see you're still following along Showbiz! 

Sounds like you need to get some serious sleep!

I ended up using a soft bit of timber plus a lump hammer and got the head off, yay! I got it all swapped out finally and fired up last night, then managed a 15 minute test ride after work this arvo because it actually stopped raining finally. No weird noises, felt good, and no oil leaks that I can see (yet, anyway). It was interesting to see the exhaust ports between the loaner head and my inherited DIY porting job as well, a bit of a difference there!

Untitled by starpoint73, on Flickr

Untitled by starpoint73, on Flickr

Untitled by starpoint73, on Flickr

I'm 100% with you on the modern stuff, I like my '80s lack of technology 

I was actually speaking to a fellow GS450 rider at work today (she parks near me which is weird to see two GS450s so close!) and she was mentioning how the points gave her some grief the other week (the earlier model 450s have points, mine's the 82 with transistorised ignition). I said yeah, points can be a pain, but generally if you have an issue while out and about its fixable, which is a definite win!

All I can say is you stick with your "ancient" rides and enjoy! 

Boy I'll say there's a difference!!

Awesome pics Pete.

Swapping the solenoid pack didn't work. It's looking more like the torque converter clutch is damaged... which means I'll probably end up buying a new torque converter and paying for that to be installed. I do still have the original one before the trans swap but I'm not paying to have a used one put in... especially since I've been made aware that this is a common problem with these transmissions.

Good news is, all the heater/ac fan speeds work now 

Quote from: ShowBizWolf on December 12, 2020, 04:08:53 AM

Not to mention the fiasco with trying to get the first two speeds on the heater/ac fan switch to work

If you only have the high speed, check/replace the blower motor resistor.  Majority of them fail to high speed only.

Quote from: mikeg on December 17, 2020, 07:27:58 AM

Quote from: ShowBizWolf on December 12, 2020, 04:08:53 AM

Not to mention the fiasco with trying to get the first two speeds on the heater/ac fan switch to work

If you only have the high speed, check/replace the blower motor resistor.  Majority of them fail to high speed only.

Nevermind, I see you got it sorted.
Guess I should read the rest of the thread before I quote or comment. LOL

I appreciate the suggestion though! The resistor was actually the first thing I tried... and then I tried another one, just to be sure the new one wasn't defective.

After that, I went on to trying a replacement set of switches/controls. They didn't help either. I started trying to figure out what else the problem could be but my Dad surprised me and got a second set of replacement switches/controls (used) and they worked.

Interestingly enough, the set of switches that were in the car were a replacement as well... somewhere in the car's life even before the PO, they were swapped out. Date of manufacture on the switches was February 2011 and the car was manufactured in January of 2010 

The joys of modern stuff, let's stick with our old bikes then hey? 

Infinity agree 

Funnily enough on Saturday on the way home from our ride, I pulled up alongside a car and it was a Sebring! I didn't think they even existed here but apparently they do.

Had a great morning out and the freshly rebuild head seems to be good which is great, but it's still blowing some blue smoke and going through oil so I guess the pistons/cylinders are a bit more worn than I though and it's big bore time next year. I re-torqued the head nuts yesterday as well as checking the valve clearances again (no changes, yay!).

On the topic of our old bikes though, I had to make a detour on my way home to JB Hifi and I ended up having a Katana conversation in the store with another shopper, then another Katana conversation in the car park as I was leaving, and then waiting at a set of lights on the way home a fella in a BMW cage going the other way pointed at my Kat and gave me a thumbs up. It's always great riding the Kat 

Untitled by starpoint73, on Flickr

Merry Christmas you lot! 

(I suspect it's still Christmas where you are, Boxing Day already here )

Happy New Year's to e'erybody!

2021!

Hahahaha right back at ya' CBR!!!

LOL @ that GIF 

Happy New Year!! Finally was able to ride to work today. Current temperature here is 25F / -3C