Suzuki GS550T complete re-build

[D-Mac]

Originally Posted by civhatch90

wow very good work! I'm sure it will look awesome when done. Did you give any thought to wire spoked wheels?

Yup. They would be more appropriate for this kind of build, but the cast wheels grew on me, and it's what I had to start with. I recently learned how to lace and true wheels (I've now done about 5 sets), so my next project will definitely use them. Had I known how to do that a few months earlier I probably would not have bothered with the cast wheels. It would have been soooo much less time-consuming to just buy spoked rims, cut off the old spokes, powder coat the wheels, and re-lace them.

[D-Mac]

Busy week with non-bike stuff, but there have been a few developments….

You might recall that I was having trouble removing the lower race from the steering head (it’s buried in a tapered portion of the head and not easily accessible from above). After making a few custom tools to try and drive it out from above, I was still stuck. I decided to resort to another tactic, so I borrowed a MIG welder, and carefully ran a bead around the inside of the race. As I’d read on here and elsewhere, it loosened up the race immediately. I then welded a couple of tabs onto the sides so that the welds stuck out enough so I could finish removing the race by tapping it out from above.

Here it is. Free at last!


I was so impressed with the welding tip, and facing a lot of small welding projects in my future (seat spacers and mounts, battery box, seat hoop, dash controls, etc. etc.), I broke down and bought myself a welder today! It’s a little 110v Lincoln model 140c that I’ve set up for MIG. I’ve been taking a welding course at a community college, and while I’d prefer a bigger unit or a TIG setup, I think this unit will work fine for sheet metal work/brackets/spacers, and to tack more important stuff together for TIG work (e.g., exposed frame pieces). I went back and forth between this welder and a Hobart model that was about $100 cheaper. I’m sure either would have worked well, but I prefer this Lincoln because I can fine-tune the voltage setting (Hobart has 4 “tapped” settings). Lincoln has a $75 rebate on it too, which will help a lot. I also got a good-sized tank (80cf) since it costs about the same price to fill as a smaller one, and it wasn’t much more to purchase than a tank half that size.

I’m pretty excited about it. I got everything assembled and hooked up. Unfortunately, I can’t seem to find my welding gloves, so I’ll have to pick up a new pair tomorrow. I’m hoping to get a little welding done this weekend.


I’ve FINALLY decided on an engine paint scheme. I won’t ruin the suspense (ha!) by posting it here, but my plan is to do a little more painting tomorrow.

[Gham]

Keep it going,Im checking back for updates and to give you a little shove if your inspiration starts to fade on certian days!

[D-Mac]

Originally Posted by Gham

Keep it going,Im checking back for updates and to give you a little shove if your inspiration starts to fade on certian days!

I'd appreciate that. There are many ups and downs with this process (part of what makes it worth it I think).

It was a beautiful day today so I spent it riding the RT. Tomorrow it's back to the garage/lab.....

[D-Mac]

It’s been nearly 10 days since my last major update. I do have a little progress to report. Lots of pics, so this will be done in three posts.
First, the paint scheme. I took the valve cover, cleaned it, scraped off the gasket, removed the paint, cleaned it 1000 more times, and then painted it….silver.

Yup. I’m going with a black and silver paint scheme for the engine. Black bottom with polished side covers, black cylinders, silver head, and silver valve cover. In the end, I decided that the two-tone scheme looks a little more “refined” and custom. The silver head will also tie in the chrome exhaust and polished carb bodies a little better.

Masked….


Masked some more….


Primed…..


Top coat! – VHT Universal Aluminum. It’s a little brighter than stock. Unfortunately, I moved it a little early after taking this photo and smudged a large part of the top! I’m going to re-sand and paint that portion again.


On to the next issue. Since I now have a welder, I tackled the rear seat hoop. I placed a long piece of tube inside the frame/rear hoop and drilled holes through the outside tubes about 1.5” on each side of the seam (you can see the drilled holes here with the tube lined up).


Then I welded the plugs and welded the two outer tubes together. It doesn’t look pretty, but when ground down and powder-coated, it’ll look fine I think. It matches well and my practice welds on this material had excellent penetration.

Finished hoop.


After that I sorted out mounting the seat. I want to show off the frame a little and leave as much room for the battery as possible, so I opted to raise the seat about 7/8" off the frame (I tested it with wood shims a few posts back). I started by welding some ¾” square tube to the top of the frame. Not all of the welds look great, and I went a little nuts with the welding, but it’s done.


Then I welded some cross pieces of 1/8” steel across the "new" upper frame. This new “pan" extends all the way along the bottom of the seat from the front to the hump and leaves a little around the sides in case I decide to cover the seat completely later.






More in next post.....

[D-Mac]

PART 2: After getting the seat portion done, I cut and welded some 16-gauge sheet metal on the rear to support the battery and various electrical bits.


A few holes and bolts/nuts later and the seat was mounted! I plan to fab a cushion later.




I decided to line up the seat so that the rear just sits above the hoop (covering my nasty welds of course). The hoop isn’t a perfect match for the seat cowling above it, but I do like the look.




Here’s a look underneath. Notice that I left a lot of room to pass wires though from the rear portion. I might even pass them through the 3/8 square tube to make them totally hidden.


I picked up this brake/tail/license plate light.


If I’ve calculated it right, I should have just enough room to mount a tail light below and behind the seat hoop. So a fabricated a little bracket.






If it doesn’t work with the rear wheel I can always remove the bracket and try something else (it will just bolt to the pan under the seat hump).

More in next post....

[D-Mac]

PART 3: I finally tackled the problem of my front fender. You might recall that my original one had been painted and that it is FULL of dents. It’s heavy and a little ugly too, but the inner fender is thick steel and I’m told that it acts as a much-needed fork brace on the bike. So rather than trying to cut it down and go nuts with Bondo, or get rid of it completely, I opted to drill out the rivets/spot welds that held the fender to the inner brace.

Dead fender…..


Inner brace……




Yup. I’m going to run just the inner brace for now. I think it’ll look pretty good powdercoated. If not, or if I decide I actually want to ride in the rain, I can always fabricate or buy a new fender later and attach it to this piece.

WHAT’S NEXT? Other than maybe trying drill a few holes for mounting various electrical bits under the seat hump and figuring out where to mount turn signals, I think the frame is FINALLY ready for powdercoat! I can’t wait to have a rolling chassis. Once the head and lower end of the engine are painted I can begin to reassemble the engine too. After that it’s a lot of electrical work, dealing with the gas tank, more paint, and a lot of fabrication/installation for various lights, switches, and gauges (ok, it’s a lot more than that). Beginning in mid-May I will have a lot more time to work on this project, so I figure I can have it on the road by July if I can find enough money to finish it.

Oh yeah.....I feel like I'm being watched.....

[D-Mac]

There have been some new developments in my "slow and overly-documented" build...

First, the big news. On Thursday I dropped off my frame, swingarm, kickstand, centerstand, engine mounting brackets, exhaust brackets, front inner fender brace, and headlight housing for POWDERCOATING. I went with plain satin black for everything but the headlight, which will be gloss black. The place I chose is nearly 2 hours away, but they had a lot of bicycles and motorcycles on site and their work looked really good. They were also quite cheap ($155 for the frame, and about the same for everything else together). They assured me that they will not coat the “important” parts (steering head, holes in swingarm, threaded parts, etc) and that they will try and have it done by the end of next week (which is my next chance to drive up there). My prep work was not perfect, but my welds look better than the Suzuki ones and I did spend a couple hours sanding the frame. Powdercoat might be a little overkill for this project, although I’ve been looking for an excuse to try it on a frame and I feel like I’ve come too far now NOT to do it for the minor difference in price.

Centerstand pics. I didn’t grind the brackets for it off the frame because I might end up using it. I’ll probably leave it off to start though. Here’s what it looked life off the bike. There was a good 2”-thick layer of crud on it!


After cleaning.


Unfortunately, I discovered when I got home from the powdercoater that I had forgotten to drop off the rusty rear brake arm! D’oh! I’m just gonna sand and paint it at home and take it along when I pick up the coated parts. If it doesn’t match well, I’ll leave it for coating and ride back later to get it. I’m sure I’ll have other bits to powdercoat later anyway.
As for the rest of the paint, I fixed the mangled spot on my valve cover, and painted the head (of course I managed to chip off a little paint on it too by handling it too early, so now every piece I’ve done has a little flaw on it). Here are a few pics……

Some shots after a ridiculous amount of time spent soda blasting, neutralizing, cleaning, wiping down, and masking.….









Primer. The flash kind of makes it look weird.


Flashback to what it looked like after the initial cleaning (remember, this is off of my parts bike, which was not that dirty).


NOW. Painted, with masking removed!


Now I can reinstall the valves, along with new seals. I still gotta tackle the bottom end paint job and order piston rings before I can start putting the engine back together.

I was leaning toward having the tank repaired professionally and painted along with the seat, but the quote I got from a reputable company was $1100. When I think about it, it’s actually reasonable given that I had requested a quote for repairing dents, fixing leaks, removing the paint and inner coating, re-coating the inside, and painting and pinstriping both the tank and seat cowling. My budget for final paint is far, far lower than this so I’m going to strip the tank, assess the leaks, and them solder them and/or coat the tank with Caswell coating myself. Then I’ll shop around closer to home for a basic paint job. I might use decals instead of painted stripes to cut costs further.

Other stuff:

Yesterday I ordered new tires and tubes (yup, this old bike takes tubes). No sense leaving the old ones on – they are so rotted they aren’t going anywhere. Everything but the rear tire will arrive on Tuesday, so I’m hopeful I can get to a rolling chassis within a couple of weeks.

Then I ordered a headlight bracket, grips, a bar-end mirror, and a couple of electrical bits. Still gotta save my pennies for gauges and fab some sort of bracket for them.

As for the rest of the weekend, I have a few little things planned….gasket removal from the breather cover, prepping the lower and upper trees for paint/polish, cleaning the cam chain tensioner…….that type of thing. For every little thing I write on here, there are always a bunch of things that are so boring I rarely mention them.

[D-Mac]

Upper triple tree clamp is done. In the end I decided to polish rather than paint it. Looks more “retro” that way.

Originally black (taped up to cut off the risers).


After grinding and sanding.


Now….Just needs a hand polish and a little dremeling in the nooks and crannies.

[D-Mac]

Final update of the weekend. I got the lower tree painted, along with the brake arm that I forgot to drop at the powdercoater.

Hit them with a wire wheels and did a little sanding. Prepped.




Three coats of black caliper paint and two coats of clear later. I’ll cure them later this week.

[Gham]

Coming along great D-Mac!,With this shit Michigan weather we're having at least your not missing any quality riding time

[D-Mac]

Good week. Lots of pics….multiple postings.

I spent quite a bit of time working on a friend’s old bike (a Yamaha triple), but on Tuesday my front tire arrived along with tubes for the front and rear.

I have access to a tire changing machine where I’m taking motorcycle repair classes. Even with that, the front proved to be a little stubborn to change. The old tire was so hard and dry-rotted that it didn’t want to move. Then there was so much crud on the inside rim I spent 30 minutes just scrubbing it off. Then the tire didn’t want to seat evenly, so I ended up inflating and deflating it several times and leaving it as high as 75 psi for a few minutes so it could work itself into position.

Front done!


I also removed the rear tire and cleaned the rim. It was especially hard to get the old rear to sit down into the dogs on the tire changing machine. The old tire was badly rotted and 3 sizes too big, so it stuck out on the sides a lot. After a lot of wrestling and a bunch of tricks from guys in the shop I managed to get it off.

Dirty!


New rear tire arrived on Friday. I’m planning to spoon it on tomorrow.


On Friday I picked up the frame and some bits from powdercoat. Here ya go…..

Frame (satin finish)








Protected for assembly.


Swingarm (satin finish)


Centerstand (not sure I’m using it so it might be for sale)


[continued in next post]

[D-Mac]

Continued. More powdercoat pics….

Sidestand


Front fender inner brace. Came out nice!


Engine brackets


Headlight (more on this below)


Exhaust brackets


A few other bits came in this week.

Grips.


Bar end mirror


Headlight clamp (I’m ditching the ridiculously heavy, ugly, unadjustable thing Suzuki used, which will allow me to run clip ons).


Some electrical stuff also arrived (not shown)

I finally had a chance to use my thread chaser set. I prefer these chasers to taps where possible since they won’t undercut existing threads or cut new threads. They are designed to clean up old threads and they are good for removing bits of powdercoat, damage, and other crap.


I also bought a cheap metric tap set to clean out the headlight threads (my chaser set doesn’t cover anything below M6 size).


[continued in next post]

[D-Mac]

Continued….

The headlight is easily the biggest improvement from powdercoating. It looks even better than the pics show. The powder covered all the scratches perfectly. I replaced all of the rusty fasteners and rotted rubber bits too. Some pics of this beauty.






The new swingarm bearings went in with ease. After a night in the freezer I was able to tap them right in. Pleasant surprise. The powdercoater did an excellent plugging the holes and avoiding excessive build-up around them.

Steering head races (especially the top one) were a little tougher to get on. I used some heat gun to warm up the neck a bit and dropped in frozen races. I ended up using the old races and a couple of sockets to drive them in fully. [I do have access to a great tool to gently force them in, but I was impatient and wanted to see if I could drive them on before borrowing or making something to do it]

Top of head, before


Race seated.


Driving the lower bearing onto the steering stem was a pain. I had a perfect PVC pipe to drive it on, which made short work of it with a little caveman hammering. I put the stem in the freezer overnight beforehand. Yes….I remembered the little spacer/dust seal on the bottom, although I should have used the aftermarket one that came with my bearings because it fits better than what Suzuki uses. Oh well, this bike isn’t going to spend much time in the rain anyway. The original top dust seal fits well (better than the aftermarket one I had). I was sure to grease the bearings and everything else with enough high-impact grease to last a loooong time.

The service manual calls for torquing the main steering head nut to ~30 ft-lbs and then loosening it ¼-1/2 turn until it “feels right” (checking for looseless via the fork tubes when they are assembled). Since the bearings are new, I want to do it right (I know what “feel” I’m ultimately looking for after that). Of course I don’t have the 4-pronged Suzuki tool for the stem nut (the nut pictured below is the top clamp nut that goes on top of it….different nut). I think the shop where I’m taking classes has one so I’m taking the frame and stem there tomorrow to do it. If that fails, I’ll have to make one. After that I can get the forks, swingarm, and wheels on.

Here’s a pic with the top clamp just sitting on the head.


Unfortunately, I’m away most of the week so it could be several days before I get back to it. After that I will have a lot of free time to work on the bike. Stay tuned…

[D-Mac]

Some exciting news! Last week I got this project looking more like a motorcycle. I began by installing the rear tire on the rim and borrowing the “special” tool needed to torque the steering head nut correctly.

Once this was done, I assembled the forks, front wheel, front caliper, inner fender and clip ons. I then pushed the forks up through the tree and re-clamped the clip-ons to the top. I checked and re-checked the rake and trail numbers and I still have lots of room to spare.

Front wheel on:


Front caliper installed:


Headlight on:


Swingarm installed:


Rear wheel installed. Shocks partially done:


Rear caliper and brake arm:


Clip ons adjusted:


Got new brake lines. Love these things!


More pics in the next post….