Darin's 1980 Suzuki GS850G Project

[Andrewg]

Darren that is a very clean bike.

I had a 1000G after a couple of Ducatis including a 900ss superbike and the Suzuki is much more fun, WAY more comfy and it has the quality of being easy to go fast on. Nice predicatble handling.

And you got it just in time for summer - fantastic.

[Darin Jordan]

Got the exhaust cleaned up this week...

Took the header off the bike and had it sand blasted and flame-spray aluminum coated (alumicoated), then painted it with VHT 2000-degree black header paint.

Got a new "competition" baffle for the megaphone to replace the original rusted out one, and put in new glass packing.

Sounds a lot better now, and looks a lot cleaner. I think getting the correct baffle in the megaphone may also have cured my fuel mixture issues, as I think the backpressure was all messed up due to the rusted out original one.

Now I just need some nice weather!

Next step, as soon as the new custom seat cover gets here (black with red stitching and flames stitched into the rear part of the seat!), I'm going to rebuild and upgrade the foam in the seat and recover it.

Also have new mirrors on the way.

Then it's going to be time to see if I can find a Wes Cooley fairing to fit onto it...

[Darin Jordan]

Got the next little project in the mail today... Custom done seat cover... Have some new foam for the seat as well. Stock foam, on the driver's portion, is so soft, it compresses down to the pan... This update should bring it back to snuff!

[bardahlracing]

That's a beauty Darin, she oughta be a nice cruiser for commuting economically, I think the colors give it a nice,clean look !!

[Darin Jordan]

Well... THIS is slowing me down!!

I started doing the rebuild of the seat, and when I got the cover off, found this! NO WONDER the seat was so darn soft (you'd sit on it and it'd collapse down almost to the seat pan)

Someone previously had cut away the original foam, and replaced it with this much softer black colored open-celled foam.

I'm on the lookout for another seat that I can pirate the foam from. My seatpan is MUCH cleaner than most, and I already have it cleaned up and repainted, so I don't have to be as picky finding a replacement seat, as long as the foam is good. Hopefully that will make finding something a little easier. Already have a bid on one on E-Bay that happens to have the factory grab-bar on it as well, so hopefully I get that one.

Guess I'm parked until I get that here... Oh well... will give me some time to work on boats!

[bardahlracing]

Darin I`ve found that a local upholstery shop will build the foam for your seat/cover and install the new cover on it fairly reasonable, it may be impossible to find origional foam in usable condition??, just a thought, good luck.

[Darin Jordan]

Darin I`ve found that a local upholstery shop will build the foam for your seat/cover and install the new cover on it fairly reasonable, it may be impossible to find origional foam in usable condition??, just a thought, good luck.

Thanks... There are actually quite a few used seats out there. Most have the seat-pans rusted out and the covers thrashed, but the foam is pretty hard to destroy.

I have a large piece of "Super-Cell" foam from Sargent-Cycle (motorcycle seat-builder) and was going to update this foam I have here, but now that I see what the deal was, I think a decent used seat would be the solution. I already have my seatpan all cleaned up and repainted, and a brand-new cover, so a good piece of original foam should fix me up. Here's hoping!!

[Darin Jordan]

Got the mirrors installed yesterday. The addition of the bar-end mirror REALLY helps the rear-view, and should prove to be a nice thing to have. Two main mirrors are kind of iffy quality. We'll see how they hold up. If I like them, but they don't hold up, I'll at least know what style/size to get when looking for getter quality parts. Bar-end mirrors are NICE quality for the price, and fit very securely.

Can't go ride it yet because I'm still working on re-covering the seat, so will have to test this setup out later.

[ron1950]

looks as if that seat was built for comfort and not speed lol

[Darin Jordan]

Well, thanks to some help from a guy on "theGSResources.com" forum, and to a find on E-Bay, I was able to proceed, and complete, my new seat cover installation.

Got a killer deal on a seat foam that was in excellent condition, and I found another seat on E-Bay that had the factory chrome grab bar.

After doing some cleanup, some polishing, and some buffing, time to do some assembly.

I replaced the square of foam that is under the drivers seat with a piece of the "Super Cell" foam that I got from Sargent Cycle, to firm things up a bit. Used some Super 77 spray adhesive to hold the entire seat foam in place.

Having already prepped all the factory tabs to get them all bent out and ready to secure the cover to, (and only missing ONE of them, which I considered pretty fortunate), I secured the back center of the cover first. I also installed a stainless safety wire piece, like the factory did, under the cover at the hooks.

After taking my time and streching, hooking, stretching, and hooking, I got the cover all secured and centered and it fit great. I added some additional stainless screws with stainless upholstery washers on the ends to better hold the cover in place, and used a 3/16" pop rivet with large washer in the spot where the factory hook was missing.

Installed the grab bar, hinges, and new hinge pins, and BAM! DONE!

Very pleased, and it's much more confortable now. Bike is looking great and I can't wait for the weather to clear up so I can RIDE!!

[sunexim]

Sound you are on a some kinda project, Its looks its not a easy task. So all my best wishes with you mate.

[sunexim]

Thanks for keep us along side with little operation, I do like its observation

[Darin Jordan]

Did a little more tuning this weekend... Adjusted the valves, which were, except for the #3 cylinder and the intake valve on #2, all too tight. Once I got those all adjusted to the high-end of the tolerance (when they wear, then tend to wear tighter, so starting with them a little loose increases the time between valve adjustments), I reset the carbs, ran it to warm it up, and then hooked up my new CarbTune tool (www.carbtune.com).

Found that the carbs were WAY out of balance (see picture 1). After about 20-minutes of adjusting and tweaking and adjusting and tweaking again, I ended up getting them pretty much perfect.

Makes a HUGE difference in how smooth this feels! The vibration in the handlebars is almost totally gone. Acceleration is smooth and the bike sounds "throatier"... haven't had it out for a really long ride yet, but the round trip down to the swim club and back gave me the impression that all this was WELL worth it! Just felt great.

Also, I was having issues with #4 running REALLY rich, and the header on that cylinder running about 150-degrees cooler than the rest. Everything is all even now.

Going to tackle the brakes next, I think. Stainless braided lines, rebuilt masters and calipers, and some decent pads. Need to save up some funds to get that one going!

[sunexim]

Cool story about Darin. That inspires us to do some extra ordinary :P