GS 1000G REBUILD

[spendango]

just thought i would stick some pics of my GS1000 G ,hopefully someone will have some knowledge of these if i heed help . 8-) to start with the guy i bought it from decided to make it into a cafe racer so he cut the rear frame rails so the first job is to sort the frame out .heres my little helper on the rebuild

[H_Lime]

Looking good Spen.
She dont look too bad to begin with there at all. You gona blast the engine or just degrease and prep for paint?
Any ideas in mind for her?

[spendango]

will soda blasting take all the sh.t off the engine ? the paint is loose .would like to have it back to the bare metal .

[H_Lime]

Yep.
Will degrease and strip paint no bother.
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Totally dissolvable too so just blanking off like you have done is enough so no worries about grit in the engine destroying it.
Only thing is its too smooth a finish for powder coating, it would have to be roughed afterwards.

[BigBob]

Those GS engines were anodised so be careful. If you blast it back to bare metal it will oxidise in no time as it has a higher aluminium content than modern cases which have a higher zinc content. I painted mine in PJ1 and they kept their finish well.
Is the camchain tensioner leaking?

[H_Lime]

Wow anodized never knew that, ahead of its time.
A quirk of soda blasting is that the exposed parent metal will not corrode (within reason; ie it will if left out in the rain...) due to some chemical reaction with the metal and the bicarb.
My tanks and engine were weeks in the garage after blasting and didnt so much as develop a spot of corrosion.

[spendango]

yeah i heard there is a strange reaction which will stop it rusting ,so Bob do you think i will have to paint it when blasted or it will start to corrode ? :?: another thing is that the engine casings have been chromed , can this be powder coated if i get them blasted or will it not take to the chroming ?

[spendango]

Bob the bikes engine must have been left bare when new ? I was hoping to leave the main block clean and powder coat the outer casing satin black ,well that the plan , the tensioner doesnt seem to be leaking but when i stuck it on its side the was oil from somewhere .

[BigBob]

Definitely a bad idea to chrome over an ally casing.
Every one I ever saw started flaking off after a couple of years, so I guess yours will go the same way eventually.
If you are going to have the engine blasted then definitely paint it otherwise it will be covered in white powder in no time at all.
The reason I asked about the tensioner, is that most leak eventually as the o ring and oil seal in them goes hard and leaks. There are no replacement seals or o ring listed in any of the GS fiches or parts books, and dealers will tell you to buy a new tensioner at £105 :o
If you check out the GSX550 fiche from 1985 it lists the seal and o ring, about a fiver the pair
As Michael Caine would say ...........................

[nug]

Reckon that would look good in Nato green with knobblies.