Another new member

This is my first factory turbo bike. I rebuild 70's thru 80's Jap bikes as a side business. Picked it up today for dirt cheap from a local mechanic. Story is that it runs but it smokes when cold and leaks gas from the middle 2 carbs. Has just over 7200 miles on it. I don't have much knowledge on these turbo bikes, but have always been drawn to the 80's sport bikes. First bike being a Suzuki GS550E.

 

Welcome,
Nice find, It looks to be all there and in good condition. Have you started any repairs yet?

 

I don't even have it home yet. I do know it runs, but is missing the front brake master cylinder and the carb to air box boots. I snagged it from a local bike shop, the previous owner couldn't afford repairs so he signed the title over. I've never messed with factory turbo bikes before, but it seemed like a great deal. The mechanic stated that #2&3 carbs would overflow and 1&4 were dry. He's a really young guy and has no clue about 80's bikes. All he knows is current FI sport bikes and HD's. So, I'm starting with the fuel cap vent issue as a guess. It only seems to act up after use of boost......We'll see how it goes. If its' a dud, I can get what I have in it for parts easy enough. W

Would like some pointers on this ride though. What do I need to look for?

 

I would start with a good carb cleaning before anything else. Carbs 2 and 3 sound like a sticking float.

 

That was my first guess. I've also read that the gas cap can cause this problem. Can anyone verify? Something about the venting system causing the center carbs to fill but not 1&4. Apparently this happens under heavy boost, 7 psi hahaha, ( I'm used to 50psi in the Cummins Dodge) But that's what I have read.

 

Most of these '82's received the "power up" kit that the '83 had from the factory (in order to beat the Honda Turbo 500) Look for an odd washer in the right exhaust tip. It should make 14 - 15 #'s

The smoke, I think, is the turbo seal starting to go. If you're real lucky, some fresh oil and use might swell it just enough. Or it's a turbo rebuild. Same parts as Mitsubishi. Any turbo shop can do it.

You can use the front brake master from an R6.
(rear brake check)

 

DO NOT PART THAT BIKE OUT.

Fix it regardless of cost; it only has 7300 miles on it! It's brand new, just needs to be gone through.

You won't find much of anything worn out at that mileage; your whole battle will be deterioration, corrosion and varnish from the years of sitting.

 

[quote="bigfitz52"You won't find much of anything worn out at that mileage; your whole battle will be deterioration, corrosion and varnish from the years of sitting.[/quote]

It's only sat outside since Feb of this year I think, when the tags went out. The kid who owns the shop I got it from has NO interest in classic bikes. He's a recent graduate from one of those motorcycle schools, and pretty much only knows HD's and newer bikes.

With some luck, the battle you mentioned won't be too bad! I'm sure it suffers from lack of proper maintenance though.

 

It had to have done some extended sitting or it would have 70,000 miles on it not 7200.

Its most recent "sit" may have been the period you mentioned, but there had to have been a lot of sitting going on prior to that.

Chances are the guy you got it from, or the person he got it from, has NOT gone through and reversed the deterioration, which is probably how it ended up at the shop in the first place.

 

Very true bigfitz. All in all, I think it will be fun ride and the more i look at it, the more it grows on me. It may not be the speed demon the Kawa turbos were or the corner carver the Suzuki turbos were, but it looks like an all around good bike.

I do have one question though, WTF is up with the air shocks in the rear and those spindly forks??

 

That was 2 questions

The fork upgrade is the GSXR 750 ( don't know the year)
The air shocks work perfectly, or at least great on my Seca 900.
More modern shocks can easily be fitted.

The Kawasaki seriously had more beans, but if you want to build a hot rod Turbo, you need to find a Seca 900 donor motor ( or the parts from Australia's E-Bay), and all the info needed to fit the larger displacement parts into your bike. Expect 140 HP or so, enough power to blow away any '80's vintage bike. :twisted:

 

I don't need a hot rod turbo bike. I can appreciate it for what it is. Well, if GSXR forks are the solution I have an extra set. 93-95 seem to the best years for older bike conversions, since the GSXR of that time was getting kinda heavy. I'll do some measuring, but I also have a set of PDF forks from a 86 GS750. That may work, I'll have to see how the Seca wheel fits though. You can get into big$$ doing upgrades on older bikes, and in the end it's still an old bike.

 

will be neat to mess around with.also you don't see many of them anymore. hopefully it wont cost to much to rebuild the turbo and there is nothing much wrong with it. I do see most of the turbos have low miles on them do they have any problems where they are not as reliable as regular xj 650 ? just curious never messed with a 650 turbo. i used to ride a friend of mines z1r tc was a fun bike for the times. now most of the 600 and bigger sport bikes are faster but then again i like to be different look.
the scary part is you said it sat outside for a while with the air boots off? sure hope not

 

Yes it sat outside with the boots off for about 3 months, They did stuff rags in there, so maybe I'll get lucky. I have to fight the urge to tear into it lol, but I have to finish the first 2 bikes currently getting overhauled. Until then it's going to have to hide under a tarp. I will drain all fuel from the tank and carbs and seal them up from the weather before storing it. Maybe by Feb I will have room in the shop for it!

 

you sound like me had 5 projects going at 1 point i finally decided only do 1 at at time easier that way dont get the parts and bolts scattered all over i got burned out down to 2 now 1 is ready to sell the other is my keeper. to be on the safe side 1 would put a little oil in each cyl while its sitting cant hurt especially if any moisture got in there you said it turns over right better safe then sorry

 

My problem is I only have room for 1 bike in my "shop" and I hate waiting for parts, so I dig into the next bike in line while parts for bike 1 are in the mail. I think to myself, I'll just start with some cleaning and polishing. That ALWAYS turns into cleaning, repainting, and while I'm here I'll just pull the wheels and restore them or something along that line. Lol my OCD kicks in and I MUST clean and repaint every nut, bolt, and screw before it goes back together.

I always have a hard time selling the bikes, I tend to spend too much time on them and I grow attached.

I'll add a few drops to each cylinder. One of the current rebuilds is a 81 Honda CB750C. A decent CL find that had been in storage for 10 years, a few drops of Kroil in each cylinder, 24hrs, and turned it over with a wrench.

I doubt the rings were stuck but, I've trashed a motor already by not oiling the cylinders.
Got too excited about my "find" and hooked a booster pack to it and hit start. The results were 2 broken rings and a lot of headache!

I'm am very excited about this bike though.