77 Suzuki GS750 Build

[Greenmachine]

Well this was my first attempt at a bike, first attempt at a hardtail, etc. it came out ok but I just finished up my second bike a 65 BSA which came out great and makes this thing look like crap. So I decided to cut it up and re do the frame, tank, etc.

Before pic:


Decided to cut out the triple backbone crap so I can run a nicer tank


Took off the top end to check the condition and found this

Looks like the top end was redone recently!

Spent some time removing the black paint that I had previously applied


Working on cleaning up the head, think I'm going to take it and the jugs to the auto shop and have them dipped in the acid tank to clean them up nice


Cut the fender mounts off of the fork legs and polished them up. Progress pic with one done next to the other that hasn't been started


Started shaving down the top tree on my bandsaw


Plans are to redo the frame with a single backbone and seat post to clean it up a bit and bending up my own hardtail that will be a 2" stretch from stock. Old setup was stretched 5" and i thought it was too long with too much empty space between the motor and the rear wheel. Still debating on raking the neck a bit.

Planning on running an old mustang tank I have laying around possibly molding it into the frame and running a king and queen seat.

[deathmetaldan]

good start, looking forward to seeing some progress. in the first itteration where did you have all the electronics at?

[Greenmachine]

Finished up polishing the legs and the top tree




On the old build I had the coils under the tank, all other electronics hidden under the seat.

[Jetblack]

The progress is looking good man; it's nice to find a surprise like that in the top end...usually it''s the wrong kind of surprise

[Hatchet54]

Incredible progress.

[Greenmachine]

No progress on the bike but I decided to build a frame jig instead of half assing it this time around.

Picked up some 3x2 and 2x2 tube from the local metal supply place and bought a pre made kit from chopsource.com which included cones, neck fixture, axle plate fixture, and some pre cut clamps for the uprights. I settled on this kit because it is a bolt together setup which will allow me to break down the jig when I'm not using it.



Drilled some holes through the 2x2 bases and welded on some nuts to give me leveling capability since my garage floor is not exactly level. Went to weld and found out im out of gas so I had to switch to flux core wire no laughing at my awesome flux welds



Bolted everything together. Have to give kudos to Travis at chop source kit came with all hardware, looks great and is very solid. I was kind of worried with a bolt up kit about the potential of fit up issues but everything fit and seems to hold great.





Have to wait until next week to get the tube since the supplier did not have 1-1/4" .120 wall Dom in stock and I had to special order it. The stock GS frame tubes are an odd size between 1-1/8 and 1-1/4 and have a thin wall. I am going to have a guy from work with a lathe turn down some slugs to fit the ID of the stock frame and transition to the ID of the 1-1/4 tube that I am going to get so I can slug the bottom rail and the backbone transitions and rosette weld them together.

Scored an old drag specialties king and queen seat o. EBay yesterday so I hope to get it next week. Going to narrow down my old mustang tank tomorrow will post pics of the project. Also going to level out and square up the new jig and set the axle plates in place so I can get some measurements for tube to prep for bending next week when it gets here.

[Jetblack]

Nice, jigs take out all the guess work, square shit up right, and are an extra set of hands all in one.

[MrSinister]

Dude it looked pretty badass before, can't wait to see it finished!!

[Greenmachine]

Bent up and fitted the lower rails for the hardtail today. Still waiting on my slugs so I can start welding her up. Decided to do a quick mockup with my seat and tank since the seat came in today.


Even though I took about 2 inches out of the frame from its last setup I neglected to account for the fact that the old GS450 tank that I had on the bike is very long. I'm a bit worried that the extra space between the tank and the seat will look bad. Opinions? Should I take a few more inches out of the frame? Or get a longer tank? Leave it as is?

[Greenmachine]

Picked up a girder off of eBay. The main tube on one side is cracked and had been welded back together in two places. Going to cut the tube out and slug it on the top and bottom to fix it right. Thinking of doing the same thing on the other side where the cracks are to prevent them from happening again.



Here it is mocked up with front end.



Still waiting on my slugs from the machine shop but here's a pic of the fit up of the lower tube, beveled and drilled/chamfered. Slugs should be done this week.

[applecore]

nice jig can you buy that stuff or did you make it all?

[Greenmachine]

Picked up the jugs from getting acid dipped the other day. Upon closer inspection I found this in two of the cylinders.



Not what I was hoping for. Looks like a bore and new pistons is in the near future.

[Greenmachine]

nice jig can you buy that stuff or did you make it all?

I got all of the fixtures from Travis at chopsource.com. They are geared more towards xs650 stuff but his basic kit is what I got and it will work with anything.

[applecore]

thanks

[Reid]

Im thinking of buying the same jig kit. How long are your bottom jig rails?

[13clicks]

That thing is long n low. Super nice.

[timxmorris]

you need to put some super low bars on that beast.

[Greenmachine]

Im thinking of buying the same jig kit. How long are your bottom jig rails?

Bottom rails are 72" long

[Greenmachine]

Haven't made a whole lot of progress due to the holidays but did manage to get the lower rails tacked up to the stock frame and the new axle plates. Also cut off the stock neck, smoothed it out and bent and fit up some new down tubes, slugged them up and tacked the neck in place. More progress this weekend hopefully.

[killersoundz]

Picked up a girder off of eBay. The main tube on one side is cracked and had been welded back together in two places. Going to cut the tube out and slug it on the top and bottom to fix it right. Thinking of doing the same thing on the other side where the cracks are to prevent them from happening again.



Here it is mocked up with front end.



Still waiting on my slugs from the machine shop but here's a pic of the fit up of the lower tube, beveled and drilled/chamfered. Slugs should be done this week.

Awesome man! One question I planned on using slugs like this as well. I see you drilled holes too which I figured I would do too. Are you leaving a gap inbetween the tubes as well like this when you get the slugs just to get some weld on the slugs too?