Josh's 83 GSX250S

[JRWoods]

Hey Everyone,

I've had this bike for almost a year now, It had some issues when i got it, it wouldnt idle, the fork seals leaked, the chain had about 10 inches of slack in it and both the speedo cable and tach cable were snapped. It needed a really good work over. I got stuck into the Carbys and after alot of trial and error the bike idles and runs very well, i've replaced the fork seals and the chain has been checked, oiled constantly and has alot less slack now lol.

This is it when i got it. It came as a deal that i got a GS450S with it, but the 450 had a seized engine so i sold it. Should of kept it though.


It is a 1983 GSX250S, the S just meaning it has a Black painted engine, Different Alloys, Paint job and is meant to have a factory headlight fairing, which mine didnt come with.

This is it now, i made the mistake of leaving it parked under our back verandah, to come out and find a good portion of my seat scattered around the back yard thanks to our new Border Collie Puppy....... The seat is just waiting for funds to get it recovered. The side covers and the rear section have been sanded back and just painted with matt black waiting for the rest to catch up.


I have some plans for the bike including new paint, which i have just started to do, I'm going for a gloss black with a solid white line down the middle.

Other plans are some lower bars, different exhaust and an electrical tidy up as the bike hates the rain. It is no race bike, but its fun to ride and best of all its Mine.

Here is a small vid of the bike running with its 2 into 1 setup. You can see the front guard has been painted in this vid.


More to come as it comes. I'm doing this all on a self employed budget so we will see how it turns out in the end.

Cheers Josh

[vbroom]

always nice to see old bikes still being given some love.

now strip that thing down and cafe it!

[JRWoods]

I grew up on the back of a 1100 Katana, so having an old Suzuki myself was the Logical thing to do. It will be part cafe part cruiser, i know its hard to have both but i have a back injury and long rides leaning forward means hours of pain afterwards even if it might be worth it.

I have done some research and found that the 450 and the 250 use the same part numbered frame, so i might look into the legalities with putting a 450 into it and seeing what else i would have to change to do that... Its an idea anyway.

[Benno #03]

Good Luck with your Build Mate.
There seams to be a bit of a GSX thing going on at the minute.
They have potential to be a really cool little bike, that's for sure.
Especially if the 450 is a goer. I'll be keen to hear how that turns out.

[Bendito]

I count about five little GSX's on PSB at the moment
Looks like a good starting point

[JRWoods]

After seeing afew on here, i want cafe style for sure now!

[2 pot screamer]

Hi Josh just found your thread. looking forward to seeing whatever you do to her
If you need any parts I've got 2 seats, 1 is recovered the other original both are in pretty good nick, also have a genuine bikini fairing but that needs a bit of tlc.
Cheers Geoff.

[JRWoods]

Rode the bike to Sydney today and had an absolute hoot! For once the hills didnt scare it off, i was actually doing the speed limit UP HILL!!!! lol

But on the way home i discovered the Cylinder Base Gasket is leaking oil badly, must of blown it on the way down as apparently there are afew good size drops where the bike was parked in Sydney. Any 250 Fellas tackled this gasket before? I assume its an engine out job.

Other than that the bike ran pretty well, it overfuels a little at idle but that just needs adjusting.

[JRWoods]

Ok turns out its the head gasket leaking, on a side note i made a set of clubman bars from a set of old bars i had here, They fit perfectly and cost me nothing. Will get a pic when i put them on the bike later today.

[JRWoods]

compression test results 145 and 150 psi

[JRWoods]

Getting head gasket + base gasket from aus, $90+ postage. Not from Suzuki, they say the parts are discontinued.

OR

Get a complete gasket kit, plus a fuel tap rebuild kit from the uk for $90 to my door. Once i get the parts i'll tell you who they are, i dont want to give a plug for a website until i know the quality of the parts supplied.

now can anyone tell me what material the headgasket is made from for the 250? I'm getting conflicting stories. Suzuki are telling me to make one myself.

[mike-s]

Well that's a bunch of crap, i've bought a new head gasket from Suzuki in February. As it turns out the previous iteration of the gasket was discontinued (it was a fiberous one with a metal mesh inner and metal edging where the piston & oil galleys go) in favour of one with a two metal plate & mesh metal plate gasket base material replacing the fiberous part. pic link

[JRWoods]

Ordered a top end gasket set from the UK for $28 to my door and a fuel tap rebuild kit for $18 to my door from the USA.

Bike is running really badly, to the point where i cant ride it now. So today i'm going to start pulling it apart to get ready for the new gaskets and i should probably finish off the paint.

Does anyone want a 'How to replace a head gasket / base gasket on a gsx250'? I wasnt planing on doing one but if it will help someone out i will.

[mike-s]

I don't need one, and have already done my GSX250. But feel free to do one as the more info that's out there, the better. And it might actually help someone if there's a whole bunch of pics out there. I have some, but never bothered doing much with it as most of the good parts i was too busy just doing it rather than taking photos every single step of the way.

[JRWoods]

To Late, its already apart waiting for the new gaskets now, its pretty straight forward though. The base gasket was a bitch to get off it was rock solid and took about 2hrs to get it off the barrel completely. Engine internals are very clean, pistons are abit sooty so i want to take them off and clean them up and i'll clean the head up as well as the valves are abit caked.

[JRWoods]

Pistons are now clean, they had alot of baked on crap. Yet to do the valves as i dont have a valve compressor or a g clamp so i need an extra set of hands to do it without them.

Gave the carbs a once over, the needle in the bottom of the carbs have a ring worn into them that i can now feel with my finger nail so i will have to try and find some new ones somewhere but for now they will do.

Still waiting on parts to come from overseas, hopefully the ashcloud hasnt got them stuck somewhere as i'm itching to get back on the bike!

[JRWoods]

Parts arrived and are now installed, had afew issues getting the timing right but thats sorted, bike seems to be flooding now though, turn it off wait afew minutes and turn it back on and its got a good miss in it till it clears its throat.

[Cbr1k]

Dont forget to replace the float needles. On the GSX250 they seemed to make them out of cheese.

[JRWoods]

Had a crap day today took the bike for a ride first time in about a month now only to have it end up in some horrible knocking and rattle noises at about 60kph grabbed the clutch and killed it, engine is locked up and the cam chain tensioner is stuck solid. So ended up pushing it 7km home. Will pull the rocker cover off tomorrow to see whats wrong with it, worse case engine is stuffed and i gotta get another one, anyone got a spare?....

[JRWoods]

put bike back together etc, had some battery problems which are almost sorted but now the bike is making a ting ting ting sound, and it rises and falls with revs, bike cuts out when i come into a driveway etc and will refuse to start.. over it.