Kawasaki Sportsbike Riders Club - Australia - Online Forum

by **mike-s** » Sat Apr 14, 2007 11:25 am

I'm gettin this baby ('82 suzuki gsx250e) delivered tomorrow as a pet project, going to get her running and use her as a commuter, if not polish a little bit of the turdness out of her suzuki ass

, only $400 as-is.

And yeah i know its not a kawa, i did try getting one but to no avail, oh well.
my only goal at the moment is to have michelle NOT kill me. :oops:

by **Strika** » Sat Apr 14, 2007 6:28 pm

Faaaaaark me! $400 you say????? :shock:

They must have saw you coming from a mile off mate!!! :lol:

by **Gosling1** » Sat Apr 14, 2007 7:09 pm

Strika wrote:Faaaaaark me! $400 you say????? They must have saw you coming from a mile off mate!!!

I think thats what they gave him to take it away !! :lol:

by **mike-s** » Sat Apr 14, 2007 8:11 pm

Haha,i know its not a z550, but beggars, choosers and cheap insurance

by **Gosling1** » Sat Apr 14, 2007 8:58 pm

true - insurance would be like $1.50 !

I had a ride on the 400 older brother *many* years ago........it went OK in a very sort of 'ho-hum' way, got you where you wanted to be, but not much else....

But, for your needs at this present time, it should give you something good to work on prior to riding again...

You should have tracked down an old Z500........

by **mike-s** » Sun Apr 15, 2007 1:14 pm

got the gsx this morning, forgot how TINY these lil things are!! anyway its in the garage now and tucked away in the corner for those infamous rainy days that are sure to come along now and again.

Bit of rust, but not that much, definately got a bit of work ahead of me to fix 'er up though!!

by **Glen** » Mon Apr 16, 2007 1:42 pm

Memories........er sorry Barbara Steisand moment. :oops:

One of those little buggers was my first real road bike only a red one 'cause they're faster. Nice little bike but I had all sorts of shit with the carbies.

Good luck with it mate, watch out for the power though those Twin Swirl Combustion Chambers are killers

by **balanse** » Mon Apr 16, 2007 9:37 pm

Hmm some dark l'il secrets are best left to therapy.

That whole parallel twin 250 period for the big Jap 4 took a lot of marketing to recover from.

Who can forget the big players, Yammies XS250 (gimme a bucket), Hondas bespoke CB250 AND 360T (gag cough), the Z250 (here it comes) and the Soozooks GSX (huuurrrlll) :shock:

Wheres the A TEAM when you need 'em :!:

Would'nt pull a greasy stick out of a dogs arse as a harnessed team. :lol:

Should polish up OK as a period piece tho Mike, just do it in private is all :oops:

by **mike-s** » Mon Apr 16, 2007 11:05 pm

well, im in a spot of trouble for getting the bike (its not the cost of the bike she's got issues with, but the cost and effort of getting it 100% again....), I wonder how long for, hopefully not too long

by **mike-s** » Wed Apr 18, 2007 12:15 am

Ok here's a picture i took tonight, didn't work too well in the dark so i just tried to take one without the flash and it turned out half alright.

things on the todo list thus far,
1) forks need to sus the chrome on them out, could be a rechrome job in there if im not careful, at the least i'll check the seals out.
2) tank, shall get a kreeming on the inside as a preventative and cut back and repainted, and original decals replicated as best i can.
3) lube lube lube, so many of the hinges and swingy bits barely do, nearly tripped over putting the sidestand down as its so hard to move it.
4) strip carby's back and redo 'em
5) new mufflers, the headers are fine, the cannisters have seen better days
6) new battery, the thing probably lost half its acid in the guys tray on the way here as the fugger fell over in the back of his ute!! (no damage, to the gsx at least)
7) lots of tlc to get rid of all that oxidisation on the engine and wheels

electricals once over
9) oh and i forgot, overhaul the brakes, this thing has NO FRONT BRAKE, nearly dropped the bike off the tray getting it home.

This isn't even taking into account checking the engine out and seeing if i need to replace anything in there.

by **mike-s** » Wed Apr 18, 2007 12:16 am

oh and ive found a use for the old centrestand bike easy mover thingo, havent used it since i sold the gpx!

by **mike-s** » Mon May 21, 2007 3:48 pm

Ok, bit of an update here.
Based on the known state of the 250 i've managed to get hold of a few things

obtained already:
new pegs, brake lever, mufflers, carb boots, master cyl/lever for the front brake from a z250 (im sure the current ones borked totally), oil filter, brake pads for the front and brake shoes for the back. New fork dust seals too.

On the way:
two pairs of rear shocks so i can use the best pair (gos having basically GIVEN me one pair, thanks again!!! fleabay providing the other). New tank in a cherry red, ducktail and side panels to suit. Front forks and those goofy crashbars ($85 delivered from the uk, so why the hell not?

). As well as a half decent pair of front forks (springs are good as are the fork uppers, my fork lowers are in better nick frankly).

needed:
lots and lots of tlc, wd40 and time with a steel brush.

Step one in disassembly is having taken the tank off and removing the carbs for a quick inspection. I have a feeling i've figured out why the bike wasn't being used, some numbnuts hadn't put one mainjet in correctly and it FELL OUT in the bowl thusly causing it to (likely) flood and be a pig of a thing. Carbs appear to be immaculate and look far far newer than the 30-40kkm that the bike is supposed to have done, though exterior wise they definately look like they've been in the bike since new.

It's gonna be a long process and i dont want to think how much this has & will cost me.

by **robracer** » Mon May 21, 2007 4:14 pm

Money Pit

good luck with the rebuild... old 250's are not fetching what they used to so resale might not get you your money back .......she had wanna be a good commuter