The Green Turd - Suzuki GSF250 Project

[A_J_T]

Hi Folks,

So I've recently acquired a Ninja-Turtle Green GSF250, it’s in a pretty awful state and needs some work to say the least. I’m by all means no bike restorer but have had some experience modifying cars and have ridden Motocross bikes since I was 12 and have always been keen on the idea of having a road bike so this is the first of many I feel and I'm keen to start work on it.

I have several stages in mind but time will tell as to what actually happens to this beasty. Im not a fan of jumping on the Internet and listing off all the great and wonderful things that are going to be done and then it just never happening but I am a fan of coming on here and sharing the weird and wonderful things I do and having people’s advice and input so that’s what this is all about.

Stage 1
Get the bike road legal and enjoy it
New Tires
New fork seals
Possibly all new LED lighting

Stage 2
This will perhaps happen in the depths of winter when it’s not so much fun riding.
Strip the bike to a bare chassis
All new paint and colour scheme
Possibly a freshen up in the engine department, new rings, valve stem seals, clearances etc.

Stage 3
Suggestions Suggestions Suggestions


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So far all i've done is clean the carbs and remove the wheels and am now looking for a shop to remove the rubber off the rims as id like to get them sand blasted and painted black. Anyone know of places near Mt wellington area? proving harder than i thought.








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21st March 2016

Slow progress but i'm starting to get it looking more acceptable.

Also DIY balanced the carbs which has removed the bogging in lower rpm

[Akzle]

Stage 1
Get the bike road legal and enjoy it
New Tires
New for seals
Possibly all new LED lighting

Stage 2
This will perhaps happen in the depths of winter when it’s not so much fun riding.
Strip the bike to a bare chassis///

just be careful you get past this bit ^^

i know lots of people with lots of bikes in lots of bits...




as to painting and shit... get yourself a compressor and DIY...

[A_J_T]

just be careful you get past this bit ^^

i know lots of people with lots of bikes in lots of bits...




as to painting and shit... get yourself a compressor and DIY...

I'm pretty committed to something once its in bits haha, but yea ill be looking at the full rebuild later once iv had time to thrash the nuts of this thing as is.

[A_J_T]

Slow progress but i'm starting to get it looking more acceptable.

Also DIY balanced the carbs which has removed the bogging in lower rpm

[Intruder VS]

Nice work and quick to, the black rims suit it

[A_J_T]

Nice work and quick to, the black rims suit it

Cheers, Yea the black wheels and a little cleanup has transformed the bike imo.


Also yesterday i tried installing some LED indicators but the indicator relays don't detect the LEDs "I believe because they don't draw enough current" and the indicator light just stays on instead of flashing. so might just forget that or look into it further. If any one has experienced this id be keen to know how you got around it.

[Akzle]

Cheers, Yea the black wheels and a little cleanup has transformed the bike imo.


Also yesterday i tried installing some LED indicators but the indicator relays don't detect the LEDs "I believe because they don't draw enough current" and the indicator light just stays on instead of flashing. so might just forget that or look into it further. If any one has experienced this id be keen to know how you got around it.

50 odd buck will get you a tridon HD12, LED capable indicator relay.

[Akzle]

LEDs may or may not pass muster at WOF time, especially if you get your WOFs from a mini-hitler.

[Askor]

You can put resistors in parallel with the LEDs to draw more current and activate the flasher relay. Kind of defeats the purpose of using LEDs (low power consumption) but hey, they look "cool"

Even though most of them put out fuck all light.

Stick with the stock indicators.

[A_J_T]

Stick with the stock indicators.

Cheers folks, think ill take this advice

[A_J_T]

Another small issue sorted this weekend.

The thermostat housing has been leaking slightly so I stripped it down and found it had some nasty build up of old coolant and some corrosion on the alloy.

A wire brush, some sand paper and a little silicone sealant and its all sorted.






Yes i did put the mounting bracket on upside down ^

Took it for a ride down to Thames and back Yesterday... I've come to the conclusion that a larger bike is imminent.

Also the clutch is now slipping pretty bad when cold and just slightly when warmed up. Will be looking into this soon, i think it will just be sad springs, hoping plates are all ok

[Banditbandit]

50 odd buck will get you a tridon HD12, LED capable indicator relay.

I have one lying around somewhere. If you're still interested in changing the indicators I can find it you can have it ..

Took it for a ride down to Thames and back Yesterday... I've come to the conclusion that a larger bike is imminent.

... yeah ... that's the problem with restoring small bikes ... once you get it going well, flick it and put the money into something else - rather than spending it on this one ... it will only ever be a 250 learner bike ..

[A_J_T]

I have one lying around somewhere. If you're still interested in changing the indicators I can find it you can have it ..



... yeah ... that's the problem with restoring small bikes ... once you get it going well, flick it and put the money into something else - rather than spending it on this one ... it will only ever be a 250 learner bike ..

Pm'd about the relay, keen as.

And ya, when it comes to bigger bikes i always thought id go R6 or zx6r but seriously considering just picking up a bigger bandit in the near future.

[A_J_T]

Thanks to Banditbandit i now have a relay to try out the LED indicators. Will be interesting as they might look aesthetically pleasing but if there not bright thats no good.

[A_J_T]

So made the last minute decision to go up north and visit the parents, longest ride the little bandit has done 187km each way and all went good. Still trying to find out what the range is on a fuel tank on this little thing. and still finding out if the reserver tap works . Anyway while i was up the old man and I had a play around with the exhaust for a bit of a laugh and managed to make something that looks pretty much exactly how id like it.

With it strait pipe it sounds glorious but the volume is next level painful and blood will start to flowing from ear cavities before long so we attempted to fab up a nice looking pipe with some internal baffles.

This is what we came up with.







Looks clean and tidy "Although my welding could do with some practice".

The problem now is.... its still way to loud, even with the baffles which makes it bearable on idle but when she opens up its beyond legal haha, so in the end i made up a slip on fitting for the old OEM muffler so i can easily swap between the two if i wish. maybe in the future ill come up with something that is a little quieter but has the same aesthetic

Also stripped down the forks and replaced the seals and oil. Looking at them and the state of the fork oil that came out i should have tried to find a full rebuild kit with replacement bushings and all but nvm at least they don't leak now