1999 Suzuki GS 500 E- Dual Fuel Taps...? ? ?

[RadHawk]

So my buddy Dan had quadruple bi-pass surgery and decides to sell e.v.e.r.y thing motorcycle related... WTF...? I protested, implored him to think about it. No go, selling it all.

I guess I should have bought the Hawk GT but that already left... Good, I do not need another.

He has this Suzuki GS 500 E that needed for me to put back on the road and sell for him, been off the road for one year. I went over to pick it up, gathered all the rest of his gear and headed home.

I needed to get into the carbs, not a big ta-do, new primary jets and set things up. The battery was waaay low so I tried to bring it back to life. I was able to crank it and even start it briefly however, that battery is in need of burial, I ordered an new one today.

While cranking the engine and the fuel tap in the "Prime" position, I was not seeing fuel flow in the translucent fuel lines... Hmmm. Why...? So I started looking for a pinched line, I raised the tank and to my surprise found ANOTHER FUEL TAP under the tank... W. T. A. F....? ? ? Never seen such a thing. I got out the 14" screw driver, turned the tap to "ON" and sure enough, fuel flowed to the visible fuel tap mounted near the air box. A three position affair, ON, RESERVE and PRIME. No "Off"...

The battery was really giving up at this point but I did manage to start the little guy while hooked to a higher amperage charger. Seemed to have promise, ran well for the short period that I had it going, kicked it off choke and seemed smooth, with a new battery I should be able to dial it in nicely.

This morning I find a huge puddle of fuel under the GS, looks to be leaking from that under tank fuel tap... or possibly an old fuel line, I'll replace them and investigate.

What on earth is the reason for that second fuel tap UNDER the tank...? The assembly is a dual line feed, I assume one for the main and one for the reserve... Dunno. It is not easily accessible.

This GS will be for sale when I'm done, neat little rig, 1999 with 9,000 miles clocked, yellow and in excellent condition. I hope I don't like it well enough to buy it from him.

Ciao,
Rob

[TheIglu]

That's normal on the GS. They have dual fuel shutoffs. Only one is meant to be used regularly.


I can't imagine you'll like it. That bike is a complete toilet. First time I rode my buddies after fixing it up, I thought it was only running on 1 cylinder. It's that slow.

[Tekime]

I love my GS!! If you're used to big bikes it'll be shockingly slow. But for my skinny ass with a few weight reductions, tuned up nice and smaller front sprocket it's a ton of fun.

Don't remember exactly what the logic is behind the petcock design, but I think it's something to do with making servicing easier??

Tons of good advice, tutorials and (I think) a delete tutorial on gstwins.com. If you keep the bike, definitely check it out. Older GS's (pre-2003ish I think) had issues with fuel starvation at higher speeds and there's a petcock mod/replacement for that.

If you don't care about top speed and want a cheap bike to throw around, swap sprockets and it gets much peppier. GS hates the cold and hates low RPMs. Two cylinder so it's flat across the range, but keep it over 5k RPM or you'll be chugging everywhere.

P.S. I love my GS but, um... gladly accepting donations on oh, say, gixxers and SV650's

[RadHawk]

Yeah, weird set up having the two taps... I suppose for tank removal and to ensure fuel will not flow all over the place this is a good idea, also not needing to drain the tank to remove it... Anyway, strange.

Got her all back together and the fuel feed line to the carbs, right at the Tee was dripping just enough to say "Ooops, I gotta fix that too..." I never have cared for fuel leaking onto a hot engine... !!!

New battery and fuel line in this evening and I'll fire her up... so to speak.

I can picture how the performance of a small vertical twin will be, not a big ta-do. It will make a nice little rig for someone.

I'll post the ad here later in the weekend.

Rob

[Dmitry]

That motor has some similarities to GSXR, it can be built up quite a bit, not bad in stock form either, I had couple, loved them.

Make sure vacuum diaphragm on the petcock shut-off is not ripped (pretty sure it has one) it will suck fuel right in the intake and run like shit or worse

[Chippertheripper]

It's like a lawnmower with only 2 wheels.
That said, mine filled up with fuel twice while I was getting the fuel system sorted. Cleaned the motor from the inside very nicely.

[TheIglu]

not bad in stock form either,

Lies. Damn dirt lies.

It's the worst possible 500 you can buy (well, maybe a Buell Blast is worse). A Ninja 500 is better in every single way, minus the floating front rotor. The difference in motor cannot be understated.

[dankatz]

I agree with all you, but keep in mind the GS500 is much more popular in Europe compared to the Ninja 500 (GPZ500 there). It is a reliable bike with old school tech. The Standard bike was popular with moto-courier. I think even the US version was assembled in Spain. In any case, set your expectations low and you will not be disappointed.

[Tekime]

The GS had a pretty loyal following. The low cost, mechanical simplicity and availability of parts make it appealing to a lot of beginners and old timer types too. Obviously aesthetics is a matter of personal preference, personally I think the F and E models are both great looking bikes. I waffled over it for a while, but in the end chose my '05 GS500F as my first street bike because I got a great deal ($1,500 in mint condition with 8k), and I wanted a bike to learn on that wasn't a 250 OR 20 years old.

I can definitely appreciate the lawnmower comments but it won't tarnish my GS love. Although it would explain why my lawn looks like shit, I gotta stop mixing these up. 4.5hp.. 45hp.. who's counting decimals?! First street bike, kept me off the pavement for 12k miles now and fun to work on. Not a lot of Ninja 500's on the market in that price range (when I was buying), but I won't argue the Ninja 500 has more power to give. Plus I kind of have a bias toward Suzuki.

I don't think anybody would argue it's a competitive bike or has the raw power of other 500-600cc machines. Even p twins.

From a noob perspective (well, noob by numbers anyway), I have yet to feel like it's holding me back a lot on the street. It has its sweet spots, and there is still so much more to learn and the GS is helping me get there. I would probably take better suspension than power at this point, since I don't regularly do power wheelies down 95 or even break 100mph on the street except on the rare lonely stretch of road.

Weight is a big factor, though. I barely weigh 130lb, but with my lady on the bike it completely loses it's guts. And she weighs less than me.

Get her tuned up and make somebody out there a GS'er! Enough power to have fun on for a guy like me, not enough power to completely fuck yourself over with.

[RadHawk]

Well in getting the GS ready for the road, I installed new primary jets and set the air mixture screws at right about a turn and a half... Is that a good place to start with these...?

Just as an FYI, when I took the carbs off and cleaned them the air screws were out about 3-1/2 turns...! ! ! Now, that said, I did find a website that listed the GS models and one carb on the chart that called for a setting of 3-1/2 turns out. Not sure which way to go here, I hate to mess with it but if I can get it better, that would be good.

It seems to run fine, maybe run out of breath at the upper mid range on the main jets, according to a fellow that came to check it out... it is for sale.

I also take it that if one left the fuel tap on the "Prime" position, you would be cleaning the engine from the inside as Chippertheripper was talking about...! ! ! If the needle valve seats were passing fuel by...

Thanks,
Rob

[Tekime]

Well in getting the GS ready for the road, I installed new primary jets and set the air mixture screws at right about a turn and a half... Is that a good place to start with these...?

Just as an FYI, when I took the carbs off and cleaned them the air screws were out about 3-1/2 turns...! ! ! Now, that said, I did find a website that listed the GS models and one carb on the chart that called for a setting of 3-1/2 turns out. Not sure which way to go here, I hate to mess with it but if I can get it better, that would be good.

It seems to run fine, maybe run out of breath at the upper mid range on the main jets, according to a fellow that came to check it out... it is for sale.

I also take it that if one left the fuel tap on the "Prime" position, you would be cleaning the engine from the inside as Chippertheripper was talking about...! ! ! If the needle valve seats were passing fuel by...

Thanks,
Rob

Actually 3 turns out is about right, might be running lean now. That air screw is for idle though, so might not be the culprit. I haven't tinkered with the carbs much on the GS but I think some of the older (pre-98??) had some fuel starvation due to the frame petcock at high speeds, just google gs500 fuel starvation .

Prime runs off reserve, so yeah if left on you'd probably dump fuel in the airbox/motor/ground and would want to flush, unless you like hydrolock :p

[lobsta3]

back in the 1900's they raced GS's at the ol ' Bryar, with grids full enough for heat races.
lot o fun, and the bullet proof Suzi's left more time for bench racing.