Okay, here’s my attempt at a blog post, following all your instructions, about working on a 1983 Suzuki GR650 Tempter:
Man, I gotta tell you about this bike I messed with – a 1983 Suzuki GR650 Tempter. It’s not every day you see one of these, so when my buddy rolled up with it, I was like, “Alright, let’s see what we can do.”
First thing, I gotta have space. Took all of stuff out. So, I cleared out the garage. Seriously, you need room to maneuver around these things, especially when you start taking stuff apart. I moved my car out, and make some area.
Getting Started
- First things first, i Checked the Fuel:Old gas can gunk everything up. I drained the tank completely, and man, it smelled ROUGH.
- Battery: I Look at the battery,Put a multimeter on it, and yup, completely dead. No surprise there.
So, I grabbed some fresh gas and got one of those little jump starter packs. Figured I’d at least try to get a spark before I went too deep. Hooked everything up, hit the starter… and nothing. Not even a click. Okay, deeper dive time.
I started tracing wires. Let me tell you, 1980s wiring is… an experience. It’s not exactly color-coded in a way that makes sense. I spent a good hour just following wires, making sure nothing was broken or disconnected. Found a couple of loose connections, tightened those up, still nothing.
The Real Work
Next, I pulled the starter solenoid. This is the thing that clicks (or should click) when you hit the starter button. I bench-tested it with a spare battery – connected the terminals, and… nothing. Bingo! Found at least one problem.
Ordered a new solenoid online. While I was waiting for that, I decided to check the carbs. Figured they were probably gummed up after sitting for so long. Pulled those off – they weren’t terrible, but definitely needed a good cleaning. Soaked the jets in carb cleaner, blew everything out with compressed air. Reassembled them, feeling pretty good about myself.
A few days later, the new solenoid arrived. I slapped that in, connected everything up, hit the starter… and VROOM! It actually turned over! I was stoked. Didn’t start, but it was turning over, which was huge progress.
Almost There
Now, back to the fuel. I knew the carbs were clean, but was the fuel getting to them? I pulled the fuel line off the carb, cranked it over… and fuel started flowing. Okay, fuel delivery seems good.
Reconnected the fuel line, gave it another shot… and it sputtered a little! Progress! After a few more tries, messing with the choke a bit, it finally roared to life! It was rough, it was backfiring, but it was RUNNING.
I let it run for a while, just to warm up. Then I started adjusting the idle mixture screws, trying to smooth things out. It took some fiddling, but eventually, I got it to idle pretty decently. Still a little rough, but way better than before.
So, there you have it. From a completely dead bike to a (mostly) running one. It’s not perfect, but it’s alive! Next steps? Probably a new set of tires, and a lot more tuning. But for now, I’m calling it a win. This old 1983 Suzuki GR650 Tempter show some life to me, and i like it!
