Author Topic: 1978 Suzuki GS1000 Dunstall Cafe(Very Pic Heavy)  (Read 4463 times)

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Offline ohiocaferacer

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1978 Suzuki GS1000 Dunstall Cafe(Very Pic Heavy)
« on: April 29, 2014, 06:35:41 AM »
Thought i'd share a project i've been working on and off with for the past couple years. Thank you to BGFootball67(Ed) for allowing me to purchase it from him. Its a 1978 Suzuki GS1000 with a Dunstall kit installed. This bike was built by the original owner back in the early 80's with alot of period cafe parts. I've just kind of updated the suspension and brakes....while trying to maintain the original look of the bike. Some of the really interesting parts on the bike are the Dunstall fairing and rearsets, Yoshimura shocks and the Zero race seat.

I've installed newer brakes and suspension to kind of update the look and the ride. The front suspension is from a 1998 Honda VTR1000f(forks, triple clamps and clipons), with a CBR900RR front wheel and rotors. The rear suspension is made from a 1982 GS1100 aluminum swingarm, with the swingarm brace from a CBR900RR welded onto the bottom. The rear wheel is from a CBR600RR F3(4.5" rim with a 160 tire). Rear brake caliper and rotor are from a CBR900RR.

The bike started out kind of rough and was not running, after siting for several years......but had potential.



Major hurdle to repairing the bike was fixing the rusted out gas tank. Finding a good used 1978 GS1000 tank is impossilbe, so I set out to repair the original. Attempts to tig weld the tank were impossible, as the metal was so thin and in such bad shape. I decided to use a Caswell tank liner kit and it worked perfectly. Tank is good as new and has been holding gas for over a year now.


Rust inside the tank.


De-rusted inside.

Caswell tank liner installed.


Welded up the swingarm brace.


Installed a new offset sprocket to clear the new 160 rear tire.


Slowly the bike started to come together.






Currently, the bike is running open exhaust and intakes. I've installed a Dynajet stage 3 kit and the bike is running like a beast. The sound of this bike is amazing, true muscle bike in every since of the word. Still waiting on a front fender to arrive, but once its installed.......i'm gonna consider it finished for the time being and ride the hell out of it this summer. Thanks again to Ed for selling this beast to me......i'm sure he'll get some seat time on it as well.


Offline scunny

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Re: 1978 Suzuki GS1000 Dunstall Cafe(Very Pic Heavy)
« Reply #1 on: April 29, 2014, 11:23:48 AM »
Nice period bike. I had a GS1000EC back in 1980, what a great machine they were.
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Offline ohiocaferacer

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Re: 1978 Suzuki GS1000 Dunstall Cafe(Very Pic Heavy)
« Reply #2 on: April 29, 2014, 01:24:13 PM »
Thank you Scunny.

Offline FuZZie

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Re: 1978 Suzuki GS1000 Dunstall Cafe(Very Pic Heavy)
« Reply #3 on: April 29, 2014, 04:09:24 PM »
I like it, nice smooth lines.  8)

Offline Stev-o

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Re: 1978 Suzuki GS1000 Dunstall Cafe(Very Pic Heavy)
« Reply #4 on: May 01, 2014, 06:03:36 AM »
I like it, nice smooth lines.  8)

+1.....cool bike.  How did you de-rust the tank?
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Offline ohiocaferacer

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Re: 1978 Suzuki GS1000 Dunstall Cafe(Very Pic Heavy)
« Reply #5 on: May 02, 2014, 08:06:23 AM »
I like it, nice smooth lines.  8)

+1.....cool bike.  How did you de-rust the tank?
I soaked the tank for several day in this stuff from Home Depot.


Since the tank had tons of holes in the bottom. I purchased a large storage tote and put about 3 gals in it, then placed the tank into the tote.

Offline ohiocaferacer

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Re: 1978 Suzuki GS1000 Dunstall Cafe(Very Pic Heavy)
« Reply #6 on: May 22, 2014, 04:23:13 AM »
Recent pic.....went out for a ride.

Offline ohiocaferacer

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Re: 1978 Suzuki GS1000 Dunstall Cafe(Very Pic Heavy)
« Reply #7 on: July 17, 2014, 11:28:19 AM »
The mighty GS1000 after a recent ride.

Offline Steve_K

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Re: 1978 Suzuki GS1000 Dunstall Cafe(Very Pic Heavy)
« Reply #8 on: July 17, 2014, 12:23:21 PM »
What great had turner!!   Sweet looking ride, too.

A very good start.
Steve
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Offline ohiocaferacer

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Re: 1978 Suzuki GS1000 Dunstall Cafe(Very Pic Heavy)
« Reply #9 on: July 18, 2014, 05:30:45 AM »
Thank you Steve....still a work in progress.

Offline Terry in Australia

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Re: 1978 Suzuki GS1000 Dunstall Cafe(Very Pic Heavy)
« Reply #10 on: July 27, 2014, 02:50:04 AM »
Looks great mate, I've had two GS1000S "Wes Cooley replica's", an E, a G (faster than the GS1000S) and a dragbike  with 140 BHP at the rear wheel. I like your modern improvements without destroying the period look mate, good work, enjoy! ;D
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