GSRider forum

ya know, it's a shame this amazing community doesnt exist in the GS world. At least i don't think it does.

My Uncle is bringing me a basket case '83 GS850L.
He said he'd pay for parts. I just have to get it back to running/rideable. Then sell it, reimbursing him for the cost of parts in the sale.

The engines look to use similar layouts/mechanisms. I've already found the service manual. Heck, it looks like it might have the same/similar carbs that my KZ has.

Any chance there's some GS owners here that could lend some insight?

Here you go.
It's the GSResources Forum you are looking for.
Lot's of names over there you will recognise from here.
Advanced Search - The GSResources Forums
It's no coincidence that the 8 valve GS's bear a strong similarity to the Z900 motors, the GS750 which preceeded the GS1000 was based on the Z900 even down to the cylinder stud pattern and back in the day the bigger valved GS1000 head was a common bolt on mod for the Z900 in drag racing circles until the arrivial of the newer big valve J/GPZ heads.
The slide carbs on the GS 8 valves are also the same Mikuni VM's as the Z's with the only major difference and identifier being that the GS carbs always have both air and fuel mixture screws present at the same time whereas the Z's only have either one or the other.

This link is an invaluable resource for the GS community...

gsarchive.bwringer.com/

Also...
www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showthread.php?t=171846
gsarchive.bwringer.com/mtsac/~cliff/stor...Rebuild_Tutorial.pdf
www.thegsresources.com/_forum/forum/cons...ing-kits#post1703182

As most around here know, I'm a carb guy.  I rebuild sets and sell O-rings for those that want to do their own.

One of the big differences between KZ Rider and GS Resources, is the mentality regarding things like carbs.  The culture at GSR is to always encourage the newbies to rebuild carbs properly.  To that ends, as of today, I've provided 129 O-ring sets to the GS community, compared to 18 for KZ's.  And two of the KZ sales were through GSR (the owners have both kinds of bikes).  

We've done two GS 1100E's and they aren't any more difficult to work on. Parts can be harder to find though, we had a bit of trouble with brake parts. We sold the 81' recently but are keeping the 80' because it is an awesome riding bike. A great motor, excellent handling stock and the brakes are good enough.