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Thread: Building a GSX1100ET for flying mile and a bit of drag racing

  1. #1
    Weekend Warrior
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    Building a GSX1100ET for flying mile and a bit of drag racing

    Over in the Uk recently was a programme called Speed Dreams in two one hour episodes. Basically it was about 6 British bike builders who built bikes to do the land speed records meeting at Bonneville in Utah.
    Well as an ex drag racer, it gave me a bit of a nostalgia twinge and I contacted PJ, featured in the doco riding a GSX1100. He is organising a meet at Pendine Sands in South Wales( not the New one) and I thought, I'll help with the organising and go and watch. Then I thought, why not build a bike?
    I posted an interest on Brit Chopper Forum and on various Facebook pages. A new friend called Tony Cosmo Calliandro said he had some GSX chassis parts and for a modest fee I could have them.
    I was straight up there, only 20 miles and we filled up my Passat. Here's the stuff on my drive.



    Think I will go with the ET/ESD frame instead of the EFE frames. Threw a few parts on it for a laugh;


  2. #2
    Weekend Warrior
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    I got some great offers from people I've never met on the OSS Facebook group. Drove up to Waltham Cross on Saturday to meet an OSS stalwart called Ian Foxon. Had a brew and drove to his workshop , where we unloaded some goodies from me to him. Main one being a very old, very small, lathe that needed some brackets making and the drive motor mounting to make it work. Once we'd unloaded the Passat and stopped admiring the Katana and EFE in his workshop, we drove to his lockup in Barnet. There, he presented me with a virtually complete GSX1100 engine. It turns out it wasn't just any GSX 1100 engine. It came with a standard EFE cylinder head( bigger valves and ports than the earlier engines). We then went to his mums garage, where he gave me a rusty Harris exhaust system, a Bandit 1200 swingarm and an undamaged ET headlamp unit.

    Well , I managed to unload the parts and got to work stripping the engine for cleaning and checking. The good surprises just kept coming!!!





    GSX1100ET headlamp and lockup clutch with crankcase extension!!!




    Standard GSX1100 clutch baskets are known for turning into tambourines and eventually exploding when used in tuned drag race engines. This is compounded by Suzuki fitting helical drive gears to the clutch and crankshaft. The solution is to replace the gears with straight cut gears and the clutch backplate with a billet steel one. All riveted together and the rivet heads welded to the backplate. This mod would normally cost at least £300 to £400 !!!




    Another drag race mod is to replace the standard GSX oil pump gears with GS750 items. These run faster, providing more oil for cooling!


  3. #3
    Weekend Warrior
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    Found a bit of time to split the engine last weekend and have a look inside. Started by removing head and block, alternator and ignition covers. Then remove anything inside the engine that stopped the top and bottom halves being seperated. At the back of the clutch are a couple of retaining plates that need removing and another one that needs the oil ways blasting through with degreaser and compressed air.





    Then it was time to remove all the M6 and M8 bolts from first the top half


    .
    Then the bottom half.



    The engine is normally split with the top half upside down on the bench, retaining the crankshaft and gearbox in place.

    Next job was remove the fabricated sump and undo the main bearing bolts hidden inside. Note; the sump fabricator has put his initials in there, a good sign.




    sump filter was nice and clean. Also housing modified for racing.


    Removed the last two M8 main bearing bolts and tried to seperate the two halves. No joy!!! Did anyone spot the deliberate mistake?

    Look at the right hand side of the gearbox? Yep, left an M6 allen bolt in there!!!! Removed it, flipped engine over, couple of taps with a mallet and voila!



    Found one slightly galling problem when I split the casings. A small piece of loose aluminium in the top half.





    It's the cam chain guide holder, but I can fix or replace it. Other than that, all looks pretty good.

    Later I started cleaning gasket goop off the sealing faces and cleaning up the M6 threads.

  4. #4
    Weekend Warrior
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    Haven't made much progress this last week, too much DIY to do, to keep the peace. Yesterday I decided to clean up and check the crankshaft, rods and bearings.

    First I cleaned all the rust off the rotor. Not sure I'll be using it as I ran my last race bike with total loss ignition. May not use the starter ring gear and motor either to save weight

    Then I blasted out every drop of chainlube that I had used to protect the crank from rust. Blasted brake cleaner at all the bearings and oilways, checked them for clicking and stiffness and then re-oiled the lot, wrapped in bubblewrap and stored safely outta the way.

    Then I started the boring , but essential task of removing the old gasket sealant, gasket and any high spots from the crankcases. Still not finished , but making slow progress.

    A lot more cleaning to do , but I am still waiting on the camchain tensioner support bracket from Robinsons, all the way from Japan.

  5. #5
    Weekend Warrior
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    Been talking to some very helpful people today and have been offered an extended swingarm 5.5" rear wheel and a dragpipe.
    I may be having a go at making a swingarm myself outta mild steel box section. watch this thread. Anybody else out there with an ET dragbike, advice welcome.

  6. #6
    Bloke with the stick Gix11's Avatar
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    Now that's what I call a build topic. Brilliant mate. Thanks.

  7. #7
    Weekend Warrior
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    Thanks for your interest mate. This will be a cheap build, as I am retired now and I can't afford expensive drag parts. We will be riding on sand at Pendine, so traction isn't important, but I will be lowering the gearing to do some 1/4 miles to shakedown the motor. I want this to be a lightweight chassis with a strong, stockish engine.

  8. #8
    Tyre destroying, mad bastard menace
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    Mmmmmm old sckool air cooled even if it is a smelly Suzy
    Will be following this build

  9. #9
    Aussie Streetfighter Hooligan
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    Thanks for posting it up in here,
    I've been following it and was sure that some
    folk on here would be interested.
    Very interesting.

  10. #10
    ASF Gold Full Member Yella's Avatar
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    Nice will be watching this
    'Originally Posted by rock hard stock swingarms are for blokes with balls!! ha ha'



    I would love to become a professional whistler. I'm pretty amazing at it now, but I wanna get, like, even better. Make my living out of it.

    Yella turbo ZX7 Winner VCM Best Streetfighter and SOS encouragement award NFR 2011
    http://www.streetfighters.com.au/for...-s-ZX7-project

  11. #11
    Tyre destroying, mad bastard menace
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    Wow you jammy, jammy sod you. All that lovely GSX goodness bestowed upon you.I thought initially that you'd been granted access to that hallowed place called aircooled wunderland after speaking to PJ but maybe later,eh?

    This looks like an awesome build and you've got some excellent stuff already to get you up and running and some pretty bloody good contacts too by the look of it.

    You're a man after my own heart and have chosen the correct GSX model to use as a base. I too favour the early ET GSX models and am doing a little bit of a freshen up on mine

    http://www.streetfighters.com.au/for...tter-Fuck-yeah

    With the cam chain tensioner the problem that you discovered when ripping the engine apart is not uncommon on these motors. Apparently the shape of the rear cam chain guide is to blame. Apparently the shape of the end of the blade allows the chain to "drop off" the blade causing resonence in the chain which causes vibration which eventually causes the mounting bracket to fracture. There is a company in USA that manufacture a cam chain blade out of nylon which eliminates this problem.

    I can't remember who these people are but Peter McWiggan from Manta Enterprises http://mantaent.com.au/ here in Melbourne would be able to help you source one.

    PS don't mind Ozzy 1100 he's still to see the light yet and favours those old green dinosaurs of the Zed variety. I'm hoping he'll "adjust" at some point in the future

  12. #12
    Weekend Warrior
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    Thanks for the encouragement gents. Yella, I am following your Busa build with interest. Don't get hung up on power though! I had major success with my streetbike coz it weighed nothing. If you went the race only route, there is a lot of scrap metal you could junk.
    Thanks Simon, I have ordered a new one now, but it's coming from Japan

    Here's some pix of my old Streetbike and Pro Stocker, using them for inspiration.



  13. #13
    Bloke with the stick Gix11's Avatar
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    Do we have a circa date for those photos?

  14. #14
    Weekend Warrior
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    Yes mate, raced the streetbike in 1983, the stocker from 84 to 88.

  15. #15
    Weekend Warrior
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    Not had much time in the garage recently , but I managed an hour today. I was given 4 camshafts to clean up and use. They looked like this;

    Gave them a clean with some WD40 and a nylon/carborundum rotary brush and spotted a couple of interesting mods;
    Can you spot them/


    and this;

  16. #16
    Tyre destroying, mad bastard menace
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    Slotted sprockets....

    Liking this mate, keep the updates coming.

  17. #17
    Weekend Warrior
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    Good spot mate. and the last picture?

  18. #18
    Tyre destroying, mad bastard menace
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    Er no wear on the cam lobes?

  19. #19
    Weekend Warrior
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    Wasn't sure if they were ET or EFE cams. The lack of tacho drive worm on the exhaust apparently confirms it's an EFE cam and I got more valve lift!!!

  20. #20
    Tyre destroying, mad bastard menace
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    Quote Originally Posted by megawatt View Post
    Wasn't sure if they were ET or EFE cams. The lack of tacho drive worm on the exhaust apparently confirms it's an EFE cam and I got more valve lift!!!
    Good score.

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