johnr

excellent stuff. you may need to thrash this engine more, purely in the interests of keeping it running well..........

redex?

+1 on motobatt, they used to be the one to go for, but quality is terrible now. wouldnt touch one with a bargepole now.

if the battery and starter are new, then try the solenoid. try linking the two poles of the solenoid with an old spanner. if the contacts in the solenoid are burnt, then the current from the battery will not get through to the starter.

massive wheel locking power on thee back could prove moree of a problem than a help. as soon as thee front brakes unload the rear suspension, you need very very little to lock the wheel, so massive braking power will just cause it to lock up every time.

if youre using a bandit wheel and disk, use a bandit caliper and hanger so you know it fits, you might need to make the spindle hole fit, but thats hardly the end of the world.

+1 for por15

it can be done but you are likely to have trouble with registration as the vehicles identity for registration is based on its frame, if you buy a new frame you will have to get one with a v5 and transfer your running gear to it and register that frame as your bike. however, thats not the only option. if your frame has rotted through the tubes, then you can get the affected sections cut out and replaced, its not an uncommon thing on frames of this age and there are folk on here who can do it for you. alternatively, if the frame is bent following a spill, then you can have it straightened by a frame repair specialist using a motoliner jig, just google motoliner frame straightening and see who is nearest.

also if youre mixing and matching the 1075cc gsx engine has 18mm small ends, th 1135cc gsx engine has 20mm small ends, so whilst you can swap stuff between cases, if you want to run an efe crank, then you need to use efe pistons with it. and vise versa.

this may be clue. starts hot or cold without choke? if its flooding the carbs due to o rings perishing or shrinking then its worth changing them. these 400s run really lean as normal. ive never seen one that doesnt require chok to start from cold when its set up right.

spraying compressed air and carb cleaner just doesnt cut it. first ultrasonic clean the carbs, then replace all the internal o rings in the carbs with viton o rings, these little 400s ar a bit of a carburation nightmare, if its been standing for any period of time at all, the carbs clog up. other things to check are the ht leads where they go into the ht caps, age and heat makes the leads shrink and go brittle, if they will unscrew, take them out, snip a bit off the end of the lead and then screw it nice and tight back in. also check that the tank is clean and rust free inside, finally, check all your earths and wiring connections on the bike. i know its different to the 400 kat, but thee problems seem awfully familiar to anyone who has owned a small watercooled katana thats been in storage, they just all seem to do this.

yep, and th kat 1000 carbs are worth good money on their own!

if its still on 1000cc you can fit 1100 barrels and pistons to it to boost it a bit, perhaps even drop the 1000 liners out and drop 1100 liners in to it so it still appears to be 1000cc.

493 rods are kat 1000 rods, but they will fit the 11 as well, theyre just beefier than the stock kat 11 rods. ive seen folks with engines putting 300bhp+ through 493 rods. sounds like youve scored a kat 1000 motor built into a set of 1100 cases. what cc is it running?

also the barrels will be stamped with 998cc rather than 1075cc

kat 1000 engines have gs10 engine numbers.

if the bottom is already out, then just remove the pipe and thread a new pipe through the tank in on piece and braise it in top and bottom before you seal the tank up again. no joins inside the tank then.

i prefer 'been there done that, bought the tee shirt.' tanks rusting out from the inside due to water in the fuel are only the end destination of a longn frustrating journey that features poor running misfires and power loss and periodic stops at the side of the motorway when dusty rust from said tank clogs filters and jets on carbs, always on a wet night in winter on a sunday, or else five minutes after you start it on the only warm dry sunny summer weekend when you arent working. my glass may be half empty, but whats in there doesnt contain water. but its your journey take your own route.

aye, i gave loads of kat arms away in the past, theyre getting thin on the ground now!

top of the page, there are three tags, browse , activity and oldskoolsuzuki.info. click on this last tag, then look for a section called 'the vault' down the right side are headings for different sections of tech info. in it you will find all you need to know about tuning and handling on aircooled oldskool suzukis. read and digest.

best advice i can give you is to go to the top of this forum, and start reading! plenty of advice and info on everything you are asking about in here. get a brew and some toast and spend an evening going through the forum and more importantly, the tech section.

as i said, kat arm fits as a straight swap. it even uses the same spindle bearings as the et. if youre after a complete swap that requires no mods then youre looking for some pretty rare kit like inzuma stuff but then you might not get it to fit at the pivot end. the kat arm is pretty good cos it will take a quite wide back wheel. use the brake caliper and bracket that goes with the wheel.

use the et wheel spindle as its the right length for the swingarm, you might need to buy new bearings for the wheel, if you struggle getting it centred with the sprocket carrier, the gs500 sprocket carrier fits the wheel and is narrower. allowing you a bit moree lateral movement to centre it. the bearing in the sprocket carrier is massive and has a top hat spacer in it, so you can keep the bearing but just modify or make up the spacer to suit the spindle diamiter.

box section ally arm off the kat fits the gs1000/gsx1100et straight swap, same spindle, brakes, adjusters, shocks and mounts.

its vital. you might not want to go out in the rain but you cant help it sometimes, and any water that gets into the filleer cap recess if it cant get away down the drain will sit in the filler recess till you open the tank, then it will just fall into thee tank and contaminate the fuel and rust its way out the bottom of the tank.