imago

It's given me an idea though. I'm going to have to see if I can get a mock up, but I was thinking take the colours from the green and gold striped silver bike scheme. Paint the bike green and use silver and gold for the striping.

I don't think I've ever seen a factory green ET?

Turn up somewhere on that and they wouldn't know if it was the pox doctor or Ghostbusters that had arrived!

IIRC the big mother behind the crown gear is the spendy one and nigh on impossible to buy off the shelf as it has a locating pin in the outer race at 90 degrees to the bearing.

Agreed, I haven't sat on a bike seat that's as comfy on a run as an ET. One of the spare seats I have has been cut thinner to cater for shorter legs. Even that's comfy, just too low for me.

One thing to bear in mind with rear sets on an ET, you may need to change or alter the seat unless you have child bearing hips. Unlike a Kat the ET seat is very wide and if you're sat on it for a 'normal' journey then the position your thighs end up in using rear sets is very uncomfortable. You don't notice it if you're climbing from side to side going round a track.

The blue on black does look good, and unless you've just been looking at one of the two normal patterns you'd struggle to notice anything out of the ordinary. The red one isn't for me though.

I'm sure it is, but that's a small price to pay for having the big shiny thing back in the sky. Plus a colour like that will get noticed and commented on a lot "who did the paint?" so it's probably a better advert than a stock colour.

That's cracking. I really like yellow bikes but I've never owned one, but it doesn't fit with where I'm going with these.

Thanks gents. So I think it'll be orange/red stripes on black for one and green/gold on silver for the other then.

Just after opinions on colour choice for the two remaining ET builds. After the pondering for the last one I have black with blue stripes so I'm thinking black with orage and red for the other restoration. Then it's a choice of silver or stone with the green and gold stripes for the other? Any thoughts? Red is a definite no, I really don't like red bikes generally and it's the worst colour for an ET IMHO. Blue was a contender, but I think the silver/stone options were nicer even if they weren't offered on UK bikes.

I have three sets of ET/EX forks, two from bikes and a 'spare' set. Both the sets from bikes, along with the ones on the built bike are 34.5 inches long (tip to tail). However one set is 2" shorter on the stanchions. The lower sections are all identical and clearly ET/EX, and they're all 37mm dia. Are the short forks a standard fitment for a market/Model? Or have they been shortened for something specific by a previous owner?

40 Greg Page, 2 Ron Haslem, 4 Wayne Gardner.

No idea, I've never had anything to do with ES'. Which makes where the carbs came from even more of a mystery.

They look identical even down to the cable tube. Are the slides black? I haven't poked further but they look to be plastic coated on the ones I unearthed.

These turned up when I was digging bits out for the next build this morning. 36mm ID, tin tops, black slides and same spacing as the 1100 air cooled carbs. Any idea what they're off? I'm guessing ES or EF?

Yeah, there are in the other engines but I guess they were lost/forgotten when this one went back together.

It will definitely get them in on rebuild. I suppose it's a tolerance thing in that most would be OK without them, but to guarantee tolerances are met it's easier/cheaper to repeat the process for two dowels and their holes. Rather than it is for four holes in the crank case and the bases of four liners.

I pulled the top end off of a GSX1100 ET engine this morning to have a quick look at what's likely to be needed for a refresh. It was a running engine, with no faults or oddities, decent compression etc. However, there were no locator dowels between the barrels and crank case. The liners were 'snug' in the crank case, and as I said I know it was running just fine. Presumably they were left out at some past top end rebuild, but made me wonder just how necessary thos dowels actually are?

Useful info, thanks. I'll get it all together with the Cowley exhaust on and start with the standard carbs then. See how that goes and take it from there.

It's not so much about performace as getting it to run 'right' across the range with pods. I found (back in the day) that no matter how much you faffed about with jetting it was always a compromise. Bogged in one range, pulled well but hunted on neutral throttle etc. So I was wondering if anyone had found something better suited. Saving me a load of 4rse ache with trial and error basically. If there's nothing known to be better then at least the carbs on carbs off hokey cokey will be easier without an airbox to fight when swapping jets around.

I have standard carbs, both decent and for parts. I was just wondering if there were any alternatives which better suit pods and the extra air flow. I'd like to convert to injection but the electrical output is an issue that needs a solution before I go down that route, so I'll leave that nest of snakes to a later build. Now that the stock + 1170 is nearly done the rough plan for the others is:- 1) A second mint/shiny/standard (then sell one of them). 2) A full on OSS style 'modify everything because you can'. 3) A moderately modified but not overly shiny decent bike for general use. As mentioned before this will have period/80s mods like a Micron fork brace, Cowley exhaust etc. Number 3 on that list will be the next to do, so I'm keeping with carbs, but whatever suits best will be the order of the day.

Looking forward a bit I think the next thing on the bench will be the 1100 that's going to be a 'jump on and go' build. The general idea is not going too far with cosmetics, and adding '80s upgrades. I have most of the stuff and a plan but one bit which I could do with some input on is the carbs/jetting for pods. So my question is, what are the most suitable carbs to use on an 1100 if you're fitting pod filters? I suppose the other thing would be pod recommendations.

Another vote for the black seat. The white seat looks a bit 'Buck Rogers' for my taste.

The piston numbers look like Wiseco 1168 and the bore (75mm) would tie up with that too. 28mm inlet valves would most likely be EF valves and the exhaust valves standard size. The head's a mess but may be OK. I wouldn't like to say just based on photos though. As @Gixer1460said, plus in the bottom centre of the second photo that looks like it could be a bit of ring still embedded, which would obviously be a bad thing. If you're not sure of your own judgement/experience on that side of things you'd be best to get someone to have a look at that head before using it.