simesman

Ah, just seen you have the L. I am only familiar with the GS1000E tank.

I can tell you that a GSX1100ET float fits. Little bit of tweaking to set the height for whichever tank you bung it in.

Are you sure you have the right tap? Check mounting hole spacing. My GS1000 did exactly the same and dowty washers/sealant did not help. Turned out I had a 50mm tap instead of 44mm (or other way round!) and previous owner had opened up the mounting holes to the tap so it fitted. All sorted when I matched the tap to the threads.

Hoping this great weather holds for the weekend, then I can get a proper good thrash in and see if I cover my mate in soot and crap. If it is improving, I will leave well alone for a bit. After 300 miles since rebuild, it does seem to have stopped drinking oil. Be good if it doesn't need to come apart again as it is running so well.

Building dry just seems wrong to me. The vid seemed to imply that if you didn't build dry, you were going to promote oil burning. I think it was a Z1 motor he was assembling. Thanks Daz, I am riding to work all week and will give it a good thrash on the weekend and see what the state is.

Did a little bit of a refresh on the old GS a few weeks ago. She was running really well but starting to use a bit of oil, with smoke obvious when booting it. So thought I ought to do the obvious, change valve seals and check rings. Really enjoyed taking the top end apart, but it was a real struggle to get the head off the block. The block shifted first so I had to resort to careful prying with my trusty 3' tyre levers. Took ages and a lot of sweat! But once you see that little gap open, you know you have it beat! Gentle nagging got there in the end. Anyway, all exhaust seats were pitted but the seals looked fine. Replaced with IMD Japanese seals anyway and reseated all valves, best I could. They passed my leak test, so I was happy. I think the previous owners forgot to do valve clearance as when I got it, there was no clearance at all on most exhaust valves. With the cylinder removed, I removed all pistons. I checked bore dimension as per Suzuki workshop manual and they were all well within tolerance. As were pistons. No gummed rings and they all measured like new. I thought the best thing to do was put it all back together and hope the smoking was cured by old seals. Did a quick hone on the bores with me 3-stone springy thing and they all looked good. Checked bore dimension again, just to make sure, all good. Pistons back on, barrel back on. Tried some homemade ring compressors but rubbish, so just used my fingers to feed the rings in. Not too bad, but then noticed first skoolboy error. Barrels on back to front. Brilliant. So, off they came and second go went a bit quicker. Head back on and then fitted some newly acquired GS1000S cams (exactly the same as E cams) as one of my intake lobes was a bit under spec. Once they were in, I could shim it. Had to order a few smaller sizes to get them all good. I set them all to the top of the spec as they will only go one way! All torqued up. Ready to fire. Starts straight away and sounds lovely. Took her for a little spin and it rides great too. Let it cool down overnight and then re-torque head (got an extra quarter turn on all nuts) and check valve clearance still good. Now off for a good thrash to see where we are with the smokiness. Bit disappointed to be told by a mate that it was still smoking. Resigned myself to either fitting new standard rings or going the whole hog and getting a rebore and next oversize pistons/rings, but, I thought I would just ride it for a bit and see what happens. After 200 miles, I don't seem to be using oil, so the old rings may have bedded into the honed bore. Maybe I won't have to split the engine again? I'll keep my eye on it. When checking out why it might still be smoking, I saw vids of engine builders recommending fitting barrels dry. That seems odd to me but they were claiming that oiling the bores was not good practice. Can that be right? I smeared oil over the bores and coated the rings and pistons but maybe this is wrong? I also discovered that you should always fit new rings if you hone. I didn't want to replace mine as they were all so well in spec. Should I have left the bore semi-glazed? Anyway, I don't mind the thought of sending the block to IMD and fit their piston kit, but I would be happier to keep the original pistons if they bed in OK.

Brilliant, thanks. Ordered tacho and speedo cables. Couldn't see a clutch cable otherwise would have had one of them too, for me spares box!

Thanks, I like Wemoto but the picture they have (maybe generic) for the cable looks like the cheapo Chinese cables. If you have had good experience with them, I will give them a go, thanks.

Yeah, not paying Mr. Suzuki, although they would be the best cables. Will check the head but assuming it is cable related as the two examples I have get wobbly at different places.

Rev counter on the GS1000 started wobbling after 5000rpm so changed the cable for a cheapo replacement I had in my spares box, but that one dithers at low revs! Anyone got a recommendation for a supplier of decent cables? Venhill don't seem to do them.

Had exactly that problem on my GS1000. Could not get the airbox rubbers on the carbs. No way they were going, so used a hot air gun and pushed the airbox from the inside with a stick of wood, towards the carbs. Worked a treat. They have never fitted so well!

Can confirm the ET tank fits a treat! Tap in the right place (actually have a bit more clearance).

Feel free to post pictures of your Katana. I love 'em.

Yep, not bothered about early fluted types. Quite liking the idea of an GSX1100ET tank now. They look like they go straight on and the tap looks to be in the right position. Anyone know for sure if it just drops onto the GS1000E frame? I know they are rare but there are a couple on Eblag right now that look good.

Hmmmm, £800. Still seems quite steep. What about a decent paintjob? That would place it more expensive that the bay one. Who are the people for decent paintjobs nowadays? I am way out of touch. Used to be DreamMachine but are they still good? Any ballpark figures for a Cooley job on tank and tailpiece?

How about the GSX1100ET tanks? Would love that aluminium race tank on Eblag, already painted blue/white Cooley scheme, but over a grand!!! And you have to move the coils too.

Thanks chaps, will look at the G tanks. Is that what is fitted to Spamwoods GS?

I expect this has been asked a million times, but don't shoot me down! I am on the hunt for a set of bodywork for my GS1000E. I have just managed to buy the sidepanels and tailpiece, so now just need the tank (and maybe the seat trim if I can find one). Seems tanks are hard to find so maybe looking at a GSX1100ET tank as I quite like the look of them, but turns out they are hard to find too! It seems easier to find a good GS(X)1100E tank, the US version of the GSX1100ET tank. Do these fit straight on the GS1000 frame? I see the fuel tap is further forward, but I assume this will still work? I assume it has 44mm tap threads so my 50mm tap won't fit.Any other clearance issues? Has anyone got pictures of the US GS1100 tank on a GS1000?

http://www.debben.co.uk/ Based near me in Ringwood, Hampshire.

Excellent, thank you. I will take a look at them. I did buy Renthals, but obviously not the right ones!

What bars are you using, they look great? The width and bends are exactly what I am after for my GS1000. Tried a few now, but not happy yet.

I've only just got my VM's running properly now! It has taken bloody ages to get them just right. In the end, I had to re-fit the 17.5 pilot jets and change to standard 95 mains. It has been a bit of a nightmare removing and refitting the carbs and generally tweaking them in but they are perfect now. I used a Morgan carbtune to sync them but getting the mixture right was impossible without the Gunson colourtune. Now I have always found these to be crap, but with the VM's that have the fuel and air screw adjustment, they are essential! I set the fuel screw to 3/4 turns out on all carbs and the air screw to 1.5. Then you can either use the carbtune or colourtune to determine which cylinders are running lean. I could see with the carbtune that cylinders 1 and 4 were popping as the metal rods bounced violently whenever the motor popped. Initially I suspected coil issues, so changed these and the popping remained. So, another quarter turn on 1 and 4 fuel screws and popping stopped. I then tweaked each air screw using the colourtune and they are all wherever the colourtune told me was optimum. Very happy with the carbs now.

Go twin shock!

Thank you, I'll check them out.

Looking to put standard jets back in the GS1000 carbs (#95 mains and #15 pilots) but where is the best place to pick these up? I assume I should stick to genuine Mikuni jets? Thanks chaps.