GS1000E "Borg Assimilation Machine"

[Area51bikeworks]

Greetings and welcome to another under budgeted overzealous project. I have been collecting parts for a conversion/upgrade for a couple of years. I have a stock 1980 GS1000E. To date I have accumulated a complete 06' GSXR 600 frontend w/ controls, brakes, triple clamp and wheel. It didn?t come w/ an axle or wheel spacers. Picked up an 06' Katana rear wheel w/ hanger, caliper, rotor & control arm. Also have an 83' GS1100E Swing arm. Forgot to mention the 4 in to 1 header and the right hand exhaust can off a Hyabusa. My intention is to, first, upgrade the suspension on my GS1000. After that?s finished, I will consider an engine rebuild. I have
a source for the upper bearing conversion-http://www.twfracing.com/zparts.html and a bargain at $45.00. One question I have is, has anybody tried to use a 90's GSXR speedo unit with a newer GSXR front end like mine? If so, how did you deal with the cable drive? Secondly, does anybody have a source for new speed / tach hands for say a 94' GSXR750W? This is actually a different project bike, but the information will come in handy. I hope to post pictures as my project moves along. Thanks & feel free to submit thoughts & technical recommendations. As an addendum, while I respect the purists, this IS MY BIKE, so keep that in mind!

 

[Flaming Chainsaws]

I love how the old bikes look with modern wheels and suspension. Definitely will be following this one with interest as I would like to upgrade my bike as well sometime down the road.

Where in WA are you?

 

[Curly]

Yes yes yes and yes. Post pictures asap, this will be a good project.

What size tire goes on that rear wheel, 170? I believe that's the max that will fit in the swingarm. Although that's my '85 mono shock, not your Twin shock '80. Which begs the question, are you going to fight with fitment issues and finding two good shocks from the 80's or deal with the headache and foot work of converting to monoshock?

 

[Area51bikeworks]

Hey Curly-

I believe you are right about the tire size. The wheel I bought actually came with a decent tire on it. My plan is to fit everything together- for instance, prep the swing arm, install new bearings, get the spacers fitted, hang the caliper install the wheel. Once everything is together, I will pull the rear tire, & swing arm & install the new one. Piece of cake, right?! Theoretically speaking of Corse! Same with the front. As for the shock issue, I haven?t really done much more than a cursory glance at E-Bay for gas charged shocks. An upgrade like this deserves something better than the stock springs and ethically the gas charged shocks just look GOOD. I have always like the ugly-but-functionally-beautiful look of the older 80's superbikes. As for the mono-shock thing, that's WAY beyond my abilities. I am basically a un-bolt it & bolt it back on kinda guy. I would say that I have some general fabrication abilities, but that kind of work takes a whole different skill set. I have been an avid follower of "80GS1000"'s project and if I ever actually get to meet him face to face, I intend to do the Wayne's World "we arn't worthy" dance! His bike is something else. I hope he posts some video footage when he hits the track. My plans for my GS call for a daily rider w/ vastly improved suspension & some looks upgrades. I hope to upgrade the engine at some point, but at this stage of the game, I don?t know if it will ever be a fire breathing monster like some of the bikes we see on this site. I still have the 94' GSXR750W over in the corner giving me the puffed out lower lip & "I am neglected" look. Then there's my son's 83' GS750ES and the daughters 80'GS550E. So many projects, so little time....

 

[Digitus]

I changed my gauges on my tl1000s and went for the aftermarket model: a Koso DB02r.
This comes with a sensor and magnets that are easy to mount.

Swapping gauges is a tricky job...

 

[Go Mifune]

Should be cool when done,but from the information I have gathered on this site I think a 600 front end is not long enough or strong enough for a late 70's big bike like yours, most guys that do this type of swap use a modern front end from a 1000cc gsxr or I think a 750 front end may do the job but you would need a different triple tree I think the recommended swap is from a larger honda, 954 or something like that.

 

[Area51bikeworks]

Go Mifune-

You know, I have pondered about the GSXR front end & wondered if it will be sufficient or not. I have sent PMs & e-mail to one knowledgeable individual on this site, but never got a reply back. I have looked at the specs for both bikes and mine is 64lbs heavier. I know for a fact, that the 83' GS1100's alloy swing arm I have is 8lbs lighter than stock. I figure the 600's front end is at least 8 to 10lbs lighter. So figuring conservatively the GS1000 is still about 40lbs heavier, it doesn?t seem like too much for the front end to handle. I double-checked the measurements of the forks on both front ends yesterday as a matter of fact. The 600 is 1/2 inch shorter. And if I remember right, the wheel is smaller too. I know some of the guys here have mentioned the clearances on headers is closer to the street, but the big question is, will the forks keep the front from diving too much under hard braking? I know about the Honda triples, but I am trying to keep things simple and this swap is easier as we are only talking about swapping the top bearing. This is what I love about this site. It?s kind of like a "digital hollow-suite" version of a garage where we are all standing around trying to figure things out! Anyone care to weigh in on the GSXR 600 front end?

 

[Curly]

Don't worry too much about the dive, $50 springs with a higher rate can solve that issue. As for ride height, you obviously slide them down as far as possible, and for a price, you can have fork extensions made. Basically a top cap that's 2" long.

 

[Area51bikeworks]

Curly-

So with the smaller wheel, that's what we are talking about- roughly a 2" drop? That's going to effect the clearances on the header. I haven't seen anything like a fork extension. I'll have to give this some thought. Looking at "80GS1000's Streetfighter" thread, he had this to say about the GSXR1000 front end.- "Ground clearance shouldn't be too much of an issue as the new forks are only .5" shorter than the GS1000 forks. The main potential ground clearance issue is the fact that the new Gixxer front end has a lower profile 17" tire instead of the 19" on the GS1000. But the radial tire and vastly superior front forks should help prevent bottoming out. To be determined". Wonder what the length is on the 1000 forks?

 

[Curly]

I have no idea, 2" was a random number. Fork extensions have been used over at old skool Suzuki, worth checking out maybe.