tranny swap

[cody3935]

i like the cleaner look of the gs with a kickstart but mine is too new si the question i have is. can i take the tranny off a 79 gs550 with a kickstart and bolt it up to my 81 gs550? or just swap the motor and trans all together?

[BassCliff]

Greetings and Salutations!!

Hi Mr. cody3935,

Questions like this make my brain hurt.

Since they are both 8 valve engines I suppose you could swap the top ends without too much difficulty. The carbs will have to stay with the heads since the '79 uses VM carbs and the '81 uses CV carbs. But then you would have to decide whether or not to a) break the cam chain and use a master link, or b) split the cases to install a continuous cam chain. Or, I guess you could install the entire '79 engine/tranny into the '81 frame. But it all seems like more trouble than it's worth. I'm a "fix what you got and ride it" kind of person.

Anyway, let me dump a TON if information on you and share some GS lovin'.

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Here is your very own magical, mystical, mythical, mind-expanding "mega-welcome". Please take notice of the "Top 10 Common Issues", "Top 15 Tips For GS Happiness", the Carb Rebuild Series, and the Stator Papers. All of these tasks must be addressed in order to have a safe, reliable machine. Now let me roll out the welcome mat for you...



Please click here for your mega-welcome, chock full of tips, suggestions, links to vendors, and other information. Then feel free to visit my little BikeCliff website where I've been collecting the wisdom of this generous community. Don't forget, we like pictures! Not you, your bike!

Thanks for joining us. Keep us informed.

Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

[cody3935]

but i was just talkin about the trannys not the whole top end

[Big T]

Well, you did ask if you could just swap the engines, that's what Cliff is referring to. The carbs and cylinder heads are different between the years. But, you don't have to remove the cam chain Cliff

I would think the critical issue is whether the 80 cases have the boss that holds the end of the spring. Check some parts fiches to see if the 79 and 80 use the same parts numbers

But, I am confused as to how adding something on makes it look "cleaner".

[cody3935]

I asked about swappin the trans an if its not possible I would just swap the whole motor. Its cleaner because there will be less wires and switches

[Adler]

I asked about swappin the trans an if its not possible I would just swap the whole motor. Its cleaner because there will be less wires and switches

Unless you mean to remove the starter, there will be the same wires and switches. The kickstart bikes had electric starters as well as kickstarters.

While you're at it, why not remove the starter, battery, stator and r/r, if I'm not mistaken that is possible in theory...

[Allie]

I think the confusion here is that there's really no separate housing for the tranny, if I'm not mistaken it's all part of the bottom end. You can switch gears and stuff, but if you want to add a kick starter then you're automatically talking about switching crank cases. The question then becomes do you want to keep your top end or just switch the whole engine, which sounds a lot easier to me.

I admit that I like the look of kick start bikes, just call me sentimental. You're not adding much functionality with one though, the GS is so reliable that you will hardly ever need a kick start, which is I suppose why they eliminated it.

As far as whether it looks 'clean' I think it's rather silly for members to nit pick about what you mean by it, you like the look and it's as simple as that.

[Allie]

But adler is correct you'll have the same amount of wires and switches unless you eliminate the electric starter which is err, highly not recommended.

[cody3935]

Unless you mean to remove the starter, there will be the same wires and switches. The kickstart bikes had electric starters as well as kickstarters.

While you're at it, why not remove the starter, battery, stator and r/r, if I'm not mistaken that is possible in theory...

thats what i was thinkin i wanna take everything electronical off that i can i hate wires and all that s*** i already stripped my harness down but thats not enough lol I WANT LESS

[BassCliff]

Hi,




Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

[Nessism]

The engines will swap but as already mentioned, just understand that the cylinder head and carbs are different. Other differences include the use of points on the early bikes and electronic ignition on the later. The engine cases have a hole in them where the starter resides so ditching the electric start system will result in a hole unless you fashion a plug of some sort. And of course the starter clutch is on the end of the crank so that should come off too if you want to do the job right. Lots of work to remove a perfectly reliable system.

[850 Combat]

thats what i was thinkin i wanna take everything electronical off that i can i hate wires and all that s*** i already stripped my harness down but thats not enough lol I WANT LESS

One approach would to be to make a list of what you do want in an electrical system. Look at what electrical components switches, etc. that you have, and think about which ones you to not want, and where you want the remaining items to be located. Fairly regularly people ask how they can eliminate unneccessary wiring, saying that they want the "minimum". The "minimum" might be no charging system, no lights, no turn signals, no gauges, only ignition, no kill switch no clutch switch, no fuse block, etc. Heck, you can leave off the ignition switch and have a running motorcycle.

Moving the ignition switch to be colse to the battery regulator, and rectifier eliminates wiring, especially if you don't want a kill switch on the handlebars. Putting the light switch on the headlight shell simplifies.


I'm pretty confident that you will find it possible to come up with "LESS" though, when you are finished.

[Allie]

If you had Uncle Fester with his head down by the cylinder head licking the bare spark plugs really fast in the correct firing order you could conceivably run your bike without a single electrical wire.

[cody3935]

yea i mean i already took evetything on my bars off and threw it away. headlight stays on hibeam turn signals are on a 3pole switch mounted to my 3trees(but they will be removed after i pass my inspection) no horn i moved the ignition down by my motor but i just hate takin off my side covers and seein all that **** behind them and by **** i mean electronics. why is it so highly unrecomended that i dont take my starter off?

[Allie]

Don't worry about it Cody. As this thread unfolds I would not be so bold as to make any recommendations. Have fun with your GS.