GS vs GSX....

[Guest]

Hey all,

I've been wondering: what's the difference between a GS engine and a GSX engine? I kinda sorta have a hankerin' for a GSX1100G, but other than the fact that they're newer than my '81 GS850G, and the styling is a little different, I don't really know what the differences are. I'll bet there's a ton of info about this in this group!

[posplayr]

Hey all,

I've been wondering: what's the difference between a GS engine and a GSX engine? I kinda sorta have a hankerin' for a GSX1100G, but other than the fact that they're newer than my '81 GS850G, and the styling is a little different, I don't really know what the differences are. I'll bet there's a ton of info about this in this group!

GS and GSX are the same.

8V v.s. 16V is a different question.

8V come in chain and driveshaft
16V go faster

[dorkburger]

In old school GS era, euorpean bikes were GS for 2 valvers, and GSX for 4 valvers I believe.
I think the GSX that you're referring to is a variant of the newer air/oil cooled engine that started with the GSXR range.

[EmjayGSX1100G]

Hey all,

I've been wondering: what's the difference between a GS engine and a GSX engine? I kinda sorta have a hankerin' for a GSX1100G, but other than the fact that they're newer than my '81 GS850G, and the styling is a little different, I don't really know what the differences are. I'll bet there's a ton of info about this in this group!

Do you mean the 91-93 GSX1100G? If so, then it is basically a shaft drive sport touring version of the Katana of that era. It is NOT fuel injected nor liquid cooled but does have an oil cooler and a hydraulic clutch with a 16 valve 1127 cc inline four.

[Gorminrider]

wikipedia..

.The key feature of the GSX engine was the change from the common two-valve per cylinder hemispherical combustion chamber with domed piston design of the GS engine, to a four-valve per cylinder Twin Swirl Combustion Chamber (TSCC) with flat topped piston design

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suzuki_GSX_series

Of course, it's never sooo simple so best read the whole thing. In the US, you got "GSX" engines in the 250 and 300 but they were Branded just GS

The first four-valve engines were produced for the 1980 model year, but retained the "GS" designation for the US and Canadian markets until the release of the GSX-R models in 1986

[bobgroger]

Early GSX engines were air and oil cooled, GS air cooled only. Other design changes were the intake ports and carbs tilted up, roller bearing cranks going away, and horsepower going up. Same basic engine lived on in the Bandit through 2006, each generation was incrementally better. The GSX-R engines split off around 93 and were liquid cooled.

[Guest]

roller bearing cranks going away....

So is that a good thing, or a bad thing? What were the roller bearings replaced with?

[bobgroger]

Replaced with plain bearings. Roller crank GS motors are bulletproof. You could probably drive cross country 2 quarts low on oil. Plain bearing GS\GSX motors have a history of bearing failures, mostly from oil starvation. There are mods, not a huge issue. I always wanted a GSX1100G. So I bought a Concours instead.