1981 gs1100e... need engine help not sure if i blew a valve

[Anonymous]

about 4 days ago i blew a plug on my bike... i've been totally broke so i had to wait until yesterday to pick them up. it's been backfiring... on the way home from the shop, i got some really bad backfiring and then the bike died. there is oil seeping out of the valve covers on the left side. it restarted for about 30 seconds (i think i might have thrown a busted valve into the cylinder at that point) and then died for good.

i figured i'd check with the list here before expending efforts and very limited cash. oh yeah i'm also in ct and moving to fl next week so space is limited but i have room in the van.

questions:

if it's a broken valve in the cylinder, do i need a total rebuild? or just take it apart and see what's broken...

is a total rebuild beyond $1k with my labor? if so, i think i would just look for a "stroked" engine...

thanks,
turk

[Anonymous]

i've also considered going with a new APE complete 1258 kit...

[Anonymous]

Turk, is it limited money or not? A 1258 kit is not cheap!

Anyway, if you ar moving next week maybe it is best to postpone the tear down until after you get settled. If it does need a rebuild, you won't get it done before the move and it will be a mess as well.

If you take off the valve cover, you can tell if the valve has dropped - it will be gone and the spring and retainer will be loose. If that happened, plan on new pistons and head work - minimum.

Before you do anything - like removing parts. Take out the plugs and perform a compression test. A few more rotations of the cylinders won't hurt anything any more than it already is.

If you need help with the rebuild, some of us here can assist you a bit - in a virtual sense that is.

[Anonymous]

trying to be complete here.... the reason i blew the plug was because there was something wrong with the kill switch... it would shut off under heavy acceleration/vibration... just got the bike so didn't know what was wrong or right with it...

[Anonymous]

hey swanny...

money is limited right now... what i meant was that the bike would become a longer term project... in FACT, i'd bought it to make a streetfighter... i've read your gsxr mod posts and i intend to do something very similar.... basically this awesome engine, with this outdated frame and killer suspension...

so... i will open it up and see where the valves are...

[Anonymous]

Turk, don't get too excited about my mods yet. They have yet to be experienced, at least by me.

A young man who goes by the name of Tudor (lives in Albuquerque, NM) did visit me a couple of months ago to get some measurements. He has completed his project and is riding. The feedback I get from him is pretty positive. Obviously he is a lot faster than I am!

[Anonymous]

Turk,
When you get down to Florida you can look up Earl. He probably has forgotten more about this stuff than a lot of the rest of us will ever know.

Harrison

[Anonymous]

thanks Harrison, I'm going to be in Orlando...

i was actually looking forward to being a cornerworker for the k, code superbike school at N. FL motorsports park in september...

hopefully, i can slap this bike back together to run a few laps on that track... if not, i'll be doing midnight drag runs in orlando for kicks...
although when i went to both nhra or summit sites, i couldn't find info for motorcycle classes

safe rides,
turk

[Anonymous]

Sorry, Turk. I didn't mean to dismiss your knowledge, skill, or experience. I just meant that since you are going to be in Fla. that Earl is a great local resource.

Harrison

[Anonymous]

oh yeah man... i knew that i appreciate the referral... don't know too much about these beasties anyways, just know that they're dead strong... i'm actually an ex-motorcycle messenger that's never been able to afford road racing...

this bike though, has made me look into drag racing. it seems like i can do the street classes locally and have a great time without spending $ thousands on schooling, licensing, etc. just to get an intro to racing legally i don't mind spending it on the bike...

my $.02 hahaha

[Anonymous]

Hang on to this awesome website and you'll find guys here who are already heavily into drag racing on their GSs. You may be able to avoid experiments that have already been tried and failed, thereby saving you many,many dollars. Good luck on the racing.

Harrison