78 GS5/650 street/track motor

[ashdricky]

ok I like the ambition of your post.

You have such focus on your engine. GREAT! I like 1 of a kind !

Not knowing what your budget is planned at, and I may be jumping the gun offering advice. I hope you don't mind, but some of that crap on your list will not get you through a corner. Tons of money will solve any problem- do you want to sink $2000. into the engine and not ride it around a corner fast?

I believe 3% suspension improvement is equal to 10% more power.

. A Fact is, dollar for dollar one gets more riding improvement from suspension upgrades.

The best tires money can buy/rules allow, perfect balance on the wheels is a great start. Then good performance rear shocks, maybe some blueprinting on the inner dampening rods along with stiffer springs for the feel. Shaving off every ounce of non essential weight.

mods like that will allow you to ride faster in better control with less power. (less money too)

just a dyna "S", green 3 ohm coils,dyna wires, and regular NGK plugs is all you need for ignition. not going to need an oil cooler. cams are a cinch. Forged pistons will handle 8K~10K RPM's don't run stock cast ones just cause pops yoshi did. APE tool steel wrist pins are very important.

when you mill the head and you have to modify the valve pockets in the piston crowns..

you wrote a lot-a- bucks out of your pocket by wanting a exotic engine instead of concentrating on your final goal --a good riding toy.

post pictures, I'm interested in 1 of a kind anything.

Thanks i just got back online to check this thread, i only posted engine information because it is what im currently fiddling with, as fro suspension i have gas filled twindisc front suspension and will be using progressive springs in them for the front, as for the rear, i will be using either Ohlins or work suspension, i will be saving for a while for those, my current tires are avon roadriders, and youe are 100% right about handling, it is actually my #1 concern, to be quick and controlled rather than outright fast. i did have a theory about a mono shock conversion using a shock from a ducati, but that is just an idea.

[ashdricky]

If you are building a TRACK engine, you want RACE parts, not stock. You want parts that are stronger & will make power, not parts that are over 30 years old & have who knows how much abuse on them already. Ray.

that makes sense, i haven't been able to find any race parts that fit my motor, would they have to be custom machined?

[ashdricky]

Really, your main interest is building an engine the hard way.
A rider is a jockey, that's what he wants to do, so that's what he does best.

I think it's gonna take you, one year to build it, one year tune it, one year to build the bike, one year to tune it, enough to finish two track days in a row.

Pops Yoshimura was not a rider, he was a master craftsman, tuner and fabricator.

Fine engineering project, but all that is not riding track days.

If you want to be on the track and learning how to ride next summer, you better choose a 650-750, or a 1000.
Just preparing one of those will take you all winter.

Bill

I do enjoy the ride, for sure, but I get tremendous satisfaction from completing a project that many would find difficult, 10 years from now id like to look back and say "I built that" the track day is really my way of justifying the effort i am putting into this and keeps me motivated, you are so very right about the time it would take, to do this correctly, but i am patient, and think that the satisfaction will be overwhelming, my brother is the playboy racer, not me

[ashdricky]

If you're serious about revving the thing, manual tensioner every time. GregT

where would i locate a Manual tensioner and dose any company sell new cam chains?, my father is over seas right now so im in the process of collecting the parts, for the build so we have what we need when he returns, im running the stock 550 motor with the dynatek 2k right now and still trying to work out the bugs

[GregT]

As far as I know all the GS cam chain tensioners have the same bolt pattern and are interchangeable - so anything listed for a GS1000 or 750 will fit.
Camchains - I can't point you at a supplier as I'm outside the US, but they're readily available. I'm sure Ray carries good quality camchains.

[tkent02]

As far as I know all the GS cam chain tensioners have the same bolt pattern and are interchangeable - so anything listed for a GS1000 or 750 will fit.
Camchains - I can't point you at a supplier as I'm outside the US, but they're readily available. I'm sure Ray carries good quality camchains.

Some have two bolts, some have three.

[GregT]

Sorry - it's the old GS/GSX thing again...as far as I know all the 2 valve/cylinder motors have the same bolt pattern.
I wish the 4 valve/cylinder bikes had been sold in the US as GSX....much easier to differentiate.

[Suzuki_Don]

The 550 uses a two bolt cam chain tensioner. The same part was also used on various GS1000, 750, 650, 450, 300, and 250 GS motors.

The heavy duty cam chain is available from Z1 for a reasonable cost. I used a new Tsubaki racing cam chain in my motor. Got it from Z1.

[ashdricky]

So last night i took some photos of the bike,
here are some photos of it when i got it:
at first it didnt even run and many of the wires were melted together, then we got it to start but it would just sputter along, theses ar pics from that first night

Here is my father after connecting some wires finally starting the bike

as we took it apart we found all sorts of wiring mix-ups


melted fuse, its supposed to be a 15amp i think, this one is a 20 amp

wiring nightmare


new fork oil/seals in the shocks


That was six months ago. these photos were taken this morning,

[dansofield550]

thanks ashdricky , glad you like the bike though you might like to see what i done in my lunch break today . thought i'd have a go at modifying my cam chain tensioner to a manual type, seemed easy enough to cut off the large part housing the spring parts then drill out the hole and tap to m12x1 make a nut and o ring groove to keep the oil in , then make a lock nut, and new shaft to act on the tensioning slide .

[ashdricky]

Ok so dynatek asked for me to mail the unit back for testing, and befor i packaged it up i wanted to retrieve the data, riddle me this how is it possible for my 1978 gs550 to reach a max RPM of 18656 when the redline is set at 10,500?

[hampshirehog]

Ok so dynatek asked for me to mail the unit back for testing, and befor i packaged it up i wanted to retrieve the data, riddle me this how is it possible for my 1978 gs550 to reach a max RPM of 18656 when the redline is set at 10,500?

There's something dodgy with that printout. 18k rpm isn't going to happen on a GS550 - not with the engine remaining in one piece. She'll run well in to the red but that's F1 territory.

[ashdricky]

There's something dodgy with that printout. 18k rpm isn't going to happen on a GS550 - not with the engine remaining in one piece. She'll run well in to the red but that's F1 territory.

Yes sir, you are right, I know for sure my motor never went past 12k, so im going to send the unit back to dynatek for diagnosis, this is a little aggravating but nothing like this is easy.

[ashdricky]

So after 8 weeks Dynatek has sent me a new module, apparently the one I had was defective. we'll see here this goes from here

[240punk]

I saw 18k and my jaw dropped haha
So how do you measure/check the tension of the cam chain to set the tension manually?
And is that the tach that was in the cluster? I took mine apart with the same idea that you have already done. Could you maybe send me a picture of the back so I can see how you mounted it? Im not much of a fabricator but i wanted to make more of a plate with a few switches to hold the stock tach.