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Been on the lookout for an 1100 engine for it ever since I got it, but every chain drive 1100 motor I've came across has been $700+. Few weeks ago I finally found a good deal. 1980 1100 parts bike with motor for $400. I asked if the motor ran, guy said he had no idea, that his dad owned a GS and they bought this one for parts to fix his. So they bought the bike, took what they needed (carbs, rear brake caliper, side covers, and a few other odds and ends), then they re-listed it for sale. He said they never tried to turn the engine over. I said $400 was a big risk for an unknown engine on a bike with no title, and offered him $200. He said come get it. So off I went. Took a battery with me. Got there, hooked up the battery, turned the key, hit the switch and she started spinning over. I handed him $200 and loaded it on the truck. Had been sitting for 21 years.
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Pulled the engine, got it cleaned up, pulled my 750 engine, and stuffed the 1100 in there.
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So I get it back together and running. Shes ticking bad. Real bad. Doesn't go away with RPM like cam walk and it wasn't clutch rattle. I could tell it was top end noise cause it was keeping perfect time with the cams. So I decided to start tearing it down to find the issue. I pulled the valve cover to find a set of Cam Motion G3 cams staring back at me.
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One of the exhaust lobes was wearing funny, so I pulled the cams. 3 Rockers were cupped bad on the intake side, and one was wearing funny on the exhaust side where the damaged lobe was.
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Factory rockers were used instead of hard-welded, but I've had several people including Ray tell me that the stock rockers should be okay with the G3 cams. The rockers are all getting oil (fired it up with the cover off prior to tearing down to verify). I'm guessing whoever put it together originally either didn't break in the cams properly, or ran it low on oil.
In total 4 rockers were damaged, and 1 cam lobe. The other 4 rockers had no abnormal wear at all.
I have a few 750 engines sitting here. Found out the exhaust cam from a 82 750 16V is same part # as the 1980 - 1100e exhaust cam. Gears are different but same cam. I don't have a stock 1100 intake cam though. So I ordered some rockers and swapped the G3 exhaust cam out and put the stock cam in. Shes running now, with no ticks. Its raining here for most of the week, so I only got a very short road test in. I've got the carbs close. Pilots and Mains are spot on, just a tad lean in the middle so I may have to play with the needle.
I'm not too crazy about running a G3 intake with stock exhaust cam, so I ordered a stock intake cam off ebay. Will swap that out soon, and either try to find someone to repair this G3 exhaust cam, or maybe just go with a set of 1150 cams instead if I can find some for the right price. Thats where I'm at right now. Once the weather clears up I'll finish tuning these carbs and maybe get a video uploaded.
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