85 GS700 to 96 GSXR750 swap questions

[Guest]

hey guys, looks like i can get a 96 gsxr750 parts bike for a good deal
i want to swap the front end and the rear wheel onto my GS700E

all its missing is fairings, tank, and exhaust
i want to know if this will be a bolt on affair?
from my research, the front end will swap right over, but how about the rear wheel? would i have to swap rear swingarms? i read that this is the SRAD kind and therefore the axles are not 20mm, so the stock swingarm cant be used. whats needed if it has to come to that?

THanks!

[Billy Ricks]

Salty Monk got a 5.5" wheel in his '83 750s stock swingarm with a 170 width tire. You may have to do something about steering stops for the forks and you'll need headlight brackets. On the rear wheel you just knock out the Gixxer bearings and use stock GS sizes. You may have to play with which right side spacer you'll need to use. Left side will be your stock piece. You'll have to do something about the bearing support inside the hub too. It won't fit the stock axle so you wither have to have one made or just do like I did and use the stock GS part with a piece of steel pipe the right diameter to make up the difference in length. Caliper and caliper hanger will need to come from the donor. You'll need to create a shim for the inside of the hanger where the axle goes through to make up for the different od. I made mine out of a 3/4" copper 90 degree angle fitting. I cut it the length needed then cut a slot about 1/4" wide so it would pinch down the size I needed to fit in the hanger. It worked just right, the axle was nice and snug. I just coated everything with grease to keep anything from seizing together.

[5t341th]

Salty Monk got a 5.5" wheel in his '83 750s stock swingarm with a 170 width tire. You may have to do something about steering stops for the forks and you'll need headlight brackets. On the rear wheel you just knock out the Gixxer bearings and use stock GS sizes. You may have to play with which right side spacer you'll need to use. Left side will be your stock piece. You'll have to do something about the bearing support inside the hub too. It won't fit the stock axle so you wither have to have one made or just do like I did and use the stock GS part with a piece of steel pipe the right diameter to make up the difference in length. Caliper and caliper hanger will need to come from the donor. You'll need to create a shim for the inside of the hanger where the axle goes through to make up for the different od. I made mine out of a 3/4" copper 90 degree angle fitting. I cut it the length needed then cut a slot about 1/4" wide so it would pinch down the size I needed to fit in the hanger. It worked just right, the axle was nice and snug. I just coated everything with grease to keep anything from seizing together.

thanks for all that info. i tried looking up your build thread but i guess you dont have one?

Anyway, i picked up the bike. it looks very good and has all parts necessary except a front fender. the rear end looks quite intimidating. i wonder if i could just swap out the rear swingarm. would save tons of trouble compared to what you did. FYI, this is my first experiences with motorcycles. I've fixed up cars before but my barely dipping my toes into bikes.

[Billy Ricks]

No build thread, most of my mods came before there was a GS Resources. The USD forks are fairly recent but that was just an update from an earlier swap. The '88 forks I had on the bike ended up going to Colorado and a modded 550 there.

I was going to do a '93 swingarm on my bike at one time until I got a killer deal on a like new Works shock for the rear. You may be able to do something like I had planned on doing. The pivot point on the '93 arm was a little wider than the stocker so I was going to take a little off of the inside of the frame to make that fit. There's plenty of metal there to take a little off. Then I was going to utilize my stock bushings in the GSX-R swingarm so I could use the stock pivot bolt. I was going to have to shorten the bushings a little. The shock mounts would have to be changed too. If you do it just take some good pics and measurements of how the GSX-R stuff fits. One guy was doing a conversion on an older bike and was using the center stand mounting tabs for the lower shock point. He fabbed up something that he bolted to those tabs. A little welding would be easier and less of a compromise. You could lose quite a bit of weight with the newer stuff.

[5t341th]

After some more reading, it looks like I can use sv650 conversion bearing for the top triple bearing. The bottom is same size. Is this really true billy? It was your posting

[Billy Ricks]

After some more reading, it looks like I can use sv650 conversion bearing for the top triple bearing. The bottom is same size. Is this really true billy? It was your posting

Most of the newer triples use a bigger bearing than our GS's. Bigger od and id. The SV conversion bearing makes up for that. I had run around to every bearing shop in town trying to find a bearing with the right id for the newer triple and the right od for the GS neck. At that time I was told none existed. I went to a couple of machine shops and they said they couldn't turn the GS bearing being hardened steel. One shop just refused to do anything bike related. So out came the Dremel and I did my own. Next time I have the forks off I'll probably buy one of the SV conversion bearings.

[5t341th]

Most of the newer triples use a bigger bearing than our GS's. Bigger od and id. The SV conversion bearing makes up for that. I had run around to every bearing shop in town trying to find a bearing with the right id for the newer triple and the right od for the GS neck. At that time I was told none existed. I went to a couple of machine shops and they said they couldn't turn the GS bearing being hardened steel. One shop just refused to do anything bike related. So out came the Dremel and I did my own. Next time I have the forks off I'll probably buy one of the SV conversion bearings.

thats great. now i can just bolt on the front end instead of sourcing the 954 triples. those are 200 bucks!

i took off the donor parts off the gixxer. what a pain it is to work with no motorcycle jack.....



got the rear swingarm off. this is quite wide!



and heres them together. cant wait to install the front end.
the rear end.... i will have to measure out


where do you guys recommend getting replacement bottom bearing? allballsracing?
the stock one is ball bearing. i want to match the sv650 roller bearings



PS: anybody want a 96 gsxr750 frame with engine and carbs?

[Mista M]

hope to complete a similar swap this winter. can't comment on the bearing quality. A location in your profile will help sell parts.

[5t341th]

Another question. Since there's no speedo drive gear on the front for this bike, what can I do to keep my speedometer working?

[Billy Ricks]

Another question. Since there's no speedo drive gear on the front for this bike, what can I do to keep my speedometer working?

For bearings just go to a local bearing shop. If the lower bearing on the GSX-R triple is in good shape just use it. It should be the same size as the 700 lower bearing. They're a pain to get off and you end up destroying them in the process most of the time.

No speedo drive is a little different problem. I don't follow all the build threads. You might look through them and see how they've handled it. More than likely by utilizing GSX-R clocks. The GSX-R speedo for that year must sense off the drive sprocket. You probably need to try to run that gearing too if you want the accuracy to be right. I'm running a 16 tooth front sprocket and a 43 tooth rear and the mph:rpm ratio is about equal to stock. If that's close to what the GSX-R has then I'd take a look at how the pickup inside the sprocket cover is mounted and see if I could adapt it to the 700. Then the GSX-R gauges would be a cinch to use. Somewhere I have what to attach where for the tach. The idiot lights in the gauges are easy enough to figure out. You do have to do a little butchering of the harness where it plugs into the stock gauges but once you experience the new suspension you're not going back anyway.

[5t341th]

Hello all. I'm into my conversion now. I do have a few questions.
I would like to keep my speedo working with the cable so my stock cluster can be used.
It seems like the 95 gsxr and below USD conversion uses a speedo drive gear.
I have a 96 front end so it uses the front sprocket to measure the speed.

I believe the differences is the brake rotors. My model seems to be flat, while the pre 96 rotors are concaved. I am wondering if i just used pre-96 rotors and attach a speedo drive gear onto the setup, will i be able to use my cluster?

Has anyone done a conversion like this? I see others using newer GSXR front ends. What do you guys do to keep your speedometer working?

heres my front end bolted up. I used a Sv650 conversion bearing for the top and an original size bearing for the bottom

[Billy Ricks]

Is the new front wheel set up for a speedo drive? If it is the hub of the new wheel should have casting or machining that looks somewhat similar to your old wheel. There's usually slots in the hub that the drive sits in. Your new wheel may or may not have them depending on how many bikes it got used on. I'm not sure if you can switch the SRAD rotors over to an older wheel or not and have them fit in the calipers right. Have a good photo of the left side of the hub area?

[5t341th]

The front wheel is off the same bike so it don't have the groove I believe. I will try to snap a picture

[5t341th]

further measuring and research makes me believe it cannot be done. front axle on 96+ uses a 25mm while 95 and under uses 20mm.
so i guess I'm going to be going digital.
anyone recommend any aftermarket gauges that are not too expensive??

[Billy Ricks]

further measuring and research makes me believe it cannot be done. front axle on 96+ uses a 25mm while 95 and under uses 20mm.
so i guess I'm going to be going digital.
anyone recommend any aftermarket gauges that are not too expensive??

You can usually knock the bearings out and swap what you need for the axle you want to use. On the rear of my 700 I'm using the stock bearing sizes in the GSX-R wheel so I can use the 700 axle. Bearing supports have to be swapped too.