AirCooledSuzuki

Bort this GSX1100 off the local aution site in New Zealand





Has done 13200 km from new , had been sitting for some 17 year before the chap i bought it off go it , did 2000km on it in 4 years before selling it to me
Its not a minter but will make a very good base for a drag bike

Afew of the parts already collected for this project


17" gsxr wheels


The exhust , needs to be modified as the megafone does not fit the header


1166cc pistions to start things off



Dyna 2000 and 4000 , will start with the 2000


For the over size valves ...............



38mm should help it get the air in


1500cc pistons on the right for when i find a big block

Spent a day racing it back on the 16th december









Had a great day - bike ran 11.6 but was missing at the top end , 60 ft times of 1.8 need to be lowered but go in to the final 6 bikes out of 50ish there
on the day in the DYO class so was very pleased and it was a very hot day with temp about 30 deg C

hello mate, welcome aboard, great pics and a cool find,

You might won't to check them 1166cc pistons, I think they maybe for 18mm pins.

There is a couple of guys on here that are into drag racing, I've wanted to for years and may have a go at it next year

So after the first day out it was time to start making it quicker


the pile of bits that has been removed

Fitted the dyna 2000 and needed to set the timing ................ not a hard job , just remove the plugs, get TDC , use a degree wheel , job done , easy realy ............................ untill I couldent remove number 4 plug , f**k , then manage to snap the hex off the plug leaving the rest still locked in the head , double f**k , ok remove centre of plug - that was easy as it popped out on winding it over on the starter, used some penetrating oil left it over night , did it again and left for another 24 hours , had the right size ez out , still couldent get it to move , about this time a mate reminded me that if I broke the ez out off in the plug I would have a problem ..............



the photo tells it all ..........................

So the head is now removed , there not a machine shop open in Christchurch that can do the job as its Xmas and new year and they are all closed
on the bright side of all this the cams , valves , pistons and bores are all in as new condition so now realy do beleave that it has only done 13000km and now that the head is off it'll get 60 thou machined off it to up the compression a bit



so as i wait for the head to be repaired have stripped the wiring loom out of the old girl , will make a total loss system and lower the surspension , remove one of the front disc's , remove any thing else that I can to get the weight down

Bit of a bummer about the plug! I would drill it for the 'Easy Out' (I don't like them either!), heat the area around the plug and douse it with proper release-oil. Try this a few times before finally heating the head and trying the 'Easy-Out' As said, they may snap, but it's not the end of the world! Spark Erosion is your friend! EFE heads are too good to use as doorstops!
Good luck!

nice choice of base for a drag bike-my best advice for your plug is to use normal candle wax-as you heat all the fancy modern oils they just burn away-wax will melt and travel fuyrther into the seized threads than any other thing i have found in the last 30 years-
failing that spark erosion-
treat that head with care-there getting very rare indeed now-im down to my last 6
enjoy the grunt

Been full on with work and stuff but have managed some progress - head has been repaired by a friend who works for the local arm base as an engineers , brocken plug removed and the other one that was seized removed , very greatful to him as it took most of the day and its only cost me few beers . Only thing was head very kindly cleaned out all the threads just proir to me getting there to pick it up ....................... using a 11 x 1.0 m/m tap , I nearly died when told me that knowing that they are 12 x 1.25 m/m threads , really didnt know what to say at first , but after taking a very large deep breath and explaining that it was the wrong size we very carefully ran the right size tap throught the spark plug holes .
The plugs tighten up and touge down ok but going to have to be super careful with them untill i pull the motor a part in the winter and can helcoil the head ............... he ment well and is a very good mate but ....................





So standard exhuast removed , Vance and Hines fitted - sounds soooooooooooooooooooooooooo much better , at least now i'll be able to hear the motor when i,m racing
Wireing loom removed and now a total loss system , air box gone and running the standard carbs with the ram tube out the air box fitted , fitted 140 size jets and seams to run ok but realy can't give it a good go due to the noise it makes and living in a built up area plus the local law lives over the back fence and i want to keep on good turms with him
Bikes been lowered both ends 2" - that's ok for now but will need to be lower






Also removed everthing I could to get the weight down could



Out in the sun with my Bandit 12 after a bit of a clean prior to raceing Sunday week , have a new shift light / data loger on order from Schintz racing in the states so with luck it will get prior to the next meeting so i can get some data sets before going to Nelson to race in the South Island NZHRA champs on the 2nd of Febuary

Hi mate, the project unfolds, looking forwards to seeing what improvements are going to be needed to get her into the 8's. A Busa with 170+HP out of the crate can do it in the 10's. What changes do you think you'll need to make?

Gutting about the plug, I belt you nearly died

Let us know how you get on during your next run, it's nice to see progress.

The plan for the rest of this season , 3 meetings in Christchurch and 2 in Nelson is to see if I can get the old girl in to the mid 10's with changing any thing in side the motor, still have to get all the bits for a air shifter and fit it , have a set of 38 flat slides but those will be to big for the standard motor i think - they worked really well on my old 1300cc motor but it had a ported head and was running 320 psi plus of compression , the seat needs to be cut down , one front disc to be removed , and then go over it again to see if there is any more weight i can remove
The bigest problem here is getting parts , cant buy in more than $400 NZ at a time from over seas without paying 15 percent goods and service tax on it so have to make lots of small orders a few weeks apart to not attract the attention of our customs
Yes i looked at buying one of those water cooled things but they have no heart , bloody fast ,easy to get heaps of power out of , but its not the same as doing it on something thats almost 40 years old , and i like air GSX's been riding the things since 85 , can pull them apart blind folded plus have a shed full of them and lots of spares if something goes wrong