GS1150 ES Makeover Project

[posplayr]

I had a set of brand new Webcams that developed similar damage after extended stator testing. I was doing the Series v.s. Shunt R/R comparison. Beyond the lobe dame there was cam bearing damage to the saddles. I used some 800 grit emery cloth and carefully worked the saddles. Was the paper so you don't get abrasive everywhere and wipe it out good after. The low spots will help oiling and not a concern.

Buying old cams is a crap shoot. But having old followers and a fresh cam is not good either. You need good to excellent condition followers and a new cam. Get adjustable sprockets and degree the cam in.

You will be happy when done.

[londonboards]

Grimly - this bike came from the hot part of the US and the PO stuck this massive oil cooler on it:



which is twice as big as standard. You might be forgiven for thinking there were temperature problems and indeed I do wonder what the bottom end might be like. There were some rumbles which can be heard here at around 2:24 - it doesn't sound too good:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SRL4Hvd2Ig

[londonboards]

BiomedDR - that's my worry. I think I need to pass this project onto someone with deeper pockets and more engineering skills.

Greetings

[Grimly]

Depends - the GTR 1000 was notorious at one time for blocked oil feeds to the cams. A friend had one go that way, and after he turned his considerable expertise to it, the repaired engine did another 100K. That was a known fault though, and I've heard nothing similar about these GS1150 lumps, so if the wear pictured is due to razzing it in hot conditions with cheap oil, the whole thing might be knackered.

Can't view youtube where I'm at right now but if it ran that is good.

The bad thing is it isn't always a good indicator if an engine is worth investing in a major repair....a worn out Japanese 4 motorcycle engine will run seemingly well even with low compression. It isn't until you get on the road and give it the beans when you discover an anemic, tired engine.

64k miles isn't a gigantic amount unless it was mostly slow city miles. But the wear on the cam makes me wonder what the condition of the bottom end is.

[Grimly]

Some of the Hondas that had cam oil feed issues were reclaimed but it was only because they were still fairly new bikes and worth a few quid still. The work involved building up the cam journals and grinding to size again, and machining a recess in the head and caps to take a shell bearing. Costly work and is it worth it to pay a machine shop? If you had your own kit to do it cheaply, and if it were a rare engine, it's not a scrap head.

[londonboards]

BiomedDR - No I didn't but it ran quite well so I figure it's OK (ish):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SRL4Hvd2Ig

Greetings

Before you took it apart did you do a compression test?

You don't want to put money into an engine that has bigger issues...

[londonboards]

Well it looks like the cam journal bearing holders on the far left and right (middle pairs look OK) of the head are pretty scored up. Not sure what you can do about that as they are integral to the head. I'm thinking of taking the head off now (I also snapped a cam journal bearing top cover bolt) to see if anything can be done with it.

I don't want to spend money on this bike. I need all the funds to go into the GS1100G Resto.

So - what to do?

Greetings

Unless you are a machinist you don't... Do you have a good machine shop around you? If I were you I would take the head to the shop for them to evaluate.

You could look around on ebay... but being in the UK not sure how available those kind of parts are...

[londonboards]

Journal Bearings and Cam Followers

Here are some pics of the journal bearings and cam followers

This journal:



came from these bearing holders which look OK:





And this journal:



came from here:





And these are the cam followers:







How do you fix goosed journal bearings and cam followers?

Greetings

[Grimly]

More pictures now the cams are out:

Ouch. Ah, the tender ministrations of some PO and his cheap-ass maintenance regime.

[tatu]

The journal is stuffed, is the head goosed too?

Do NOT change just the cams!!! You will need to replace all the rocker arms also.
Ray.

my point was to simply replace cams with like for like opposed to replacing with far more expensive aftermarket cams... of course relevant bits need replacing also

Very interesting project I look forward to seeing the completed bike,