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Aftermarket Camshafts

  • Thread starter Thread starter 78GS550
  • Start date Start date
7

78GS550

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i have a 78 GS550 and i was wondering if nebody could help me in finding a good camshaft that will give me a lot more power for a decent price if anybody could help me it would be greatly appreciated
 
Good luck, but I've not seen camshafts that work like that. For a stock engine, cam timing would probably do as much for you as new cams would. More ratical cams will work better after carbs, exaust, head work.
 
Might have to send them off and have them re-ground. Any of the cam companies can do that for you. They can also help you in choosing a profile that fits your needs. Good luck. Terry.
 
if i were to put new cams into a stock motor how much would it cost to do that and a head work and carbs approximately
 
Good luck finding cams to fit the 550/650 motors.. I've been looking for the past few yrs and haven't found anything.

You could expect a few more ponies from them, but primarily what aftermarket cams do is lift the powerband up the rev range to produce more ponies, more quickly.
 
I have my GS1000 cams here http://www.webcamshafts.com/ right now for hard weld and a custom profile grind perfect for what I want. I can get yours done, I just need to know how much bottom you are willing to sacrifice for the added top end. Dan
 
you don't need cams. yet. :-) There are many paths to power on the first gen 550's. They're severely restricted due to the intake setup. Improve the intake, your output goes sky high.
 
you don't need cams. yet. :-) There are many paths to power on the first gen 550's. They're severely restricted due to the intake setup. Improve the intake, your output goes sky high.


TURBO!!!!!!! \\:D/
 
were can i find new intake setups and it i were to turbo were do i find that and how much is involved in that
 
brveagle's got the right answer... seriously. As it stands I think he and I have "the most" hotrodded GS550's around.

How long have you been riding the bike? 49hp will get you a long ways. Motorcycles already have some relitively radical cams in them, so it's really a matter of making the intake and exhaust take full advantage of it.

But before that, are you using all the bike you have yet?
 
brveagle's got the right answer... seriously. As it stands I think he and I have "the most" hotrodded GS550's around.

How long have you been riding the bike? 49hp will get you a long ways. Motorcycles already have some relitively radical cams in them, so it's really a matter of making the intake and exhaust take full advantage of it.

But before that, are you using all the bike you have yet?

Sorry but I have to disagree, for those of use who want more power with out all the intake and exhaust noise of an after market setup, cams will add more power if you select the right grind. What you want is a cam with a small increase in duration (to preserve your low end) but quick ramps and higher lift which will give more power to the mid and top end. Here is what I found out about some foreign suzuki's at suzukicycles.org Dan

Another reader, Bryan, told me about the GS1000 series sold in Australia. Sometimes bikes sold in different countries had slightly different specs, so this may only apply to Australian models, though the factory service manual says this is common to all S models:
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The '79 'SN' series GS1000 had the full plastic dash with oil temp and fuel gauges and ran 28mm Mikuni slide carburettors. The '80 'ST' series looked the same but only had a speedo/tacho binnacle with a fuel gauge in one of the instruments, not the full plastic dash. The 1980-year's model also had 30mm Mikuni slide carbs, as well as bigger camshafts with about half a millimetre more lift and longer valve duration. “To my knowledge, that model was the only GS1000 to ever benefit from the larger camshafts and slide carburettors, and definitely made more horsepower than the previous model. In straight line accelleration tests between my friend and I, his ST was consistently faster than my SN, despite him being a heavier guy than me,” Bryan added.
 
You're right, except that the intake on the GS550 is... crippled. If the GS550 had the same intake as the GS650, it would make sixty horsepower instead of fifty.

Cams are an incremental thing. Without more lift, the best you can get from a cam is moving the torque peak around. As it stands they're 9000+rpm motors, the cams that come on the 550's are by no means "mild." (it appears to be the same cam grind on the GS650, and that's a 10,000rpm peak horsepower motor...)

The total cost of a jet kit and pods for a GS550E (which should put you into the low 60's...) is $200. I don't see a camshaft being able to fix the frighteningly bad intake on the GS550.

"just" going from the airbox, to no airbox and pods took my bike from a 110mph to 120mph top speed. You won't see that kind of change with a "mere" cam change. (That being said, once you've got a proper intake on the bike I'm all for swapping cams)

I'm fairly sure the GS550 is a special case. GS1000's have a decent airbox. And you mentioned that the "faster" GS had different carbs. Carbs make all the difference in the world.

Now he IS riding a 78, so he doesn't have the benifit of the 32mm carburators that the 80-82 GS550's get. I've got a motor, a set of VM carbs, and lots of jets so I can see what you can get away with on those. But we won't find that answer untill next summer.
 
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