1987 Suzuki GSX-R1100H Project
by Fred D.
Background
There is something about the first generation GSXR’s that I really like. I’ve owned (2) 1986 GSX-R1100G’s (both red/blue) and a 1986 GSX-R750RG Limited Edition. In 1988 I bought a very nice used ’88 GSX-R750 that was owned by a friend who partially supported Doug Polen’s racing. It had one of Doug’s semi-race pipes on it and was tuned by Vance & Hines. I had many a fun day strafing Little Tijunga canyon on that screamer. Of course, I thought it could use more power and when the redesigned 1989 GSX-R1100 came out, I bought one for $6100 OTD. That bike had the power but not the handling I was looking for. So I ended up selling the ’89 1100 after riding it only 600 miles.
09/01/2006
Fast forward 17 years to 2006 and I still have a weak spot for the first gen bikes. I purchased this 1987 GSX-R1100H from a gentleman in Parker, CO. I had dabbled in fixing up a CB400F Super Sport and an SR500 during the past two years and thought I was ready for a more ambitious project.
The guy I bought the ’87 1100 from had purchased the bike from a neighbor and never got around to fixing the bike up. The bike was said to be in running condition when the neighbor had it. Then the bike sat for a couple of years and at minimum would probably need the carbs cleaned out and a new battery.
I put the bike on my trailer and drove back home to the mountains to assess all that needed to be done.
The biggest challenge was that the bike had a sport touring upper middle fairing made by Targa. The Targa kit had a different handlebar, mirrors, fairing stay and low set rider pegs. This fairing setup probably seemed like a good idea to someone for sport touring comfort, but I wanted a stock fairing on the bike.
All in all, the Targa kit looked pretty strange in my opinion. I asked the seller if the neighbor had the stock pieces. He did not.
The first thing I did after getting the bike home was to remove the big Targa fairing.
As most of you know, the stock upper middle fairings are very hard to find and expensive. The fairings are usually broken due to the stock mirrors hanging off the flimsy ears. There is a whole cottage industry of people that buy broken fairings and piece them together to make one good one and then sell them for $$$.
March 4, 2008
Most of the past year has been spent collecting the various odds and ends needed to put the bike back together. A word of caution to anyone considering doing a slabbie project: you will have a very tough time finding good body pieces! Even doing multiple automated searches on ebay every day you just don't find many good useable parts. It took me over a year to find an upper that was repairable. Then I found 2 more in various states of disrepair. I picked up a NOS mid-panel on ebay, a single seat cowl that needed painting, a couple of NOS seat cowl pads, a mint 4 into 1 pipe, some K&N individual pod filters, stock handlebars, a NOS black seat (that I won't be using) and many other parts ranging in condition from unuseable to NOS.
Since my bike hadn't run for a few years, I started to take the carbs out in order to clean them. I ended up cutting the OEM airbox out because I didn't want to remove the engine to save a $75 part. The fact that I didn't want to mess around with the stock airbox prompted me to go the pipe and filters route. I then purchase a Factory Pro Stage 3 jet kit with 2 sizes smaller on the mains because I live at 8250" elevation.
Having lost my momentum in the project I turned it over to my buddy Mike to complete. He then in turn took the bike down to Denver to the capable hands of our buddy John who is much better with carbs (and probably a lot of other things) than us mountain boys are.
John had some fresh enthusiasm as well as a 3300 mile 1100 parts bike to canibilize. It also provided a good reference as to how the various parts fit together properly. One of the things that the Targa sport touring setup had was low set pegs (see photos above). These had to go and the correct parts were installed. John said he could get some new tires at a great price so we are going to go ahead with a new set of Metzlers for the old girl. The tires on the bike had a lot of tread left but were hard as rocks due to age.
March 7, 2008
Excerpts from an email from John S.
Hi Fred,
I saw your updated resto blog, very cool! ( I'll have one coming for the Limited
soon).
I wanted to give you another update on your bike. I ordered your tires on
Wednesday...I did get a UPS notice that they would be here the 12th...The header
gaskets have not yet...I just ordered 3 sets of header gaskets and some engine
side cover gaskets. Pretty standard stuff......
I've got your carbs apart and they were super gummed up! Some of the slides
would not even return to neutral. Also lots of sediment. I have the tank emptied
and new (Premium) fuel back in it. The tank looked real nice inside. I've got a
good handle on how I'll set the carbs up (initially). But will need the bike
with plates and insurance before I can fully tune it under load. I'm going to
set it a little rich for your elevation (it will start cold easier) but when you
get it down to Denver elevation it will be spot on. Remember, "rich is better
than lean". If I get it just right for your elevation and you drive it anywhere
lower you could start burning stuff up. Mainly valves. Let's talk if your
thinking about an Arizona trip with the Slabby. We'll have to make some
adjustments.
The front brakes and clutch bled out real nice. The front brakes are a rock! (Thats
good!) But I'm have trouble with the rear. I may have to swap out another master
cylinder. Everything else looks real good though! I've given the bike the once
over. I did notice the kickstand bolts are loose. Some people do this on purpose
so the bike leans more on the stand. Let me know if you want these tightened
back up or left alone....
Take care, John
March 15, 2008
Got a quote from Empire GP to repair and paint my upper fairing and repaint the solo tail cowl in the correct solid blue.
The Vance & Hines 4 into 1 exhaust is on the bike. A fresh set of Avon tires have arrived and will replace the Flintstone-hard Metzelers (shown below).
April 4, 2008
Still sorting through some carb problems down in Denver. I am pretty sure the bike was a CA model based on the charcoal cannister it had. The carbs we're having problems tuning look different (smaller) so we are going to put another set on and see what happens.
The upper fairing and the solo seat cowl are off to Empire GP for painting. I got what I thought was a very fair price from them, so I'm looking forward to seeing the quality of their work. One thing that was a surprise was paying $9 for a box that was the proper size and then forking out $78 for roundtrip shipping via UPS for the 8 lbs box of parts.
My other buddy Mike took the mids and the side covers to a guy that took off the ratty heel guards and buffed them out real nice. I am going to try and get down to Glenwood Springs this weekend and check 'em out. I also got a new clear windscreen off of ebay.
April 26, 2008
John had a couple of WP shocks for sale so I had him put one on the 1100. The stopper had deteriorated with age but he found a new one and installed it.
Empire GP sent me an email today with pictures of the repaired and painted parts. They took exactly 2 weeks after receipt of my parts to do the job. Their procedure is to finish the job, send the customer an email with the pics, you send them a check, and when the check gets there the painted parts are dry enough to ship back to you in the box you supplied along with the prepaid return UPS you purchased.
May 1, 2008
I'm tracking the paint from Empire GP via UPS. Scheduled delivery is for tomorrow, May 2, 2008. I can't wait to see what the parts look like when they come back. Up to this point, Empire GP has been great to deal with and I am expecting a quality product from these folks. More later...
Here are some pics of the WP shock installed on the bike.
