Roscoe's 1987 GSX-R 750

My Suzuki GSXR-750, a complete history: 1997-2002 Deep Storage, rebirth and Version 5

In the Colorado mountains above Evergreen CO, Summer 1997. I am on the far right.

Before coming home for leave in August 1997, I decided to have some maintenance done at Gran Prix Motorsports. And I forgot to mention, I was also lucky enough to find a used Fox Twin-clicker rear shock when I was home back in March.

The Fox Twin Clicker. Manufactured 2/87. Rebuilt in 2002 by Curtis Pell of the now defunct California Suspension Works. This shock eventually made it's way on to my 1986 1100 Roadrace bike.

While I was at Fort Hood, I had the shock rebuilt by Rick Sage of Sage Racing in Denver, CO. Gran-Prix Motorsports handled the installation along with new steering head bearings, an oil change and a carb clean. Granted, I normally did all of the maintenance and work on my bike, but I was tired of spending a couple of days prepping the bike each time I went on leave. I finally decided to fork over the dough to get it done so I could just pick up the bike and ride.

Riding that summer was great. The roads were in excellent shape in and around Evergreen and Morrison. Some really nice and scenic riding there if you get the chance to check it out. I did some real hard riding with the folks from Gran Prix again, and really saw how this bike would run with some good pavement and nice weather. I was frustrating one of the salesmen who pulled a brand spanking new 1997 ZX-7R off the showroom floor. My ten-year-old "vintage" bike hung with it just fine mile after mile. If fact, my built motor out muscled it, especially in the higher altitudes (I jetted and adjusted the carbs just for this, heh, heh, heh). I felt pretty good about that. He didn't.

For all of the fun I had, when the vacation started winding down, the motor started losing power AGAIN. That was it for me. I winterized the bike, and put her into deep storage. All fluids were drained, tank was coated internally with oil, tires were blocked and a cover was put over her. I was sick and tired of spending money on the "thing." I loved this bike, but frustration and the continuous cash flow finally got the best of me.

Spring 2002, with the motor and shock removed.

During the next four years, a lot happened in my life. I left the Army, moved to San Antonio, and eventually wound up in Northern California. I never forgot about my old Suzi, but just didn't have the time nor the space to store and work on her. While in California, I started thinking about getting the bike back under my wing. I finally had the space to put all of my tools and the bike.

I had a couple of weeks off on August 2001, so I decided to drive back to Colorado and pick her up. I knew that I didn't have the money or desire to redo the race-built motor at that time, but I did plan ahead and picked up a clean spare head and some other internals from Steeles Cycle Salvage in Englewood, CO.

'85 motor just out of the crate.

After much thought I decided against making a "7/11" bike (750 frame, 1100 motor) on advice from a friend and mechanic of mine. He did the conversion, but said that it really affected handling and was really too much torque and power for a frame that was not reinforced. I opted searching for an old complete junkyard motor to drop in the frame.

I opted for trying my luck on the internet after failing to find a decent used motor locally in the Northern California salvage yards (everything I found was extremely overpriced at the time). I eventually hooked up with Mike Kertscher at MSK Racing in Wisconsin when I was actively looking for the 1100 motor. He said he might be able to find a 750 motor. It just might take some time. I eventually got the call, and he hooked me up with a 1985 stock, unmodified 750 motor from Canada (GSXRs were shipped everywhere but the US in 1985, they came here in 1986) with 12K miles on the clock, allegedly.

Spring 2002, on first ride in 4 1/2 years.

While the new motor was being shipped, I pulled the original motor out of the frame, and had the rear shock rebuilt adding a correct rate spring for my weight. I also bled all the lines with fresh DOT 4 fluid and cleaned the frame.

I inspected the engine upon arrival and found that all parts were there, but there was some trash in the #1 and #2 intake ports. Mainly pine needles and some rust on the valves. The engine had been stored for more than four years in a barn so something like this was to be expected. The other two intake ports looked fine. Might I get lucky? I removed the pine needles and cleaned as much rust off as I could. I really didn't feel like removing the head.

I sprayed WD-40 in the intake ports and turned the motor over by hand to make sure there were no funny noises or binding of any sort. While doing a valve adjustment, I found that all of the valves were loose. Better than being tight, but still out of tolerance. I also retorqued the head while doing this.

This motor had a standard Vance and Hines ignition advancer. I removed it and installed the one that went with my V&H Power Pack. I also installed the Yosh side cover on the left side (my right side cover wouldn't work due to the early motors NOT having the brass plug in the case. Later motors had them). I added NGK-JR9C race plugs to help my coils perform to their full potential.

My next dilemma was the carburetion. Mike wrangled me an airbox along with the motor, but I was still short a set of stock carbs. Because the plumbing was in place for the Mikuni RS series, I decided to purchase a new set of RS-34's from American Performance Engineering. It was a good choice as I knew I could adjust them quickly and keep the exixting plumbing intact. The familiarity with this setup was worth the extra money.

My favorite fuel intake system.

Having uninstalled, rebuilt and reinstalled at least a hundred sets of carburetors, having to remove and install them from an airbox with those fuel hardened boots is no fun. Knowing this, I went ahead and ordered a nice set of new pliable 34mm intake boots.

Motor bolted into the bike. Ready to fire up and wake the neighbors.

NOW . . . to start her up. Another gearhead from across the street from me was helping me to drop the motor in and bolt her up. By the time everything was in and the fuel bottle connected, it was around 11 p.m. My neighbors are pretty forgiving so I figured "What the hell," and pushed the start button. It only took a couple of cranks and she bumped off! I couldn't believe it. No unwanted noise and running great. I let her run for about 30 seconds, then shut her down due to the lateness of the hour. The exhaust was a bit smoky, and I wasn't sure what was causing it, but it would have to wait until morning. I connected the fuel tank, and put some of the plastic back on her.

Classic Yoshimura side cover.

After four-and-a-half years, I was dying to ride her. I woke up early, tossed her on the stand and fired her up to see if the smoke would go away. I also wanted to check for oil leaks, and honestly hope she wouldn't "grenade" on me. Most of the smoke cleared up right away. Was most likely from sitting, and the WD-40. I was hoping that was the case. There was still some smoke, but nothing to worry about. There were also a couple of oil leaks. I tightened the covers down more, and it seemed to stop it temporarily. The bike was running fine, and after an idle adjustment, I tossed on the leathers and took her to work.

Spring 2002, on first shakedown ride in Nor-Cal.

It was immediately apparent that the carbs needed adjusting. BUT, she was running OK for a short jaunt. Another thing I noticed was that the transmission was really sticky while shifting. I thought the clutch might have to be replaced, but at least it was not slipping. It was most likely caused by sitting for so long with no oil in it.

The original 1985 motor had 29mm carbs. They were updated to 31mm in 1986, and 34mm in 1987. I had to drop the needles all the way after I installed the carbs. The main jetting was OK. Once I got her off base and on the road, I found she still ran slightly rich and had a wonky flat spot at 4K rpm no matter what adjustments I made. I could have DYNOED her and got her totally sorted but honestly, she ran well enough for me.

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