80's superbike engines

I'm looking to increase the power of my on/off-road buggy, and I'm looking into 80's japanese air-cooled superbike engines. I'm looking into the following:

1) 1984 Honda Interceptor 1000
2) 1984 Suzuki GSX-R 1100
3) 1984 Kawazaki GPZ 1100
4) 1987 Yamaha FJ1200

The plan is to buy a complete bike, take the engine, sell-off what is left and insert said engine into my buggy. My objectives, in order of priorities, are:

1) inexpensive (purchase price and parts availability)
2) reliable (engine and transmission)
3) Good torque
4) room to grow (increase the power eventually)
5) easy to integrate into a car

So does anyone have any experience with any of those bikes? More suggestions? Comments? etc...

If I had to guess, I'd be thinking that an older bike is going to be harder to find in good mechanical shape. You might consider looking at bikes just old enough to not be sought after for current race bike parts.

Moreover, I'd think it would be much more cost-effective to get something with all the power you think you'll want rather than going after it later with cams and porting and so forth. Bike engines leave so much less on the table than car engines...

The one other thought I have is that buggies seem like a good place for liquid cooling, since you've probably got a driver right where the engine would like to be getting a breeze. A radiator can be stuck where there's air, and more effectively fitted with a fan.

Anyhow, my two cents, and quite possibly not worth that much... Since I've contradicted half of what you laid out, chances are good that I'm just missing key aspects of what you want to do

Out of those I'd pick the V4 Interceptor, just cause it's different, has more torque, and sounds wicked uncorked. IIRC the early ones had cam tensioner issues, so you may want to check for valvetrain clatter before buying.

The V4 may be better packaging wise, but the carbs are a bitch to get to and service.

The others are all I-4s which are great, but similar. They'd all be reliable, and have plenty of power, but there's nothing like that V4 baritone bark!

To bad your not looking for shaft drive motor as I have a 81 or 83 I can't recall Yamaha XS1100 that runs great but was left in a leaky barn for 5 years so paint is trashed as it the rubber manifolds (now glued and taped up to make sure it still runs good) I've even got a title for it. $600 in Massachusetts so not to far of a drive..

go w/ LC

Yamaha FJ1200 is used in Legends car, good luck finding them cheap.

GSX-R1100R is a good choice and very reliable. You could even go with a 1200 Bandit engine to get the evoloution of that engine. I would choose this one first.

The Interceptor Honda is water cooled V4 and a torque monster. It did starve oil to the cams if not careful, but in the day it was a beast. Parts are not as available.

I know nothing about the GPZ

check out kzrider if u want info about the kz1100 lots of good info to read up on also ive seen some kz1100 on craigslist in fl for about a grand running and driving

How about an ST1300 in NH?

Get a 10 year old bike. Those are just as cheap and much easier to get parts for.

Thanks for the quick responses guys.

@Ransom: I don't really want a water-cooled engine because all the older water cooled engines around here seem to have problems from their cooling systems. I think it has something to do with bikes being used 4-5 months a year and then left in a freezing shed all winter. And the wreckers want a fortune for the more recent engines. But you are right, if I could find one of those engines, I would get it.

@Joe Gearin: The sound and torque is why it was on the list. But I'm honestly scared a bit on that one.

@Flight Service: I didn't even know about the FJ1200 in Legends. Those guys should come around here, because they seem plentiful.

Here are the choices so far:
1984 Suzuki GSX-R 1100: Phoned the guy, and he says it cranks over, but won't start. It was supposed to be used for parts because it was rough cosmetically.

1984 Honda Interceptor: I was curious about that one, and it's the closest to my place, but the guy hasn't answered yet.

1984 Kawazaki GPZ1100 parts: A bike for parts. He would sell the engine for 150$. It's apparently very functionnal, but the clutch cover has deep scratches because it was dropped.

1987 Yamaha FJ1200 engine for 300$ Haven't talked to the guy yet

1993 Yamaha FJ1200 engine for 500$: Apparently, it's all good.

Edit: Forgot one:

1984 Suzuki GS1150EF: He rode all last year, but when the alternator quit, he decided it was enough.

Flight Service nailed it. Go with a Bandit12 motor. Oil cooled. Last forever. Guys have been hot rodding them since they put into things named GSXR.

Is this a VW based buggy? If so, check out transmission adapter plates for the transaxle. My understanding is that you can get a trans adapter for just about any motor you want. Enough motor to tear the trans to pieces anyway. I would bet any I4 from a modern car would work pretty well.

singleslammer wrote: Get a 10 year old bike. Those are just as cheap and much easier to get parts for.

^^ this

The ad for the 1984 GSXR1100 seems odd, or at least the seller doesn't know what he has - the GSXR didn't come out until 1986, and the terrible photo in the ad looks like it could be a GS1100. The GS engine was also very good and is still used in drag racing today but it was a totally different animal than the GSXR.

I rememeber in the 90s Suzuki had a holmogation GSX1150 long stroke version. If you could find those, that would be nice.

But yeah if I had to do it, I would buy the two FJs post them to a legends board and get my money back for them and then some and then go buy an oil cooled big bore Suzuki. Dead bang reliable, parts galore and support out the wazoo.

I bet the first GSX-R is a GS1100. Just clicked the wrong drop down menu.

That GS1150EF looks like the Suzuki answer to the CB-X

The fact that the FJ1200 motor is used in legends cars should be seen as a benefit, not a deterrent. There's been a decent amount of development to make that motor work well in a high performance automotive environment, and parts will remain available as long as there are legends cars racing.

I kind of like the idea of the GS1150... resto-modded into a proper road bike for today. Leave that one alone. Get the FJ.

ST1100/1300 would be good though, with the "low" redline, good torque, and shaft drive.

Flight Service wrote: Yamaha FJ1200 is used in Legends car, good luck finding them cheap.

Don't you have to use a sealed motor or something like that in Legends cars. I would think finding FJ1200 engines would be easier because of Legends not harder.

GS1100 or GS1150 does NOT = GSX-R1100

In reply to stroker:

Found this little bit about the 1984 GS1150E;

"Power in 1984 was 119bhp@8500rpm, with torque of 81ft/lb's@6500rpm"

If that's accurate... that seems like pretty good punch. I don't know what brother fanfoy here is looking for though, but 81lb/ft in a motorcycle is pretty good stuff, just curious what this buggy thing he's talking about weighs and is geared to.

So I think it will be a choice between an FJ and a GS. I saw another add for an FJ being broken for parts. But for about the same money, it seems I can buy a fully functional GS.

Those GS seem like really sturdy bikes, because I have a choice of 4 bikes (two of them functionnal) locally for under 700$. For the little numbers that were produced, that seems like a good survival rate.

But I don't know if I want a complete bike in parts taking-up space in my garage. Or how easy it would be to sell the extra parts.

As for the buggy, I'll try to start a built thread, but here are the big lines:

2-seat, tubular frame, under 700kg, sprocket mounted on the rear differential (so I can change the ratio easily), IFS and IRS, under 2000$ for now.

Thanks everyone.

You should be able to get a carb'd Yamaha R1 motor or GSXR1000 motor for $600 off of eBay with low miles. Add a little $ for a radiator and shipping and you will have an awesome motor. Lighter and very reliable motors that put out good torque. The benefit is that the stock headers are very good and dirt cheap.

V65 magna? Torques and lots of em.

skierd wrote: The fact that the FJ1200 motor is used in legends cars should be seen as a benefit, not a deterrent. There's been a decent amount of development to make that motor work well in a high performance automotive environment, and parts will remain available as long as there are legends cars racing.

Mixed bag, although parts are available it is for a Legends class car, and because they are single source, the price is higher for those parts. Not to mention the FJ engine is getting harder to find.

I expect they will switch soon.

Didn't Yamaha snowmobiles have a derivative of the old R1 that had a separate trans or reverse or something like that?

FYI- Some important points to consider-

1. Bike engines are relatively tall.

2. A lot of people cut the bike oil pan down to reduce height and then find that they have oil starvation issues. A properly designed billet oil pan and swivel pickup works better than a dry sump.

3. Bike wiring harnesses need numerous changes to work well in a car environment. ( Sidestand, clutch, etc. )

4. Most likely you will be gearing the car much differently than it was in the bike so overall torque will be much better than the bike.

5. Add lightness to increase performance. A bike engined car will outperform most supercars if the weight is kept down. ( As an example our Sylva J15 / Hayabusa weighs about 1000 lbs and does 0-60 in 3.1 ).

6. As others have already mentioned, it would be better to find a stock engine that fits your future needs rather than planning on modifying later.

Chet

Galek Motorsports Racing

Sylva & Fury sports cars