engine options.

[Jenya]

Hi all,

I am at the crossroads of deciding what to do with my gs500. The engine has 35K miles and burns oil as if it was designed to do just that.
I think I had to add a quart every 300-500 miles.

So I am contemplating the options of rebuild or swap.

I found some reference to the mod of putting the EX500 engine into the GS frame, but didn't see any descriptions of what needed to be done. If anyone has any info on the mod, that'd be great. How difficult is it to change mounting, attach water coolant, align sprokets?

Should I just buy this junker and play with it?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Kawasaki-EX500-EX-500-Ninja-Motor-Engine_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp3286Q2em20Q2el1116QQitemZ350112055581

Or should I simply rebuild? The thought of having to rebuild every 30K miles doesn't excite me much. I was thinking that if I got the >2004 engine wth the oil cooler, then perhaps that would slow down the ring wear.

Any ideas/suggestion are greatly appreciated,
Jenya

[Jenya]

It is hard for me to believe that nobody would have an idea on how feasible it is to put the EX500 engine into the GS frame.

[bobthebiker]

I looked into doing the EX500 swap, stick with the GS motor. its better in every way.  the EX only has 2 more valves and a few hp more, but overall is a poor design and really not well enough built IMO.   rebuild your GS motor.

I was prepared to do an EX500 motor swap, aside from having a titled frame, but there is a lot of fabrication for motor mounts that is necessary, along with the mounting for cooling system parts, and such that its not worth the minimal gains.   I have a deep seated hatred of the EX500 engine's design due to how very easy they are to blow up, and just the sheer number of crappy designed parts in it.

[Affschnozel]

It will be much simpler to rebuild your GS engine than installing one from EX.

Do you know what's the culprit for oil consumption,valves,guides,rings?

My friend has this eurospec ER5 which has EX engine and I just finished fixing all the leaks it had from water pump

and radiator


+1 on poor design of that thing

[Jenya]

Not sure on the reason for the oil burning. I assumed it is due to worn rings. I remember adding a teaspoon of oil into cylinders a year ago and noticing compression climb significantly.

I guess, I should just dig into it and start replacing what needs to be replaced. How long should the GS engine go before starting burning oil like crazy?

[Affschnozel]

It all depends on how well the bike was taken care of , but 80K+ miles before major overhaul is possible

IIRC GSJack has done it on his 97 GS and others , I rebuilt my 97 at ~30K miles because it was thrashed by PO's

[Jenya]

One thing seems apparent - there are lots more of EX500 engines on eBay then of GS500.

[lilwoody]

If your machinacily inclined and have the time the rebuild shouldn't be so bad, if you just do the top and don't split the case. On the other hand if you shop around you can get a motor with less than 1000 miles on it for less than 600 bucks. Doing the swap should take a afternoon, it did for me and I'm far from a machnical genius

[Jenya]

I am fairly good with doing things with my own hands and find an enjoyment in it.

The reason I was looking for a used GS500 engines is that I thought that perhaps putting a >2004 engine with an oil cooler into my '93 would be a better invesment in a long run as it may make the engine last longer and reduce the oil burning.

I used to have a Yamaha XS850. It had a three cylinder engine with an oil cooler and it was great. That thing would run through everything including Mohave Desert and burnt hardly any oil at all.

[fred]

I am fairly good with doing things with my own hands and find an enjoyment in it.

The reason I was looking for a used GS500 engines is that I thought that perhaps putting a >2004 engine with an oil cooler into my '93 would be a better invesment in a long run as it may make the engine last longer and reduce the oil burning.

I used to have a Yamaha XS850. It had a three cylinder engine with an oil cooler and it was great. That thing would run through everything including Mohave Desert and burnt hardly any oil at all.

Buddha (and possibly others) seem to think that the older engines have better build quality than the newer ones... If they are right, and they seem to be in the know, it might be worth rebuilding the one you've got instead of getting a newer one. Having to rebuild at 30k still really soon. My '94 is about to hit 86k and it doesn't burn much oil at all and I'm confident it has never been rebuilt...

[Jenya]

Yeah, I kinda figured that rebuilding at 30K must be an unusual thing to do. Who knows what the two previous owners did to this bike.