I have to get a longer bottom engine bolt to install my case guards. Are the engine bolts high tensile or just a standard grade steel.
I've looked through both w/shop manuals and couldnt find any thing & it's getting too late to search.
Thanks o'great GS knowledge people :bowdown:
Bolts made to relevent engineering standards require the makers to state the tensility by imprinting a code on the bolt head but I am not sure if it will apply to the engine bolts on the bike as they will probably be made by Suzuki just for the application. You need a bolt of the correct length with a grade of 8.8 as a minimum, get a cad`plated one and it wont corrode. This link provides all sort of useful info realting to the subject of nuts and bolts including loadings, markings and torque figures. Get a black zinc plated one, it wont rust and will match the originals.
http://www.fullermetric.com/technical/index.html
Quote from: bubba zanetti on February 02, 2006, 03:48:13 AM
I have to get a longer bottom engine bolt to install my case guards. Are the engine bolts high tensile or just a standard grade steel.
I've looked through both w/shop manuals and couldnt find any thing & it's getting too late to search.
Thanks o'great GS knowledge people :bowdown:
The Suzuki factory guards? I've put them on both 97 and 02 GSs and a longer bolt is required than what comes with the guards. I used the longest bolt from the package and the longest of the existing bolts to do the job as have others here. No need for a new bolt. As I recall, the old upper bolt will fit the lower position with the guards installed.
These are after market guards I got off Ebay. They came with 1 longer bolt, but it's for the rear engine mount & the front can be reused.
I'll go for a trip to the bolt place today & see what I can get.
Not sure if this will help, but according to the OEM shop manual, the bolts are four different lengths.
255 mm, 170 mm, 240 mm, 160 mm.
The case guard bolts would have to be longer than the 255 and 240 bolts.
+1 what sledge said about bolt grade.
Just got some old factory suzuki engine case guards for my 96 gs500e from a friend. Was searching for install tips and came across this thread. And want to confirm what everybody was saying after doing my install for others doing the same. One of the bolts provided into the kit was too short. You do not need to buy a new bolt. Just use the longest bolt from the new kit to replace the old top bolt and use the old top bolt to replace the old bottom bolt. Works fine with no problems. The instructions that came with the kit were way off, really, so dont use them. And don't tighten the bolts too much as mentioned here.
http://gstwin.com/racers_corner.htm#genmods