Kettle engine rebuild

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canaletto5
Posts: 5228
Joined: Tue Jul 23, 2013 8:43 pm
Location: Derbyshire

Kettle engine rebuild

Post by canaletto5 »

I fully rebuilt the engine on my kettle a few years back. After a few hundred miles the dreaded 3rd gear slippage started to happen. Grrrr! Anyhoo, I put up with it until now. I want to sell the bike so it needs to be put right.I sourced a very decent pair of replacement 3rd gears (Drive and driven pair), took the plunge and hooked the lump out last week. Dodgy gears now replaced and reassembly well on the way
engine rebuild1.jpg
Very pleased that the rest of the internals are like new,
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Alan H
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Joined: Fri Aug 05, 2011 6:38 am
Location: Wombwell, Republic of South Yorkshire

Re: Kettle engine rebuild

Post by Alan H »

Pity you didn't let me know, I've 'several' spare gearboxes bud.
Proof that four strokes are over complicated
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canaletto5
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Joined: Tue Jul 23, 2013 8:43 pm
Location: Derbyshire

Re: Kettle engine rebuild

Post by canaletto5 »

Me too mate :lol: A little detail is that the 3rd gear on the B is a different ratio from all the other years. Typical Suzuki :roll:
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Alan H
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Location: Wombwell, Republic of South Yorkshire

Re: Kettle engine rebuild

Post by Alan H »

They did that on 550s as well.
Proof that four strokes are over complicated
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canaletto5
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Joined: Tue Jul 23, 2013 8:43 pm
Location: Derbyshire

Re: Kettle engine rebuild

Post by canaletto5 »

Indeed, the parts are intre intercheg intocharge you can swap them about :lol:
teazer
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Joined: Mon Mar 07, 2011 8:10 pm
Location: Chicago

Re: Kettle engine rebuild

Post by teazer »

They changed a few different gears over the years, but all wear the dogs on 3rd. They get rounded off and eventually spit out of gear and take the two gears either side with them.

NOVA sell replacement gears. Not cheap but cheaper than getting all the dogs built up and reground if you really only need a couple. I have over a dozen sets of gears here and they all show some wear on the dogs.

The 8 valve GS750 had a few gears with better dogs and the 8 valve replaced some more. The best combo is an probably an early model GS750 with late model gears where required. It doesn't take a lot of modification or machining to fit.
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canaletto5
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Joined: Tue Jul 23, 2013 8:43 pm
Location: Derbyshire

Re: Kettle engine rebuild

Post by canaletto5 »

Good knowledge Teazer. The replacement gears I'm using are from a GS750 as the 3rd gear set is identical to the Kettles and fits directly. ;)
teazer
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Joined: Mon Mar 07, 2011 8:10 pm
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Re: Kettle engine rebuild

Post by teazer »

As long as you have a late A or B model, an 8 valve GS third gear should drop in on the output shaft. On earlier models it would physically fit on the shaft but it would have 1 tooth difference and may cause backlash issues.

The 16 valve (GSX in the UK, still GS in the US) has different dogs.

I ran a slightly modified 8 valve GS transmission with 16 valve gears to take advantage of the stronger dog design. The dogs are identical to any GS/GSX1100 but the 1100 trans is wider and takes more work to fit - don't ask me how I know.
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canaletto5
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Location: Derbyshire

Re: Kettle engine rebuild

Post by canaletto5 »

Hi, yes, mine is a B so the gs750 gears are directly compatible
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Dutch
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Joined: Thu Jul 28, 2011 8:28 pm
Location: St Helens Merseyside

Re: Kettle engine rebuild

Post by Dutch »

Alan H wrote: Sun Mar 13, 2022 8:49 am Pity you didn't let me know, I've 'several' spare gearboxes bud.
Hi Alan, have you got a good 4th gear for me? Mine whines when in 4th

Cheers Jeff
GT750A
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