xs11 Performance mods

[donebysunday]

1340

Wish I had bought that XS1100 1340 kitted race bike 12 yrs. ago for $1000 got it to pop but not run. Said goodbye, left it. The builder saw the condition and snapped it up, scolding the owner.

[natemoen]

Didn't someone do an R6 front end? They just Had to add a spacer under the lower bearing on the steering neck I think....

[joep7]

Didn't someone do an R6 front end? They just Had to add a spacer under the lower bearing on the steering neck I think....

R1 or R6 was my thought too.

[joep7]

You know another inexpensive thing to do is say for instance you have 1 cylinder bad that needs a bore but the rest are good. All you have to do is find a bank of cylinders with one good one. Remove and clean cylinder assemblies put them in your home stove oven at 300 degrees on a pan with the bottom down before the oven gets to temp the outer alluminum fin assembly will heat up and the cylinders will slide up. Pull the bad Cylinder sleeve put a good one in. After the good one is in put good assembly in oven upside down and it will reinsert in a short time. Turn stove off and get a good set of rings and a mild honing and you are golden. No boring saves $$$ and you get a few spares. I will tell you that you need to bore and replace pistons if you jump a size on rings because in a short time you will develop piston slap if you put larger rings on and bore and continue with the smaller piston. You can go one size up and cut the rings down but if you get too much skirt clearance and compression is high it will not last.

If you go with the 1196 kit make darn sure you work with a shop that is professional to bore and hone. The kit is very good and if you bore and hone the rings work out perfect no cutting or filling. If the guy/girl you get to bore uses an low quality machine or is not proficient you will not be happy. You really have to be careful on the lower portion of the cylinders as they can heat up and try to egg shape if not careful. Bore and hone the cylinders out to .0016 in clearance between skirt and cylinder wall and you get a tight .009 ring gap.

I will keep that all in mind if I go that route. Thanks

[crazy steve]

Is there a good fork swap to get a more modern front end. Front looks like toothpicks to be honest.

Here's the FJ swap.....

http://www.xs11.com/forum/showthread...ight=Fork+swap

You can also look here: http://www.benefiscal.co.uk/forum/index.php in the 'mods' forum, but be aware that the overseas guys had/have bike models and variants of models that weren't available in the US, so a lot of their mods will be extremely hard or impossible to do here.

The XS forks were actually pretty good for their era; add better springs and a brace and they're not bad. Anything else will require a considerable amount of work and expense....

[joep7]

Yep, that one is toast.....

And as motoman said, trying to gain any real power on these is an exercise in futility unless you have lots of money, and every HP will be expensive. The Wiseco kit is one option for an overbore, there's a cheap one on eBay out of the orient (with cast pistons) that a lister is in the process of trying, but no feedback as of yet. Don't assume you have cylinder issues until you adjust all the valves, as tight valves are common and will lower compression by quite a bit.

There's no other known reliable sources for pistons. But if the motor is mechanically sound, just do the very best 'tune' on it you can for the best-bang-for-the-buck.

I pulled the cylinders already after a leak down test. #4 had a bent ring and chipped piston dome. All cylinders are ok based on my cylinder gauge measurements.

[GLoweVA]

I pulled the cylinders already after a leak down test. #4 had a bent ring and chipped piston dome. All cylinders are ok based on my cylinder gauge measurements.

You can get rings off ebay and probably smooth out that chip in the dome/head with a dremel or some similar tool.

[joep7]

I am planning a shaft to chain conversion. What would be a good swing arm to start with? I am open to mono shock or dual shock setup.

[crazy steve]

If you didn't like the cost of the Wiseco piston kit, you really won't like a chain drive conversion....

[joep7]

If you didn't like the cost of the Wiseco piston kit, you really won't like a chain drive conversion....

Hopefully...working at a machine shop will drastically reduce those costs down to the materials. I have a drawing a guy used in South Africa for a fire blade swinger. I just need to get an idea what swing arm I need to use to change his measurements. Part of the reason I didn't want to spend for the wiseco kit was bc I was throwing the chain conversion around already.

[WMarshy]

There is one thread that comes to mind and he used a ZRX swing ait but I cant recall who it was, you'll have to search for it. Seemed straight forward enough, just had to machine the correct spacers as the swing arm bearings on the XS are wide compared to the ZRX. Im partial to the dual shock look and think it keeps looking correct for the era of the bike.

Make sure you read all the threads by member xschop about the chain conversion. Hes a sharp dude and points out that space is at a premium and running the proper size fron sprocket is tough and requires machining one of the engine case covers... lots of info out there, if I ever get a chance at it I would probably take notes from the threads for each part of the build...

[crazy steve]

One issue with a chain conversion is there isn't enough room to run a decent-sized front sprocket without extensive mods to the engine cases. I believe a 14 tooth is about it, and chain life will suffer.

[James England]

R1 or R6 was my thought too.

Not advisable, IMO. People have put the front end from the R1 onto the XJR1300..I've been looking into it for mine but the weight of the XJR is an issue. And the XS1100 is even heavier.

Having looked into it for my XJR, I gave up on the idea because it's a lot of work and expense and there would always be that nagging doubt as to whether the forks would take the weight of the bike safely. Personally, I would put The XJR front end on an XS but, for you deprived folks in the USA, where the XJR is not available, that would be a feat to accomplish. Possible, but expensive with shipping...

[James England]

Nitrous oxide adds a lot of power to the XS, I found. It's easy to fit, relatively inexpensive, completely reversible and the XS shoves its rear end down on the road when it kicks in.

[joep7]

Nitrous oxide adds a lot of power to the XS, I found. It's easy to fit, relatively inexpensive, completely reversible and the XS shoves its rear end down on the road when it kicks in.

I think I'll avoid the nos