A bit of a long story this, but quite enlightening and worth retelling… An owner of a GSX-R1000K6 came to us because his bike had been tuned, but then dropped a valve (quite common on the K5/K6 because they use a composite titanium valve standard). He’d found a secondhand head and brought it to us for a proper sort out.
So that’s exactly what we did. We ported and skimmed the head, and dialled in a set of re-profiled cams. The result after setting it all up via an ECU remap? 190bhp. We never touched the bottom end – which had done 25,000 miles – because it was still in good order.
Which begs the question: to go out and buy a superbike now, with that sort of horsepower you’re looking at £15-16,000 for a Kawasaki or BMW. And they’re ‘sterile’ machines managed to death by loads of electronics – which we then have to sort out via the ECU!
Now doesn’t it make sense to take a £4,000 GSX-R, chuck £2,500 at it and you’ve got the same performance? In fact, better because the bottom end is not managed. This isn’t the first one we’ve done, and won’t be the last and the GSX-RK5-K8 engine is still one of the strongest around (much better than the later models, in fact).
This engine has also surfaced in the GSXS1000S, so there’s hope if you want a modern, naked take on proper GSX-R power. It has been neutered, but we can fix that…
And the truth – which we hear on an almost daily basis – is that the lads who come in here looking for something extra want punch out of roundabouts, or for passing traffic, which is what this model of GSX-R possesses. So adding some modern-day top-end to a strong bottom and mid delivery is a win-win. Never mind how the horsepower per £ equation stacks up compared to new tackle…
Now this is the heart of a strong engine that makes good power – and we know how to get more to of ’em, and make it last…
Stripped down to component parts and meticulously built to last…
Ready to flow some gas at high rpm, one very tidy exhaust port.
