Hello and please help from South Africa

Hi guys and thanks for accepting me. My name is Wayne and I live in South Africa in an area called the Western Cape. I bought what I though was a VS 800 Intruder a few months back. I am new to V twins having been a Crotch Rocket type in my younger day. I took her for a ride and she seemed fine although I could see that there was a bit of restoration work needed on the chrome (we live in a very windy coastal area so salt corrosion is a fact of life).

After a few months I started to pick up problems, most of which I have sorted out. I might still need to balance the carbs. Then I decided to take her on a nice long ride. Since then I have noticed a bit of a rumble from the timing chain/s and even while on that ride, she pushed out all her water. I did a compression test over the weekend and still got over 1000 kpa on a iffy compression tester on both cylinders. Also there seems to be a bit of back suction on the one pipe. Do you think she has burned a valve and/or blown a head gasket. The compression test says no but could be a false reading. She has a major "miss" at higher revs under load.

Apparently my Brake disk is on the wrong side and that makes her a 750? Not sure.

Hiya Wayne, and welcome to Suzi 800.
Sitting on the bike, disc on the right, is an 800. 
1991 was the last model year for the VS750 Intruder. It was replaced by the VS800.

Yup, Brake Disc is on the left but first registration was in '96 so that threw me off. Its possibly a rebuild so will check the bore when I lift the heads. Decided to have a look just in case my other problems are caused by a blown cylinder head gasket.

I see you are from South Wales, Badger, My daughter lives in Blaenrhondda in Treorchy, and no, we can not pronounce it!

I was brought up in Treorchy.  My home town.    Had many friends in Blaenrhondda.
Blaenrhondda is a few villages up from Treorchy.
My old Harley blew it's gearbox years ago ... born in Milwaukee, died in Treorchy.  Hahaha.....

Hi Wayne. Did you sort out the problem on your bike?

Hi Juno, not yet, I went to the local bike shop and asked him he says the readings I am getting from the compression test are way too low. It would seem that for som reason the bike has overheated and blown both head gaskets. I have decided to take it to him so he can look at it for me. I got some prices for parts from Suzuki and nearly had heart failure! Gasket Set - R3500; Timing Chains R1950 Each! He says he can help keep some of the costs down so lets see.

Hi Wayne

Its a good idea to rebuild the top end of a bike of that year. I see we have the identical bikes.
I am picking up a sort of rattle in my engine, which I suspect is a faulty cam chain tensioner, so
will also need to strip down the top end of the bike. They should be good for another 20 years once
the top end is rebuilt. You should also clean out the carburetors while they are off and replace the 
rubber o rings in the carbs. I done a fair amount of work on my bike and in doing so, I have gained
some knowledge on them. I have also downloaded a workshop manual, which I can email to you.
You can contact me on 082 514 5841. It would be great if we could get a sort of intruder club going
in S.A. to assist each other with parts and advice.

Hi again, yes I agree we need a group, I will WhatsApp you in a few minutes, I have another buddy here on the West Coast with a 800 so we have at least three so far! I did replace the Needle and Seat on the front carb a few months ago and did some of the "o" rings at the same time. Two "o" Rings and the N&S were almost R900.00!!! I would love that manual.