Can anyone tell me if all year's camshafts are the same or were they changed to solve the endfloat noise? 

Macka

I seem to remember that post xxxx there was a change... Someone mentioned it recently.... But I don't remember what year?  ... 

Post 2004 they had those washer shims in it - not sure if that was the head tha twas modded or the camshaft, or both.
Whichever they modded, I can pretty much say, they did it wrong or put in a whole new set of errors. The cam shaft will make that noise with under .25mm of slop. Only way to stop it is to machine these to under that ... preferably to under .1mm. They could have put in a spring wave washer ... but then that can break. Anyway, they didn't machine it that tight. So 04's also do that knocking sound.

Cool.
Buddha.

I believe the camshafts may indeed be different.  They added a shim 'kit' to get rid of the end play... but it seems there must be something more to it than just shims. Reason I say this is because the shims on their own are not suitable for the older cams.  Shims with washer can be bought for the 05 and up, but they won't fit older cams.

- Bboy

The Suzuki service bulletin for fixing cams that knock shows new cams were put in along with wavy washers to take out free play.  Fix is for K4/K5 models with engine #M504-125865 & earlier.  As usual the parts fiches are a bit confusing on the issue.

http://www.gs500.net/gallery/data/500/Can_Fix.jpg

I see, that makes sense.  I find my particular year of bike hard to keep track of the differences (although probably not as hard as the 01-02 years).  I have an '04 and a few differences make it seem like some things were rushed, overlooked, or put on the backburner when the faired model was released.  It doesn't have the full pair system (a plus actually), the start button isn't wired to cut off headlight when you press it like the 05+, and this cam shim deal... probably another one or two I'm missing or haven't discovered yet... None of it is really that big of deal, but I have to keep these things in mind when I need specific info, or offering info based on my own bike.  There isn't any central place to piece info like this together on models that are almost exactly the same.  We typically think 89-00, 01&2, and 04+ for model changes.

- Bboy

Thanks for the input boys. The reason I ask is because yesterday when I was doing the valve check/adjustment I found that all four cam lobes have some pitting. There is no scuffing so it is not a lubrication problem but seems to be poor quality cast iron ie a porous casting. I have seen a couple of other posts about this problem at relatively low kilometres but it does not seems to be common. My K9 GS has only done 18,200km and I am really disappointed to find such poor quality materials inside a Japanese built engine. It seems that this problem did not occur on earlier engines, only the later ones. I have put it back together and it runs great as always but I will probably have to replace the cams at the next valvecheck.

The reason I asked about cam differences is so that I can decide whether to look for some secondhand ones or buy new ones.
As the problem only seems to affect the later cams it may not be a good idea to go secondhand, although if I found perfect ones that had done at least 40,oookm I would assume that they would not have a problem in the future.

As far as the clearances are concerned, I found that only the RH exhaust had closed up just a little but was still at 0.05mm. My plan had always been to open up all clearances this time to extend valve life so they are now set at 0.10mm and 0.11mm for the inlets and 0.16mm and 0.15mm for the exhausts. There is now just the tinyest amount of valve noise at about 2-3000 rpm but none noticeable at idle or above 3000. It may just be my imagination but throttle response seems "crisper" now. 

Macka

Mental or not, your ride feels good knowing you have happy valves. 

- Bboy