Topic: New Toy- 1971 Suzuki T500

[grcamna2]

You aren't kidding !!  Sweet purple T500 !

[toytuff]

Oh that's sweet. 

[ekpent]

 Mercy that purple is sweet looking and nice job on all the polishing. Sure it gets a lot of attention wherever it goes. Meanwhile back in the pits I had a little time this afternoon and since the spark situation is sorted time to check out the carbs. Removed them and the airbox without a hassle. Broke the carbs down and the bowls were very dirty but the body interiors/floats/jets were in pretty good shape. Have had a lot worse. Cleaned everything up well and put them back together. Do a little more cleaning while things are out on the next trip,mount them back up and grab the slave tank to see if she is going to live again !! Fingers Crossed 

[Zunspec]

Hi ekpent,

My T500 is a bit of a tart in it's presentation but I just loved the Candy Lavender colour scheme and could not resist.

If you replace any of the jets in the carb make sure you use only genuine Mikuni if you can.  The Keyster kits are OK for gaskets and such but the jets/needles supplied are usually suspect in size.  You have a great project and as a 2-st the t500 is a sound sports/tourer capable of many miles.

Head over to the Sundial Suzuki forum for all things Suzuki 2-st, it's a friendly place with loads of expertise and experience (just like this fantastic place is for the Honda SOHC)

Cheers  Geoff

(PS:  Are the crankcases marked "1400cc" near the g/box oil filler?.  If they are "1200cc" there is a mod recommended to the c/cases to raise the height of an oil dam.  In any event fill to the 1400cc specification.)

[grcamna2]

Those carbs. didn't look too bad,how was the pilot ? They sure look nice now 

[ekpent]

Hello Zunspec. I am using all the original brass etc. in the carbs and it is a known fact on this board that a lot of the carb aftermarket bits are a little suspect. I have read about the later engine improvements with more oil capacity and will follow your recommendation if I ever split the case. Its a shame it took Suzuki 5 years to change that design and build the dam up a smidge. The slow jet looked to have been lightly plugged grcamna but clean as a whistle now. As seen in the pics these carbs have very few parts and are a dream to clean.
  My Father had a 1969 T500 he bought new when I was a youngster and remember riding on the back, especially when he dumped it on a damp road once and I saw the bike sliding ahead of us in a small shower of sparks    Be like a little trip down memory lane but hopefully without the sparks !!

[grcamna2]

Do they have any recommendations online to make sure your autolube pump is correctly set-up ?
I remember reading that some vintage 2-stroke's oil pumps would need the rubber inner seals replaced so they wouldn't 'gravity feed' oil back down the oil lines into the crankcase while parked;some guys say "just remove the system and run premix"  I like the Autolube better myself.
My 72' T350 I had back in the late 70's had a bulletproof autolube system w/ the strongest looking oil lines I've ever seen on any 2-stroke including my RD350.

[ekpent]

 You can not remove the oil injection system on Suzuki's and run pre-mix like you can Yamaha or other 2 stroke brands. Has a different feed system.There are valves in the banjo bolts from the autolube to engine that are supposed to prevent leaking oil down in a perfect world. There is a procedure to bleed out any air bubbles and some suggest manually holding the oiler open to full on first start up to promote good oil flow for first start-ups after sitting dormant which sounds like a good idea. Plus it will make more smoke 

[Zunspec]

Hi ekpent,

Sounds as if you have it well in hand.  I do manually shift the pump arm to full flow to chase any air bubbles from the line.  As you say the T500/GT500 should not be run on pre-mix without modifying the crankshaft build to omit the "Plate, Oil guide".  The Suzuki CCI oiling system is pretty good and rarely goes wrong.

They make good race motors too  :



Cheers  Geoff

[Stev-o]

Beautiful!  You guys got me "jonesin" for another Suzi!  [I have a TS250]

Emailing the guy with the GT550 again!!!

[ekpent]

 Better be careful Geoff as I may be flooding your PM inbox with questions and concerns. Looks like your a Suzuki Guru  Have quite a few different brand and sizes of 2 stroke road bikes,18 or more I can think of off the top of my head around here, but have a hard time getting motivated to work on them to roadworthy status. Easy to buy them,not as easy to get them roadworthy. Old 750 Honda's just seem easier and cheaper.
  Do you play with Kawasaki also Geoff ?

[Zunspec]

Hi ekpent,

My first reliable bike (after a BSA Lightning Clubmans ) was a T500, had some great times on that bike as an 18 year old.  I also raced a Seeley T500 back in 1980/81 so I do have a soft spot for them.  Here is a link to the Sundial Suzuki forum, it includes many very experienced Suzuki 2-st guys just as this site has them for the SOHC.

http://www.suzuki2strokes.com/forum/index.php

Always happy to answer any questions though, assuming I have an answer

Kawasaki's - I had a brand spanking new Z900A4 in 1976 for that amazingly hot summer that year in the UK.  Here is a photo.  My landlord who was a photographer let me off a weeks rent for using it for a photo shoot (PS: It's not me on the bike )


15 months later I used the engine and some of the cycle parts to make a Piper Kawasaki.  The engine was ported with 1/2 race cams etc.  A 150mph road bike in 1977 
(PS: Designing glassfibre seats was not Piper Engineering's best skill lol)


Cheers  Geoff

[ekpent]

 Sounds like someone likes to go very fast. Neat story,sure you have more.  PM me that girls phone number sitting on your Kaw 

[Zunspec]

PM me that girls phone number sitting on your Kaw 

Like me that lady will be into her 60's now lol   

[Terry in Australia]

Cheers  Geoff

Wow! That's one of the few pics I've seen where the rider was better looking than his bike!

[simon#42]

the wall behind them looks better , and thats rough !

[Terry in Australia]

Kawasaki's - I had a brand spanking new Z900A4 in 1976 for that amazingly hot summer that year in the UK.  Here is a photo.  My landlord who was a photographer let me off a weeks rent for using it for a photo shoot (PS: It's not me on the bike )

Who was Geoff's landlord, Fred West?

[ekpent]

 Hmmm- Had to google Fred West.  Sounds like a real nice fella     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_West

[Zunspec]

PMSL 

All comments Re: the looks of the Piper are fully justified lol.  That seat was an abomination as it was supposed to double up as the rear mudguard.  The Piper chassis was allegedly built on the original Rob North frame jigs and handled well.  It at least it didn't go into a tank slapper if you hit a bump on a long fast corner like the std. one did .  A case of my enthusiasm not quite being up to the engineering required, but that can happen if you don't know any better and you are doing it all from scratch by yourself (and on only £30/week).  Still there were not many 150mph road bikes around in 1977/78, goodness knows how I survived.  It all went when I took up club racing on a Seeley T500.

I never actually met the buxom lady on the Z900 but she could have led me up the garden path quite willingly

Cheers  Geoff

[ekpent]

 Fire In The Hole !! Mounted up the carbs this afternoon and hooked the old girl up to the slave tank. Began kicking (no electric start on these and kicker on the left) and nothing for quite awhile. Kept pulling the new plugs and giving them a spray out with brake cleaner and compressed air and turning over the engine with them out. Somebody had oiled it up well before I got it I was told as it was fiddled with and it looked like maybe motor oil. It was flooded on top of that. Finally a little pop or two and I could tell she was trying to fire as a little smoke starting curling out of the pipes. Finally she caught and with a mighty belch of smoke and raw gas and oil out the pipes she lit up. Be bad if somebody had been standing behind it. WARNING-for anybody doing a first start-up on a 2 -stroke do it outside and not on your pretty driveway either-it will be a little messy  Left side was not hitting well till I realized I forgot to put a plugged hose on the left carb for the  petcock vacuum.  Whoops. Idle is high right now at around 2500. Somebody may have been messing with the screws as I noticed the air pilot screw was turned down tight when I cleaned them and its supposed to be 1 and 1/4 turns out. So far a castle nut has vibrated off the fender mount and the left baffle started to shoot out-fun times 
   Next plan of action is to learn carb tuning for this better, mount up the airbox and get the gas tank cleaned out so it can be ridden and really cleaned out some more running it under a load. Since it has not been run since 1974 supposedly it will be interesting to see if the cranks seals are going to be shot. Big smoke off from one side will tell.
  No camera today so maybe it never really happened 

[Terry in Australia]

Ha ha, well I'm looking forward to a youtube video Eric, I'm sure it'll be spectacular! My T250 had been sitting for over 20 years when I got it, and it's crank seals were fine, so maybe yours will be the same? As I mentioned earler, I had to replace one coil and "de-coke" the removable end baffles, and it ran like a dream. I only sold it because I was too big for it, but the lesbian couple who bought it loved it! Cheers, Terry.

[Stev-o]

WooHoo!  Always exciting to get one started after a long slumber.   You really got me wanting a Suzi!

[Terry in Australia]

Get one Steve, they must be everywhere on your side of the pond!

[Stev-o]

Get one Steve, they must be everywhere on your side of the pond!

I have my eye on one but Eric has had much better luck finding them than me. 

[Terry in Australia]

Eric is the motorcycle bargain whisperer............