Topic: The Lost Socket Garage

[calj737]

Try cleaning the lens on your phone 

[Scott S]

 It's not the lens. If I were to roll the bike outside in natural light, it's all fine.

[Scott S]

 Back in June, I took the CT70/140 to Cyclemania in Charlotte. In addition to winning Best Vintage Modified, it was also shot for a story in Full Throttle magazine.

http://www.fullthrottlemagazine.com/September-2018-Event-Photos/ID/2241/Trail-140-%E2%80%93-Too-Cool-Little-Machine

[Scott S]

 The '73 CB500/550 was featured with a six page spread in this months VJMC magazine, too!

[Scott S]

Tried to fit the Winning/Kerker exhaust onto the SR500 tonight and the collar won't pull up tight on the head. Or, rather, it will pull up and bottom out before securing the header.
 It looks like there was a split collar or ring there, maybe? Similar to Honda exhausts? You can see a bit of discoloration there, and it's about the same size as the ring on the stock header.
 What am I missing? Is there a collar or ring available to make this fit?

[Scott S]

Got the TM36-48 Pumper carb and K&N filter installed.

[Scott S]

 Super Bike bars and 714 grips installed.



 MotoLanna headlight ears (picked up CHEAP from eBay), stainless turn signal relocation brackets and smaller signals.



 Non-rusty front fender swapped over. FZR rotor and R6 caliper. Just need a new hose made up.

[Scott S]

Same with the rear fender and chain guard. New Shinko tires. YSS shocks. I'll touch up the frame soon, too.

[Gurp]

I love following your posts. I wasnt on the forum for years but am very glad when i came back i saw you still here. I went back a re-read the whole STF thread the other night. Great stuff and you have only upped you game since!

[Fezzler]

Great write-ups!  A true inspiration to keep learning and having fun restoring and building bikes of all sizes.

[RAFster122s]

Congrats on getting the print on the two bikes...
Very cool.  David

[flatlander]

yes, really cool articles. congratulations!

[Scott S]

Tried to fit the Winning/Kerker exhaust onto the SR500 tonight and the collar won't pull up tight on the head. Or, rather, it will pull up and bottom out before securing the header.
 It looks like there was a split collar or ring there, maybe? Similar to Honda exhausts? You can see a bit of discoloration there, and it's about the same size as the ring on the stock header.
 What am I missing? Is there a collar or ring available to make this fit?

 Made my own. I had this piece of muffler piping in the garage from a leftover project. It fit perfectly.



 I made two collars 19mm wide, same as the ring on the stock header.



 Tightened up perfectly! Since I only have two hands, I had to use a little grease on the gasket and collars, and a rubber band that I later cut off.
 I'm really happy with the look and fit. I hope it sounds and performs just as well!






 I also replaced the hose clamp at the muffler/header junction with a T-bolt clamp.

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

The '73 CB500/550 was featured with a six page spread in this months VJMC magazine, too!

Congrats on the feature. Oh my - now I remember that roached tank!! She's all pretty now.

[Scott S]

As often happens with projects, the work it takes to get it done doesn't look like much. But now the tank clears the carbs, the lines of the tank and seat are nice, the seat latch works, and the petcock (mostly) clears the air filter.

 I ended up using BST-36 carbs, Bandit 1200 manifolds, RamAir filters and Bandit 1200 rubber velocity stacks. The OldSkoolSuzuki guys swear that the RamAir filters/velocity stack combo makes for MUCH easier tuning. The RA filter squishes just enough to clear the petcock and leaves more than an inch behind the stack on the #1 throat.




 I also re-did the top triple. I put the bar risers in a different spot and used a Bandit 400 dash. It's nearly invisible in the pic, but that black area between the gauges and the triple are idiot lights. The 4oo gauges use a cable drive speedo and the plug is (supposedly) nearly identical to the Katana plug and is supposed to be easy to swap around a wire or two to make it plug and play.
 They also have nice cups to hide the rear of the gauges, and it keeps it all in the Suzuki family.

[Scott S]

 I've been pretty side tracked on projects lately. Been thinking about moving in a year or so and spent several weeks doing a "purge" around the house and garage. MASSIVE amounts of stuff to the dump and to Goodwill.
 Anyway, I've decided to work on the 1980 GS550 donor/spare parts bike this Winter. That way, I can maybe move it out next Spring and have one less thing in the garage. And one less project to worry about.

 Got the stock GS550 engine on the stand. It doesn't need a rebuild, but it was a leaker, so I'll re-seal it this Winter with fresh gaskets and such. The carbs are currently getting rebuilt with new diaphragms.
 The frame is a 1980 GS550E frame but, unbeknownst to me, that was the year that Suzuki stopped differentiating between the E and L bikes on the VIN number. I ended up with an L frame and an E donor.
 We cut the upper tank mounts off and I have a plan to get the tank rubber mounted through those lower holes, where it needs to be for an E tank.



 I have a frame loop with a slight kick up that I will have welded on once the tank mounts are sorted. I will run a bobbed rear fender and a small tail light.




 Zip Dawg approves.

[Scott S]

 This bike is my inspiration for the spare parts bike. I will be able to run the stock carbs, exhaust and even the plenum, so that should really simplify tuning.
 I'd say I have about 90% of the parts needed to finish this one.

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

A friend of mine has a GS550.  It seems to pull harder than a CB550.  Better brakes, too.

[MCRider]

A friend of mine has a GS550.  It seems to pull harder than a CB550.  Better brakes, too.

DOHC/4valve v SOHC/2valve. All else equal, the DOHC should win everytime.

[slikwilli420]

A friend of mine has a GS550.  It seems to pull harder than a CB550.  Better brakes, too.

DOHC/4valve v SOHC/2valve. All else equal, the DOHC should win everytime.

The GS550 was a 2-valver, but did have a 6-speed trans, which is a nice add-on for a middleweight bike like that. It was the next evolution of tech vs the single stick CB550, so should still win every time.

[Gurp]

Scott, how's the bikes coming along?

[Scott S]

 Slow.

 Work, life, rain, winter, more rain.

 The SR500 is being a real #$%* about giving me spark.
 The Brat style GS550 got some welding done. I'll post pics soon.
 I hope to clean up the GS550 engine and reseal it soon. Try to get it back in the frame and maybe move it along.

 I have two SOHC4's in the lineup and would rather be working on them.

[Scott S]

 Well, this Winter was brutal for me, in SOOO many ways. Work life, personal life, it rained 9 million inches, I got distracted with home improvements, etc, etc, etc. And all of the projects sat. And sat. And I lost interest and motivation.

 The SR500 is back in my garage and STILL doesn't have spark. The shop kept it for 6 months and I'm no closer than when I dropped it off. At least he didn't charge me anything.
 When I got it home, I noticed that the pulse coil was re-wound incorrectly.



 Here's what it's supposed to look like:




 That gap is critical. I had an in depth talk with Rick's and I sent it back for the THIRD rewind. If it's not right this time, I'm asking for a refund of some sorts and sending it to England for Rex's to take a shot at it.

 I did manage to get the purple CT70/140 running much better. A smaller carb helped with easier starting and it's still just as fast as it was before.
 Yesterday, I swapped out the throttle and clutch cable on the silver Glutton bike. I also worked on the rear brake rod for the 400F controls.
 So, those are two or three small victories.

[Scott S]

 While everything sat and I got distracted, I really lost interest in the GS550 projects. Pretty much nothing has happened on the Katana swap bike. On the Brat Style GS550, I did manage to get the tank sorted, seat hoop welded on and swapped out the front master cylinder to cure a dragging front brake.


 Anybody want a couple of Suzuki projects? I'll hook you up!

[Scott S]

 Even as I started on the Suzuki's (and the SR500), I knew I had an other Sweep The Floor CB500/550 in the pipeline.
 I thought I'd knock out the Suzuki's and then get on the CB since the CB was LITERALLY a basket case; the carcass of the Glutton for Punishment bike.


 But all along, I was really wishing I was building the SOHC4.

 Then... CalJ came along and brought me yet another project. I'm not sure if he loves me or hates me.
 So, now I have STF and STF4 bikes in the works!

 I did a huge inventory of the parts I got from Cal and the parts in my stash. I picked up a few missing pieces and started building these two in my head.
 The bike I got from Cal used to belong to forum member Springer.

  http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php/topic,143800.0.html

  It was the victim of Cal's roof collapse a few years back and was a little worse for wear. But it's a heck of a good start and has plenty of nice parts, too!
 Today, I worked on the oxidation and chipping paint, from all the weather exposure.

 Before (and while I was wire brushing the end caps):ore (and while I was wire brushing the end caps):



 After some wire brushing, buffing, polishing and a little paint touch up. Not show quality, but bringing it back to life!