Topic: Terry's POS 1969 Suzuki T350 Redneck Reincarnation.

[grcamna2]

That looks great Terry;you're rubber fuel tank mounts look very effective  I hope your last few parts(airbox boot)come through to you as nicely as the ones from that seller(keith?) here in the USA.

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks guys, no I'm not going to bother touching up the tank David, it's not gonna rust through, so I'll leave it with it's 52 years worth of age patina. I haven't had a Subaru with the 2.5 litre engine, both of my twin Turbo's were 2 litre and the non turbo ones are 2.2 litre, but ALL Subaru boxer engines are pretty fragile in that area, I see heaps going cheap on FB, Ebay etc, with "Head Gasket Issues".

I bought my first twin turbo Liberty (Legacy in the US) with a blown head gasket, for $500. I knew about the head gasket issue by then, so found a couple of young Kiwi (New Zealand) blokes who rebuilt the engine for me for $2K which was cheap as that included all the parts and labour. Sadly some Asian clown in a repair shop's loan vehicle took out my son at a roundabout, wrecking both cars. As I said, he was a clown, his car was still in the shop from another crash less than 2 weeks prior. We bought another twin turbo Liberty, this time a 2003 B4, and it's been a great car when it's not having some issues, it's now my son's car, which is good for me as he loves it, and loves working on it, which is good, because there's always something to fix on it, thanks to sloppy maintenance by the previous owner/s.

I had some overheating issues with the first non turbo Liberty, a front wheel drive only 2.2 litre variant, but it wasn't head gasket related, the biggest problem with all the boxers is the location of the thermostat, it's down the bottom of the engine rather than on top, so is a baarstard to bleed the air out of. The "fix" is to drill some small holes around the circumference of the thermostat, and after I did that, it's worked perfectly, and my sister loves it.

The new(again) AWD 1995 Liberty that Ma is giving back to me has been much better looked after, and the only thing I want to do is put a sports exhaust behind the headers to give it the same note that the green one has. Other than that, I'll leave it alone, unless a crashed B4 turns up, and I swap out all the twin turbo parts into the old liberty and turn it into a "sleeper".......

Bill, RB sent me a message that he's gonna put the parts in the mail to Florida on Monday, then when they get there I'll have them fedexed to Oz, so should have them in a couple of weeks.

[grcamna2]

I prefer Fedex above USPS,more reliable.

[Terry in Australia]

Yep, USPS is absolute rubbish at the moment, the 970cc kit I bought from a member here, and all the other H/D parts I bought from CycleX 5 weeks ago still haven't been delivered, although they've been in Oz for a week now, so I can't say much for Aussie Post either. By contrast, the tank, oil tank and side cover for the T350 took two days from Florida to my front door, and only cost $40 USD than I paid for the 970cc kit via USPS. I guess I'm lucky that I'm in no hurry Bill, or else I'd be rather pissed off.......

[PeWe]

The green tank make the bike to look really good. As a well kept survivor bike.
As mentioned before in other threads, a real original bike with patina can be worth more than a super restored one looking better than when it left the factory.

The most important thing the owners feeling when riding a piece of history.

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks Per, I paid silly money for that "Patina", but I'm glad I did, as the seller had intended to have it repainted then sell it anyway, and as we both know, these old bikes are only original once. Well, this bike never actually existed as it's been "Fankensteined" from 5 or 6 bikes, but if I didn't tell anyone, who'd know? The engine number doesn't match the engine number on the ID plate on the frame, but I still have the remains of the original engine that I'll keep and throw in with the bike, if and when I sell it. Considering that it only weighs 320 pounds, the T350 with me on it only weighs as much as a CB750 with no one sitting on it, it might be my "Old man bike" when I'm too old and frail to hold up a CB750? We'll see.

Anyhoo, today started off crappily, but it finished OK. I needed to go shopping, which I hate anytime, and I wasn't holding out much hope for finding the sparkplugs I needed for the little green meanie. None of the first 2 shops I went to would allow me to open the spark plug packets (which were in locked cases, so I couldn't sneak a peek) and as a result, because they didn't have any plugs that  are listed for T350's, I ended up with 6 spark plugs I can't use. Finally, at the last shop I went to, the spare parts guy was great, he found the same plugs that I needed, and was happy to open the box so we could check. $12 well spent.

I also bought a litre of low smoke semi-synthetic 2 stroke oil, so I made up 5 litres of 25:1 premix and dumped it in the tank, and turned the fuel petcock first to "on" then to "Reserve", but no fuel travelled down the clear lines to the carbs? WTF?

T350 Sunday 13 Jun 2021 4 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Anyway, no time to worry about that, I connected the new plugs, earthed them on the head and kicked the engine over, and could see a nice fat spark. Excellent! I screwed the plugs in, and fitted their caps.

The next job was fitting the oil tank. This probably would have been easier to do yesterday before I ran the wiring harness, but no biggie, I used some more of that rubber strap to make some rubber mounts for the oil tank, and managed to bolt it in place. OK, that was all the easy stuff, now it was time to "McGyver" an oil line from the tank to the pump. The original had long ago gone to God, but I had some of the remains, plus some broken lines that had been on the old engine, so I found one piece that I bolted to the pump, and another piece that I bolted to the oil tank.

T350 Sunday 13 Jun 2021 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr 

I grabbed my special tube cutting tool (gardening secateurs) and cut both pieces:

T350 Sunday 13 Jun 2021 1 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Then slipped some "self hardening" fuel hose over both pieces. When I say, "Slipped", I'm joking, it was a tight fit on both sides, so should be a nice tight seal.

T350 Sunday 13 Jun 2021 2 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Now I have no idea how the hose should have been originally routed, but I guess it'll make sense when I receive the hose that RB sends me. For the time being, I poked it thru the fuel pump inspection hole, and it will be fine there, and the good thing is I'll be able to see if the (red) 2 stroke oil is passing thru the pipes.

T350 Sunday 13 Jun 2021 3 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

I thought about why the fuel wasn't filling the float bowls, and I remembered adjusting the float levels when I had the carbs apart, and I reckon that, seeing I had no specs to work from, that's why no fuel was flowing. It was too late to pull the carbs and adjust the floats, but tomorrow is a public holiday, so I'll have plenty of time to pull the carbs, set the float levels, and give it a kick in the guts. More then.

T350 Sunday 13 Jun 2021 6 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

T350 Sunday 13 Jun 2021 7 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

[MauiK3]

This is getting exciting!!
When this one is running maybe you can find a T500 for a stable mate! They look similar, just that the 500 is a bit larger and has some more HP.

[grcamna2]

Terry,I hope you can fire-up your T350 on the Queen's birthday 
I hope you get some 'Nice Old Stock' oil lines from a good source.

[PeWe]

It look like ready for the road, Terry!
Just the little detail to ensure fuel and oil delivery and minor adjustments, right?
There is no oil warning light that will alarm that soon running pure nonlubricated fuel?
Separate oil system to mix the fuel must have a safe system?

[rb550four]

The oil line from the tank looks like it was fed from the inside ( back side of the spicket facing the center of the frame it seemss to be that there is an opening on the back side of the pump cover (so the tube doesn't get sawn by the cable)plate where it exited the plate. Where it's coming out in your picture ....that hole has a rubber plug (sending).

[Alan F.]

It look like ready for the road, Terry!
Just the little detail to ensure fuel and oil delivery and minor adjustments, right?
There is no oil warning light that will alarm that soon running pure nonlubricated fuel?
Separate oil system to mix the fuel must have a safe system?

I'm sure in 1969 there was no early warning system if the oil injection system fails, not even a bulb to light up.

(Long time listener, first time caller. Big fan, love your work)

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks guys, yes it is getting exciting! I'm looking forward to receiving RB's "unobtainium" parts, including the oil line and plug. I was happy that I was able to "McGyver" that oil line (that doesn't actually touch the oil pump cable) because I can watch the oil moving through the line while the engine is running  By the time RB's stuff arrives I'll know that all is well with the oil delivery system.

Nope, no fancy "Low oil" lights on this old dinosaur Per, but there's a "sight glass" so I can see that there's oil in it, and when the oil level dips below the halfway mark, it's time to top it up. As you can imagine, after 52 years the sight glass lens on mine is a bit cloudy and hard to see, but coincidentally, I bought a new old stock sight glass a few weeks ago, so I'll replace it once it arrives. I poured 800 Ml of oil into it yesterday, and I'm guessing the tank holds a little over a litre. I've no idea how many miles I'll get from a tankful of oil, but I'm guessing it'll be pretty frugal, I'm trying to remember how many miles per tankful I got from my last "daily rider" two stroke (Yamaha DT250 back in 1980/81) but I don't remember regularly filling it up, and I rode it around 30 miles every day to and from work, plus weekend rides.

And yes, I'd love both a T250 and T500, and a GT750 triple. All of these bikes were fairly few and far between here in Oz back in the day, I've owned two GT750's and a T250, and of course, wish I still had them. I haven't owned a T500 but my mate Pete had a T500 "Cobra" back in the 1970's, and it was a great bike. Dion had a line on a couple of T500 rolling chassis, so I might have to see if Keith can get me the bits to fill in the blanks. Anyway, more to do on the old beast, so I better get out and get it done.

[MauiK3]

Terry
I may be able to ship you a pallet full of Z1 parts soon depending on the outcome of my research. It would have a titled frame, two engines and sets of carbs and boxes of stuff, if it comes to pass we can get into details.

[PeWe]

Oil mix around 2-2.5%  seems to be newer 2 stroke engines?
Here a link about oil mixes
http://www.dansmc.com/pre_mix_ratios.pdf


Some info about T350. Nothing about oil though.
https://classic-motorbikes.net/suzuki-t350-rebel/

[Terry in Australia]

Terry
I may be able to ship you a pallet full of Z1 parts soon depending on the outcome of my research. It would have a titled frame, two engines and sets of carbs and boxes of stuff, if it comes to pass we can get into details.

Woohoo! Thanks mate, I'm definitely keen, let me know when you need me to zip some money across to you.

[Terry in Australia]

It runs, woohoo! Well, it did run. No, I didn't break it, but I need to have a play with the kick starter mechanism again, as the starter is only engaging when it feels like it, which is a pain in the butt. As suspected, I'd messed the float levels up in both carbs, so it was a simple case of removing the carbs (it's great to be able to remove the carbs without taking off the tank, airbox, sidecovers etc) and resetting the float levels. (I've no idea what the float level is supposed to be, so I set them at 27mm above the gasket surface as I saw a post on a 2 stroke site re: setting the floats for a GT750, which I think ran the same carbs for the first couple of years)

Of course it wasn't this easy, I had the carbs off several times, and ended up swapping over the float out of my spare right side carb into my left carb because I think the float was hanging up in the float bowl, so it either got no fuel, or overflowed. Anyway, I installed the carbs, switched the ignition on, kicked it in the guts, and it fired. Sweet! I went to kick it again, and the kicker didn't engage, but my shin did with the footpeg's 50 year old rubber which, believe it or not, wasn't that soft, so now I have a bruise on my shin. OK, why not push start it? Well I don't have a rear brake yet, and have a sloping driveway with lots of junk that I need to circumnavigate, with my K2 bitsa and the two Velo-Solex scooters under the canopy at the bottom of my driveway, but what the hell, I gave it a crack, but nada. Poop.

I found though, that by "shocking" the engine when I dumped the clutch, the kicker would re-engage, a bit like whacking your starter motor on your car when it won't engage. I managed to kick it a couple more times, and it fired right up, and ran like it's been doing it for years. Sadly I was fumbling with the idle adjusters and I probably turned them the wrong way, and it conked out. The starter wouldn't engage, and anyway I needed to fix it before I can ride anywhere, so I switched it off, dropped the oil out of the gearbox, and I've parked it on it's sidestand in the patio so when I take the clutch cover off to get to the kickstarter mechanism I won't dump oil everywhere like I did last time.

Anyway, it goes, it sounds good, the oil pump appears to be working (I can see red oil in the line I McGyvered yesterday, and there's definitely plenty of smoke) and I'm happy. A little more head scratching required, and I noticed that the right hand carb was dribbling a little fuel, so it'll need to come off for a little more float tweaking, and I might install the tach (and pray it still works) so I can adjust the idle properly. All in all, not a bad day.      

[ekpent]

 If you have the oil pump cover off at this point and since you want to bleed that oil line well you can wire that cable "open" to allow maximum oil at any rpm till it bleeds out well. Makes it a real smoker. Not sure on the t350 but a lot of the Suzuki's won't live on oil tank delete like Yamies and others.  Great work so far !

[PeWe]

It smoked and smelled as it should?
Some added THC oil will make spectators happy!!

[ekpent]

It smoked and smelled as it should?
Some added THC oil will make spectators happy!!

Your naughty !!   

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks guys, and I do have some Cannabis Oil here that came from the US of A for pain relief, but I can't stand it because it tastes like 2 stroke oil, so I might dump it into the oil tank and make everyone around me happy.

The good thing about red 2 stroke oil (looks like ATF, I wonder if ATF would work as 2 stroke oil? I've got 20 litres here that I don't need after sending my poor old Ford Exploder off to the wrecking yard) is that it's easy to see that it's making it's way thru my oil lines, when I pull the RHS carb off again today to re-adjust the float level I'll be able to get a closer look at the oil lines to see if the oil has made it's way into the engine as yet.

The good news this morning is that the RC 970cc kit that I bought from another member here (Via Ebay) has finally arrived, 6 weeks after he mailed it thanks to good ol' USPS, so once the little Suzuki is finished (well I'm still waiting for a few things, but once I have the Suzuki as finished as I can get it, I suppose) I can make a start on the 970 build, hopefully the boxes from CycleX with the sleeves, H/D conrods, chains, valve springs etc, etc will follow shortly. I better sell some leftover K0 parts so I can finance a set of Mikuni RS carbs and a Dyna 2000 ignition for it.    

[grcamna2]

I'm Glad to hear that you have mostly reincarnated 'the Lazarus Suzuki' there Terry 

[ken65]

    Terry said " The good thing about red 2 stroke oil ".

I only use castrol  2T oil myself. Love the red colour. The 2 strokes Ive had ,half the time leak a bit of oil here and there.
Easy to figure out where it comes from. One red drop of oil stands out. Another reason I like the castrol is It smokes a lot compared to the low smoke stuff. Smoke is good. Plus some of those expensive oils the experts recommend after reading the bottle it says not suitable for pumps. Often the 4 litre bottles of castrol 2t is on good specials from supercheap.

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks Ken, surprisingly this was the only 2 stroke oil they had at my local supercheap on Sunday, but I'm guessing they're all pretty much the same, regardless of what the experts say. If I see some in a 4 litre container I'll grab it.

[RAFster122s]

Croc bait lives...!!
Congrats on getting the bike back to life. Look forward to hearing about your escapades out & about fogging the countryside...

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks David, yes, I'm looking at it thru the sliding glass patio door as I type this and and very happy with it, it's come up better than I'd hoped, and I love that original paint. I insured it with Shannon's insurance for $10K "Agreed Value" insurance last week and realised that I still had Spotty's K7 on my policy that I sold back to spotty last month, so I cancelled the K7 and it's not costing me any more than I was previously paying, which is a bonus.

I need to pull the baffles from the T350 and repack them as it's quite loud, and the baffles are loose. It looks like a PO has used wire to secure them rather than the original screws, so I'll have to see what's going on there when I pull them out to repack them.