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

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks Bill, I'd love a GT750, but it'd need to be in reasonable shape, I don't want another resto like this one where most of the parts came from donor bikes. One big problem with GT750's was that some owners replaced the coolant with tap water, and so the engine's cylinder blocks would weld themselves to the crankcases with electrolysis, and my cuz, an ex Suzuki dealer would tell me horror stories about cutting cylinder blocks off engines, which still chill me to the bone.

If it was a good running bike that just needed a cosmetic tidy up (keeping in mind that I'm a rider, not a polisher) I'd be keen, but if it looked like the T350 did when Dion dragged it off his trailer, it'd be a case of "Thanks, but no thanks".........  

[grcamna2]

Keith seems like a very good connection.

[Terry in Australia]

Yeah, he's really looked after me Bill, I did send a lot of money his way, but when I see how much some of these parts would have gone for on Ebay, I tink he must have felt sorry for me.

I forgot to answer your question regarding shocks, probably Hagons mate, Ikon's are fantastic, but much more expensive, and a little excessive for this bike. I'll have a rat through my shock absorber collection first though, in case I can find something that'll work, as I've already spent too much on this bike.

[grcamna2]

Yeah, he's really looked after me Bill, I did send a lot of money his way, but when I see how much some of these parts would have gone for on Ebay, I tink he must have felt sorry for me.

I forgot to answer your question regarding shocks, probably Hagons mate, Ikon's are fantastic, but much more expensive, and a little excessive for this bike. I'll have a rat through my shock absorber collection first though, in case I can find something that'll work, as I've already spent too much on this bike.

You might find a good set of rebuildable vintage Koni's,then I can see how you rebuild them if you'll post it here.Terry,what's the eye-eye measurement of your stock rear shocks ?

[Terry in Australia]

Yeah, he's really looked after me Bill, I did send a lot of money his way, but when I see how much some of these parts would have gone for on Ebay, I tink he must have felt sorry for me.

I forgot to answer your question regarding shocks, probably Hagons mate, Ikon's are fantastic, but much more expensive, and a little excessive for this bike. I'll have a rat through my shock absorber collection first though, in case I can find something that'll work, as I've already spent too much on this bike.

You might find a good set of rebuildable vintage Koni's,then I can see how you rebuild them if you'll post it here.Terry,what's the eye-eye measurement of your stock rear shocks ?

I've got a few sets of Koni's here Bill, but no "Double Eye" units like the T350 uses. the eye to eye measurement is 300mm. I did see some neat air shocks (no spring) from China, but they're from China, so I'm not buying them.....

[dave500]

thats coming along well Terry,ive never trusted autolube systems,sure good when new but im old school 32:1,had a mate seize a dt400 pump stopped or blocked or whatever.

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks Dave, it's a great little bike, I'm looking forwards to getting all the parts I'm still waiting on and getting it out on the road, and yep, my RT3's pump has been blocked off by a PO Dave, and I'm comfortable using pre-mix, but the pump on this one appears to be working OK, so I'll run it, but keep an eye on it just the same.  

[dave500]

yeah,id lose sleep!in the day a road two stroke to make things easy and a modern selling point was auto lube?like buying gas and adding the correct oil etc on the fly = too hard n messy?even pre mix ive watched guys mix and do a fickle calculation and had to correct them,thats where auto lube would shine!

[Terry in Australia]

Yeah, I think the auto lube setup, when working well, is a good thing, because:

1. you don't need to carry a bottle of oil, or find 2 stroke oil at the servo when you fill up, 
2. you don't need to be good at math to work out how much oil to mix before you pump the fuel in on top of it to mix it in your tank properly, and
3. the auto lube system is designed to meter the correct amount of oil regardless of throttle position, the argument being that when you use pre-mix, when you close the throttle to use engine braking to slow the bike going downhill etc, as there's no fuel going into the engine, there's also no oil going in to lubricate the bearings, piston, little end bearings etc, whereas with the auto lube system, there is oil being pumped into the engine regardless of throttle position. The disadvantage is, I suppose, than when you open the throttle after backing off, you're gonna produce even more smoke caused by the imbalance between what the autolube has pumped in, and the what fuel the carb hasn't. Now my head hurts!

The good thing for me is I won't be using it for any longer rides than 100 miles or so, so I should be able to make sure the oil tank is full before a ride, and monitor the oil usage whenever I stop, without too many difficulties. Hopefully there's enough room under the seat for a bottle of oil, just in case.

[dave500]

yeah make sure the oil level actually goes down in the tank,with premix sure going down hill the oil aint cut off fully but only becomes what the carb can deliver at idling quantity,youd need a fair long down hill to truely do any damage,the biggest hiccup for most guys is the math working out how much oil,ive seen guys work it out,add it,then tip in a little extra for luck?

[Terry in Australia]

Yep, I guess the the theory is that it's better to have some oil when the throttle is closed than none at all, but having said that, most old 2 strokes I've ridden probably had more oil in them than they needed. Having said that, the old Suzy twins had a reputation of "nipping up" particularly in hot weather or high RPM riding, my cuz said he's got a box of pistons if I want them, as he always had them in stock at his shop, just for that reason.

I'll keep running it on pre-mix for the first tankful or so, and then I know my pipes won't rust out (although, they're fine 52 years on, so that's probably not that necessary either) and once I'm confident that the oil pump is doing it's job, I'll just run it on unleaded.

[PeWe]

Just hearing the video was a reminder of the GT550 (complete with RAM AIR) I sold a few years ago..

As always Terry, most impressed! Congrats on another outstanding job.

Really beautiful  bike and special looking engine!!
Sure you do not miss it?
I should....

[Trevor from Warragul]

YSS list shocks for the T350 - $350.00.  Bought some for my CBX & they're pretty good.

https://yssaustralia.com.au/filter?other_9=26&feature_11=101model-T+350&type=top

[Terry in Australia]

YSS list shocks for the T350 - $350.00.  Bought some for my CBX & they're pretty good.

https://yssaustralia.com.au/filter?other_9=26&feature_11=101model-T+350&type=top

Thanks Trevor, yep, I've got them on my Z1000, they were actually for a Harley Sportster, but I figured that my stripped down Z1000 "Mad Max" bike weighed around the same as my XLH1200, and they definitely look the part.

[ekpent]

 Oh oh - look what I found under my bed yesterday    1971 T250

[Terry in Australia]

Bloody hell Eric, is there anything you DON'T have?

[ekpent]

Bloody hell Eric, is there anything you DON'T have?

T350 Rebel. Never been lucky enough to run up on a nice one but I do know where a nice orange one is hiding if the guy ever wants to get rid of it.

[PeWe]

Found a T250 almost new, 1977 not far away within an hour by car from me.

 Around 2500 Euro.
I could not find T350, GT380/550.


But the older bikes have a nice seat and more character.

[grcamna2]

Bloody hell Eric, is there anything you DON'T have?

Terry,you and I can go to Eric's 'Yard Sale' when he has one;make sure to rent a container to bring stuff back to AUS ! 

[Terry in Australia]

Found a T250 almost new, 1977 not far away within an hour by car from me.

 Around 2500 Euro.
I could not find T350, GT380/550.


But the older bikes have a nice seat and more character.

That's a GT250 Per. Looks to be in nice condition, and the front disc brake probably works way better than the twin leading shoe brake on mine and Eric's bikes, but it's definitely not as pretty as the older models.

[Terry in Australia]

Bloody hell Eric, is there anything you DON'T have?

Terry,you and I can go to Eric's 'Yard Sale' when he has one;make sure to rent a container to bring stuff back to AUS ! 

Ha ha, Eric wouldn't let me near his collection Bill, as he knows he'd never e able to get rid of me, I'd want to camp in his barn just so I could sit on, and drool all over his bikes!

[grcamna2]

Terry,Eric Does have a Huge,varied collection of vintage Japanese motorcycles 
Do you know of a great synthetic 2-stroke oil that's recommended by your cousin to run in your T350 oil tank ?
The Good Stuff is great and doesn't let-out as much smoke while providing So Much More lubrication. 

[Terry in Australia]

Terry,Eric Does have a Huge,varied collection of vintage Japanese motorcycles 
Do you know of a great synthetic 2-stroke oil that's recommended by your cousin to run in your T350 oil tank ?
The Good Stuff is great and doesn't let-out as much smoke while providing So Much More lubrication. 

Thanks Bill, no my cuz has been out of the business for maybe 30 years? He sold the shop and got a job on an oil rig maintaining the turbines for the fire fighting systems, and retired a couple of years ago. He wasn't a fan of synthetic two stroke oils back then, he was getting a lot of two stroke engines with burned out bearings, or pistons seized in cylinders after the operators used one particular brand (which name escapes me) of full synthetic 2 stroke oil. His thing was, if you can see the smoke, you know it's getting oil.  

[Trevor from Warragul]

I use Castrol Power 1 TTS Racing fully synthetic in my Kawasaki H1A.  I tried semi-synthetic, but the bike didn’t seem to like it.  It is incredibly expensive, so I buy it in 4 litre containers.  Some old timers will tell you fully synthetic will lead to moisture/corrosion in the crank, but synthetic oils have improved vastly in the last 20 odd years.  Fully synthetic is low smoke & plug fouling is very rare.  Low smoke is important, because Joe Public will report you to the EPA!

[Terry in Australia]

Yep, not wanting to turn this into an oil thread Trevor, and I don't really care that much either way, I'll use whatever's available. FYI, Ken told me that Supercheap Auto is having a sale this weekend with 30% off Castrol oils. I might try some of that fancy fully synthetic stuff.