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

[PeWe]

Bike import bureaucracy pay the Aussie government salaries?
I have the idea about where the bureaucracy is complex, there are shortcuts when paying the go fast lane fee to the right person.
Former east Europe as an example

[MauiK3]

I forgot to mentions something about the video.
I like the blue blinking light effect in the chrome fenders, nice touch!!
I may copy you and put up some festive lights in my garage where I do my hobbies.

[BenelliSEI]

Terry..... amazing progress! Great detail and keep it up! Thanks, John D.

[Terry in Australia]

I forgot to mentions something about the video.
I like the blue blinking light effect in the chrome fenders, nice touch!!
I may copy you and put up some festive lights in my garage where I do my hobbies.

Ha ha, thanks mate, they're just proof of how lazy I am, I haven't pulled down my Christmas lights from 2020! I must admit though, I love them, and during these lockdowns like we're in now, they cheer me up a little. I quite enjoy sitting out there with a Ginger beer turning wrenches or just taking it all in.  

[PeWe]

You have Christmas all year around, Terry!
You must have been a very good boy since Santa send you stuff all the time!!

[Terry in Australia]

Ha ha, well I don't know if the wife would agree if she knew how much I've been spending on all those things Santa keeps sending me! Today was a busy work day, and so I had to curtail my Suzuki shenanigans. Santa sent me a couple more gifts though, the new Michelin front tyre arrived from Melbourne, and the tube arrived from Sydney within an hour of each other.

T350 Thursday 3 Jun 2021 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

T350 Thursday 3 Jun 2021 6 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

The tyre is interesting, it can be either a front or rear, you just change the direction of rotation, depending on which wheel you use it on. I don't think I've seen that before? But it's a Michelin tyre, so should be fine. Not really looking forwards to installing it, the tyre on the bike now is 52 years old, so will be tough to remove (I don't want to cut it, I'm gonna keep it for "Garage Art") and the new tyre, being a smaller, skinnier tyre appears to have quite firm sidewalls, so might be a pig to lever onto my rim, which I'll need to protect, it's never had another tyre put on it, so there are no tyre lever marks, and I don't want to be "that guy" who marks it up, so I might tape my tyre irons to protect the rims, and I'll use some dishwashing liquid to grease the tyre good to help ease it on the rims.

I stripped the best two of the 4 carbs and put them in the ultrasonic cleaner. My dreams of assembling them again today were dashed when I realised that even though all the floats, jets and needles look great, the two float bowl gaskets were either torn or missing completely. I ordered new ones from Partzilla, but they won't get here for at least a week, but if I get desperate, I might pull apart my original rotten seized carbs and see if I can get the gaskets out, who knows? Maybe it's gonna work, or I suppose I can cut two new gaskets, not that I want to........

T350 Thursday 3 Jun 2021 1 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

I got some other stuff done though, I stripped the old rusty paint off the footpegs and repainted them, and installed the left one and the kickstarter pedal, after I fixed an oil leak. (forgot to install a gasket on the neutral light switch cover) I installed the kickstarter pedal and realised that there's no spring on the end of the shaft, as the pedal doesn't retract, that's OK, I'll go find the one from the rusty wreck engine, and clean it up, and install it.

T350 Thursday 3 Jun 2021 2 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

I was looking in a box in my garage for carb gaskets and found a genuine Suzuki mirror, so installed that, but need another one for the other side. I pulled the headlight bucket out of the phosphoric acid bath, cleaned it, dried it, and sprayed some WD40 inside to stop it rusting again, sprayed some silicone lube on the rubber mounts, and installed it. I received a new headlight from Santa yesterday along with the Honda CB750 Akront alloy rimmed front wheel that a member here sent me and am just waiting for the new old stock headlight rim, and I'll have all my lights and indicators.

T350 Thursday 3 Jun 2021 3 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr
 
T350 Thursday 3 Jun 2021 4 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

And that was about that. Not as far advanced as I'd like, but as I said, my actual paid work job was very busy today, plus I had to go pick up some Morphine that I've just been prescribed, to add to the 14 other tablets I take every day, but I won't b1tch, I've always been a big fan of morphine.

First time I had it I was 18 and broke my collarbone (clavical) when I did an "Evel Kneivel" impersonation while racing a couple of Army mates across a field, I was kicking their arses until the ground opened beneath me, and I went into a hidden pit @ 60 MPH, wrecking the rented dirt bike, and smashing my collarbone. I went to hospital and they injected me with Morphine, and it was right then that I realised why people get hooked on Heroin (Morphine's dirty little brother) I was still happily chatting to the nurse a couple of hours after she'd left the building, and I was fascinated with how the ceiling tiles were swirling around on their own. I believe it's good for pain relief too, which is an added bonus.

OK, I better go take some drugs, and go to bed. See you guys tomorrow.

[rb550four]

  Looking good Terry.
I kept looking at this thread and the pics looked so farmiliar but I couldn't quite figure out why. It seems that maybe 3 years ago I went to look at a 450 for parts that was found in a forgotten truck body along with some other bikes in different stages of being picked over. To get this 450 I had to buy the entire truck load of stuff I didn't need....so of course I bought it.
  There was some BSA frames, early 450 chopper frame, a complete 71 450 that I wanted, a stripped 500T and some other British bike parts, some old small Honda frames and  someone even added a little  Suzuki  in the mix. It's all been in the darkest corner of my theater building since the day I got them, trapped by finished Hondas.
   It hit me when I was looking at your painted frame ,then again when I saw you hooking up those oil lines from the 2 cycle oil pump. Hey, I might have one of those I thought and went down to the theater, and there may be some parts that Terry can use. I only play with Hondas so I'd never rebuild it.
  It is a 70 T250 not the 350 though. all the tinwork is missing , The top triple doesn't have the Rounds to house the missing speedo and tach, forks and front end seems complete  except for a dented fender and missing headlamp, trans and pump is there,  no seat, I think the right side cylinder has no cover .... I'll send you somekind of pictures so you can see what is left, perhaps there is something you could use.

The pics didn't come out good . If there is anypart that will carry over to your machine that you may be looking for let me know and I'll dig it out of it's hiding spot and get some light on it.

[Terry in Australia]

Hey thanks RB, I'm fascinated that you've got a theatre building? But wow, I'd love a T250 and a T500 too, I know where there's another T250and 500 frame, and I have a set of 250 barrels and pistons here, from when I thought I might have to down size it to a 250? So I've already got some 250 parts, but I'm fascinated in what you have, can you drag that thing into the light and take some pics? I'm happy to pay whatever's fair and only need you to ship as far as Sarasota, Florida, because USPS sucks balls, so I'd prefer to send the stuff to my MyUS.com account, and they'll get it to me via Fedex?

Anyhoo, speaking about those great guys at Fedex, the tank, sidecover and oil tank in 52 year old paint turned up today, 2 days after it left Sarasota, Florida, unbelievable! I opened the box and apart from the nice old paint, I noticed that all the emblems were removed? WTF? and then I found them, individually wrapped, along with the screws, excellent!

Now I suppose I must send out a "Spoiler alert", if no-one here wants to see what the bike will eventually look like when it's finished, look away now. For those who don't give a sh1t, here's some pics I took today. I had a sh1t of a day, work wise, and the box couldn't have arrived at a better time. I removed the sidecovers and tank, re-attached the emblems, and sat them on the frame. I have to say, it really looked good.

T350 Friday 4 Jun 2021 3 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

T350 Friday 4 Jun 2021 4 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

That was the good news. The bad news is that I'm a bit concerned about the kick starter return spring. Is it there? Is it broken? Whatever, it's not working. Bugger. No biggie, I pulled the one out of the rotten rusty engine and checked i out, it's not something I forgot to install, as the spring is located within the engine cases, but I may have messed up the shaft position when I installed the oil pump drive/clutch drive sprockets, so I'm hoping (and praying) that I can fix it without splitting the cases? We'll see.   

Anyway, I love the look, it's everything I was hoping for and more, once it's done, I need a T250, T500 and a GT750 to fill the "Terry's 2 stroke garage" quadrella. More tomorrow.      

[Trevor from Warragul]

Hopefully the spring isn't like the Kawasaki triples, where a tang on the spring fits in an indent on the case.  Often gets missed by newbies...

[Alan F.]

Sorry to hear about the bad work day, but Yeah the bike looks glorious!

[PeWe]

That bike look really good!!
Nice green color.

Is it a hand pump to be placed on frame as the T500 Cobra I have seen has?

[rb550four]

 terry, I got some pics

[rb550four]

 Rims are in good shape

[rb550four]

other shots

[rb550four]

 And that should do it

[grcamna2]

That bike look really good!!
Nice green color.

Is it a hand pump to be placed on frame as the T500 Cobra I have seen has?

Yes Terry,your OEM green parts are Very Nice original parts.  The early model T350 parts have a good bit more 'Classic Character' to them than my boxy looking fuel tank on my previous 1971' T350.The tank on your bike reminds me of the same style on a Bultaco Metralla.

[34barab]

Terry

Love the color.  Not a big fan o the sound and smoke, but two-strokes go like lightning.  Best of luck with it.

John B

[RAFster122s]

Terry, she will look good all refreshed and polished up.  I wouldn't have been able to resist cleaning up the oxidation on the cases and probably would have went down the rabbit hole of polishing the cases after sanding or scotch brighting off the oxidation...
Polished aluminum can be so addictive and super messy... Once you get bitten by the bug and have the basic polishing equipment it is almost like addiction. You have to walk away and ignore that siren song...

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks guys, yeah, I'm really happy with the look, and am looking forwards to firing it up for the first time and taking it for a lap around the block. I keep thinking about what bikes I'll still be able to ride as I move into my twilight years, and realised that this bike with me on it weighs around the same as a CB750 on it's own, so maybe this is the bike I should keep when I'm too old and frail to hold up a big bike?

Re: the kick starter spring, it's a torsion spring that fits over the kick starter shaft with one end of the spring in the shaft itself and one end that fits in a slot in the inner cases. It's still there as the engine hasn't had the cases split, and I remember it having spring pressure as I rotated it to install the starter and oil pump gears on the right side of the engine, (the foot long kick starter shaft travels the full width of the engine from the kicker on the left side to the gears on the right side) so, as I had to push the shaft maybe 20mm to the right to install the oil pump shaft, I might have pushed the tang of the spring out of the detent in the inner case, so I'll pop the clutch cover off today and have a play with it and see if I can get it to work properly. 

Thanks for the pics RB, as much as I'd love to import the whole bike, I don't know if I could afford the whole exercise of another parts buying frenzy to build another bike, but I did see some parts on yours that I'd like for mine, can I PM you a shopping list? My mate Pete rang me last night to tell me that his brother who's a  mate of mine too is dying. Davey was one of my early CB750 mentors, and still has his K2 that he bought new in 1972. He rode that bike for over 100,000 miles with his fastidious maintenance and it was still in great condition when Pete took it for a ride and dropped it.

Davey is only a little guy, but has a hair trigger temper, and I almost had to hold him back from killing Pete. Anyway, he found a bike shop here in Melbourne that was closing down and bought a heap of new old stock parts including a new tank, head, cylinder block, new HM341 pipes, etc. The trouble is he moved to Cairns in Far North Queensland in the late 80's and for one reason or another never put his bike back together, and the salty humid air has played havoc on Davey's bikes and parts, so the NOS tank is quite rusty, and everything is coated in a fine layer of corrosion.

Pete had intended to buy the K2 before Davey leaves his mortal coil, but decided against it as he doesn't think he's up for a full rebuild, so I'm thinking of making Davey an offer and doing a road trip with Pete to collect it, along with the remains of the K0(?) I gave him in 1980 when I bought my K1 and as I had nowhere to stash the spare bike that came with it, I gave it to Davey. I need more bikes and parts like I need another hole in my head, but there's a certain sentimental attachment, as Davey and I were pretty close before I was posted to Brisbane and he moved to Cairns. I still talk to him via FB messaging now and then, but his health is so bad now that he'll be lucky if he sees Christmas, they've sold his house with 5 acres of land, and I think he'll be moving into an assisted care facility in Cairns. I better have a chat to him soon as I imagine they'll be trying to sell all his bikes and stuff before the move, as the new owner has told them that he doesn't want any crap left in the various sheds around the property. 

Anyway, it's day 2 of week 2 of lockdown #4 (or is it 5? I can't remember) so no bike riding. No biggie, plenty of bike stuff to keep me going. Speaking of which, I better get off my butt and get out there and do some. More later.      

[Terry in Australia]

Terry, she will look good all refreshed and polished up.  I wouldn't have been able to resist cleaning up the oxidation on the cases and probably would have went down the rabbit hole of polishing the cases after sanding or scotch brighting off the oxidation...
Polished aluminum can be so addictive and super messy... Once you get bitten by the bug and have the basic polishing equipment it is almost like addiction. You have to walk away and ignore that siren song...

Thanks David, I'm not sure what oxidation I've missed that you're talking about, I thought I'd scrubbed all the oxidation off the cases but didn't go to the point of polishing them, because it would have looked odd, an immaculately polished engine in a bike that otherwise looks like an original "survivor".

I think the engine, while "Tarnished", looks good and matches the "Patina" across the rest of the bike, which is the look I was hoping for. I sold a guy a CB750K1 in bits 4 years ago and he still hasn't finished it as he's as perfectionist and is polishing everything, getting stuff re-chromed as he can afford it, scouring Ebay for NOS parts etc, but I think he's lost interest as his momentum has pretty much slowed to a halt.

As nice as immaculately restored bikes are, sometimes it's better just to get them back together and out on the road, and not worry if they aren't "show quality". I'd rather be riding it, than polishing it any day.

[Terry in Australia]

Neither rain nor hail nor sleet or snow will deter the "Restificator" from working on the T350, but I have to say, today was the coldest day so far this year, and even with 3 layers of clothing, I was freezing. No matter, I wanted to see what was going on with the kick starter issue. I pumped the tyres up and rolled it around the driveway so I could get to the right hand side of the bike for the first time, as all the work I've done on it has been from the left, due mainly to limited space.

T350 Saturday 5 Jun 2021 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Now to get to the kick starter shaft you first need to remove the exhausts on both sides, the clutch cover, the kick starter pedal, the shifter pedal etc, pretty much everything I've bolted to the engine over the last few days. Oh well, I'm getting good at doing everything twice on this bike, if anyone here ever races a T350, they could employ me in their pit crew, as I'm getting faster every time I re-do it.

T350 Saturday 5 Jun 2021 1 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

The good thing was, once I removed all that stuff and pulled the kick starter/oil pump gears, I realised straight away that the only problem was that I needed to pop the clip off the shaft on the left side (sprocket side) of the engine, push the shaft a few mm to the right and rotate the shaft so that the "Boss" on the right hand end of the shaft sat under a plate screwed to the engine case, keeping the torsion spring under pressure, then pulling the shaft back into place, and popping the clip back in it's slot. I reassembled everything, and was happy that the pedal returned under spring pressure. Woohoo!

OK, while I was on the right hand side, I had to install the brake pedal and right hand side foot peg. This was when I discovered that I had a busted off bolt still in the footpeg lug on the frame. Damn. I busted lots of bolts pulling the rusty wreck apart, even using my mapp gas torch and WD40's new rust penetrant. I thought there was one stuck in the frame somewhere, but didn't see this one before I had the frame blasted and painted. Bugger.

T350 Saturday 5 Jun 2021 2 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Anyway, I did my best to centre punch it in the centre, which isn't easy on an uneven surface, but I managed to use the left hand drill bit set to coax the remains of the bolt out. Sweet. That little kit is worth it's weight in alcoholic ginger beer.

T350 Saturday 5 Jun 2021 3 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

The original brake pedal was so rusted to the pivot on the frame that I bent it getting it off, but Keith supplied a good one, and then I realised that he hadn't sent me the spring (because I didn't ask for one) so I ratted through all the stuff that I'd chucked in the phosphoric acid bath a week or two ago then cleaned and put in one of the tubs that Spotty gave me, and found the original return spring, so was then able to install the brake pedal and the footpeg assembly.

T350 Saturday 5 Jun 2021 4 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

The rear brake cable wasn't included in the cable kit I bought, but I found a NOS Suzuki item in Thailand, so all going well, I should have it along with the headlight shell and some other pieces (new spark plugs don't appear to be available here, so I've got new plugs and points coming from the US, but in the meantime I'll borrow the plugs from my 1969 Yamaha SD6 250's engine, I figure they're probably in the same ball park. Anyway, that was my day, tomorrow I'm gonna trace the one good carb bowl gasket I've got, and cut a new one so I can install the carbs, and the air box, battery box, wiring harness etc.

Still lots of little jobs to do, but now at least it's looking more like a bike, and less like a project.

T350 Saturday 5 Jun 2021 6 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr   

[MauiK3]

It will really be great seeing/hearing it run after all this effort!!
These old bikes are great stuff, newer plastic covered bikes with transformer lines simply lack any artistic appeal.
All the front ends with beaks and downward pointing tanks and fairings are just boring.
Great work

[grcamna2]

Terry ! ,you're winning the battle even though the odds had started-out stacked against you  I love left-hand drill bits and should probably use them with my 1/2" drive electric AC plug-in drill which has plenty of torque.I live in an apt. so for now I've been using my 19.2vt Craftsman cordless,gives me a low-profile.. 
I'm glad for you that the kickstart was such a two-thumbs-up fix and you didn't need to split the cases ! I'm curious how you'll like left-foot kicking it  Do you have the OEM small rubber plug to cover the oil pump adjustment inspection port ? Lol
I would imagine that's difficult to source.Why will you replace your chrome headlight shell? I thought it came out of the phosphorous bath looking ok?   Bill

[BPellerine]

you are one determined man terry!looks good

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks guys, I'm getting quite excited now that the old pile of crap is now an (almost) functional motorcycle again, 48 years since it last fired a shot in anger, and was dumped unceremoniously in a field to rot. I've got to have a chat to RB, he's got some parts I need, including that plug. I could turn up an alloy plug if I needed to, and I'm still finding NOS parts all over Ebay, (I found a NOS rubber "carb to airbox" plenum last night and did the "Buy it now" thing immediately) but I've spotted a few little things on his bike that might still be usable, so if we can make a deal, they'll be handy.

It was late when I typed the last post Bill, yep the headlight bucket or "shell" is fine after a dip in the phophoric acid bath, I meant to say the weird D shaped headlight "rim" that surrounds the actual (weird D shaped) headlight lens (or whatever it's called) itself. Maui, yep, modern bikes leave me cold, I do like oddballs like my Triumph Rocket III's and my RC51 SP1's etc, but yep, the whole "Transformers" look doesn't do anything for me, a bit like 80's music......

Anyway, I slept in this morning, it's cold and miserable outside again, so I'll go out and grab the good carb bowl gasket and trace it out on some gasket paper and cut it out, and assemble the carbs in my comfy chair I think, before I bravely brave the cold and go put them on the bike. I'll probably have to install pods until that rubber plenum arrives, but that's OK, I haven't painted the airbox yet anyway. More later.