Topic: Terry's Boneyard Barn find Budget Suzuki T500 Reanimation.

[ekpent]

 Interesting that you can still buy the official Suzuki retro-fit 'oil dam' part number 24833-15990 on E-bay for 17 bucks. Might be more out there this one just popped up quick. Probably better then JB Weld and a Coke can    If you ever want one and can't find a shipper to Australia for cheap let me know and I'll be a middle man.  https://www.ebay.com/itm/124654317432?hash=item1d05f9ef78:g:YFAAAOSwNNVbKr8T

[PeWe]

A must buy for Terry!

[MauiK3]

Dumb question
So they increased the oil capacity to improve trans oiling?

[RAFster122s]

Did 4 & 5 gear fail from shaft failures or gear teeth wear or something different?

[Zunspec]

Hi all,

Here's the low down on the T500 oil and Oil dam mod.

As first designed you tipped 1200cc of oil into the gear box.  A proportion of this oil would then spill over the "dam" into the clutch/primary gear case.  Problem - the oil remaining in the gear box was then insufficient to keep the gears adequately lubricated.  Most often observed on 4th and 5th gears, as they are the ones engaged 95% of the time.  Solution - add a dam which raises the level at which oil spills over and increase g/box oil to 1400cc to ensure it will spill over.   Result  - the same amount of oil still goes to the primary/clutch case but the g/box has 200cc + extra to ensure proper lubrication.

It's a simple mod.  I've seem some very neat ones with a welded in alloy "dam".

Cheers  Geoff

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks guys, and thanks especially Eric, I just bought one! Well, two actually, why you might ask? Well I've got 2 frames, 4 wheels, some replacement cases, so..... maybe I'll build two T500's? Anyway, I'm getting ahead of myself, I need to build one first.

Beautiful day here, hopefully it'll still be nice when I wander outside this afternoon after "work". I'll split the cases, wash the gearbox components in fresh diesel, put them in one of Spotty's tubs, then I'll do the same with the crank.

I may have to soak the crank in the diesel for a few days, there's no rust on the flywheels but there was a little moisture  in there, the oil/water combination looks a bit disgusting, so a soak in the diesel should make it nice and clean again, before I disassemble the crank, replace the seals and re-balance it. That should be fun.........    

[Zunspec]

Hi Terry,

Wow, you don't hang around 

Cranks -  You will be pleased to know that you can source complete rod kits (rod, crank pin, big end bearing, shims).  I'd give the Crusin Image ones a miss, funny company, some items 1st class, others of dubious quality/manufacture.  Let me know when you want/need them and I can source from the UK.

Cheers  Geoff

(While there you might want straight cut primaries, centre plug heads, NOVA 6-speed box (or Ellis Moore high 1st gear, cheaper by £2500 GBP  ), NOVA billet clutch basket, 34 - 36mm Mikunis, Electronic ign. with charging coils.  Having now spent your entire bike budget for the next 6 months I'll leave you too it lol  . )

[Terry in Australia]

Ha ha, thanks mate, but hopefully I'm good, but I do need a left sidecover if you know where I can find a metal one? I really don't want a replica. I watched a very short English video on Youtube today of guys who'd made motocross bikes out of T500's, and thought, Oooooher, I'd like one of them, but a road version, I might have to go find an old TS185/250 (dime a dozen here) and swap some bits onto my spare frame?

Today was torture for me, working from home while looking out into the patio "Winter Workshop" and thinking about the T500. 4pm finally came along, and I walked away from the laptop and broke out the spanners. The screws that I couldn't remove  from the seal plate (I'm making up names.... I don't know what it's called) behind the front sprocket I drilled out using my left hand drill bits, which are bloody magnificent, I wish I'd known about them 40 years ago, I still buggared the screws, but they all wound themselves out without any damage. Once I removed all of the screws, I gave the case halves a tap with my plastic mallet, then finally levered them apart using my gasket scraper, but I didn't shove it into the gasket surface, I was able to lever between the front engine mount and top case, with no gouging.

T500 Tuesday 10 Aug 2021 2 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

T500 Tuesday 10 Aug 2021 3 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

T500 Tuesday 10 Aug 2021 4 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Yay, it all looks pretty good! (if you experts see anything obvious, let me know?) I put all the gearbox bits into one tub and tipped 5 litres of diesel into it, and gave everything a good brush, but the gearbox guts were so clean it hardly discolored the diesel.

T500 Tuesday 10 Aug 2021 9 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

As mentioned earlier, the crank was a little bit dirtier, but it appears to be in great condition too, with just a little surface rust (or carbon browning, although I don't know what that means either, I just made that up too) so the diesel was a little bit dirtier after I gave it a brushing, but I'll strain it before I put it in my truck......

T500 Tuesday 10 Aug 2021 9a by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

It's a pity about the damaged cases, because, apart from a little oily mud in the bottom case after 47 years and probably never being apart before now, they were really nice and clean. It was getting late and the wind was howling thru the patio by now, so I put the lids on the tubs and knocked off for the day.

T500 Tuesday 10 Aug 2021 9b by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

But then I remembered that my tyre machine thingy had been delivered earlier today.

T500 Tuesday 10 Aug 2021 9c by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

So I started to assemble it, but by then it was getting dark and I was losing interest fast, so I switched off the lights and called it quits, until tomorrow. More then.

T500 Tuesday 10 Aug 2021 9d by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

 

[MauiK3]

What does the primary drive look like? Is it chain?

[Zunspec]

What does the primary drive look like? Is it chain?

Helical cut gears MauiK3

Cheers  Geoff

[grcamna2]

Good progress Terry

[grcamna2]

Ha ha, yes David, I do need to be mindful that all my builds have a limit, I do admire big dollar builds, but with over 20 bikes, I really can't afford to build a showbike, and there's no point putting $20K into a $10K bike. Don't get me wrong, it'll be nice, but no show bike. I do like those expansion chambers though.

I do have the OEM pipes Bill, but they have the usual dents and scrapes, and so I will seriously think about some chambers. Re: the engine number, I can use just the bottom case as the T500 has a roller bearing crank, but the engine's a 1972 "J" model and the rolling chassis is all 1974 "L", so it makes no difference if I use the 1971 top and bottom case that I've bought. Turnaround time shouldn't be more than a couple of weeks, all going well, as the seller only needs to send them to Florida, and then they get Fedexed to me, with a heap of other parts I've bought already.

Terry,The correct brand chambers will give you more kick if you've done engine 'mods' although they take away the strong Low-Midrange power which is inherent to the T500 and turns the engine On way up Top and narrows the powerband.The stock exhaust(along with the airbox)will allow you to keep your strong,'all around' tractor-like torque in your engine and works good even with mild engine mods like large bore pistons and a boost in C.R.

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks Bill, I haven't heard back from Titan Performance yet, so haven't bought the chambers, but I probably will, I had them on several dirt bikes when I was a kid, and they're more for cosmetic reasons and audio pleasure than for performance, as Geoff says they're not a real performance upgrade, plus my 47 year old OEM pipes are pretty grotty.

The cylinders have been bored out 1mm oversize (so it's now a 500.64cc engine, woohoo!) and are in good condition, as are the OEM suzuki pistons, so I'll just hone them, and I've just sold my soul to Santa and bought new 1mm oversize Cruizinimage pistons and rings. I've noted Geoff's comment regarding Cruizinimage stuff and he's right, the fork legs I bought for my K2 bitsa are missing a vital component and I had to do some machining and welding to make them work, but the T350 has new Cruizinimage pistons and rings, so I'm pretty confidant that they'll be good, but if not I can just freshen up the Suzy pistons with the CI rings, we'll see.

I needed a better right side head (mine has busted fins) and bought a pair for $75 USD on Ebay USA. The owner had sent them off to Pro-Flo (I've no idea who they are, but their name sounds very impressive, so they must be good) to have them cc'd and matched, so with new pistons and rings, slight capacity increase and careful assembly, the engine should be a good one.

Terry's T500 heads by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

I have one busted fin on the right hand cylinder as well, but the bore is so good that I'll see if I can just JB Weld the busted fin, it's not big, but will annoy me if I leave it.    

[grcamna2]

Those heads look nice  I like your idea of welding(tig?)or JBing the one broken cylinder fin Terry.

Terry,I had a pair of Torque Engineering expansion chambers on my 75' Yam. RD350B and let me tell you that they really woke-up that peaky little engine and got me all kinds of mid-range power which pulled very strongly all the way through the rev range.I loaded that bike UP with bags bungied UP to the 'ceiling' and rode it from CT./East Coast all the way out West here back in the late 80's:the bike was completely overloaded(it looked like a fully loaded pack animal)with Marzzochi Strada rear shocks.
The bike pulled like a 4 stroke,no sh*t.
Terry,see if you can find a pr. of vintage Torque Engineering chambers for your T500 !

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks Bill, only a small piece of the fin is missing, so probably just JB weld, I do have an AC/DC Tig, but haven't used it in many years.

[grcamna2]

Thanks Bill, only a small piece of the fin is missing, so probably just JB weld, I do have an AC/DC Tig, but haven't used it in many years.

Oh ok, Forming/sculpting a new end of the fin to restore it where it's missing:JB will be just right for that task. 

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks Bill, only a small piece of the fin is missing, so probably just JB weld, I do have an AC/DC Tig, but haven't used it in many years.

Oh ok, Forming/sculpting a new end of the fin to restore it where it's missing:JB will be just right for that task. 

Yeah mate, it won't be the same color, unless I paint the cylinders, which I might do anyway.

[Terry in Australia]

Well I'm happy to report that my new seatcover arrived today, from Thailand. Pitreplica brand, same guys who made my CB750A seat cover looks good quality, and they are super fast, less than a week from when I bought it.

The T500 seatcover is knackered, but still intact so the foam should be good. The steel base is good too, so no repairs required, I might sneak out and strip the old cover off and paint the underneath of the steel base with some Rustoleum satin black paint, then recover it when I finish working at the old home saltmine later this afternoon.

I bought a pair of very nice wheels with ancient tyres from Sichley Cycle Parts in the US. They were delivered to my US shipping address in Florida yesterday, and will be Fedexed out today, so I better get my frame blasted and painted, so I can build a rolling chassis. I even found some nice used OEM handlebars, so I don't have to reinstall the Apes that it came with....    

[Terry in Australia]

I felt guilty that I haven't done any T500 fixing today, so I ordered the new Titan Performance headers, clamps and expansion chambers in polished stainless steel. Thank God I sold my VFR750 this week, this build is getting expensive!

[Terry in Australia]

The seat is very tired. Structually sound with just a little rust, but infinitely useful. The old cover, which is probably not original, is toast though.

T500 Seat Sat 14 Aug 2021 1 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

I stripped the cover off and was happy that the foam is still in remarkably good condition, unlike old Honda foam, it hasn't gone crusty and out of shape.

T500 Seat Sat 14 Aug 2021 2 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

The base had a light coverage of surface rust, so I couldn't bring myself to just throw the new cover on this. The wet spots were where I naively thought I'd be able to remove the stainless steel trim screws, that weren't stainless steel, so were badly rusted. I chopped them off with my angle grinder.

T500 Seat Sat 14 Aug 2021 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

I took a soft wire brush and brushed off the majority of the rust, then washed the inside of the base with turpentine, dried it with compressed air, and hit it with some Rustoleum Satin Canyon Black. Looks way better. More tomorrow.

T500 Seat Sat 14 Aug 2021 3 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

[MauiK3]

Good progress!!

[RAFster122s]

Nice cleanup, that should do nicely for a few years...

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks guys, I was happy to walk out into the sunshine this morning (still under lockdown so no bike rides) and find a parcel waiting for me at the front door. I was looking for rear shocks for the T350 a few weeks ago and couldn't find any listed, apart from scabby old rusty OEM units, so gave up.

Last week I decided to buy a set for the T500 so jumped on Ebay and found some cheap ones straight away and ordered them, and they look great. I have the same generic "Home Brand" shocks on my CB750K0 and found them surprisingly good, so I think they'll be fine, although probably undersprung for my weight. (thank God I'm not 340 pounds any more...)

Interestingly, I compared them to the shocks on my T350 and they're maybe half an inch longer, so I'll probably buy another pair and put them on the smaller T, as the OEM shocks were never designed for a man of my size.

T500 shocks by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr 

[Terry in Australia]

Regardless of the fact that it's winter and we're still locked down, it was a great day. The sun was shining, it wasn't too cold, and I had not one, not two, but 3 separate projects to play with. I took the T350 for a ride around the block several times and discovered that just like the tach, the speedo that came off the original bike, and had been laying in a field since 1973, worked perfectly, bloody amazing. I finished fixing the blinkers on my CB750A, and put the new cover on the T500 seat. All in all, a great day.

Suzuki T500 Sunday 15 Aug 2021 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr   

[MauiK3]

Seat looks like it just left the factory!