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

[ekpent]

 Have the damn oil dams showed up yet ?

[MauiK3]

I’m feeling jealous of your progress, I’m at a standstill until some stuff gets here, great work! It will be a great bike.
My stuff will all get here at once and I’ll be buried in work on the Z1.
In the mean time, a few honey do’s get done, especially since I got part of the garden shed for my blasting setup. (Temporary)

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks guys, and that is good news about the 25 year rule Trevor, Spotty will be happy as he was shattered when he found out it looked like going to 30 because he was relying on getting a red plate for the ZZR1100 and his Valkyrie. Eric, no the damn dams haven't arrived yet, so I might have to dust off one of my welders and weld in a 10mm extension. Not really that keen about doing it, but I can't wait forever.

Steve, I don't know about you, but I am very impatient so as soon as I buy a project bike, whether it's in front of me or I'm waiting on it's delivery, I'm already ordering parts for it. The day the CB750A arrived, so did the used seat I bought from the US, and the seat cover I bought from Thailand. This sometimes backfires on me, when I looked at all the pics of the T500 in bits in the sellers garage I couldn't see a sprocket cover, so I blew $100 USD on one, only to find that I had 2 in a tub, and they were in better condition than the one from the US. D-oh!

Speaking about pissing money away, I did some drunk ebaying last night. I found some NOS headlight brackets and headlight shell, with nice shiny chrome. That solved a major headache for me because the chrome (or lack thereof) on mine is really sad. Only problem is they probably won't arrive until next month, but that's OK, I'll just splash some gloss black Rustoleum on the old ones for the time being, then swap in the new items when they arrive.

The headlight ears are actually for an earlier model, but the only difference is that they have the side reflectors in a different position that on my "L" model, where they stick out like dogs balls and look like a last minute afterthought compared to the earlier ones with nice little reflectors mounted neatly on the ears. They were expensive as you'd expect for 47-50 year old NOS parts, but worth it to make the bike look a little nicer.

The weather outside is sh1t so far, really windy, so I'll be in no rush to wander outside to do much, but I suppose I better get those headlight ears and the shell painted, and fit them, just to get that job out of the way. More soon.  

[ken65]

Gday Terry. Here's a t500 track bike a bloke I know made. hope ya don't mind.
i did a drag against it on my rd350lc.

[Terry in Australia]

Wow! How could I be upset about that magnificent beast gracing the pages of my thread mate? How did it go up against your "Elsie"? I do have a spare T500 frame and wheels, maybe I should build something like that? Not too comfortable for a long ride, but it'd hold court in the carpark at Phillip Island, I reckon!

[MauiK3]

As a former submarine machinist, where it was always about long lead time parts, I’ve tried to time my purchases to match the work pace, this thing with blasting the cases threw me off, I have most of what I need to assemble the bottom end but I can’t now until I clean them up. My rims got here today, when the spokes come I can start building wheels, then I’ll need tires which are not available yet but may be soon. I’m going to keep this going as much as I can, it will be fun when it actually starts to look like a bike again, instead of a pile of parts. My next few months look pretty good for having time and what with COVID-19 resurgent, where am I going?
Oh, the local chrome place is not responding( they are on Oahu) so I’m looking into a Southern California shop, lots of custom cars there, hopefully it’s a good shop.

[MauiK3]

Track bike is beautiful, looks like it weighs nothing and can go very fast!

[ken65]

Wow! How could I be upset about that magnificent beast gracing the pages of my thread mate? How did it go up against your "Elsie"? I do have a spare T500 frame and wheels, maybe I should build something like that? Not too comfortable for a long ride, but it'd hold court in the carpark at Phillip Island, I reckon!

It did beat me over about 250 metres. BUT, I've got at least 50 kg on him, he had a rolling start , his motor had a bit done to it while mine was stock.  What else can I think of? haha.  I'd say at 250 metres he was about 10 yards ahead of me, maybe 11.

[Terry in Australia]

Ha ha, whenever I think about "Former Submarine Machinist" I think of a guy in a deep sea diving suit operating a lathe at the bottom of the ocean, but I'm guessing that isn't accurate?

Anyhoo, Husain sent me a message to come pick up my engine cases, and to bring more money. As much as I love his work, it's getting expensive, so I'm glad I have everything blasted now. No biggie though, he's still keen for me to strip his 1965 Honda Benly engine so that he can vapor blast it, then have me reassemble it again, so whatever he charged me to blast my stuff, will be returned to me when I do his work.

He did offer to do all my stuff in return for me doing his engine without any money changing hands, but I want to get mine done and finished before I do his, so I said that I'll pay him and then I'll get it back off him when I do his engine. That way I don't have to hurry with my bike, but of course I will anyway....

I am really happy with the results:

T500 Saturday 11 Sep 2021 1 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

T500 Saturday 11 Sep 2021 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

If you look at the second pic, there is a hairline crack above the rear sprocket cover area, caused, no doubt by the clod who I bought the engine cases from dropping it, I noticed that the gear selector shaft was slightly bent as well consistent with someone dropping it, and of course it wasn't mentioned in the Ebay auction description, but no biggie, it was a lot worse when I first received it, but I heated it up with my MAPP gas torch and tapped it back into place, and as it's not cracked right thru, nor will it cause an oil leak, I'll leave it. I better think about clearing some space on the bench in preparation for some engine building. More soon.

[Terry in Australia]

Wow! How could I be upset about that magnificent beast gracing the pages of my thread mate? How did it go up against your "Elsie"? I do have a spare T500 frame and wheels, maybe I should build something like that? Not too comfortable for a long ride, but it'd hold court in the carpark at Phillip Island, I reckon!

It did beat me over about 250 metres. BUT, I've got at least 50 kg on him, he had a rolling start , his motor had a bit done to it while mine was stock.  What else can I think of? haha.  I'd say at 250 metres he was about 10 yards ahead of me, maybe 11.

Ha ha, yep, I think you've covered every possibly excuse for getting it handed to you Ken, but of course his is still a 500 so he had a reasonable capacity increase over you too? It would have been good to watch though, I really do like that pic you posted, I think I need to build one just like it.....

[Terry in Australia]

OK, so I wandered outside and decided that the only thing I still need to do to the old engine cases, was to remove the cylinder studs. Luckily my stud remover got them out without any major issues, and surprisingly, I didn't have to use any heat, so I was happy with that. Tomorrow I need to concentrate on the engine.

T500 Saturday 11 Sep 2021 2 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

[Terry in Australia]

Oh, and to answer your question Bill, yep, there's a threaded hole under each side of the crankcase, presumably for draining excess oil, maybe fuel as well if the float sticks on one carb and it fills the crankcase?

[RAFster122s]

Cracks me up...the racing stories

Terry, that bike porn of vapor blasted cases is quite lovely stuff.
I do not quite understand your lack of concern about a crack you could move after heating with MAPP gas. Sound broken but not broken off...

Have an owl or two hanging out outside, I love hearing them. May they feast on the packrats and eliminate the suckers.
Coyotes were calling fifteen minutes ago very close by...love living out in the desert. The coyotes stirred up what few dogs live outside nearby. I am sure the few feral cats in the area hid when they heard the coyotes moving through hunting.

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks David, the desert sounds lovely. To clarify the crack issues, I heated it with my MAPP gas torch so I could tap it back into place with my hammer, as it was quite bent. It's still nice and solid, but if I'd tried to bend it back with it was cold it would likely have snapped off, ever tried to straighten a bent fin, without heat?

[ekpent]

 I've tried front brake handles cold ----   snap ----------

[grcamna2]

Thanks David, the desert sounds lovely. To clarify the crack issues, I heated it with my MAPP gas torch so I could tap it back into place with my hammer, as it was quite bent. It's still nice and solid, but if I'd tried to bend it back with it was cold it would likely have snapped off, ever tried to straighten a bent fin, without heat?

Terry,you going to put a bead of weld on it?

I like the threaded plugs under each cylinder to drain the mix that can get flooded around the crank and severly cause your engine to load-up.I have tried to get a few 2-strokes started after being loaded-up and have fouled many plugs,just trying to get it running:it takes a lot of wide-open running to burn all that mix off usually.

[Terry in Australia]

G'Day Bill, nope, definitely won't be welding it, my alloy welding skills are poor, so I'd likely do more damage welding it, than leaving it alone. I thought about laying some JB Weld over it, but it's not a structural issue, it's outside of the gearbox so won't leak oil, and I haven't looked at what hardware screws back into that area, so I'll leave it for the time being until I have everything bolted back in place to make sure my "repair" doesn't interfere with anything.

[grcamna2]

G'Day Bill, nope, definitely won't be welding it, my alloy welding skills are poor, so I'd likely do more damage welding it, than leaving it alone. I thought about laying some JB Weld over it, but it's not a structural issue, it's outside of the gearbox so won't leak oil, and I haven't looked at what hardware screws back into that area, so I'll leave it for the time being until I have everything bolted back in place to make sure my "repair" doesn't interfere with anything.

I understand.I don't have any arc welding skills yet but would like to learn;I need a shop.
I pay a welder to do mine.

[Terry in Australia]

Yep, the problem I have Bill, is that I've been locked down for the last couple of months and there's no date for a "re-opening", so I can't drive over to a welder and ask him to fix my cases if he's more than 3 miles from my house.

The only welder I know (if he's still operating, a lot of small businesses have closed down since Covid lockdowns killed their businesses) is around 15 miles away, and even if he is open, I don't want to be waiting weeks before I can legally take my part to him, and then wait some more to get a part back that will stop my build, dead in the water. If it was absolutely necessary I would, but it's not.

[grcamna2]

Terry,I like your idea of the JB Weld:slice into the crack from the inside with a small,thin Dremel cut-off disc just enough to allow you to pack a little JB into it,then when you install the countershaft seal,sprocket & cover it won't get any more chain grease into it after such a beautiful vapor blasting:it's already been 'prepped' clean. 

Have a good Patriot Day(US)Terry.

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks Bill. Well today was a truly sh1tful day. Two weeks into Spring we went back to winter. Cold, wet, and thoroughly miserable. I had plans to remove the alternator rotor and replace the two outer seals, but it was just miserable outside. I did thoroughly clean the cases, using my compressed air and running various size bolts thru the threaded lugs.

One of the cylinder stud holes didn't feel good, and as I didn't remove 7 of the 8 cylinder studs, I switched from a 10 x 1.25mm bolt to a bottoming tap, and ran it thru each of the threaded holes, then blew them clean with compressed air.

T500 Sunday 12 Sep 2021 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

I had an idea for a non-welding option for the damn dam. I used some aluminium foil tape to create a mould, mixed up some JB Weld and filled the cavity. I'll leave it a day or two and see if it feels solid enough, and if so I'll file it down to size, and shape it. Of course if the damn dams that I bought on Ebay turn up this week I'll bust it out and forget about it. We'll see......

T500 Sunday 12 Sep 2021 1 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr 

[ekpent]

 Patience 'Grasshopper' 

[grcamna2]

Terry,I used blue masking tape to fix/form a broken fin using JB Weld and it worked very good although it came-out kind of fat and needed a good bit of trimming-down 

[Terry in Australia]

Ha ha, thanks Eric, I always loved that show, it's a shame that David Carradine necked himself, but like so many folks, he had his own demons. Bill, yep, the JB Weld is amazing stuff, I used it to repair the broken casing on my K0 and have used it on one of the Kawasaki's to "cast" a new fin, so not too worried about this "dam" somehow failing,

I just need to make sure I use enough of it to give it a reasonable wall thickness, and shape it so that the "extension is no more than 12mm high, so that oil still flows into the well, and out to the clutch housing. I broke my Dremel tool a few weeks ago, it was my Dad's original USA made Dremel, but it's weak point is the plastic tube that connects the shaft to the motor, so rather than spend $15 on a piece of plastic, I'm gonna buy another Dremel knockoff.

[BenelliSEI]

Terrt..... I finally “flamed” my Dad’s original Dremel about a year ago. Next day I went on KIJIJI and found a fellow selling one just as old! Funny thing: it was his Dad’s too! Box full of extra bits, including cables, stones, polishing pads and even a clamp on conversion that turns it into a little router! He had no idea what it was....... $25!!