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

[grcamna2]

I know how he feels Bill, I currently have 19 bikes insured, and several other projects to finish, but unlike Andy I've built from scratch, or refurbished 4 or 5 bikes in the last couple of years. Andy probably had a lot of ideas that came to nothing, and he gave up years ago. As you and I both know, bikes won't rebuild themselves.

Looking at the receipts that came with the T500 Andy probably had the right idea though, buy a bike from the wreckers and do nothing with it, and 30 years later some fool will pay you 7 times what you paid for it, a good investment..........

Yeah, I suppose the way it looks to me like 'by the end of the day',it doesn't seem to matter as much what someone 'hopes' to do with what they posses;what matters is what they literally get accomplished with what they already posses. imo  I have had a life Full of set-backs so far:one step forward and for every step I take it looks like I'm on a treadmill traveling backwards, And I'm not the one in charge of the switch which can stop the bloody treadmill,at least not at this point in the game. That pisses me off and this is the wrong thread for me to say that. 

[PeWe]

You need heated gloves and clothings if working in that low temperature
My garage is usually   22-25C all year around. 20-23C is OK for me.

I understand if your joints complains, Terry.

[Terry in Australia]

Yes Per, I was talking to my 93 year old mother today and she reminded me that I'll be complaining about the heat in a few weeks, which is probably true, but that doesn't help on days like today. I did think about bravely braving the cold this afternoon, but decided against it and snoozed in my chair, in between watching videos of how to make jam (jelly) doughnuts, something else I'd like to try.

[grcamna2]

Yes Per, I was talking to my 93 year old mother today and she reminded me that I'll be complaining about the heat in a few weeks, which is probably true, but that doesn't help on days like today. I did think about bravely braving the cold this afternoon, but decided against it and snoozed in my chair, in between watching videos of how to make jam (jelly) doughnuts, something else I'd like to try.

Terry,it's a mighty good thing neither one of us live up near the area around Buffalo,NY. as they get So much snow in Winter(right next to a Great Lake)that you would like to own one of those new CAT D11 bulldozers to clear the streets on some of the bad Winter storms there.

[Terry in Australia]

Yep buggar that Bill, I hate snow and while I'm intrigued with snowmobiles, I'm happy if I never get to ride one. Hmmnn, maybe I could get one to ride on the beach? We had a category 6 earthquake this morning, was pretty scary, but none of my bikes fell over, so all good.

The guy in Queensland sent me down the gear pedal and missing shifter plate, so I sneaked out and installed the plate and the clutch assembly, and when I get back from physio, I'll install the transmission cover and torque down the heads. All going well, I should have it running in a day or two, sweet........  

[grcamna2]

Yep buggar that Bill, I hate snow and while I'm intrigued with snowmobiles, I'm happy if I never get to ride one. Hmmnn, maybe I could get one to ride on the beach? We had a category 6 earthquake this morning, was pretty scary, but none of my bikes fell over, so all good.

The guy in Queensland sent me down the gear pedal and missing shifter plate, so I sneaked out and installed the plate and the clutch assembly, and when I get back from physio, I'll install the transmission cover and torque down the heads. All going well, I should have it running in a day or two, sweet........

That's good you received those parts Terry.I hope it warms-up a bit for you soon.

[PeWe]

Earthquake!
Is the entire Australia going south to Antarctica?
More snow then ....
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2021/sep/22/melbourne-earthquake-live-updates-victoria-tremor-mansfield-

[Terry in Australia]

Yep, the earthquake was unreal Per, was a 6 on the Richter scale, and shook the crap out of the place. No damage here, apart from inside my underpants!

But I digress. As previously mentioned, the missing gearbox plate arrived today (I bet I find the missing one when I finish this build) along with the (almost impossible to find) shifter lever, so I installed it and the clutch, torqued the nuts on the clutch shaft and crankshaft, and tested the gearbox to see if I had any gears. All good.

T500 Wednesday 22 Sep 2021 1 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Then after scrounging thru all of my tubs until I found the 16 washers that I needed, and cleaned each one up on my "face breaker" wire wheel attachment, I torqued the heads down, and was pleased that I couldn't see any gaps.

T500 Wednesday 22 Sep 2021 2 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

I was so happy I pulled out the new spark plugs and wound them in.

T500 Wednesday 22 Sep 2021 5 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

I still had some time, so I installed the two new seals in the transmission cover, found my new stainless hardware, and installed it, with a new gasket.

T500 Wednesday 22 Sep 2021 3 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

I then remembered the busted fin, so I dug thru the tubs until I found a broken head fin, and hacksawed/ground it to shape, and using my trusty 6 inch stainless ruler to hold it up, glued it in place with some JB Weld.

T500 Wednesday 22 Sep 2021 4 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

If it holds I'll probably mix some more up and lay it underneath to give it some support. By the time I'd done that it was getting dark, but I was happy, I just need to refit the oil pump and lines, magneto and magneto cover, and the engine can go back in the frame. Can't be unhappy with that!

T500 Wednesday 22 Sep 2021 8 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

[ekpent]

 Well if you have snow and like two strokes you can still ride motorcycles in the winter. Here is Kaw Guru Rick Brett taking a little spin on an old vintage contraption they used to make up. He's riding it around the Traverse City Mi area 

 Think they might still make a more modern version of something like that.

[PeWe]

When you start that bike people will be chocked, afterchock!!

I have witnessed 4.9 which was around 100km away from me on a Greek island Zakhyntos.
Evening when preparing ourselves for dinner. I was in the bathroom shaving when it started to shake. Stone tiled floor felt like swelling see and everything shaked during 20sec or so.
My X was shocked, I laughed while it happened and I was really happy afterwards. First one for me.
"Volcano eruption next to check on the list!" was my reaction when we went out from the 2 store building where we had ground floor. Only sand under.

My X became crazy of course as typical for women which ended up on me. I was happy that I stayed cool.

My conclusion then was to get out quicker next time. That building could have sunked due to liquefaction as a drunken sailor that has got too much cider.

I saw more cracks on the building and nearby pathways afterwards.

But 6.0 is much more!!

Let's see if you'll get more quakes as it can.
The tension in the continent shelves might have been released now.
Or a new volcano will raise as it did in Mexico on a cornfield feb 20 1943, Paricutin volcano.

[Trevor from Warragul]

the earthquake was unreal Per, was a 6 on the Richter scale, and shook the crap out of the place.

I grew up in New Zealand during the 1970's, so I'm used to earthquakes, but this one was frickin' scary!  I reckon it went for a good 45 seconds or so.  No damage though...

[RAFster122s]

Terry, glad all is well there after the big quake, likely to have a smaller one soon as they often do. Motor work looks great. Hope your fin repair works well and looks good once your are done with it…

[grcamna2]

That engine looks great Terry 
That vapor blasting guy did a good job on it also.

I just know you're going to use your Central Tool MFG timing dial indicator to set the timing on this bike,hey Terry?

[simon#42]

looking good ..... cant see that fin staying on for long though !

[grcamna2]

Well if you have snow and like two strokes you can still ride motorcycles in the winter. Here is Kaw Guru Rick Brett taking a little spin on an old vintage contraption they used to make up. He's riding it around the Traverse City Mi area 

 Think they might still make a more modern version of something like that.

Eric,that looks like a 'scary ride',Lol  A snowmobile I'd enjoy as it's got all the weight down low and the rider's weight also,but that H2 sitting perched up there.. Scary 

[jaytee-nz]

I see that the Oz Geotech's are now blaming the quake on NZ saying it was some plates that moved here and somehow bounced over to Victoria !
Reminds me of the time I went to Melbourne on business and experienced an earthquake while I was asleep in my hotel about 20 floors up. Thought I was dreaming because Melbourne didn't have earthquakes as I far as i knew.

[RAFster122s]

One thing you wouldn't have to worry about with that H2 snow contraption is any deer or animals running out in front of you as they would flee long before you got anywhere close.
That sucker is loud!
Perfect contraption for avalanche country...

[rb550four]

Seems like that H2 Kaw could use another ski up front...enough track to move it along nicely, but not enough ski or weight for dependable steering. Always a fun project to build  a snow bike and a real wake up call when it's finished and you've taken it for a spin. I've found that winter really isn't ideal for riding, no matter how much we want to. But it's fun to watch.

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks guys, yeah the earthquake was interesting, to say the least. No aftershocks today, but all the experts have warned us to expect more, but of less ferocity. That H2 snow mobile is a waste of an H2 I reckon, but I do hate snow, so am biased. I understand that when you have no choice you either move (my preference) or get used to it and in some cases actually embrace it (God knows why...) and folks build all sorts of weird machinery, but a H2? What a waste.

Anyhoo, today wasn't a bad day weather wise, warmish, but windy. Tomorrow is a public holiday to celebrate a football game that, thanks to Covid, won't be played in Melbourne again this year. We still get the day off, not that we can go anywhere but thankfully the weather will be sh1t again for the next 3 days, so I won't be pissed off that I can't go for a ride at least. I worked a little later than normal, so just tinkered with a few things. The points cam was pretty rusty so I cleaned it up with some emery paper, then reinstalled the stator, and used the emery paper to clean the points. I won't adjust anything until I go to kick start it, if it fires riight up like the T350 did (and doesn't try to break my foot like the RT3 did) I'll call it good.

I installed the old engine covers just for the installation then attempted to kick it over with my hand, and was surprised at how much compression it had, it'll be interesting to see how easy, or otherwise it is to kick it over with my foot once it's in the frame. The Suzuki factory many instructs to pump 5ml of oil into the 4 injection ports before installing the pump and lines, and I made the mistake of kicking the engine over after I'd pumped the oil in. The compression pressure forced the oil back out quite explosively, so I cleaned it up and pumped another 5mm back in. I have no doubt that this bike will smoke like there's no tomorrow, first time I fire it up.

And that was about it. I didn't have time to install the oil pump and lines, and I'll have plenty of time for that over the weekend. I'm hoping to have the engine back in the frame and I'll install the wiring harness, clean and rebuild the carbs, install my fancy new pipes, and maybe even see if I can fire it up. Should be fun.

T500 Thursday 23 Sep 2021 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr 

[Terry in Australia]

And further more....... This is interesting, to me at least. I was snapping some pics of my engine yesterday, and took this one looking into the intake ports.

T500 Wednesday 22 Sep 2021 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

So what? Well good question. I was browsing Ebay and did a search for T500 cylinders (I need another set for my next T500 build) and noticed when I looked down the intake ports, that the stock cylinders, all look like this:

s-l1600 (7) by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

I wondered if perhaps the port shape was changed somewhere along the 10 year production run, but no, every cylinder I saw from 1968 to 1977 were the same, with the "splitter" casting, so I'm assuming that somewhere along the way someone's messed with mine. Hopefully it'll be a good thing, but if not, there are plenty of T500 cylinders to be had.......

[MauiK3]

You are building another T500?
Wow
This one is looking great, someone likely ported your cylinders for additional punch.

[PeWe]

Not only an obstacle in the port someone has "ported"
- piston support part of the bore
- or guide the flow into the inside?

[grcamna2]

I would guess that the casting 'splitter' in the center of each intake port is for better all-around atomization? and Suzuki knows why. The pictures you posted:seems to me someone has widened the intake port also? more oval shape.
I hope your engine still has it's massive low-end torque which they're supposed to have when original.
I would be curious if the PO Andy might give you any history on those cylinders? ! I think you should get a pair of stock cylinders(with the center casting 'bridge' intact and round ports) to use when you build your T500 enduro as the stock T500's torque is 'the Balls' 
Terry,I'm glad you are making it through an earthquake;I haven't experienced one here in Ca. yet,ever since I first moved here in 4/17' and Do hope I won't need to..
 I agree with you that lovely H2' perched up on top of that snow machine does look strange:I think it's missing two wheels myself. 
How rusty was your points cam? You may want to consider repairing or replacing it as any roughness there will degrade your points & settings/timing very quickly.

[simon#42]

the bridge is there to give the back of the piston some support but they tend to be bad for power . some of the early t500s had 10 fin cylinders and these had much bigger ports , suzuki changed the design when they all started exploding .

[grcamna2]

the bridge is there to give the back of the piston some support but they tend to be bad for power . some of the early t500s had 10 fin cylinders and these had much bigger ports , suzuki changed the design when they all started exploding .

Simon,those 10 fin early cylinders:did they have larger carbs. than the later T/GT500s with smaller ports ?
I would imagine the ones with larger ports had more top-end performance rather than big low-midrange torque?