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

[Terry in Australia]

No idea about any "Camps" here Mark, sounds to me like the conspiracy theorists have been having some fun at your expense? There was some talk about building some "isolation centres" for overseas travellers to do their mandatory isolation because the hotel isolation wasn't working and folks were getting infected in hotels, but now that the population is over 80% vaccinated, and with only 2100 deaths since this whole mess started, I don't think the isolation centres will ever get built.

Conspiracy theories by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

[Terry in Australia]

I've decided that I am the laziest motorcycle restificationer that God ever shovelled guts into. Fair enough it's been quite warm today (90 degrees) so I stayed inside and vacuumed the floor because the wife hates the vacuum cleaner that I bought 10 years ago, it is a big heavy thing, but it'll suck a tennis ball up a garden hose, so I love it.

I had to bank the last $5K from Davey's bike sale that I couldn't bank on Friday (the local bank doesn't have any tellers on duty on Mondays and Fridays...) which was a bit scary, so after I did that I drove to Dan Murphy's and bought a carton of Ginger Joe and a litre of Jack Daniels to calm my nerves. Then on to Supercheap Auto to buy 4 litres of oil for my Harley Sportster as I haven't given it an oil and filter change in 6 years, so it's probably due? I had a voucher for a 39 dollar discount, so I lashed out and bought a bottle of Turtlewax car wash liquid too, just in case I decide to wash a bike this summer.

I then sheltered in place until around 3 pm. It actually rained for around 10 minutes, and the temps dropped a tad, so I bravely strode out into the patio, and put my mechanics gloves on (which I usually forget until my hands are filthy) and started tearing down the T500 engine. Using my trusty DeWalt rattle gun I quickly removed the heads, barrels, outer cases, clutch, magneto etc etc, then split the cases. The whole job only took about an hour, so I congratulated myself on a job well done, and opened a bottle of Ginger Joe.

T500 Monday 13 December 2021 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

I thought I better take a closer look at the kick starter gear and the gear that it meshes with, and was slightly pissed that both gears seem fine, but I'll replace them anyway, I mean, why not? I've already spent 500 beans on new gears, so I may as well make some use of them.

T500 Monday 13 December 2021 1 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

I decided that I'd done enough for the day, tomorrow I'll shove it all back together.

T500 Monday 13 December 2021 2 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

[RAFster122s]

So, if gears aren't stuffed, then why are you having kick starter issues??
Glad the teardown went well. Hoping same for the reassembly.

[Terry in Australia]

So, if gears aren't stuffed, then why are you having kick starter issues??

Exactly. Actually, it's not that much of a mystery, inside the kickstarter gear is a "pawl" that is held into the notches cast into the gear by a spring, and I'm guessing that the spring has either sh1t itself, or is jammed into it's seat by old gearbox mud (something similar happened on the T350, but the T350 is a better design and you don't have to do a full engine strip to fix it) or the notches cast into the inside of the gear may have worn. Because it's an assembly, and I'm a T500 noob, I didn't think to disassemble it when I was rebuilding the engine.

Oh well, you live, and learn. Good thing is that the pistons still look great as do the rings and all gaskets, so no problems about putting it back together.

[grcamna2]

G'day Terry,
You've got the light on to this project today ! Reanimation mode 
You switched over to using silicone rather than the oem type silver case sealant?

[Terry in Australia]

I use the blue case sealant on everything Bill, the silver stuff contains silicone anyway, so no biggie.

[grcamna2]

Terry,it's nice to see your engine up on the bench and 'open for business' again. 

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks Bill, for me it’ll be nice to have it back in the frame and starting on one or two kicks!

[PeWe]

About case sealer.
I got a tube of ThreeBond 1184  2 weeks ago.
It look, stink, is as sticky and messy as Hondabond version without silicone.

[Terry in Australia]

So yesterday was another great day, sunny and warm, but not as hot as hot as on Monday, so a perfect day for bike work. I spent the morning cleaning off all the gasket surfaces, running a tap through all the threads, and using a nylon abrasive pad to clean off the last remnants of the old grey gasket goop. I also wanted to compare my "Oil Dam Mod" to the 1974 case that had been recast to hold 1400 cc of gearbox oil, to stop 4th and 5th gear from exploding.

T500 Tuesday 14 Dec 2021 6 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

It was pretty close.

T500 Tuesday 14 Dec 2021 3 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr   

The JB Weld hadn't deteriorated at all either, so I can recommend using it if you can't weld a new piece in. I then disassembled the kick starter mechanism and was not surprised that the spring loaded pawl has taken such a beating.

T500 Tuesday 14 Dec 2021 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

The teeth on the inside of the kickstarter gear don't look too bad, but there is some wear evident. The old one is on the right

T500 Tuesday 14 Dec 2021 1 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

It's a crappy design. Only half of the pawl engages with the teeth on the insides of the kickstarter gear, the T350 was a much better design with much better engagement, and the ability to change out any faulty components without having to completely strip the engine. Anyhoo, I installed the new pawl kit which includes the pawl, spring and pusher. The spring did feel a bit stiffer, so I don't know if that's just because it's new, or if Suzuki uprated the spring for better engagement.

T500 Tuesday 14 Dec 2021 2 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr 

Anyway I reassembled the kickstarter shaft with the new gear, installed the other new gear that meshes with it, and transferred everything across from the old cases to the new ones.

T500 Tuesday 14 Dec 2021 7 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

I then gave the top case a nice thin coat of that blue sealant, and let it dry for 20 minutes or so.

T500 Tuesday 14 Dec 2021 4 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Once it was touch dry I mated the cases, after checking for the 500th time that everything was inside where it needed to be. To speed things up when I disassembled the engine I pulled out another set of T500 cases and dropped the engine case bolts into their respective holes. This made it dead simple to ensure that when I assembled it again I could just transfer the bolts into their appropriate holes and they were right to go.

T500 Tuesday 14 Dec 2021 9 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

I bolted the cases together, and torqued them all down. Strangely there were no torque specs in the factory manual for the 10mm case bolts, only the 6 and 8 mm bolts? I "Guesstimated" 25 foot pounds, and was happy that when I got to installing the cylinders and heads that the spec for the 10mm cylinder tube nuts was 25 foot pounds. Sweet. I quickly installed the pistons and cylinders (easy when it's a twin with two separate cylinders and heads) and only had to replace one helicoil that had started to unwind itself when I undid the head bolts. (The T500 has 4 x 10mm tube nuts and 4 x 8mm head bolts to secure the head to the cylinder) Stripped threads for the head bolts appear to be common on T500's. Cylinders and heads on.

T500 Tuesday 14 Dec 2021 9b by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

I did manage to break one bolt, on the clutch. I used my left hand drill bits and it came out easy. Thank God for left hand drill bits.

T500 Tuesday 14 Dec 2021 9a by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr 

By this stage it was 7.30 pm and I was buggared, but I soldiered on as I wanted to finish the rebuild, so I can just shove it back in the frame today and (hopefully) take it for a ride. I installed the magneto and cover, neutral switch assembly, sprocket shaft O ring and seal assembly, and sprocket and nut. All done.

T500 Tuesday 14 Dec 2021 9c by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Today I need to help the wife make our Christmas Cake. We make one every year, but often leave it too late, so I suggested that we do it today as the weather is only going to be in the high 60's, so a good day to have the oven on for a couple of hours, I really don't like having the oven on high on a 90 deg F day. Once the cake is done I'm free to go out and rebuild the oil pump before I re-install the engine.

I've bought some aluminium washers to seal the little 6mm banjo bolts, hopefully they'll work as the 6mm dowty washers haven't turned up yet. This time I'm going to follow the directions of the factory manual and use some thread sealant on the threads of the banjo bolts, and hopefully there'll be no leaks and the pump will pump the two stroke oil up the lines and I won't have to keep running premix "just in case". We'll see.

[ken65]

Good job Terry.

[RAFster122s]

Nice work Terry, glad you made good progress.

[HondaMan]

No idea about any "Camps" here Mark, sounds to me like the conspiracy theorists have been having some fun at your expense? There was some talk about building some "isolation centres" for overseas travellers to do their mandatory isolation because the hotel isolation wasn't working and folks were getting infected in hotels, but now that the population is over 80% vaccinated, and with only 2100 deaths since this whole mess started, I don't think the isolation centres will ever get built.

Conspiracy theories by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

I kinda figured this wasn't real: there are so many outright lies being told about this Covid thing that's it's getting hard to understand what is true. I had the bug in 2020 for 2 months, nasty stuff: my wife went asymptomatic of it, but got a shot (2) anyway 'cuz she's diabetic and catches EVERYthing that comes along. It seems there are far more lies than truth being told about it here, largely like a hoax.

[Alan F.]

+1 cheers!

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks guys, the Dowty washers arrived this morning, so after I recover from stirring the equivalent of four massive Christmas cakes I'll wander out and do some wrenching.

[grcamna2]

Great work Terry ! Your fully assembled T500 engine in it's proper numbered cases With a working kickstart engagement shaft. 
I hope you get it installed and enjoy a few break-in rides and even let some of your Christmas Family & guests check it out 

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks Bill. I didn't get much done today, I filled the gearbox with 1400cc of oil to see if the new cases are oiltight, and then decided to pull the pump apart. I should have left well enough alone, I removed the back cap plate (3 screws) and now I can't get it back on properly.

There is a tab that protrudes at right angles, presumably to locate the oil control cam but for some reason it's getting in the way and I can't screw the plate on without the tab hitting something and making the control arm bind. Fcuk. I had the old pump off the T350 that I hoped maybe I could take the plate off to compare to mine, but I think I must have thrown it out. No biggie, I'll work it out.

The factory manual is of no help, it tells you to leave it alone. Good advice, all of the OEM seals look fine.......

[grcamna2]

Thanks Bill. I didn't get much done today, I filled the gearbox with 1400cc of oil to see if the new cases are oiltight, and then decided to pull the pump apart. I should have left well enough alone, I removed the back cap plate (3 screws) and now I can't get it back on properly.

There is a tab that protrudes at right angles, presumably to locate the oil control cam but for some reason it's getting in the way and I can't screw the plate on without the tab hitting something and making the control arm bind. Fcuk. I had the old pump off the T350 that I hoped maybe I could take the plate off to compare to mine, but I think I must have thrown it out. No biggie, I'll work it out.

The factory manual is of no help, it tells you to leave it alone. Good advice, all of the OEM seals look fine.......

You'll get it Terry 

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks Bill, and yep, today I worked it out. Then I took a look at the threads for the oil line fittings and decided that I'd better install some helicoils and sort it while the engine was out.

T500 Thursday 16 December 2021 1 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

All three were borderline, so I drilled them out with a 1/4" drill bit and used the special helicoil tap to prepare them for the new 6mm helicoils.

T500 Thursday 16 December 2021 2 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

The centre (oil line in from the oil tank) hole is very shallow and you can't drill thru as the steel inner cylinder for the oil pump piston would be damaged, so I could only drill down 8mm. The helicoil was 9mm, and so I ended up using my dremel tool with a cutoff disc to remove 4 or 5 coils, so I could install it below the mating surface. Please excuse the pic, the camera was struggling to focus, and so was I.

T500 Thursday 16 December 2021 3 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Anyway once I'd installed the helicoils I started to worry about any swarf that might have gotten stuck in the pump so I spent the next couple of hours stripping the pump and replacing all the seals, I figured it was better to do it now than when it's back in the bike. I then primed the oil lines, or at least attempted to.

T500 Thursday 16 December 2021 4 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

I'd forgotten until then that when I first fired it up that the oil lines for the #1 cylinder were fine, I was able to pump oil through with a syringe) but the lines for cylinder #2 were both blocked. Not sure why, but some careful work with compressed air unblocked them again, and I was able to get oil thru all 4 lines. All good.

T500 Thursday 16 December 2021 5 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

I thought I'd also prime the oil line from the oil tank, and then I remembered that I'm an idiot, as the oil line doesn't have a restrictor like the other lines, so oil just ran out the other end. I laughed at my own stupidity and packed up for the night.

T500 Thursday 16 December 2021 6 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

The wonderful thing about being on holidays is that there's no rush, if I can't get it finished today, I'll get it done tomorrow. I ordered a kebab, and it was huge. I wouldn't have minded if Leo had decided to eat half, I wasn't able to get to the halfway mark before I cried uncle.

T500 Thursday 16 December 2021 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

[grcamna2]

That's very good quality work Terry and it'll pay-off miles of Journey down the roads you travel. 

[ken65]

That cheap old castrol red oil makes leaks easy to spot. I took the H1 out today for a quick ride. Red oil everywhere. Bugger. Anyway, tomorrow I'll sort i t out. Bloody 2 strokes. ha

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks guys, I'm still not 100% sure about the oil pump, but I guess I'll find out when I fire it up. I used new Dowty washers on each of the oil banjos to replace the old plastic washers and I used some thread sealant on each one as well Ken, so hopefully I won't have a pool of red two stroke oil underneath like I do on the T350. If it works on the T500 I've got enough to do the T350 too.

[spotty]

thats a fine looking kebab

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks Spotty, the 25% that I managed to get down was lovely, but kebabs are now on my "Never eat again" list after I was crook in the guts all night until around 3am. I used to be able to eat a kebab that size no problems, but my modified internal plumbing can't tolerate them any more, it seems. It's a pity the wife doesn't like them, or else I could buy one, give her 90% of it, and nibble just a small amount.

[Trevor from Warragul]

I took the H1 out today for a quick ride. Red oil everywhere.

I read a great piece of advice once about leaking H1 oil pumps.  It was "Remove the cover, place a piece of sponge near the bottom, replace cover. After a few months, remove cover, squeeze sponge, replace cover".