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

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks Scott, that vid was it's first start up on the newly built engine and oil pump, there was air in the lines as you'd expect, but it's smoking plenty now on both pipes. I really enjoyed looking in the mirrors at the blue haze behind me when I rode it today, but I'll sync the carbs before I take it out again. Good thing is that it's running pods, so easy to pull them and check the slides without a bulky airbox and plumbing to deal with. My NOS air filter still hasn't arrived, but I don't think I'll use it any way.

[Terry in Australia]

Terry,I imagine the clutch 'basket' can use some light filing where the friction discs engage it;it should release to shift much better then.I've also found that dropping the idle screws to lower the idle speed will help.

Thanks Bill, it's happily idling at around 1100 RPM which is fairly low for a 2 stroke so I don't think I'll be lowering it any more. Surprisingly today it wasn't grabby at all, so I guess it was dragging yesterday just because it had been sitting for a long time.

[grcamna2]

Terry,when you synch both throttle cables to where they pull upward on the slides simultaneously,that bike will be a 'smooth jet'. 

[Terry in Australia]

It'll be a wicked beast Bill, when I was riding it today when I cranked it on a bit it really wanted to rip, those ports and heads have been messed with a bit, but it seems to be all for the good, it's a feisty old thing!

[Zunspec]

Way to go, Terry 

I thought those ports had received a little bit of attention lol.

Gearing -  Suzuki did list alternative 13T and 14T front sprockets but unfortunately no longer available.  After market front sprockets are out there but not easy to find in 13/14T.

Cheers Geoff

[ken65]

"Good thing is that it's running pods, so easy to pull them and check the slides without a bulky airbox and plumbing to deal with. "

Pods are easy to remove, no 2 ways about it.

Not sure if this relates to your bike. But on the H1, I had pods with the metal back on them. I could never get it just right. After researching a bit , according to the experts ,they made the bikes almost untunible with them fitted.

 I fitted an aftermarket 3 into 1 inlet manifold and fitted a big air filter. All of a sudden the bike came to life albeit running super rich. Bit of adjustment here and there and its a really fun bike. Just a thought.

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks Geoff, what about a larger rear? I've got a bigger one on the back of the T350, but it's a 520 or 525?

[Terry in Australia]

"Good thing is that it's running pods, so easy to pull them and check the slides without a bulky airbox and plumbing to deal with. "

Pods are easy to remove, no 2 ways about it.

Not sure if this relates to your bike. But on the H1, I had pods with the metal back on them. I could never get it just right. After researching a bit , according to the experts ,they made the bikes almost untunible with them fitted.

 I fitted an aftermarket 3 into 1 inlet manifold and fitted a big air filter. All of a sudden the bike came to life albeit running super rich. Bit of adjustment here and there and its a really fun bike. Just a thought.

Thanks Ken, that's interesting, dunno if it is as important on a T500 as I see plenty with pods like mine, but I'll keep it in mind.

[ken65]

These are the ones I'm talking about.

[ken65]

To this Terry. No doubt you'll work it out. As we said, food for thought.

[Terry in Australia]

Yep, they look like mine mate, mine are just Ebay cheapies to keep the rocks out. Your 500 looks beautiful, by the way. My mate Davey who died in July had one (and a lot of other Kawasaki 2 Strokes) but it's gone now, not sure what happened to it, I rode it in the 80's and remember it was a peaky thing, the T500 is a lot torquier.

[Trevor from Warragul]

maybe the Kawasaki triples vibrate a bit more than the T500's?

At freeway speeds mine will make the end of my willy go numb!  Too much information, I know...

[Terry in Australia]

maybe the Kawasaki triples vibrate a bit more than the T500's?

At freeway speeds mine will make the end of my willy go numb!  Too much information, I know...

So...... do you take it on the freeway..... a lot?

[simon#42]

Hi Terry,

Clutch drag is a T500 "idiosyncrasy".  All the usual stuff applies like appropriate adjustment etc. but it seems the T500 clutch, WRT drag, is sensitive to the oil being used.  I changed from Putoline GP10 Gear Oil to some freebie (branded quality) 20-50W oil at the last races and the rider couldn't hold the bike steady on the the clutch for the race starts.  I am going back to the Putoline GP10, although several guys in the paddock use and recommended, using an ATF which can all but solve T500 clutch drag (allegedly )

Cheers  Geoff

stick with the gp10 it is the best gearbox oil i have ever used . we used to use atf back in the days when proper motorcycle gear box oils didnt exist . atf is better than a multi grade motor oil but not as good as purpose made oil . if you really want to become an expert on gearbox oils buy a tz500 !

[Alan F.]

Suzuki did list alternative 13T and 14T front sprockets but unfortunately no longer available.

NOS 13T front 27511-15710:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/265425547154?epid=1011869019&hash=item3dcc986f92:g:ykkAAOSww1lhotHC

NOS 14T front 27511-15700:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/154315101879?hash=item23ede596b7:g:3wYAAOSwLQtgGC6x

Cheers Terry!

[grcamna2]

"Good thing is that it's running pods, so easy to pull them and check the slides without a bulky airbox and plumbing to deal with. "

Pods are easy to remove, no 2 ways about it.

Not sure if this relates to your bike. But on the H1, I had pods with the metal back on them. I could never get it just right. After researching a bit , according to the experts ,they made the bikes almost untunible with them fitted.

 I fitted an aftermarket 3 into 1 inlet manifold and fitted a big air filter. All of a sudden the bike came to life albeit running super rich. Bit of adjustment here and there and its a really fun bike. Just a thought.

That sounds like a great aftermarket product for your air filter/s.
I've always enjoyed installing an aftermarket filter in the stock airbox:it keeps your low and mid-range torque.

[Terry in Australia]

Suzuki did list alternative 13T and 14T front sprockets but unfortunately no longer available.

NOS 13T front 27511-15710:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/265425547154?epid=1011869019&hash=item3dcc986f92:g:ykkAAOSww1lhotHC


Cheers Terry!

Thanks Alan, I bought the 13T front sprocket, I had thought about a 41T rear but I would have had to add 8 more links to the 126 link chain to accommodate it, and the final drive ratio may have been slightly too low. While I was at it I bought a NOS front brake cable as the repro one I bought has too much slack in it, and a NOS clutch cable, for the same reason. I suppose I could have chopped the knobs off my repro cables and soldered the knobs back on, but hell, I'm way too lazy for that.

Geoff and Simon, thanks for the info re: the gearbox oil, I'm not racing the old girl so I'll use ATF as I have a huge bucket of it that I bought for my Ford Explorer, but never used, and I've just spent 140 bucks on sprockets and cables. I might wander out and synch those slides, I'd love to take it for a lap around the block afterwards but it's threatening rain today, so I'll just have a play with it under the carport. Good news is that unlike my poor T350, there's no pool of 2 stroke oil under the engine, so I'm glad I sorted the oil pump.

[Alan F.]

Glad to help.

[grcamna2]

Terry,great news to hear that your oil pump is sorted and ready for rides:job well done.

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks Bill. Well it's a shocker of a day today, gale force winds and rain coming in sideways, but as there was a lull I sneaked out to synch the carbs. To start with I was gonna follow the instructions in the factory manual, i.e., tune each cylinder one at a time with the spark plug disconnected on the other cylinder, but the bike didn't like that and wouldn't idle on just one. Hmmnn. I probably should have gotten it up to operating temp, but decided not to worry about that, I set the mixture screws at 1 and 1/4 turns out on each carb, then removed them both.

I installed a new OEM throttle cable when I put the bike back together, so using the slack adjuster I wound it out so that I could use a 1/4" drill bit as a feeler gauge. I then took the slack out of each throttle cable at the carb top, then gave each 1mm of slop as per the good book. I then used each throttle cable so that the 1/4" drill bit was a slight drag under the carb slide on each carb. All good.

I fired it up again, and...... it ran like sh1t. Turns out the left cylinder had been missing and only firing irregularly until I gave it some throttle and it cleared, and began firing regularly. That makes sense to me because when I first fired it up before I started tinkering with it, it was running way better. I can see that each carb is getting fuel, so I'm gonna assume that the plug on #1 is fouling, whether it's from a weak spark or a rich mixture, or possibly both.

I've learned a lot from the FB T500 forums, from guys like Geoff and Paul Caurbot in Britain, the early T500's ran 150 main jets and 30 pilots, whereas from around 1973 they went to 97.5 mains. I bought a rebuild kit for my carbs and they had 150 mains, (and 30 pilots) and interestingly the old ones that came out were 150's as well, so I, being a T500 noob, assumed all was well, but maybe not? Or maybe the points ignition just isn't up to the job?

No biggie, I'd rather it was too rich than too lean, so when I can I'll take it for a decent ride and see whether it comes good when I have the opportunity to blow the cobwebs out. It could just be that running premix as I still am, with plenty of oil getting thru now that the oil pump is working again, plus the oil that I squirted everywhere when I reassembled the engine is just too much for the ignition to cope with? I suppose I could always buy an electronic ignition, I wonder if Dyna make one for a T500? A nice fat blue spark would be nice........  

[grcamna2]

I hope your weather clears there Terry;it's quite a CHORE to adjust jetting(especially)on a 2-stroke when the weather is storming.

I wonder if you've had a look at your points? they may have picked-up some dirt or possibly some points lube flung into them and fouled them?

[Terry in Australia]

The worst thing, I've noticed, is that I absolutely stink like a 2 stroke now Bill, looks like it'll be a 2 shower day today.....

[Alan F.]

Don't forget that fan to keep airflow on the engine.

[Terry in Australia]

Don't forget that fan to keep airflow on the engine.

Ha ha, it was blowing a gale today Alan, I was more worried about the bikes being blown over, than over heating........

[Alan F.]

I'll trade my freezing temps and icy roads for that.