Suzuki GT550 Cafe and Restomod

This is why you make cardboard templates. The front of the mock tank has pretty bad interference with the clip-ons and possibly even the forks. I'm going to slant the front of the tank in towards the neck and see if it clears.


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hurco550 said:
Absolutely. Love me the sound of a two smoke triple man.
Me too, it was a lot louder than I expected without the air box on it.
Now time to weld up the seat and fabbing up the tank. Then rear sets... Then lights and plate plate mount... gauges... the list goes on.


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I like your project and where you are going with it! I made my own aluminum tank and seat unit for my T500 and I o/a welded it. not sure if you have done this before but it takes a lot of practice. Here is a link to my build thread http://www.dotheton.com/forum/index.php?topic=20290.0 not sure which pages cover the tank building part but it is in there. Here is a pic of what I made. Good luck with the project, don't try to rush it no good cones from that :)
 

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johnu said:
I like your project and where you are going with it! I made my own aluminum tank and seat unit for my T500 and I o/a welded it. not sure if you have done this before but it takes a lot of practice. Here is a link to my build thread http://www.dotheton.com/forum/index.php?topic=20290.0 not sure which pages cover the tank building part but it is in there. Here is a pic of what I made. Good luck with the project, don't try to rush it no good cones from that :)
Already stalked out your build the other day, beautiful tank. Definitely not rushing. Spending a lot of time practicing on scrap and asking Pete Williams a ton of questions. Turned down the pressure to 2psi on both O and A, and wahlaa much better welds.


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johnu said:
Well the tank is finally finished (aside from polishing), I got the underside brackets welded on and the petcock installed.

Next job are the exhausts. Richard (Teazer) has designed some pipes to match my engine spec now I just have to figure out the routing for them. I will be sending the cones out to be lazer cut and rolled then I will just have the assembly to do.

Hey johnu - Care to share about how you did the petcock? Looks like you used a thicker piece of aluminum, that could be threaded, or either cut out a section after it was welded up solid and did a patch once you drilled your holes. If not, did you weld/braze nuts to the inside of the tank?
 
kadavenport said:
Hey johnu - Care to share about how you did the petcock? Looks like you used a thicker piece of aluminum, that could be threaded, or either cut out a section after it was welded up solid and did a patch once you drilled your holes. If not, did you weld/braze nuts to the inside of the tank?

You were right the first time! Check out my tank build thread there is a good pic of it in there somewhere.
http://www.dotheton.com/forum/index.php?topic=30717.0
 
Bit the bullet, put up the scrap metal and took a swing at getting the seat welded up. I was able to get it tacked up. I've got a bit of distortion, but over all I'm pleased with the small amount of welding I had time to do.

Pic of cleaning the flux off with boiling water.
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What I found is that tacking with o/a on alloy is way harder than tacking with tig! Also when I make my tacks I try to keep them smaller, just dab a little bit of filler rod in there if needed. I used 1/16th rod. Large tacks are hard to deal with when you come to doing the final welding. Make sure all of your joints are tight before trying to do the final welding, no gaps. I'm not criticizing just pointing out what I have found to make things easier. Keep at it I look forward to seeing the finished item :)
 
johnu said:
What I found is that tacking with o/a on alloy is way harder than tacking with tig! Also when I make my tacks I try to keep them smaller, just dab a little bit of filler rod in there if needed. I used 1/16th rod. Large tacks are hard to deal with when you come to doing the final welding. Make sure all of your joints are tight before trying to do the final welding, no gaps. I'm not criticizing just pointing out what I have found to make things easier. Keep at it I look forward to seeing the finished item :)
Wouldn't mind if you were criticizing, it's constructive and I'm just happy to get advice. Not many people are O/a welding anymore, so glad I found some resources. The distortion and gaps are why I stopped, need to do a little hammer work to bring the joints back together. Thanks for the tips!


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Make sure your parts are a perfect fit with no gaps before you start tacking anything. In my tank thread you can see how my parts fit together before even thinking about tacking anything. Keep at it, you will get a real sense of achievement when you are done :)
 
What torch are yall using? ive had some luck o/a welding aluminum with henrob 2000 torch later called a cobra 2000 I believe. about 3 lbs. line pressure oxy and 3 lbs. acetylene iirc. its been a few years since ive had it out. I generally stick with tig, but I was impressed by how well it worked.
 
hurco550 said:
What torch are yall using? ive had some luck o/a welding aluminum with henrob 2000 torch later called a cobra 2000 I believe. about 3 lbs. line pressure oxy and 3 lbs. acetylene iirc. its been a few years since ive had it out. I generally stick with tig, but I was impressed by how well it worked.
Its an old victor torch set up. I've looked at the henrob, but I think it would be overkill for my occasional welding. I'm running 2 psi on both, and that seems to be working well.

The torch and set up was passed down to me from my great uncle. They had not been used in years when I first got them, and without knowing better I traded in the tanks hooked them up, and had leaks at every joint. luckily I noticed before adding oxygen to the mix. After that I inspected all the joints, cleaned everything up, and read a lot before trying to use them again.
 
Seat Progress
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Slow going of setting up torch, lighting, welding, turning off torch, grinding, brushing, cleaning, flux, setup torch, lighting, welding...
over and over. Still have 1 pin hole and 1 crack, and lots of filing and sanding to do.
 
Round three of welding, grinding, sanding, and now throw in some polish. Pretty happy with the results on my first aluminum welding project though.

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Lovely work!
You've inspired me to pull the cover off Tidler and re-work my brake pedal I've been meaning to do for ages!


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Alex jb said:
Lovely work!
You've inspired me to pull the cover off Tidler and re-work my brake pedal I've been meaning to do for ages!


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Show some pics, tried to see what Tidler is, but didn't find a thread.


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