1971 T500 -the immortal titan

axeugene27

Over 1,000 Posts
So the story goes. I was searching for an rd350 for a little retro excite bike . I was striking out with a deal i was after. I am very frugal and always demand a deal when buying motorcycles. I think i even stirred up a few old guys trying to knock em down a few pennies. Couldnt get anyone under 1500 which i simply wasn't willing to pay. I kept searching came across a non photo add on craigslist for a 1971 t500r for 1100 gave the guy a call after talking with him it became apparent that this guy got this bike for next to nothing or nothing from his neighbor and did some cosmetic work to the tins and changed the seat a bit. I wasn't thrilled that it wasnt original condition and moaned a bit on the phone and down played the value of the machine. (i know i hate this guy too, but when we are purchasing we all become him)... we arranged a meeting. When getting to the house it was under a tarp in the back yard. Guy was pretty drunk on natty light and it was like 2 pm lol. Had a general look and was impressed with the condition. Guy said he had changed the fluids gave it a new battery and it would run. Sure enough 1 kick from cold the bike sprung to life kicking out a plume of white smoke. I gave it a minute to start and talked the guy into letting me test ride it. Rode well, shifted great, ran perfect. The guy was not a bike guy and even though he had it started he had not ridden it and was astounded at how easily i had it ripping down the road. I parked it very pleased. I asked the guy what he wanted to get out of it. He said without any coaxing that he wanted to get at least 800. So he talked himself down $300 without my help. I countered at 600 and we danced a minute settling at 675 with a handshake. I rode my thruxton home and picked up my angry wife and my honda element. Miraculously it fit in the back of the element and i got it home unscathed (except the wrath of the wife which is harsh now but it will fade and the bike will still be in the garage 8)
Here she is in the sellers driveway
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Here's Al. AL and AMAL are brothers in a blues band called "blue eyed soul" Cool guys Helped me load it up.
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Here's my wife 9 months pregnant and mad as hell!!
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IN my front yard after wrestling it out of the truck.
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Close up of a pretty clean powerplant.
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Good get If you take that grab bar off ill buy it

and go eazy on that trans the early titans didnt hold enuff gear oil the later ones held a few hundred more cc's . alot of these bike fell victom to trashed gear sets. also if that bike sat for a long time you should think about a set of crank seals. it would be a shame to throw a rod throu that pretty case
 
You got me so jacked up with this bike, I had to go out and buy one myself today. Waiting for the call to pick it up, an 82 FT Ascot. Not a tenth of the character of your find, but it will have to suffice for now. I know that seat isn't proper, but it's starting to grow on me. That bike is way too bitchin, I don't know how you're going to sleep tonight....
 
thanks brad bike sat since 99' but according to the guy i bought it from was started from time to time by PO to keep it from seizing. I don't know a whole lot about these motors but the bike came with 2 service manuals so i am going to study up and be careful. This bike came in 2 color schemes it seems this one was a magenta originally i can see it peaking through the back of the side covers. I rather like the teal color scheme. Will likely go with that when i do decide to paint to keep it to the year even though I really like the cream and lime green from the 72'
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Im restoring a 74 for my dad and i swapped a t500 motor into a rd
 
well then should be at my level alpha dog lol. It came with a couple manuals. I'm not gonna fool with tearing it down unless i need to and right now i dont need to i'm just gonna go through the oil/fuel / electrics and make sure they are working properly and set up right and ride the devil. Anyone with any advice on good performance upgrades for these guys. I was thinking expansion chambers and pods and rejet but again am wading in unfamiliar teritory. Are there good sources for reasonably costing expansion chambers or will i have to try and get some custom built? I saw the titan performance chambers but that's a good chunk of change.
 
axeugene27 said:
I'm not gonna fool with tearing it down unless i need to and right now i dont need to i'm just gonna go through the oil/fuel / electrics and make sure they are working properly and set up right and ride the devil.

I'm a big advocate of that approach.
 
Chambers cost real money but the gains are enuff to justify the price
 
Small update. I had an oil leak at the site of the oil plug thought maybe just a crush washer. Replaced it but oil plug wouldnt tighten completely. Threads are partly stripped and the case has a hairline crack along the edge of the plug hole. must of been overtightened in the past. Im going to use a helicoil and some jb weld to repair it. Hope that does the trick. Other than that tore down the carbs for a cleaning and resprayed the tins. Ordered some new rubber intake boots and new air intake boot as rubber is rotted out with some cracking. So just making it look and run a bit better for now. May do some modification in the future but have to get it sorted well first. Prob gonna get some new cables and a front tire soon.


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Not much going on here just finished the painting. It's glossed over now still need to wetsand and buff. Fixed the oil leak just bought an oversized piggyback plug ground down the nipple and jb welded the plug in works a charm. I have stripped the front and rear fenders of paint. They are in fair condition dude scuffed em up pretty good to paint them along with most of the chrome is gone. Still they shine pretty good after some wetsanding and polish. Not sure if i am going full restore on this anyway the parts are just too $$ and hard to come by. Still on the fence about where to go. I think the clubmans are going to get ditched for a flatter bar and I'd like to get a long flatter seat. I'd like a nice little tracker out of it but nothing extreme. It's a damn fine looking bike on it's own. Waiting on some parts to get it up and running again. I'll keep posting as it gets on. Gonna keep the polishing bits for winter fun. Still needs new tires though $$$



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well got some parts in the mail and did some reassembly. Got it running but now the float bowls are leaking gas and the motor is bogging down at idle even with the idle screw turned all the way in. The float height seems right and the needle valve seems to be shutting the fuel flow like it should. But i have a strong feeling It is way rich and fuel level is the problem. Perhaps i damaged the floats when cleaning the carbs. IDK. I ordered some replacements to try that out. want to get it tuned well before this weekend for the DGR>
 
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Just a pic of the paint cause who doesn't like a good pic. I don't really dig the pinstripe on the side panels will likely try to sand down and peal those off and reclear.
 
For chambers in the US, contact Jon Easton at Jemco in TX. Nice looking bike at a nice price.
 
The brass floats have multiple cracks in them. I have some on order if they get here by saturday should have it in good enough running condition for the ride. we will see.

That said it's a good feeling to have a backup..lol
 
so got the new floats in reset the float height, got the bike running pretty solid right now. THe throttle response is a little heavy espessially at low revs. It pretty much flies above 4500 rpm but is kind of a dog out of the gate. Not terrible but i'm not squeeling tires or anything. I am wondering if my air filter being 40+ yrs old and kind of yucky looking might be the problem (or if this is just how these bikes run, never ridden one), SO my conundrum right now is should I

1. Purchase a NOS Suzuki air filter for the stock airbox (I've already dropped $50 on the rubber boot leading to the carbs)
2. Drop the stock filter for pods, (and if so what type of jetting changes should I anticipate)

I've had mixed reviews with pod filters in the past. I have them on my thruxton and it greatly improved performance, I had them on the cb350 and again it was a solid runner with them. I had them on a cb750 and I could never get it to run right. Albeit I was pretty green at the time I was working on that 750. I know there are some guys who have worked with these bikes for a long time so I seek your sage advice..
 
The Titan has Mikuni round slide carbs, so it will run well with pods if rejetted properly. If you don't rejet it, it will burn holes in the pistons. No joke, it WILL hole the pistons.

Go AT LEAST 5 jet sizes larger. Maybe 8 sizes.

The key to jetting these two strokes is to keep going richer until it burbles at the top end, then back off a size or two.

The Titan has a nice, wide powerband, so if you are having poor throttle response below 4500 RPM, there is something wrong. Once you get the main jet feeding enough fuel, try raising or lowering the slide needle a notch. If the needle is a notch too rich, it will cause sluggish midrange throttle response. If it is too lean, it will have a flat spot or hesitation on midrange throttle response.

If you want to keep the stock airbox, you can still make it breathe better. Look to see if there is a flame arrestor screen inside the box between the filter and the carbs. If so, remove it. Also, if there is a snorkel on the intake of the airbox, remove it or otherwise modify the box to maximize air flow. Get an aftermarket filter that breathes easier than the stock one. Jet for the new, free-flowing setup, and that bike should go like Hell.
 
yeah I fooled around with the needles a bit the other day runs best as set to stock at 3rd notch. I am thinking the needles may be a little worn want to replace them but having a time finding a source. I wouldn't say the throttle response is poor it just takes a little revving to really get her going. It is really just a little hesitation at like 1/4 throttle. I will look into modding the airbox as I don't really want to go pods for some reason.
 
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