72 Suzuki Buffalo; Project Buffalo Bill(d)

Well, this project will be like the rest of mine, really fucking slow. However, I am super excited for this. Wanted a Buffalo for along time and I keep seeing people buy them which made me want one more. I had my restored RD for sale and someone finally paid my asking price for it. Having money, I decided to start looking for a buffalo and there was one for sale local for a 'decent' price. After talking to Chaz I found out alot about the 72 and how what I thought was 'decent' was actually a pretty damn good deal even if shit went south. So, I picked it up. My aspirations for this is really a restore. Ive got the triumph bobber, and the RD fairing bikes, so its time for another resto+. The only non stock pieces im planning are an electronic ignition and some aftermarket expansion chambers (depending). Im trying to maintain some level of budget with this, so im hoping to source parts as I find them and let this take what it takes. I'll keep a list of needed parts up front, so if you have anything and am willing to sell on a budget or find something out there let me know.

Carbs (3x VM34s)
Throttle and cables
Front brake cables
Headlight bucket
Front Turns
Rear Turns
Rear Taillight
Gas Cap
Clutch cable
Left side cover
Right side cover
Tank emblems
Choke cable
Instrument Cluster
Rear shocks
Ignition switch
Petcock

Here are some pics

JS, this is my Buffalo. I bought it with a 3 into 1 exhaust but now have chambers for it. I'm not sure how radical I am going to get with it but seat, fenders and maybe different forks are in the works. I will be watching your build for sure my build will probably be slow as well.

Here's my '75, love these bikes. Check out sundial moto sports, great group of dudes over there.

I'll give you $100 for it

JustinLonghorn said:

I'll give you $100 for it

Click to expand...

Hater.. I'm actually pretty happy with my collection right now.. This may be the first time that I haven't had any plans to sell something im working on. This one just wont be worked on for awhile.

I am a big fan of the buffalo, sir.

JustinLonghorn said:

I am a big fan of the buffalo, sir.

Click to expand...

I am a fan of it too, I just hope that I can keep a budget as I start to work on it.. The RD has broke the bank already and its still a pile of rubble

Forget the 34s unless you have a lot of cash and good ideas as to how to mount them. Stock J/K carbs are zinc body VM32 and they are a smaller body than the 34s. 34's hit the clutch cover and the ways to fix that can be expensive. In theory you can fit angled intake rubbers but the "right" solution involves extensive barrel surgery.

The exception to what I just mentioned is that there are some small body snowmobile crabs around that would fit but they need to be jetted and the float valves must be changed too unless you fit a fuel pump.

I may be able to build a set of 32s from spares if you get stuck, but I really am a hoarder and need all the spares I can get for bikes I'm building.

CarbsAndCylinders said:

JS, this is my Buffalo. I bought it with a 3 into 1 exhaust but now have chambers for it. I'm not sure how radical I am going to get with it but seat, fenders and maybe different forks are in the works. I will be watching your build for sure my build will probably be slow as well.

Click to expand...

Looks like a 75 M model but parts are interchangeable, so it could be a different year. What was the 3 into 1 and how did you like it? They sound great but tend not to be too good for performance. We have tested a few different pipes. JEMCo are pretty good for a street pipe but they re painfully noisy for the street.

What tanks are you looking at? Check out a GS1100E for shape. They drop straight on with a change to the rear mount and are large and Cafe like..

Well to stop that beast, you're going to need to do better than that lame front drum - I'll buy it from you so you can get some nice proper disc brakes

Tim said:

Well to stop that beast, you're going to need to do better than that lame front drum - I'll buy it from you so you can get some nice proper disc brakes

Click to expand...

I'm sure you would! The only reason I paid what I paid for this bike was because it was a 72 with that drum.

teazer said:

Forget the 34s unless you have a lot of cash and good ideas as to how to mount them. Stock J/K carbs are zinc body VM32 and they are a smaller body than the 34s. 34's hit the clutch cover and the ways to fix that can be expensive. In theory you can fit angled intake rubbers but the "right" solution involves extensive barrel surgery.

The exception to what I just mentioned is that there are some small body snowmobile crabs around that would fit but they need to be jetted and the float valves must be changed too unless you fit a fuel pump.

I may be able to build a set of 32s from spares if you get stuck, but I really am a hoarder and need all the spares I can get for bikes I'm building.

Click to expand...

Everything that I read said the VM32s were a pretty major choke point, I also have had a really hard time finding them, which is why I bought the set of 34s, but I honestly didn't do enough research on them I guess either. Now im in a conundrum..

They don't work all that well as brakes but they make awesome boat anchors. I have another one here that I swapped out for disks on a 550 and I can't bring myself to use it on a road bike so I may just put it on ebay.

GT needs all the brakes it can get

Teazer, I thought that since the 34's fit on my GT500 with no problem, then they would do the same on the GT750, damn!

The 3 into 1 is the one that Omar sells. The PO installed it. It sounds fantastic but I know that it hurts performance, I have Higgspeeds for it now.

If I keep the CV's, where can I get different size jets for it?

Don't mean to hijack this thread, I will start my own.

Brian

Carbs: T500 has somewhat different clutch cover arrangement in the crankcases so there is more room. If you still have that pipe and want to sell it cheap, let me know. I may have a use for it.

JS: if you have already bough 34's we have to find a cost effective way for you to fit them. Manuals from back in the day suggest that VM32 suck and that BS40 are worse. My bike does 13 second 1/4 miles and makes around 80HP on BS40s. Bob Prior from Australia told me that they had them flow tested and the 40's are OK up to well over 100HP.

There are ways to fit them that I have not tried but would bet would work. Grab a Suzuki GS1100 intake rubber and see if that works for you. The other way is to cut and weld the crankcases, but that's a lot of work and isn't any cheaper.

teazer said:

JS: if you have already bough 34's we have to find a cost effective way for you to fit them. Manuals from back in the day suggest that VM32 suck and that BS40 are worse. My bike does 13 second 1/4 miles and makes around 80HP on BS40s. Bob Prior from Australia told me that they had them flow tested and the 40's are OK up to well over 100HP.

There are ways to fit them that I have not tried but would bet would work. Grab a Suzuki GS1100 intake rubber and see if that works for you. The other way is to cut and weld the crankcases, but that's a lot of work and isn't any cheaper.

Click to expand...

I nabbed a set during the group buy. Ive found a couple of threads on the suzuki2stroke forum where they angled them, but didn't have any information as to what they used. There was a set of GS1100 rubbers on ebay for $3 so I just picked them up, will see how they fit.

I read somewhere that you only need tilt the carb 15 deg. would this impact the carb action?

That sounds like a number I have thrown out there.

I don't believe it will be an issue but you must make sure that the petcock does in fact shut off fuel. Steep carbs will tend to seep and fill the bottom end if left for a while

Here it is with the gs1100 rubber. It's actually a bit overkill.