TC 100 project

goldy

Coast to Coast
DTT BOTM WINNER
About two years ago I was approached by a young woman who wanted me to restore a very ratty 1973 CB350 Honda. Over the course of that winter I did as requested and put her on the road in the spring with what looks and runs like a new machine; all the while doing my best to keep a tight budget. She was very pleased with it and the only I asked of her when she took it home was that she keep it in good condition and actually ride it, which she certainly does. Anyhow, she called me again a few months ago to ask if I would be willing to take on the bike she learned to ride with...a TC100 Suzuki.
This one she wanted done up as something custom and was for the most part willing to let me loose to do with it what I liked with it. I did up a few modified photos and drawings for her and she seemed to be 'all about' the cafe racer idea. The only thing she really seemed to want was a paint scheme that involved black, gold and white. Well, I have been doing cafe racers since 1976 and was very excited about taking on the little bike as the latest project.
A couple of emails later she mentioned that she still wanted to be able to go off road with it once in a while...well, this threw me for a loop...In my books cafe racer and dirt bike are two things that don't really go together, so I suggested she might want to try to make it into a little flat track machine. No. She still wanted it to look like a racer. Then I got to thinking "What the heck, lots of people are building bikes with dual sport tires and I could just leave the foot pegs in the standard position so she can still get her butt up off the seat when the going gets rough."
Anyhow the machine had progressed quite far beyond the photo, but this was what I was looking at in the early stages of the job.
 

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Since the above pic, the bike has undergone a lot of work. On the front end, the old mangled handlebars were replaced with a set of clubmans that I donated from by own parts bin, the fender was cleaned up, fitted with newly fabricated brackets and mounted close to the new front tire. New front brake shoes, new fork seals and fluid followed that all with a general clean up and polishing. The rust bucket headlight was replaced with a nice side mount chrome unit, the forks were pushed up through the triple clamps about 3/4" and the headlight ears were cleaned and painted before fitting them back in place upside down. This centers the headlight right between the upper and lower triple clamps, then the instrument cluster was lowered by about 5/8" to reduce the gap between the headlight and the cluster. A very nice brand new fuel tank was purchased off the internet, it is exactly the same length as the old one, but is slightly higher and wider, then new mounts were fabricated and it was fitted into position. The seat has been sent out for upholstery and can be used with the new tank requiring only some very minor modifications to the seat pan. The rear fender has also been cleaned up and fitted with a nice aftermarket tail light assembly and new signal lights have been fitted.
On to the engine...it had been running, but not particularly well. Upon removing the little unit, it was off with her head and I discovered that at some time in a former life, it had been subject to some sort of catastrophic failure. The combustion chamber was all banged up particularly in the area of the squish band. I mounted the little head in the lathe and machined away most of the beat up metal, then machined away about 0.010" from the head gasket mating surface to account for the loss of compression that cleaning up the combustion chamber would cause. The piston was new and 1.00mm oversize, so some previous owner must have had it bored. New rings were fitted even though the ones I removed had only very minimal wear. Everything received a good cleaning and the top end was reassembled. I noticed the clutch cover had been removed and decided to investigate...upon removing the cover I also noticed that someone had had the cover off the rotary valve and so the clutch was removed in order to check out that unit. Turned out that the rotary valve had been installed backward and there was some damage to the bakelite surface on the inner valve cover...the outer one was in perfect condition. I removed the old cracked bakelite and after bonding a piece of phenolic resin to the inner cover, machined it to specs, but having done some further research discovered that the sealing surface on the inner cover was dropped from production and plain steed was used in its stead. I didn't want to chance the new repair coming apart and causing more problems, so I opted to go shopping on Ebay and buy a new replacement. The frame has been cleaned and painted while waiting for this part to come and that is about where the project sits at this time.
Rotary valve and covers after repairs:
 

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Been a while since I posted anything on this build...it was on the back burner while I did some work on a Honda Cub restoration.
Anyhow, the girl who owns it has bumped her plans ahead by two months to move to the 'Wet Coast", so I am on the hotseat to get it finished by the end of March 2015...by the way Happy New Year to one and all!
The seat is still at the upholsterer's shop, but I hope to get it back soon. With all the visiting, eating and other running around that comes with the Holiday Season, I was beginning to experience symptoms of 'shop withdrawal', so I warmed up the shop yesterday, chucked up a hunk of 3" aluminum rod stock and machined up a new gas cap for the new tank...yeah....I know you can buy them, but where's the fun in that? The bike will go on the lift today, or Monday at the latest to have the back tire changed along with new sprocket, drive buffers and chain.
 

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Got the back wheel and hub all cleaned up. Fitted a new sprocket and replaced the drive buffers as they were just too worn, also closed up the wear between the wheel hub and sprocket carrier using shim stock as the clearance had become excessive. The carrier can still move like it should, but no longer flops around. Repacked the wheel bearings, put on a new tire and tube and put it all back in the swing arm. Didn't bother with pictures...everybody knows what a back wheel looks like. Right now it's so bloody cold out that it isn't worth trying to heat the shop...supposed to warm up a bit tomorrow, ought to be able to get back at it then. No seat yet!
 
Made some pretty decent progress this week....in spite of the bitterly cold daytime temperatures, I managed to heat the shop up to a reasonably comfortable degree. Got the engine mounts in place, got the carb rebuilt with the help of a "parts carb" I purchased a few months ago. Checked all the electrical equipment, charging diode, ballast resistor etc and everything tested out properly. New chain cut to length and fitted. Oil tank is now in place and pump bled and adjusted. Found the time to repair a couple of bad cracks in the side covers...the mat black is primer, but since the bike will be black anyhow, it is probably the best choice. Even stuck the exhaust back on...another week like this and I should be just about done. Still no seat!
 

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A sort of slow week in the shop...family responsibilities etc, but did make some progress.
Got most of the paintwork on the tank and side covers, made up a couple of polished aluminum Suzuki symbols and cut out some rubber knee grips to add once the clear coat is applied...now to finish off the electrical system. Still no seat!

i'm not a big fan on the side cover lettering...I think I'll just repaint them in plain black.
 

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Good progress again this week. Repainted the side covers and applied three coats of two part clear urethane to the paint work. Electrical system all sorted out. Today I fired-up the engine for the first time since it has been back together, everything seems to be doing just what it is supposed to do. Stunk myself out of the shop in about three minutes flat. Now if only winter would bugger off just long enough for a little test ride...if it does it'll be a rough ride; no seat YET! Damn it Jody, where's that seat???!!!!
 
Yahoo....seat is finally done! Now if it would only stop snowing long enough for me to go get it. :p
 
Finally got the seat...excellent work and exactly what I had asked him to do.
Anyhow, it wasn't in my hands five minutes before we stuck it on the bike and stood back for a look. After that I took it outside for some snowy pictures...I guess that's about it for this build, just needs a mirror and a road test, but that will have to wait until warmer weather comes our way.

Cheers,
Goldy
 

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Just an epilogue to this thread....
The girl who owns this TC100 decided to move to British Columbia at the end of March this year. Due to the horrid winter we had, I was not able to road test it before she left, so she had it shipped west as it sat. I recently got a note from her and she mentioned she had some issues with a lack of power which I thought might have something to do with the intake set-up. After finding a decent 'old bike' guy near her new home, he checked it out and after rearranging the filter set-up it has been working like a charm. She has been terrorizing the streets of Surry BC with it since early summer...with a big grin on her face! Oils well that ends well.
 
Great work. That looks like a very nice bike. It's a bummer you never got to ride it. Why did the owner want to change the tank? The new one you fitted looks fantastic but I love the old one with its original paint, too.
 
This one holds a little more fuel and she knew exactly what she wanted...that's one thing for sure, this girl knows what she likes and will not be swayed, gotta admire her for that!
 
Hey, I'm just now seeing this build. Looks like a really fun little bike and a good looking build! Love the upholstery work...
 
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