The Redrum Racer Suzuki T500 Titan Cafe Build

So I decided to do a light build thread about my money pit. Lol! It has been a 2yr journey for me and the Titan. I tried in vain last year to get it runnin without having to take apart the motor. No such luck! Anywho, heres the story.

I bought this thing 2yrs ago with the idea that I could make it into a nice cafe racer. I saw one come into the shop (Motorcycle Mania), heard it runnin, and was immediately intrigued! I thought that it was the coolest! So I decided to undergo an intense Craigslist search. After a few months I managed to find one and the guy actually brought it right out to me on his truck. It was quite dirty and was missing the side cover. Also, he explained that he could not get it to idle... I thought, well I should be able to get this thing runnin! Its prolly just a carb issue! LMAO! Anyway, I bought it and cleaned her up. Next I pulled the carbs and cleaned the crap out of them and reset to factory settings. I must have pulled these carbs about 30 times at least!

Still couldnt get it to idle! I was baffled! And so were the many people who tried to help me! Thanks JT for helpin! I knew nothing of 2 strokes...

I thought that maybe the rust in the tank was messin with the carbs so I decided to take it to get cleaned and lined by Cool/Heat on Montrose. That was a bad idea! They F*$@ed my tank up good!! You can read about that mess here: http://www.halffastchicago.com/forum/index.php?topic=1341.0

Finally after a full year I decided to start sourcing parts. HA! Finding parts for this thing was even harder! Not to mention that when I did find something, they wanted an arm and leg for it! I figured it was prolly a bad crank seal like I had read about.
I started to break her down


Pulled the motor and bought the gasket set

In the mean time, I found a donor bike which the owner told me that the motor has never been started, but wont turn either and he thought it might be locked. After I purchased it from him I find out that he did in fact start it and locked the motor up! And it was documented here on Halffast! lol! Oh well! I'll never trust that guy again! I did get my moneys worth though seeing as I got a lot of nice clean parts that I needed.

So I proceeded to tear down my motor and immediately found out why it wouldnt idle. The base gasket was torn and missing towards the middle as you can see in the pic. I started to clean the carbon off the pistons.

Continued to tear down and inspect. Replacing all seals and gaskets along the way.


So I got the motor back together and got the carbs set.

Now I have started on the paint work. My plan has been to basically match the theme of my helmet. But at the last minute I changed my mind

So.... I decided to go with a vintage theme instead... I started to prep the tank, it was a lot of work! While I was doing this I decided to clean and Kreem the inside of it. The tank was a mess after it came from Cool/Heat! Don't ever take your tank there!! They ruined mine!!!




I finished the cafe seat with a metallic green with silver stripes.

Mock up of the seat. I just finished priming the tank and tonight I will shoot some base coat. I still have to wet sand the seat but it looks good so far...





Ok well, I finally shot the Green base coat an then I taped and shot the silver stripes. I did a quick wet sand and then shot 7 coats of clear. All paint used was dupli-color in a rattle can. In between coats I started to wet sand the seat and then started on the sealer and glaze. I should be finished wet sanding the tank by tonight....

Wet sanding and sealing.

Here's the mock up. I should have her up and runnin by tonight.

I got it all back together and running... I just have to figure out what to do about the oil tank. I am gonna look around for a small round tank that I can put on the underside of the seat... If not I might have to fab something.

Wow !
Nice work Redrum......was the motor sound once you got it going?
Great looking paint work with the rattle can !

I'm just starting one of my T500 projects on a similar theme to yours. Cafe seat with stock tank.

Take a look at our 500 dedicated web site.

www.classic2strokesuzuki.com

NICE!!

I can't believe how many kick ass bikes there are on this forum.

Nice job. Welcome to another Chicagoland Suzuki.

Thanks to all! It's been a long 2 years in the making... but its by far my favorite bike.

Very cool, I want another T500, i'm having regrets selling my '72 T500 a few months ago.. You going to put some rearsets on that bad boy?

@Titan performance: yes, the motor starts with 1 kick and runs like a champ. I've been riding it a lot lately. Yesterday a Harley guy asked me a bunch of questions about it while stopped at a light. As we took off and arrived at the next stop light, he said I was burning oil. Lol! I told him that's why they call these smokers. I quickly explained it to him but I dont think he understood....

Sweet build! The more I look at mine waiting its turn the more I'm realizing it ain't gonna be easy!

@johngofast: eventually I will

@cafexv750: the worst part for me was sourcing parts. Everythings discontinued...

Gorgeous bike. wow.

I'm picking up a '68 tomorrow.

Ah, the Cobra! Very nice.