1975 Suzuki T500 IT IS ALIVE! First start video 5/7/11

[Wingspan]

Re: 1975 Suzuki T500 Engine installed 4/2/11

Got the rear brake working. I need to adjust the brake lever angle but that'll wait until I've got the pipes on and I know how much clearance I have. I also need to get some small cotter pins from the hardware store for the cable ends.

 

[VonYinzer]

Re: 1975 Suzuki T500 Engine installed 4/2/11

Id say great job, but I cant stop staring and drooling long enough to type...

 

[Wingspan]

Re: 1975 Suzuki T500 Engine installed 4/2/11

Id say great job, but I cant stop staring and drooling long enough to type...

Thanks.

Didn't accomplish much this week. I opened up the first carb (only doing one at a time...Chinese blueprint). Overall they look pretty good, some nice chunks in the floatbowl though:

I've got everything cleaned up and ready to go back together when the new seals and jets get here:

New D.I.D. chain installed:

I've been trying to figure out a front fender or fork brace solution for a while now. After trying my hand at making a new brace with the limited means I have available to me at home I decided I'd be better off modifying the stock fender mount and running a small fender. The biggest issue with this is that the new front wheel and tire are much smaller than stock, so I needed to lower the fender by ~ 2". After much cutting and hacking I think I've got something I'm happy with. The top mounting hole on the brace is now the bottom hole and everything I don't need has been cut off. I just need to make two small flat brackets and the fender mount will be ready for finishing. For the fender I ordered a fiberglass unit from Roc City. First thing I had to do was narrow it by an inch to fit between my fork legs:

I also shortened it by removing ~1" from each end then reshaping the curves. Then I drilled mounting holes to match the stock mount it started looking like a functional fender:

 

[Titan performance]

Re: 1975 Suzuki T500 Engine installed 4/2/11

Wingspan.....nice job on the front fender ! Earlier in the post you said you were pondering "no fender"........Tim and i were thinking that would be a real shame. IOHO that wouldn't be a good look with all the other excellent work you have done !

Really looking forward now to the finished product ...........

 

[Wingspan]

Re: 1975 Suzuki T500 Engine installed 4/2/11

Wingspan.....nice job on the front fender ! Earlier in the post you said you were pondering "no fender"........Tim and i were thinking that would be a real shame. IOHO that wouldn't be a good look with all the other excellent work you have done !

Really looking forward now to the finished product ...........

Thanks. The fender is something I have gone back and forth on. I love the rough and raw look of not having one. However, I need either a fork brace or a fender to give some support to the fork legs. They're spindly enough even with a fender.

 

[johnu]

Re: 1975 Suzuki T500 Engine installed 4/2/11

Nice job on the fender Wingspan. Personally I would go with no fender but your simple setup looks pretty darn good.

 

[Titan performance]

Re: 1975 Suzuki T500 Engine installed 4/2/11

It's really interesting how everybody has such a diversity of tastes. To us the bike looks unfinished without what we call the mud guard.

We did exactly the same as you on a recent build.....using the brace from the old fender, but we attached a cut down and polished aluminium guard.

We intend to manufacture a fender brace for the T and Gt, as cutting up the stock fender is fine if it's in poor condition, but a good fender for a T500 makes £150 on ebay here....so you wouldn't want to be cutting it up !

 

[Wingspan]

Re: 1975 Suzuki T500 Engine installed 4/2/11

I'm split right down the middle on the fender. When I look at my bike without it I love the look and don't want to put one on. Then I put it on and now I think it looks more finished. So, fender it is. I can always take it off later if I change my mind (again).

 

[zooke581]

Re: 1975 Suzuki T500 Engine installed 4/2/11

I love the abbreviated look of the fender and think it looks unfinished without one. I like a full fiberglass racing style fender myself. But what you have done is perfect for your build.

 

[Hoosier Daddy]

Re: 1975 Suzuki T500 Engine installed 4/2/11

She sure is looking good Wingspan!
Like you said, the fender does add a finished look.... and I normal take them off first

 

[Wingspan]

Re: 1975 Suzuki T500 Engine installed 4/2/11

Thanks guys. The real test will be when it's painted and we see it with some color.

Gratuitous picture alert!

 

[Wingspan]

Re: 1975 Suzuki T500 Engine installed 4/2/11

Stunning! That is one of the best looking T500's I have seen. A credit to you.

Thanks.

Not a lot of progress this weekend. Yesterday was tied up with family stuff, first participating in the Race for the Cure breast cancer 5K walk with my wife's family in support of my mother-in-law who had a mastectomy late last year and is still undergoing chemo. After that was my 4 yr. old niece's birthday party.

Today I pulled the fork back off, reassembled the front brake, serviced the fork, and reinstalled. Then I painted a few trim items such as the switch housings and the clip-on mounts. One of the carbs has been rebuilt and the second has been disassembled and is soaking in cleaner. I've also started laying out the wiring. Knock on wood, that job doesn't look like it'll be as bad as I thought. The stock harness is in pretty good shape.

I'm starting to see a dim light at the end of the tunnel. Pics soon.

 

[joeyputt]

Re: 1975 Suzuki T500 Engine installed 4/2/11

Brother Wingspan you bike is amazingly clean and looks beautiful, awesome work!

 

[Wingspan]

Re: 1975 Suzuki T500 Engine installed 4/2/11

Brother Wingspan you bike is amazingly clean and looks beautiful, awesome work!

Thanks so much. That means a lot having seen your work.

Here's a few new pics that I promised.

Carbs have been rebuilt:

Started laying out the wiring and figuring out where the stock harness needs to be modified in integrate the aftermarket ignition/charging system and instruments:

I dropped the head pipes off at the shop today for ceramic coating. It won't match the polished stainless expansion chambers exactly, but the stock chrome was in rough shape and the coating won't discolor with heat. I should have the pipes back early next week.

 

[Wingspan]

Re: 1975 Suzuki T500 Engine installed 4/2/11

Let's get going on this electricity thing...

I'm fitting the bike with an aftermarket electronic ignition and charging system from Powerdynamo. No points...YEA! The Powerdynamo kit includes a new stator, rotor, regulator/rectifier, and coil.
Stator installed, note the red dot on the backplate, that's a timing mark:

Next find TDC on either cylinder using a dial indicator, then position the piston at 3.4mm BTDC:

Install the rotor with the timing mark on the rotor aligned with the timing mark on the stator backplate:

The timing is set and should never need to be adjusted again (in theory anyway!):

That's the easy part...now to sort out the rest of the system...

 

[zooke581]

Re: 1975 Suzuki T500 Wiring started 4/22/11

Lookin sweet. I'm lookin forward to working on my GT/T250 this weekend.

 

[two-smoker]

Re: 1975 Suzuki T500 Wiring started 4/22/11

That's a pretty neat setup. So it's like a magneto with a lighting coil in operation?

 

[Ringo]

Re: 1975 Suzuki T500 Wiring started 4/22/11

That's some stunning work, Wingspan. Very nice, very clean.

 

[Wingspan]

Re: 1975 Suzuki T500 Wiring started 4/22/11

Thanks guys. Info on the Powerdynamo system can be found on their website:

http://www.powerdynamo.biz/eng/systems/7261/7261main.htm

Schematics give me a headache! I can follow them ok, but most of electricity is still just magic to me so this has taken longer to sort out that it should have...but IT ALL WORKS!!!!

Lights...check
Idiot lights...check
Horn...doesn't work but I've got voltage so the horn itself is bad
Spark...CHECK (biggie)

I'm missing a relay I need to make the stock kill switch operate the new ignition properly but the wiring is in place for it and it'll be a quick plug in once I find the right part. The ignition will work without it, but I wouldn't be able to shut it off once it was running. ;D

I started by sorting out the integration of the Powerdynamo system to the stock harness.

Then I moved forward to the controls. Because of the lower bars all the harnesses need to be shortened. The kill switch and ft. brake light switch are just bullet connectors and easy to shorten but the left grip controls all the lighting functions and had a multi-pin connector plus some bullets. I didn't want to mess with that, so I decided to shorten the harness at the opposite end. I disassembled the switch housing un-soldered the wires from the switches, shortened everything 7", and re-soldered and assembled.

At this point I hooked everything up with the stock gauges, took a deep breath and turned the key. No smoke came out and everything worked! I pulled one of the spark plugs and gave her a kick...BLUE SPARK! At that point I switched to the schematic for the Acewell gauge, started marking wires, and twisting them together for a test run. Soon I ran out of wires and it was time to turn the key again...

WHOOOHOOOO

Next up, replacing the wire twists with proper connections, stuffing it all inside the headlight, and making it all look neat.

 

[Hoosier Daddy]

Re: 1975 Suzuki T500 Wiring started 4/22/11

YES... YES... YES!
That is always a high stress moment, but it looks like you came through it fine, Congrats!
Love that gauge!