Little Red - '72 Suzuki T500 - New oil tank

[Reddy]

Re: Little Red - '72 Suzuki T500

Here the new Acewell speedo/tach hsa been mounted. I bent the supplied speedo bracket so that the new speedo is parallel with the forks. I had anticipated moving the headlight back as much as 2" but it looks like a 1" move will work just fine.

The headlight ears have been drilled and the ends roughly shaped.

 

[Reddy]

Re: Little Red - '72 Suzuki T500

The electronic ignition is from Powerdynamo in Germany. The kit includes all the parts necessary for a bolt on installation (except for one small error - see below). The instructions are comprehensive and the install was easy. Now if it just actually works.......

The kit includes a stator, a rotor, a regulator, coils, plug wires, wiring and misc. parts.

A spark plug hole mounted dial indicator to find 3.4mm BTDC is the only special tool required.

The one problem I had was very minor. The long 6mm screw below held the points assembly to the engine. This whole assembly is removed and the new stator plate screwed in its place. Shorter screws are provided to mount the new plate but 5mm screws were provided - too small.

A little polishing on the cover and we are all buttoned up.

 

[Reddy]

Re: Little Red - '72 Suzuki T500

Oil tank profile mockup is shown below. The rear round potion of the tank will be the same width as the seat above. The seat is for a Norton Manx and has a cut out in the front edge for the oil filler cap. The tanks radius will fit inside a similar radius on the gusset of the frame behind it. The flat front portion of the tank will be narrower and match the narrow rear of the gas tank above.

 

[Reddy]

Re: Little Red - '72 Suzuki T500 - Lotta new parts

Final position for headlight with modified ears. This area is done except for turn signals and wiring.

The parts from Titan performance are here. Rearsets and stainless chambers. Very nice quality stuff that looks good and bolts right in place.

 

[Hoosier Daddy]

Re: Little Red - '72 Suzuki T500 - Lotta new parts

Uhm.... how do I say this... WOW! AWESOME!

That oil tank will look fantastic and your tweeking of the headlight ears turned out nice.

 

[famousseajay]

Re: Little Red - '72 Suzuki T500 - Lotta new parts

Awesome build man! Are you in the states or over in GB? Any chance i could get a close up of both sides your your new rear sets? Im tying to fab some mounts up for my GT250 and having a little trouble with proper alignment/angles. Cant wait to see this thing done. Keep up the good work!

 

[Wingspan]

Re: Little Red - '72 Suzuki T500 - Lotta new parts

Looking good. You might already be aware of this, but in the pics you've got the expansion chamber mounts on the outside of the rearsets. This is wrong, the expansion chamber mounting strap should be against the frame, with the rearset mounted on the outside. Use a washer to take up the space under the second rearset mount. Mounting them the way you have will space the chambers out slightly. This could present an issue on the left side. There is very little clearance for the kickstarter and if the chambers are spaced out you could end up denting the chamber when you start the bike.

 

[Reddy]

Re: Little Red - '72 Suzuki T500 - Lotta new parts

Uhm.... how do I say this... WOW! AWESOME!

That oil tank will look fantastic and your tweeking of the headlight ears turned out nice.

Thanks for the kind words.

Awesome build man! Are you in the states or over in GB? Any chance i could get a close up of both sides your your new rear sets? Im tying to fab some mounts up for my GT250 and having a little trouble with proper alignment/angles. Cant wait to see this thing done. Keep up the good work!

I am in central California. The rearsets have a simple flat bottom rounded top bracket that is bolted to the frame where the passenger peg and stock exhaust were attached. In the pictures below the exhaust hanger bracket is in front of the rearset bracket rather than behind as it should be.

Looking good. You might already be aware of this, but in the pics you've got the expansion chamber mounts on the outside of the rearsets. This is wrong, the expansion chamber mounting strap should be against the frame, with the rearset mounted on the outside. Use a washer to take up the space under the second rearset mount. Mounting them the way you have will space the chambers out slightly. This could present an issue on the left side. There is very little clearance for the kickstarter and if the chambers are spaced out you could end up denting the chamber when you start the bike.

Hey, thanks for lookin' out for me. I debated with myself which way to go and obviously chose wrong. Your washer solution sounds right on and for sure I don't need a dent in the chamber before it ever hits the road. Thanks.

 

[Reddy]

Re: Little Red - '72 Suzuki T500 - Lotta new parts

Anybody know a cheap source for a Suzuki decal? I am thinking I need to put some kind of badge on the tank. I don't want to be too monochromatic. Maybe the whole name or maybe just an "S".

 

[johnu]

Re: Little Red - '72 Suzuki T500 - Lotta new parts

Anybody know a cheap source for a Suzuki decal? I am thinking I need to put some kind of badge on the tank. I don't want to be too monochromatic. Maybe the whole name or maybe just an "S".

I'm not sure where you would get a sticker but I plan on using the old style Suzuki "S" on my tank also.

 

[teazer]

Re: Little Red - '72 Suzuki T500 - Lotta new parts

I grabbed mine off ebay. That was for S.U.Z.U.K.I. stickers

 

[DBM]

Re: Little Red - '72 Suzuki T500 - Lotta new parts

Hey Reddy bike is looking great, it will be good to see it finished. You may want to check these guys out they have quite a bite of new/reproduction parts for Suzuki and others http://www.reproductiondecals.com/. Could you post a few detail shots of the oil tank when your done if you get a chance, I haven't figured out what I'm going to do for mine yet.

 

[Titan performance]

Re: Little Red - '72 Suzuki T500 - Lotta new parts

Looking good Reddy !
Thanks to Mark, (wingspan), for pointing out the pipe mounting issue !

When mounting the left pipe, be sure to keep it as tucked in as poss, and maybe even mount the kick starter as close to the end of the shaft as you can.......try the action of the kick starter carefully by hand to check clearance before applying a boot !

Congrats on some great work.....looking forward to seeing the finished result...

 

[Reddy]

Re: Little Red - '72 Suzuki T500 - Hinges

We will of course be hiding all the electrical stuff under the seat and gas tank. From vast experience I have found that if I am totally prepared to fix a problem I will not experience that problem. Whereas if I have thought something will never be a problem it bites me on the ass. Since I am doing all the electrical from scratch on this bike I am expecting problems. Hoping they don't occur but expecting them none the less. So anyway I want the seat and gas tank to be hinged for easy access out on the road.

The seat came with four 6mm screws protruding from the bottom of the pan. To those screws I have attached two pieces of 3/4" sq. aluminum tubing.

I bought a common door hinge and used the pins to slide through holes in the aluminim tube and then through parts of the same hinge which will be welded to the frame. At th back of the gas tank I have a gate hinge screwed to the tank and the frame and protruding beyond the rear of the tank at the bottom.

Weld the tabs to the frame and attach seat.

Seat and tank "open".

There will also be some rubber bumpers between the seat and frame. Here is the bike so far.

 

[Hoosier Daddy]

Re: Little Red - '72 Suzuki T500 - Hinges

Easy access... NICE!

 

[Wingspan]

Re: Little Red - '72 Suzuki T500 - Hinges

Nice work on the hinged access. I see you're mounting the regulator in the coil location, where is the coil going to go?

 

[Reddy]

Re: Little Red - '72 Suzuki T500 - Hinges

Nice work on the hinged access. I see you're mounting the regulator in the coil location, where is the coil going to go?

There is a large void closer to the rear of the tank which will take the coil. Fuse box and a Ballistic battery will be under the seat. Or things may get shuffled. I have three locations for electrical components and when I have all four of the bulky items I'll finalize the plan. I'm having a mail delivery problem with the fuse box I ordered. ???

 

[Reddy]

Re: Little Red - '72 Suzuki T500 - New parts

Things are goin' kinda slow at this point. I have procurred some minor parts as pictured below. I hope to have a quote and order the oil tank by next week. That will be the last major purchase for awhile. I'm out of money. I think I will be able to do the final fabrication, painting, and re-assembly by the end of the year. Or next spring for sure.

I have got the new Avon tires but only the front is mounted so far. I set the fender on just to see how it will look. I hate the stock fender bracket but have not decided what to do. I may mod the existing bracket or fab a new one from aluminum (polished) or steel bar (chromed).

Turn signals are polished aluminum from Dime City. I will be wiring the headlight and taillight to be on all the time and the turn signals will be wired as switched running lights.

Fuel petcock with reserve. I will be using two of these. It will be easier than figuring out a cross over tube.

Battery is by Ballistic. Super small and light. Not too expensive either.

Small fuse box is from Eastern Beaver. Has eight circuits with mini blade fuses and is very compact. Nice.

 

[johnu]

Re: Little Red - '72 Suzuki T500 - New parts

Very nice. Sounds like you are expert at the electrical part of the build? I like the look of that small battery. I am not looking forward to doing my electrical as I have no clue about it!

 

[Reddy]

Re: Little Red - '72 Suzuki T500 - New parts

Very nice. Sounds like you are expert at the electrical part of the build? I like the look of that small battery. I am not looking forward to doing my electrical as I have no clue about it!

I am no electrical expert either and have never done all the wiring on a vehicle before but I have wired a bunch of houses as a home builder and the same concepts apply. Circuit breakers in a home do the same trask as fuses in a bike. A switch is wired the same. All a regulator does is convert your charging systems power from a/c to direct current. The concepts are not difficult if you know the basics. There is alot of info regarding wiring on the net and the job looks pretty straight forward.

I am stoked about that battery myself. It is so light it feels like an empty plastic box yet it has enough grunt to run the starter on a mid sized bike. Since my bike is kick start only even this small battery is overkill. The battery also resists losing it's charge while sitting unused. Should be awesome.