T500 something

[farmer92]

Hello to all you guys and gals out there.
First off i want to say what a wonderful pool of information this site is, one could spend years reading up on here and still learn something new everyday.
Secondly, if anyone has any suggestions along the way, feel free to throw them out there. if I do something idiotic, bear with my retarded ass.

So for the longest time growing up, there was this motorcycle sitting in an old barn we had. I had no idea what it was, just that it was my uncles old bike, it broke, he fixed patched it, then it broke again which led to it being buried under a couple inches of pigeon and swallow turd. The engine how ever was hidden away in a basement, to be uncovered some 30 years later.
I don't have any photos of what it looked like covered in crap, but here it is after most was removed from the frame.

 

[yorkie350]

Welcome aboard mate best way to start chuck the motor in the frame do the usual checks everyone goes on about like handcrank, timing, plugs ,compression ,oil, tappet clearance etc getting it running got be the first big step sounds like a big deal but not as bad as leaving it to near end of ya build :-[ plus it gives ya thinking time for the style ya want to end up with looking forward to ya thread always here for Q&A's mate

 

[farmer92]

i would love to keep the original tank and seat, i just find the tank goes nicely with the bike, the seat will be re-covered.
I will keep the original rear swing, and wheel because i have no where near the skill or patience to widen the frame, or narrow a modern swingarm.
i have a 1984 gs(x)750e front end i plan on using, hopefully the dual disks will manage to stop this thing better than the original drum brake did.
I would like to try my hand at giving the old jugs a little port work, putting in some new pistons, rings etc...
I will be putting on some expansion chambers as well, hopefully giving it a little more pep.
Here it is with the gs front mocked up on it.
as well as the pitiful state of the inside of the tank :'( hopefully something can be done about that.
will also have to order several gears and bearings for the trans.

 

[farmer92]

on the plus side, the cylinders and heads look alright, and, and, and....
the damn plastic oil lines are still on the top of the case!!! those thing are apparently quite difficult to find in good shape so i'm glad they are okay

 

[farmer92]

http://www.dotheton.com/forum/index.php?topic=20290.0
if anyone has not seen johnu's build, that thing is off the wall badassery and unrivaled attention to detail. The thread reads like a good book.

on an unrelated note, i'm really digging Titan Performances t500 street scrambler, thoses high pipes are bitchin'
http://www.dotheton.com/forum/index.php?topic=68432.0

 

[yorkie350]

Some great threads in here for cleaning tanks out. One of them a lot use is apple cider vinegar, we've seen a lot worse come back to life mate, sounds like some ya got some great idea's already ,every cloud has a silver lining mate decent cylinders n piston's is a bonus as is anything that's good enough not to replace remember that when ya get a bad day It could always be worse ???

 

[jpmobius]

Be very careful with the oil lines. Do NOT put compressed air through them to clean them. There are check valves in the output ends and very likely will be damaged if you do. WD40 in a hand pump bottle should clean them fine and give you an indication of proper functioning of the valves. The springs in them are very weak and can easily be overcome with the hand pump spray bottle in the direction of flow, but should seal the other way.

 

[farmer92]

Be very careful with the oil lines.

that's like the understatement of the decade, but yeah i plan on being very delicate with 45 year old plastic
thanks for the WD40 tip though, much obliged

 

[farmer92]

well, a bit of a marginal update,
I have sold/traded away my cb400t, and in exchange received a sweet little tc185 and a rough, but mechanically sound t500 parts bike along with a wee bit of green...
Now i plan on running a spoked front rim (16) with dual disks, and as far as i know my only option for that is a harley wheel.
I picked up a hub locally, and am seeing that it is far too wide for the forks, so my options are to either

A) shave both sides of the hub to fit between the forks
B) have my buddy mill me up new upper and lower tree clamps to set the forks out wider.

i would personally prefer option B, because then i could use the stock t500 steering stem which would make fitting/finding the stem bearings easy
and i would preserve the structural integrity of the hub.
I do have a few questions regarding option B however.
i would probably need to set the forks out an inch on each side to clear the hubs and rotors,
is there a structural downside to being too wide?
i know this will put more stress on the stem, but will it be a problem?
what materials should i make the clamps out of? I was thinking aluminium, but would steal be better?
same question for the axle, steel or alum? or stainless?

On a positive note for the parts bike, a 74, apart from the retarded mini ape hangers, and the ghetto iron cross tail light, it's seems to be okay apart from the rusted body, all i really wanted from it is the tranny, and maybe the crank if the bearings are in better shape than mine. The tank looks like it was cleaned and treated with i dont know what, but the inside is spotless so i will most likely use this tank instead. i noticed that this case takes 1400cc of oil instead of 1200cc so i'm really hoping this implies the trans will be in good shape. The motor turns freely, and seems to still hold compression.
I'm wondering if i should use the stock carbs, or if they are garbage and i should just buy some new vm 32's?

 

[2_DONE_THE_TON]

I'm on board sir!

 

[Powderfinger]

Why do you want a 16" front wheel?

 

[farmer92]

Why do you want a 16" front wheel?

initially it was because that's what was on the donor forks, and i figured it would lower the front a bit, quicken the handling and reduce the wheels moment of inertia.
But the more i think about it, finding a tire for that wheel would be a bitch pain in the rear, and i am thinking i might go with a 17'' or an 18" instead
probably a 17, because the donor forks are a touch longer than the originals. however i dont really want an excessivly wide rim on there and the 16" is a 16x3
although 17X3.5 isn't to different

The width of my hub is 160mm,
the width between the forks is at 150mm now
Can anyone tell me the width of a pair of rotors, and bolt heads?
or will these vary extensively depending on which ones i buy?

 

[farmer92]

aaaaaand there are only 39 16" spokes on my 40 spoke hub... joyous day

 

[Powderfinger]

I would look for a late 70's spoked front wheel from a GS750, It would be a 19 I guess, you could lace the hub to an 18 if you wanted. Then shorten the forks. Or just get a whole front end from the 70's GS750. That should bolt right on and give you dual brakes.

 

[jimmer]

Or just put a '76 '77 GT500 front end on. They are made for that frame afterall Better forks than the T500 and disc brake,still spoked.

 

[farmer92]

I would look for a late 70's spoked front wheel from a GS750, It would be a 19 I guess, you could lace the hub to an 18 if you wanted. Then shorten the forks. Or just get a whole front end from the 70's GS750. That should bolt right on and give you dual brakes.

faceplam
double facepalm

that would be too easy

It's all good though, i found the 40th spoke, and so i will proceed as planed with widening the the forks via custom milled triple clamp
planning on using aluminium for the triple clamps.
Just to be certain, the steering stem presses out the bottom of the existing clamp right?
Hub is off of an HD roadking so i will be using some aftermarket rotors for this, the width of which is between 4.5 & 5 mm
so i've got 160+10mm and i will wait to see how far the bolt heads protrude, but i will assume 5mm each for now, so i would need a width increase of about 30mm which isn't so bad.
i'll wait until i get the hub entirely set up before i finalize it

On the bright side, the inside of the tank on the parts bike looks clean, don't know if i should trust this coating

 

[teazer]

That's an aweful lot of work to make a hub fit. Spoked wheels are available and cheap. Grab an RD/XS Yamaha hub and a set of new spokes and rim from MikesXS or grab a GS or GT suzuki hub and do the same.

The stem on your forks is not pressed in the way that modern parts are. Yes it was pressed in but it was most likely welded in place as were most at that time.

Simplest solution is a complete GT550/750 front end or one off a GS550/750/850/1000. That way you get all the parts in one package.

If you feel that you absolutely must machine new triple clamps maybe you could upgrade to a pair of early R6 or GSXR fork legs at the same time. They may use a much larger axle, so that part of the puzzle will still have to be solved, but you get modern suspension which is lighter, stiffer and performs better

 

[tattoo]

Welcome fellow T500 tinkerer!! Sounds/looks like you've got lots of stuff to work with.

In.

Lennoxville.....I'm in Ottawa.

 

[farmer92]

right on tattoo
Seems like a lot of these are turning up in barns these days.

Pulled the engine from the parts bike and started to disassemble.
The trans oil in it look almost fresh, like it had been changed just before it was put away.
everything looks internally clean, however when i pulled the gasket off the head it looks like it had been crushed from being misaligned?

Also managed to find an early 70's cb750 front wheel. Hub is only 4.5" wide so that will solve most of the front end fitment issues.
Will probably only need some spacers/axle/misc stuff.
i'll save the custom triples for when i can afford some more modern forks.

 

[CarbsAndCylinders]

I'm subscribed!

If I were you I would not use the Harley hub. I am guessing that it is most likely a heavier hub than the Suzuki one. The Titan only weighs a bit over 400l bs and this hub may give you a poor unsprung/sprung weight ratio. Also the Titan feels like a 400 lb bike when you are moving it in your garage but once you get moving, it steers like it is a lot heavier. This is why some racers replaced the 19 inch front wheel with an 18 inch one. I think a 17 inch wheel would make the steering too quick. I got aluminum rims front and rear from Buchanen's for my currently stalled project, both 18's.