It has been a while since I did an update - I actually have heaps of new material waiting to be put up, but for the moment perhaps those of us having thick eye glasses and using pocket protectors will find this new section on 'Suzuki Dating Codes' useful !
GT750:
On oil pumps, they are marked 310 and 312. 310 cover 3 and 2 plunger types and 312 is all other later types, even after teh change to internal parts. They did change that to a 31002 from A onwards but not to a 316 for some reason - maybe because they were interchangeable.
With rear fenders, the A on rear section is still a 310 even though the change was significant in the mounting design. The frame also stayed as a 310 when it changed several times. Odd.
Crankcases are all 11304-318xx numbers and in earlier parts list they were -31802 for J and K and -31850 for L. In the B parts list they say 31850 for J-K-L. It does mention that a different crank is required for later crankcases which doesn't make a lot of sense to me.
tz375 wrote:On oil pumps, they are marked 310 and 312. 310 cover 3 and 2 plunger types and 312 is all other later types, even after teh change to internal parts. They did change that to a 31002 from A onwards but not to a 316 for some reason - maybe because they were interchangeable.
Thanks Richard - I'll try and work the pump and fender info in next round. And if you get a chance, take a look at the Australian specific page - I was shown an interesting example of a late model A when I was visiting.
I forgot to mention - I'm nearing completion of a new section for the resource site to be called 'The Field Guide to the GT550' and which is based on work Manfred Schönherr in Germany first did in the early 1990's, and which he has agreed to let me use. Those of you owning original paint GT550's could help out by emailing photos of your bikes that clearly show the tanks, seat, side covers, instrument cluster and switch gear. Actually, the only switch gear I would need photos of would be for the J and K as it was all the same for both GT550 and GT750 for 1974 and onwards. What I'd like to be able to do is show good examples of the different colours that were offered in different markets. This effort will not be as detailed as I did for the GT750 - more of a pocket guide I suppose - as other than the split between the EU and North American engine types, the bicycle bits were pretty much unchanged apart from cosmetics.
My email is ian@oldjapanesebikes.com - and if you do send a photo or two, please also tell me how you'd like your name to appear in the photo credit (some people prefer to use their forum 'handles' rather than their actual names) .
Thx !
Ian
If at first you don't succeed, just get a bigger hammer !
- added a copy of the 1972/1973 Service Data manual (thanks for the scans Alan ! )
- corrected a few errors here and there
I'm still looking for good photos of original paint GT550's for the new GT550 Field Guide currently nearing completion - contact me via email directly if you have a photo you'd like included. And the link to the site again is:
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