Suzuki T500 Restoration/Cafe Project

[celt_rock]

Made a pretty big jump in the progress tonight. Yesterday I spent the whole day in my basement running new electrical and lighting so that I would have a workspace that was relatively warm this winter. Then I went out into the garage and made the leap. I pulled the heads off the engine, removed the engine bolts and pulled the engine from the frame (that's a big step for me... not knowing what was going to happen I'd been putting it off for a while). It was a little less heavy than I thought though it's a good thing I removed the heads, I wouldn't have been able to cart it inside and down the stairs to the basement otherwise. Oddly enough, moving the frame sans engine into the basement was easier! But now everything is in the basement, I have a place to work and no more trips out to the barn to pull a piece here or there. Now to remove the rear wheel and the front end and prep the frame for powder coating. I still haven't thought of what color I want this. Anyone out there skip the powder coater and get a decent rattle can finish? Is that un-heard of? I want to see how much of this I can do myself and I would have to hire out a powder coating. Anyway, here's a pic of the new work space. I'm actually building a bench here in a day or two, the one that's there is something I threw together for my son (he's 7 and he's "helping"). That pink counter frame held some weird metal tank when we first bought the place... pink isn't usually a color you'd find in "man land" or as my son calls it "daddy AND boy land".

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[tz375]

I have tried powder coat, Professional two pack paint and rattle cans and rattle cans are all I will use on a race bike. On the street I'll use P/C for longevity and there are some great high gloss powders out now, but frames were never very high gloss when they left the factory.

To be honest for me a rattle can is fine because I'll probably strip it in a year and change something or maybe just change the color, so P/C is a waste on most of mine.

[titan performance]

As TZ says....it's horses for courses with frame paint. We prefer the p/c route, as for the road it gives a fairly durable finish. Rattle can comes off a bit easy, with a knock or fluid spillage.
A lot of powder coaters have blast facilities too, which can save an awful lot of effort and man hours.....just be sure to leave a bolt in threaded holes, or be prepared to run a tap through them when you get it back. P/c is heavy and thick, and will bung up the threaded holes.

[celt_rock]

Thanks for that, will most likely go the Powder Coat route then as I'm not looking to do this more than once!

As far as carbs go, thanks for the tip on Keysters, I had read similar on another posting and was going to ask for confirmation
here. With that in mind, will this work just as well?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... RL:US:1123" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Half the price and two sets instead of just one (which is how the Keysters come).

[celt_rock]

Started getting into the engine and trying to clean it up... couldn't get the screws out of the clutch cover and the easy-out route did not work. So I drilled the head of each screw off so that I could slip the cover over the screws and then get them out with vice grips.
What I found was that often, when I got close to removing the head (yet not quite through) all of a sudden the screw would loosen up and I could get it with my fingers. This was after using an impact driver, mallet and screwdriver, easy out, etc.

Drilling it out worked beautifully and didn't even touch the case at all.

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Then I got to work on the clutch cover. I've been really torn, do I go mirror shine, chrome-like (seems it's most people's
preference) or do I go with something different. It's out of the question to leave the cover as is.

DSC02116.jpg

So I went with something different. I opted for a "soft" look. I already have a bike with mirrored aluminum (a 98 Sportster). I put this on the wire wheel, got all the crud and scratches out. Then hooked up my Black and Decker Mouse with a scouring pad which softened up the whole thing. I put it to a cloth wheel with a little bit of metal cleaner on it then hit it with two coats of clear coat.
I'll hit it with a third after I decide if this is the route I'm going to go. Right now I really like it.

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With the cover off, this is what I found, everything (besides the gasket) looks brand new. Doesn't look like I need to do anything unless you guys see something that I'm not trained to find...

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[Coyote]

I went for the 'dull' look myself on my GT750. In my case the covers were bead blasted and powder coated low gloss clear. They looked like fresh castings and were silky smooth.

[celt_rock]

Love it! That's brilliant

[akazoroe]

Looks great.
I personally hate polished aluminum.
Ive had so much of it over the years I guess im sick of it.
What youve done looks a lot more classy nowadays IMO.

[celt_rock]

First snag of the project... right cylinder block is stuck fast. Tuns out two of the steel dowels are majorly corroded inside and this thing is not giving in. Not a lot of material about that on the internet, just to soak it in Liquid Wrench/ACF-50/Coca Cola, then whack it with a hyde/rubber mallet. Applied Liquid Wrench yesterday around noon, applied some more before bed then went home at lunch today in order to whack it a few more times. Won't budge. So I drained the LW and poured some Coke down the shaft. We'll see how that goes. Fingers crossed.

While the engine work has been stalled my new Allen Head bolt set came in. They look awful pretty and I'm happy knowing I won't have to bother with those @#$ Phillips heads. I think Henry F. Phillips was secretly a stripper 'budum-bum'

Also decided to start pulling the wheels off the bike and start getting those cleaned up. That's when I found this

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Apparently I have the wheel of a 70's Kawasaki KZ400 on the back of my bike. What will I find next...

[titan performance]

Stuck barrells are a right pain in the jacksie.....had that a few times. I've always done what you have, ie soaked the studs with various juices, and then beaten bloody hell out of it. The problem is, there's nowhere to get a good hit at it. I got a lump of soft wood in the exhaust port, and hit upwards on that, and then used some wooden wedges under the barrell. So far, I've got them all off without breaking anything........

I've had a few motors where people have used force on the barrells, and damaged fins though.

[celt_rock]

Been reading up a lot on stuck barrels, seems like folks have made plenty of puller plates for the gt750s but I haven't seen anyone mention making one for a T500 so I'm on it. My father works at a granite quarry and they have scrap pieces of 1/2" steel, I asked for a 10" X10" piece (which would give a little bit of overhang, just enough to be able to get a good hit on from underneath if need be) and will get the appropriate hardware. Right now the project is on hold as I don't multi-task well and can't concentrate with this hanging over me. You talk about not having a spot to get a good hit on it, have you ever tried making a "strike plate"? That would be a puller plate I suppose but with only 4 holes in which to screw bolts to attach to the cylinder block then hit up on the plate from underneath? It would probably need to be 12X12 in order to get a really good hit on it. Of course you could really only do it from two sides as the piston would be in the way on one side (at least for me... one jug came off just fine) and adjacent to that you've got the crank case. Just a thought. Would save having to tap 4 holes in 1/2" steel but then again probably more of a chance of pulling a stud right out of the crank case. Man I'm nervous, I don't want to wreck this engine... I've grown rather fond of it!

[Coyote]

I can't visualize what you are saying.The 750 is a totally different animal. On the 750, the studs are below the barrel surface. The head bolts are hollow and straddle the studs after passing through the head. What they refer to as a puller plate is actually a pusher plate. The plate is mounted to the barrels with four 8mm bolts (also part of the head retention). Then the 11 jack screws go in to the blind holes where the studs are. The jack screws push against the studs. Then after several hours of swearing.and guzzling a lot of beer - band aids on the fingers, it eventually eases off.
About all you can do is make a whacking plate. I suggest taking the motor to a weld shop. Have them heat the barrel / crankcase junction with a torch. Propane won't work as it is not hot enough and the hear dissipates too quickly. When it's good and hot, then give her a whack from the underside of your plate. I bet it will pop right off like it was never stuck in the first place.
Keep us posted!

[celt_rock]

Hey Coyote, I should be able to make the "pusher plate" idea still work on the T500. It's set up the same, 4 threaded holes in the top of the cylinder and 4 smooth bore which have the corroded metal dowels inside attached to the crank case. Here's a photo.

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You can actually see the culprit, that one down in the front. So with the four, small, threaded holes I'll attach the plate to the jug then with the 4 larger holes (the ones with the dowels in them) I'll use threaded holes in the plate itself and send 4 screws down until they contact the tops of the studs. I can see which one is going to give
me the most trouble and I'll make sure that one gets turned the same as the others so as not to push it through the top of the crankcase as I've seen in someone else's photos. Here's a photo of what pulling the first cylinder off revealed...

DSC02152.jpg

Those dowels were pretty ugly yet they gave in rather quickly. I wish I had had the same luck with this one. I'm not missing anything... am I?

[Suzukidave]

Get some Evapo rust http://www.harborfreight.com/1-gallon-e ... 96431.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; and fill the stud holes . If you do use a puller plate check the depth of the threaded holes to get new bolts that are the full length of the bolt holes .. use all the threads you can to keep from stripping them out .

[celt_rock]

If you do use a puller plate check the depth of the threaded holes to get new bolts that are the full length of the bolt holes .. use all the threads you can to keep from stripping them out .

Done, I actually bought them a hair long and will use washers to shim everything up so I'm not wasting a single thread (in theory).

I'm glad you wrote in Dave, now I can ask the expert this question

I was at my local Ace Hardware store and needless to say they did not have any 10mm X 1.25 through-thread bolts. They had plenty of the size but none were threaded all the way up the shaft. Knowing that I could return them later if I found something decent, I bought some 3/8 fully threaded bolts that seemed as though they would be long enough to get the job done. Now I know that going metric gives me more thread which may be less likely to strip but I wonder, IYHO, would it make as big a difference if I'm only pulling one cylinder as opposed to the 750 which needs to have all three cylinders pulled at once? If so, any hints as to where I can go to find such fully threaded 10mm X 1.25 bolts? In our area we have a Lowes, a Home Depot and then the smaller guys, Ace, Aubuchon, etc.