New user, new old bike!

[AnthraxBird]

Hey guys, just picked up this 76 GT500A for $200 bucks. Has compression and spark, but the carbs need cleaned and rebuilt. Any tips on what I should do with it to get it running? I don't want to put a ton of money into it just yet, I still need to get the title, if I even can, so it might be sold for parts. Last time this bike was plated was in 1982! Bike only has 3,000 miles on it. Last old 2 stroke I got running, it developed MASSIVE air leaks and went WOT on me, even disconnecting the spark plug wire, it still was SCREAMING! haha. I hooked up 12v to it, and all lights work, and even the horn. It's been sitting for a VERY long time. Any tips?

Images here! http://imgur.com/a/VkymW" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[PHPaul]

Welcome!

I'm a noob myself and you're definitely in the right place. Nice folks here.

Ebay is your friend, plus I've found a lot of NOS parts on Partzilla. Do be prepared for your wallet to take a whipping tho...

[ConnerVT]

Hello, and welcome to the forum. From the pictures, she looks like a good starting point, not as derelict as many I've seen revived. Sounds as you have had some experience in this before, so I won't go deep into detail, unless you ask.

The GT500 is a pretty simple bike. To me, the most important system to sort out will be fuel/carburation.

Carbs -- Clean them *REAL* well. From your picture, they will need it. If you don't have one, buy a can of Berryman's to soak them. You will need to completely disassemble, soak, rinse, repeat, to truly clean them up. If at all possible, you should be able to reuse all of the brass (no drills/hard metal when cleaning brass). Stay away from aftermarket kits (Keyster), as most have jets for the older carbs (old uses 150 round main, new uses 97.5 round main), and the needles are wrong, too.

Fuel Tank -- Thirty year old gas gets pretty nasty. You will want to remove any varnish/gunk/rust. I have found that a tank cleaning solutions from marine stores are great for getting the old gunk out.

Petcock -- The Suzuki vacuum petcocks from the 70's have not held up well over time. More people have issues with these not sealing shut than any other issue. Then, in attempts to fix them, they may even leak externally. I myself have blown money on three of them, and never got one to work satisfactory for me. Finally went with a quality Pingtel, and never have looked back.

With electronic ignition, there really isn't much to go wrong (vs. points). Fresh plugs and good battery, some fresh 2-stroke oil in the oil tank, and a little common sense, she should fire up. Once running you want to check that oil is moving through the oil lines. If you reach this point, things should be looking good.

[AnthraxBird]

Hello, and welcome to the forum. From the pictures, she looks like a good starting point, not as derelict as many I've seen revived. Sounds as you have had some experience in this before, so I won't go deep into detail, unless you ask.

The GT500 is a pretty simple bike. To me, the most important system to sort out will be fuel/carburation.

Carbs -- Clean them *REAL* well. From your picture, they will need it. If you don't have one, buy a can of Berryman's to soak them. You will need to completely disassemble, soak, rinse, repeat, to truly clean them up. If at all possible, you should be able to reuse all of the brass (no drills/hard metal when cleaning brass). Stay away from aftermarket kits (Keyster), as most have jets for the older carbs (old uses 150 round main, new uses 97.5 round main), and the needles are wrong, too.

Fuel Tank -- Thirty year old gas gets pretty nasty. You will want to remove any varnish/gunk/rust. I have found that a tank cleaning solutions from marine stores are great for getting the old gunk out.

Petcock -- The Suzuki vacuum petcocks from the 70's have not held up well over time. More people have issues with these not sealing shut than any other issue. Then, in attempts to fix them, they may even leak externally. I myself have blown money on three of them, and never got one to work satisfactory for me. Finally went with a quality Pingtel, and never have looked back.

With electronic ignition, there really isn't much to go wrong (vs. points). Fresh plugs and good battery, some fresh 2-stroke oil in the oil tank, and a little common sense, she should fire up. Once running you want to check that oil is moving through the oil lines. If you reach this point, things should be looking good.

I'm pretty sure from sitting for 30 years, the crank seals are most likely toast. The tank was drained, and has minimal surface rust, so some acid and a distilled water shake down will be in order! I was an automotive tech for a living for years, so i'm pretty mechanical. =) The carbs are already dissasembled, and I will be soaking them in some solvent. On the engine, I might be looking at a tear down to inspect all of the hard parts, replace all gaskets and seals.

[ConnerVT]

If you have just too much extra money and time on your hands, and wish to do the extra work, go for it. Myself, given that it is low miles, and looking (from the photos) in pretty decent shape compared to some of the finds I've seen here, I would first get her running, then go back into the motor for crank and case seals if warranted. Especially if the future of the bike doesn't include thousands of daily rider miles and ridden hard/put away wet usage.

I agree that you never know what condition the crank seals will be after a 30 year sleep. They could be bad now, could fail in a few thousand miles, or last as long as you wish to ride her. My gut feeling is they are probably more solid than you think.