GT500, Work has begun, Problems have been encountered!

[22Garnet22]

So my first bike, 1977 GT500. Awesome.
For those of you who haven't seen my first thread I grabbed the bike for $700 but it wasn't firing out of the right cylinder.

Work began yesterday at 17 00 hours.

After my dad and I wrenched on it for a bit and kind of just explored the bike with the aid of the manual (Thanks again to Jim aka diamondJ), we found that the fuel petcock wasn't working properly and took it apart. Lo and behold, no filters and no spring to push the diaphragm back in place. So we fixed that and moved onto the carbs. The carbs took a bit to take apart because my dad had to teach me everything step by step but we also found a bunch wrong with those. The throttle valve adjusters and the pilot air screws were either completely tightened or pretty damn close. Both the jet needle clips were also clipped at the 4th from top. So we are going to fix all that when we put the carbs back together and we soaked them all in Berryman's carb cleaner. The float needles are also a bit faulty so we're going to try to either fix those or replace them.
@tz375 we kicked the bike over and used a siphoning tool and it does not appear to have fuel in the crankcase. There's also no drain plugs on my bike like Jim thought.

Anyways, we're going to keep banging at the bike the next few days (hope to put in some good time on the weekend).
Some things that we found that I will need include: Air filter elements, battery box clamp, gasket kit, head & base gaskets and float bowl gaskets. The air filter elements are pretty necessary but I don't think the others are very urgent. If anyone knows a way to obtain these easily or MacGyver any of these let me know.

The other big problem is that the previous owner used a Kreem tank liner. It appears to have had some bad effects on the tank and is just peeling off into the tank and because of the lack of filters it got into the fuel going through the bike. Because of the small hole in the top of the tank, we're finding it excessively difficult to get the liner out. Anyone got any ideas? Maybe fill the tank with something to chemically remove it? Just thought I'd put it out there.

Thanks everyone, I hope I'm not boring you.
Garnet

[cyclebuster]

and now you know why i will not buy a lined tank, or use that stuff

[Suzsmokeyallan]

Apparently a mixture of 10 % Ethyl Methyl Keytone ( MEK) and 90% Xylene Will dissolve the kreem liner but you need to test this on a small part first.
Hardware stores that sell paint and paint products should have these chemicals and use extreme care while handling,,,DO NOT,,, have any flames, cigarettes and such like even near these chemicals.
Check with your local Suzuki dealer first for parts and ebay as well., there are also many other places members buy from who can supply those links in further posts to this reply.

[two-stroke-brit]

I got this do strip out the cream and redo it,

havent used it in anger yet but have heard good reports.
it was about $45.

[kettle738]

I had exactly the same problem with my GT750J tank, peeling and flaking cream coloured liner. I found this here in the UK

http://www.tankcareproducts.co.uk/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Scroll down to near the bottom of the page where you will find 'Petseal remover' it comes in a very small tin just 250cc which I was very sceptical about, but apparently it's the fumes that do the work.

I blocked the gas cap with a cork brewers bung so it didn't affect the rubber seal and poured it in; next morning the liner was all broken up into pieces.

You get pretty good with the long nosed pliers dragging lumps out and because of the filler neck there is no other way to get the last bits out than laying on your back shaking the tank until they come out of the hole...it took me about four hours to be happy it was empty.

The most annoying thing was, the tank never needed a liner, there is nothing wrong with it and it doesn't leak. The liner remover worked as advertised, but it's still not easy to to get it all out.

Think carefully before putting one of these liner solutions in your tank.

Mick.............kettle738

[Coyote]

Done properly, Kreem should last the life of the motorcycle. I have never used it. I use POR-15. I have done this 3 times now. The key here is to not rush the job. It take a good week and a half to do it right. Once the tank has been flushed repeatedly, you MUST get it TOTALLY dry before proceeding. I do this with a heat gun shoved into the filler neck (petcock removed) and run it for several days. Once I am sure that it is dry, I run it for a couple of days more for good measure. I do this because ANY moisture left in the tank seams will spoil the job. Then the liner is used and the excess drained out. Then it air drys for a couple of days. Then it gets the heat gun treatment again. The longer you postpone putting fuel in the tank the better.
Done this 3 times now and the tanks are perfect and will NEVER rust. Kreem should do the same if done properly. I use POR-15 because it is more chemically impervious.
So one of two things happened. Either the job was not done right or the old Kreem was attacked by the ethanol in today's fuel.

[rbond]

I have a '76 GT500, lots of work, yet still a simple bike. Ignition- get an ohm meter and check the spark plug coil. Since it does fire the left, most likely problem is the right cap or lead into the coil is bad. Get a replacement from Dyna-S. Get one with the same resistance's for input and output with a dual lead output. Cheaper than stock, get a couple of non- resistor wires and caps at an auto parts house, again cheap and it will plug in properly. I have a home built CDI box on this website in case yours dies, you have to get it built, parts costs are about $20.00 as opposed to nearly $300 for OEM. If you can manage it now, replace the rubber carb connectors, cylinder to carb, and carb to airbox. These shrink with age and causes air leaks, trust me, been there, done that..... My two cents worth, run a full synthetic 2 stroke oil in the injector tank, it does make a difference on how it runs. I have run one set of spark plugs for 10,000 miles with no fouling and still had good electrodes when I changed them, still have them for spares. Good luck, it will be worth it the long run.

[22Garnet22]

Alright so I am now in a holding pattern working on the tank. As for my ignition problem, after working on the carbs we think that's what it was. Everything was set improperly and was not horribly dirty but they are now clean as a whistle. We also lucked out and caught a couple other problems.

To get my bike running (hopefully) we need to finish cleaning the tank out then line it properly and get air filter things.

With the tank, we've set up an electrolysis with just a piece of re-bar as the sacrificial anode (Finally my chem class is coming in handy...shoulda listened more closely though). I am appalled by the crap that we're pulling out. This is legit an awesome procedure, I'll probably put up pics of it and if anyone wants the method we're using. Once we pull out everything we can we're gonna try to get it clean enough to line with a two part epoxy that my dad used on a couple of his tanks including his triple.

The air filter also needs to be worked on but really I just need the air filter...matrix? or whatever it's called. My dad was talking about using a closed cell foam or something. Any thoughts or ideas?

Anyways, if we can get those two things in order, we're thinking the bike might start.
Also I'll try to upload some pics asap.

Cheers!
Garnet

Edit:
@rbond
We've already taken a look at the spark plugs and all that jazz. That was all in the first thread if you wanna check it out but they seem to be in working order so we went in deeper (unfortunately).

[rbond]

Go to Dennis kirk and get some uni-filter material. It comes in a large 'sheet', many colors. Cut it in to two strips the same length as the originals and use a silicone based 'glue' to join the ends together. After 24 hours you should be able to oil them up and install them on the filter frame and your done. Also if you want you can still get OEM filters from Suzuki.