But for a 530 link!

jbswear · Post by **jbswear** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 6:02 pm

Hey guys, haven't been on much in half a year...

Then again, I haven't worked on the bike since, oh, um, September!

Anyway, my best friend challenged me the other day, telling me that I'd never get the bike running by June (our National SV Rally is then).

So, I spent six hours yesterday putting the dang thing back together.

The only thing that kept me from firing it up was the fact that the chain I bought didn't come with a master link. So, on line I go to order one.

It's in my garage, and I had already laced the chain in and reinstalled the clutch plate and cover, so I couldn't wheel it out. Hopefully this weekend!

The original brake master cylinder was shot all to hell, so I ordered a master cylinder/front brake set up off an '81 GS550 from a seller on eBay, in the hopes that it would mount up. Seems to be a perfect fit!

Flushed it and filled it, and it seems that I have a front brake again.

The turn sigs are all shot to hell, too, so I ordered a set from another eBay lister and should get them soon.

Anybody remember me saying that my gas tank (with NEW petcock!!!) was stolen? Well, to replace it, I ordered what was advertised as a GT380 tank from yet another eBay seller, but found out that it wasn't...It's bigger. I dunno what bike it came from, but it looks like one of the GT series.

Anyway, its petcock was shot, and I didn't want to buy a new one for it, so I performed a temp fix...Welded a sheet of plate over the petcock mounting point, drilled and tapped it, and epoxied in a brass bung. I put a valve in line and a fuel filter. It's a bit ghetto for now, but it'll work in the interim.

BUT, it's too big, remember? The space between the front mounting points is wider than the GT's. So I cut off the mounting bracket from the frame, drilled it out with a 7/16" bit, and had a friend make a new mounting bracket to hold the bigger tank.

Note that the tank doesn't sit flat. I need to hammer in the bottom near the rear with a ball peen hammer so it'll sit flat. I'll do that before I paint it.

Here's the new caliper:

It isn't insured or tagged yet, but I'm hoping to tool around my neighborhood this weekend to make sure it all works!

smokie · Post by **smokie** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 6:12 pm

I believe you have a honda tank.

jbswear · Post by **jbswear** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 6:14 pm

smokie wrote:I believe you have a honda tank.

No, it's a Suzuki tank. I pulled the left badge off because it was hanging off.

Dunno if I'm gonna put it back on or just fill in the mounting point with filler and paint over it.

smokie · Post by **smokie** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 6:22 pm

My bad, at that angle it kind of looked like an early cb tank.

TLRam1 · Post by **TLRam1** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 7:38 pm

I might have a 380 tank you could of had for shipping, still can if I have it.

jbswear · Post by **jbswear** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 7:46 pm

TLRam1 wrote:I might have a 380 tank you could of had for shipping, still can if I have it.

Thanks, man, but since I've cut off the original mounting points, I'm gonna stick with this one.

I'm not worried about making it look stock. I actually prefer the additional fuel capacity of this tank.

The only people that will notice or care that it isn't the original tank (or that much of it won't be original by the time I'm done) are all the old farts here!

Triplerocky · Post by **Triplerocky** » Tue Feb 24, 2009 1:35 am

jbswear wrote:I'm not worried about making it look stock. I actually prefer the additional fuel capacity of this tank.

The only people that will notice or care that it isn't the original tank (or that much of it won't be original by the time I'm done) are all the old farts here!

I like that "copper shade" chrome, too.

jbswear · Post by **jbswear** » Tue Feb 24, 2009 6:52 am

Triplerocky wrote: I like that "copper shade" chrome, too.

Pretty nasty, ain't it? The prior owner (the original) left it sitting for 29 years before I bought it.

H2RICK · Post by **H2RICK** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 12:33 pm

The only people that will notice or care that it isn't the original tank (or that much of it won't be original by the time I'm done) are all the old farts here!

This old fart doesn't care !!! The stock 380/550 tank is only marginal on the 380 (good for ~120 miles until reserve) and a not-so-funny joke on the 550 (good for ~80-90 miles until reserve). Heck my H2 will almost do that kind of mileage!!!
I wish that I could find a tank with another 5 litres or so for my 550. As it is, I can only dream of long highway trips. There are MANY places in Canada where you can easily go 75-100 miles with NO gas stations.....or anything else for that matter.

Post by **Suzsmokeyallan** » Thu Feb 26, 2009 8:06 am

Well i better not go with you on those rides Rick, the Buffalo is getting about 100 miles on main so lets make sure i can siphon off some of your go-juice with a hose if need be.

jbswear · Post by **jbswear** » Thu Feb 26, 2009 8:24 am

H2RICK wrote:
The only people that will notice or care that it isn't the original tank (or that much of it won't be original by the time I'm done) are all the old farts here!
This old fart doesn't care !!! The stock 380/550 tank is only marginal on the 380 (good for ~120 miles until reserve) and a not-so-funny joke on the 550 (good for ~80-90 miles until reserve). Heck my H2 will almost do that kind of mileage!!!
I wish that I could find a tank with another 5 litres or so for my 550. As it is, I can only dream of long highway trips. There are MANY places in Canada where you can easily go 75-100 miles with NO gas stations.....or anything else for that matter.

I'm looking forward to filling the tank to see how much capacity it actually has, because for now, I have no clue; I only know that it's bigger (by a good margin) than the 380 tank.