Front's GT750B restoration in progress.

[sfront]

Got the carb to airbox boots in today.
Boy what a difference.....I thought my old ones were pliable.



Threw the tank and seat on to get a glimpse.



Sure would be nice to have some chrome..........
Talked to the plater today.............another week
From previous experience I knew I should have sent it out the moment it came off the bike.
You'd think I'd learn.......

[Suzsmokeyallan]

Youre going great guns, I cant work that fast as I've got other things to do that slow me up, who did the tank paint job for you?
FWIW the steering stems are all not uncut, of the four I have, only one was uncut from the factory for the All Balls tapered kit.

[sfront]

Haven't touched the bike for over two weeks now.....
I've gone as far as I can without the remaining parts.
Still waiting on the overdue chrome.
I was hoping to have it complete before Christmas but that doesn't look like its gonna happen.........

[Suzsmokeyallan]

One of the first things I got for my 76 Buffalo when I purchased it was the six boots for the carbs, the back ones were fossilized and barely hanging on the bellmouths and the fronts were hard as bricks.
Its a wise move to buy new ones to put on an old bike, as air leaks can be expensive.

[sfront]

A friend of mine, Pete Poston, paints all my projects.
He has a shop behind his house and painting is all he does.
He does awesome work.
My primary business is onesy, twosy, prototype work but I usually
have one large car project in house for fill in work.
I just finished a 1971 Camaro restoration for a friend of mine.
Pete painted it also.
Here's a sample of his larger scale work....thats him too.


He does some great custom work too. Ghost stripes, etc.

[markj]

Cool!

[two-stroke-brit]

soooo shiney

[sfront]

Christmas came a few days late but.......
I HAVE CHROME!!!!!!!!

The rear fender and tail light installed.



I decided that I really what to put a set of chambers on her but I haven't
seen what I want yet. I'll probably make my own if I can come up with a good
set of numbers for the dimensions.......
I put the stock pipes on for the time being.







Front fender on.....then the rest of the front end.....







Radiator and new hoses on.
Guard and cover too.











No fluids anywhere yet.
Gettin' close!!!!!

[sfront]

Its been a little while since I've got to work on the bike!
When I put the tank on the bike I noticed that the left
stripe didn't follow the body line so I gave it back to my painter.
Ordered another set of stripes.........
It took this long to get it back. Perfect now though!
While I was waiting I did get all the little stuff done.
Brakes bled, coolant filled, oil in the gearbox, etc.
Even got the bars and all set up for me while on the bike.
A couple of pix.





I had originally purchased new side cover emblems from PM but when I received
them the orange in the "GT" was completely wrong. More red, no flake.
And after spending hours trying to get the tank emblems nice with less than acceptable results,
I finally broke down and ordered both side and tank emblems from Repo Decals.
I called them and they assured me that the orange flake was correct.......
Well......the shade of orange is right but there's no flake.
The emblems are not aluminum either....twice as heavy and don't like to bend.



An email to RD asking if these are just flukes has gone unanswered.........
I stopped by my local artist 'Chris Cruz' and picked up some Candy Tangerine and Flake'
I'm gonna try to make the PM emblems right.........we'll see!
If I royal screw it up I'll break down and give them to Chris...........

I should have it on the road this weekend. I'll take video when that happens.

[Suzsmokeyallan]

The emblems that RD sells come from Brian Cutler out of Australia, they are not the polished anodized aluminum Suzuki uses but more like pot metal thats chrome plated.
Why he does this I have no idea, since making them out of aluminum and anodized would be a simpler and cheaper process.
His process makes the emblems heavy and the chrome is brittle when you have to conform them to the covers profile.
The bikes looking great now its finished.

[oldjapanesebikes]

The emblems that RD sells come from Brian Cutler out of Australia, they are not the polished anodized aluminum Suzuki uses but more like pot metal thats chrome plated.

Just to add to Allan's comments - another problem with the older badges using pins is that they do not line up with the holes in the tank properly. The instructions tell you to snap off one pin and glue it on using the other pin as a locator. On the ones with holes that take the small screw, sometimes they fit OK and other times they don't. When I asked Brian about this, I was told it has to do with the shrinkage of whatever these are made from - normally that shrinkage is allowed for in the mould used for the metal casting, but not in this case evidently. Its a shame as otherwise, while they are heavy, they are well made and look great once you have them mounted.

About the red fill in the side cover badges - I haven't updated the Guide yet as I have yet to see an unmolested original. The part number never changed, but I'm told toward the end of the 'B' run some of them were originally red, and of course the ones you can still buy from Suzuki are also red rather than orange flake.

[sfront]

Here's some pix of the different emblems.
Top: Original Tank emblem.
Middle: Suzuki replacement side cover emblem.
Bottom: Original side cover emblem.



Original detail


Suzuki replacement detail


Reproduction Decal detail (the camera makes it look better than it does in person)


The CURE!!! (Hopefully!)


But on a bright note, put some fuel in her and after replacing the gasket on the
petcock bowl to cure a minor leak......she's alive!
Still have to sync the carbs but she sits there and burbles away quite nicely!
Test ride real soon!
Video to come......

[TLRam1]

RD looks pretty bad in regards to color it it really that for off or is that lighting? It does have the metal flake in it.

[sfront]

RD looks pretty bad in regards to color it it really that for off or is that lighting? It does have the metal flake in it.

Just the lighting.
The color is spot on and there is ZERO flake in it.
What you're seeing is the emblem casting under the opaque candy paint.
I guess in lue of flake it was easier to just mold the texture into the emblem.
It shows up okay in the picture but you can't see it with your eye.......
Its raining here today and its supposed to be worse tomorrow.
Maiden voyage will have to wait.
Besides.....the wife has me staining, varnishing, installing a new kitchen door.
I'm just waiting for a coat to dry.......
I hate wood.......its a four letter word!!!!!

[sfront]

Well all the stars aligned, the weather was awesome, and I finally had some time to take the
girl out for her maiden voyage.
Here's a peak.

On to the next project!
(The next two weeks is Daytona Bike Weeks so there's no telling what that might be!)