GT500 Road Racer Project

[diamondj]

Hey Chris,

Looks good! The plates you show are listed for the GT380 on the Barnett site. They do have a listing there for the T500 but I guess their part number 301-70-10003 is for the older style 18 finger basket rather than the 12 finger basket you are using?

Thanks for the update!

Jim

[CJF]

Time for a nother quick update. I've put the engine back together and put it in the frame along with just about every other part at this point. Here is a pic of it last week. Since then, I installed the chain, brake line and a few other small items.


I decided to rebuild the ignition using new ignitor coils and pulse coil along with all new wiring. The old stuff had brittle wires and the coils were looking their age. I know this may have been a little overkill, but I opted for the rebuild it as opposed to spending $400-$500 on a racing ignition. I posted the before and after pics below. I also removed the lighting coils since I won't have any lights on the bike for now (kept them in case i decide to convert back to street some day).





I also picked up a set of NOS KONI shocks on Ebay. They were made for the BMW r45/r65. I thought the weight of the two bikes would be close enough that the spring rate would be ok, but I was wrong. The spring rate is way to heavy for my bike. I called IKON USA and talked with Dave there...he is a real nice guy and helped me figure out the right spring rate. He worked with the IKON engineers in AUS and I just bought the springs from him yesterday...should have them next week.

I also had to strip and re-buff all the aluminum I buffed and laquered clear before. The laquer ended up starting to bubble on my and looked like hell (can see it on the rear set plates in the pic). I ended up going with Zoop sealer instead to seal it. I'm happy with the results.

The only thing left to do is hook up the oil pump and lines and paint the body work. I'm going to do the paint myself. I painted my CB750 a couple years ago, so I have a little experience and know what I'm getting into. This is going to be a bigger job though, with the fairing and the fact that I'm going to use more than one color. I like to try to do as much of the build as I can....to save $$ and just to learn how to do it for the next build (because there is always the next build )

[CJF]

Just received the paint work back and I think it looks great . I was going to to try painting myself, but quickly realized it may be beyond my abilities. I did some searching and found a painter on the WERA site. He paints in an auto shop for his day job and has been painting bikes as a side job after work. The price was great and I plan to use him in the future. Here are a few pics taken right after he finished. I'm getting ready to mount it to the bike and will share pics after I do.

[oldjapanesebikes]

Nice !

[two-stroke-brit]

[quote="CJF"]Just received the paint work back and I think it looks great . I was going to to try painting myself, but quickly realized it may be beyond my abilities. I did some searching and found a painter on the WERA site. He paints in an auto shop for his day job and has been painting bikes as a side job after work. The price was great and I plan to use him in the future.

do you have a link and location to the painter
thanks mark

[CJF]

Yep, sure do. I attached the thread from the wera site where I found him. Bart has partnered up with Ray the painter. Bart is the one posting all of Ray's work up on the wera site and a few other forums. You can email Bart to tell him what you need and he will give you an estimate.

http://forums.13x.com/showthread.php?t= ... ob&page=17" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[CJF]

Forgot to mention...he lives in Easton PA. It is about an hour north west of Philadelphia.

[rbond]

Just in case you missed it, look for the 'sticky' for a GT500 CDI box. Might help keep your racing a little more economical.

[CJF]

I've got the bike all back together and started her up for the first time this week and did few break in runs. She started on the 4th kick . It sounds great with the jemco racing chambers. A little more bark than the stock exhaust. I'm working on some jetting issues with the carbs and have been through about 10 trial and error sessions. Carb tunning can be a pain in the ass! I'm running rich beyond 1/4 throttle to the point it bogs down throughout the throttle range.

I've purchased 2 larger sizes of jet needles and tried them. I'm now on the largest needle and the top clip position and it has gotten better, so I know I'm going in the right direction. Next, I'm going to try 2 smaller needle jets. Hoping between these smaller jets and the larger needles, I'll lean it out to the right amount and find the magic formula.

I also noticed while doing the initial break in runs that I had spent oil/gas coming out from behind the exhaust flanges. I purchased some copper high temp sealant and put some behind the flanges and reinstalled. I worked great, except for 2 small spots where I didn't apply enough. So, will try again with a little more this time.

Other than that, she is running fine. The suspension mods are feeling pretty good, The setup is a little stiffer than stock, which I think may be good for the track. There is less front end dive when I apply the break hard. I'll have to really put it to the test once I get the jetting issues sorted out.

I'll post some pics soon.

[Suzukidave]

I looked and didnt see what size carbs you are running but the was posted as a good start setup for 34mm carb .... Pilot - 35
Cutaway - 2.5
Main Jet - 260
Needle Jet - 159Q0
Needle - 6DP17 in second groove from top

[CJF]

Thanks Dave...I'm using Mikuni VM34's. I ordered the Q0 needle jets earlier today. I'll try the 6DP17 jet if the ones I have don't work out. The rest of the settings I have are the same as what you have listed. Jim sent me a PM with the same info saying desmocate used this jetting setup on his bike. I know he had some porting done on his, so it may be a little different than what works on mine, but it is probably real close, so it should help me out...appreciate your help.

[CJF]

Jetting is almost there. I tried the Q0 jet needle, but it didn't get me all the way there. So, I tried the P8 and I'm real close now. I could tell because i hit the power band and it thru me back in the seat and gave me a little scare/smile!! I'm going to try the 6DP17 needle once I get the parts later this week.

I could use help wiring up the polaris tach I picked up hoping it would work. It is a 2 pulse tach which I believe is what i need for my bike. The tach has a yellow, black and red wire. The red wire goes to the light bulb which I won't be using. I was hoping I could just wire the yellow to the negative wire on the coil (for a signal) and the black to ground, but it didn't work. I'm not sure where to go next....anybody have an idea?

[tz375]

The polaris tacho uses pulses from the alternator coils. They usually do not have a rectifier and use a simple zener diode to dump surplus power as heat. The alternating current is what the tacho measure. Ty wiring it straight to the alternator coil you have left.

[CJF]

I took the lighting coils off, so all i have now is the primary and secondary coils going to the CDI. Are you saying I should try putting a lighting coil back on and wire the yellow wire up to that for the pulse? Do you think I need a z.diode or rectifier in between or hook it straight up?

[tz375]

It's worth trying. No need for a rectifier - just a regulator to keep the voltage within reason.