1973 GT250 cafe build

Retro, Wild, Cafe, etc. The stuff only your imagination can come up with.

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jabcb
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1973 GT250 cafe build

Post by jabcb »

My 1973 GT250 had bad crank seals & has moved on to a new owner. Also pulled my 1972 GT550 project bike out of storage.
We are doing cafe builds of both bikes. The GT250 is up first & here are the pics.

1973 GT250 before the crank seals went bad.
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Working on the motor.
Image

Painting the crankcase.
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Test fitting a Hotwing Glass RR1 seat. Will use a 1972 T250 tank painted a nice blue.
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Fun with cutting tools. Removed the center stand brackets, detabbed the frame & made cuts for a future frame loop.
Image
BAS (Bike Acquisition Syndrome) - too many bikes but have room for more

Suzuki:
GT750 2x75
GT550 72 & 75
GT380 72
T500 69 project & 73 project
T350 69 & 71
Honda 85 CB650SC & 86 CB700SC
09 Triumph Bonneville SE
Tom Garcia
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Suzuki 2-Strokes: GT250 x 2, GS1100E
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Re: 1973 GT250 cafe build

Post by Tom Garcia »

Nice... I have the same seat/tail on my GT250 cafe...they're nice...
83 GS1100, 74 H2, 76 GT250 Cafe, and 72 GT250
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jabcb
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Re: 1973 GT250 cafe build

Post by jabcb »

Tom Garcia wrote:Nice... I have the same seat/tail on my GT250 cafe...they're nice...
How did you mount your seat?
BAS (Bike Acquisition Syndrome) - too many bikes but have room for more

Suzuki:
GT750 2x75
GT550 72 & 75
GT380 72
T500 69 project & 73 project
T350 69 & 71
Honda 85 CB650SC & 86 CB700SC
09 Triumph Bonneville SE
Tom Garcia
To the on ramp
Posts: 334
Joined: Sat Jan 10, 2009 2:58 pm
Country: USofA
Suzuki 2-Strokes: GT250 x 2, GS1100E
Location: Parma, Ohio

Re: 1973 GT250 cafe build

Post by Tom Garcia »

jabcb wrote:
Tom Garcia wrote:Nice... I have the same seat/tail on my GT250 cafe...they're nice...
How did you mount your seat?
I have an aluminum pan under the seat hump that holds a sealed battery and the electrics

Image

Where the kick up is under the seat cover, the aluminum pan has two holes (just above the battery). Rubber grommets go in these holes to take up the "play"... I put some bolts through the seat pan with nuts on the back (underside) that form two "pins". To put on the seat, nose is up and the two "pins" are inserted into the two holes on the front of the battery pan...

Image


Once hooked in the rear holes, the nose of the seat is swung down to the frame top tubes. Two more bolts/nuts form pins under the front of the seat cover. These go through two holes in a frame crossmember shown here..

Image

Once on, nuts are screwed on the front "pins" and they hold the seat down. The last pic shows the black foam strip I used on the top frame rails to keep the seat from rubbing... I couldn't find a pic of the seat underside with the pins but I can take on if you want to see that...

Tom
83 GS1100, 74 H2, 76 GT250 Cafe, and 72 GT250
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jabcb
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Re: 1973 GT250 cafe build

Post by jabcb »

I like your aluminum pan. What size battery is that?

We will be using an AGM battery, Tympanium rectifier/regulator & all LED lighting.

We were thinking about using a sheet of black HDPE. The HDPE would be attached to the frame & the seat would be attached to the HDPE.
HDPE is easy to work with & is available in a variety of sizes at Graingers.
BAS (Bike Acquisition Syndrome) - too many bikes but have room for more

Suzuki:
GT750 2x75
GT550 72 & 75
GT380 72
T500 69 project & 73 project
T350 69 & 71
Honda 85 CB650SC & 86 CB700SC
09 Triumph Bonneville SE
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jabcb
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Posts: 4240
Joined: Mon Dec 13, 2010 4:32 pm
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Suzuki 2-Strokes: 69 T350 thru 75 GT750
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Re: 1973 GT250 cafe build

Post by jabcb »

Making some headway with the rebuild.
Image
BAS (Bike Acquisition Syndrome) - too many bikes but have room for more

Suzuki:
GT750 2x75
GT550 72 & 75
GT380 72
T500 69 project & 73 project
T350 69 & 71
Honda 85 CB650SC & 86 CB700SC
09 Triumph Bonneville SE
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jabcb
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Posts: 4240
Joined: Mon Dec 13, 2010 4:32 pm
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Suzuki 2-Strokes: 69 T350 thru 75 GT750
Location: southwestern Pennsylvania

Re: 1973 GT250 cafe build

Post by jabcb »

Found an interesting forum post of a GT250 cafe build in Australia.
http://canberrariders.org.au/forum/inde ... 53/page-15

He made rearset mounts that used two existing frame attachments.
Image
BAS (Bike Acquisition Syndrome) - too many bikes but have room for more

Suzuki:
GT750 2x75
GT550 72 & 75
GT380 72
T500 69 project & 73 project
T350 69 & 71
Honda 85 CB650SC & 86 CB700SC
09 Triumph Bonneville SE
User avatar
jabcb
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Posts: 4240
Joined: Mon Dec 13, 2010 4:32 pm
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Suzuki 2-Strokes: 69 T350 thru 75 GT750
Location: southwestern Pennsylvania

Re: 1973 GT250 cafe build

Post by jabcb »

Making headway slower that I was expecting.

Motor will be all black except for carbs & polished case covers.
Ordered the Higgspeed chambers.
Have the K&N tapered pod filters with rubber end cap. (# R-1070 + the filter wrap)

Stock main jets are 112.5 & we are going up 10 to 122.5
Let me know if you experts think this isn’t enough.

Motor is mostly assembled & we are now polishing the case covers:
Image
BAS (Bike Acquisition Syndrome) - too many bikes but have room for more

Suzuki:
GT750 2x75
GT550 72 & 75
GT380 72
T500 69 project & 73 project
T350 69 & 71
Honda 85 CB650SC & 86 CB700SC
09 Triumph Bonneville SE
sbaugz
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Re: 1973 GT250 cafe build

Post by sbaugz »

jabcb wrote: Ordered the Higgspeed chambers.

Make sure you factor in additional time waiting for those chambers. I was told 6-8 weeks when I ordered them. Waited 13 weeks to finally get them.
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jabcb
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Joined: Mon Dec 13, 2010 4:32 pm
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Re: 1973 GT250 cafe build

Post by jabcb »

Hoping the project will pick up speed soon.

Its just about 8 weeks since we ordered the Higgspeed chambers.
Just ordered rearsets.
The K&N tapered pod filters didn’t work out, so we switched to the angled version.
Got a custom oil tank similar to the one member sbaugz has.
Frame is at the welder shop.
BAS (Bike Acquisition Syndrome) - too many bikes but have room for more

Suzuki:
GT750 2x75
GT550 72 & 75
GT380 72
T500 69 project & 73 project
T350 69 & 71
Honda 85 CB650SC & 86 CB700SC
09 Triumph Bonneville SE
rngdng
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Re: 1973 GT250 cafe build

Post by rngdng »

You would have had Jemcos in about 10 days. Just sayin'.........



Lane
If you stroke it more than twice; you're playing with it.

Too many bikes, too much time, ENOUGH SPACE, FINALLY! Never enough money.........
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jabcb
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Joined: Mon Dec 13, 2010 4:32 pm
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Suzuki 2-Strokes: 69 T350 thru 75 GT750
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Re: 1973 GT250 cafe build

Post by jabcb »

rngdng wrote:You would have had Jemcos in about 10 days. Just sayin'.........



Lane
A few years ago I got Jemco pipes for my GT750 & they did show up fairly quickly.

A forum member looked into Jemcos for the GT250 & was told they were designed more towards racing.
viewtopic.php?f=21&t=9440&p=139488&hili ... co#p139488
BAS (Bike Acquisition Syndrome) - too many bikes but have room for more

Suzuki:
GT750 2x75
GT550 72 & 75
GT380 72
T500 69 project & 73 project
T350 69 & 71
Honda 85 CB650SC & 86 CB700SC
09 Triumph Bonneville SE
User avatar
jabcb
Moto GP
Posts: 4240
Joined: Mon Dec 13, 2010 4:32 pm
Country: USA
Suzuki 2-Strokes: 69 T350 thru 75 GT750
Location: southwestern Pennsylvania

Re: 1973 GT250 cafe build

Post by jabcb »

There be Higgspeeds here. :D
BAS (Bike Acquisition Syndrome) - too many bikes but have room for more

Suzuki:
GT750 2x75
GT550 72 & 75
GT380 72
T500 69 project & 73 project
T350 69 & 71
Honda 85 CB650SC & 86 CB700SC
09 Triumph Bonneville SE
User avatar
jabcb
Moto GP
Posts: 4240
Joined: Mon Dec 13, 2010 4:32 pm
Country: USA
Suzuki 2-Strokes: 69 T350 thru 75 GT750
Location: southwestern Pennsylvania

Re: 1973 GT250 cafe build

Post by jabcb »

Making a bit more headway.

Did a spiffy job at polishing the engine covers & fork lowers. (We cheated & had forum member Sandman do the work.)
A few parts are at the painter.

The T500 rearsets are here — now need to figure out how to adapt them to the GT250.
Once we got that figured out, then the fame + wheels are off to the power coater.
BAS (Bike Acquisition Syndrome) - too many bikes but have room for more

Suzuki:
GT750 2x75
GT550 72 & 75
GT380 72
T500 69 project & 73 project
T350 69 & 71
Honda 85 CB650SC & 86 CB700SC
09 Triumph Bonneville SE
User avatar
jabcb
Moto GP
Posts: 4240
Joined: Mon Dec 13, 2010 4:32 pm
Country: USA
Suzuki 2-Strokes: 69 T350 thru 75 GT750
Location: southwestern Pennsylvania

Re: 1973 GT250 cafe build

Post by jabcb »

Test fit of T500 rearset with trial adapter bracket made out of paper.
Image
BAS (Bike Acquisition Syndrome) - too many bikes but have room for more

Suzuki:
GT750 2x75
GT550 72 & 75
GT380 72
T500 69 project & 73 project
T350 69 & 71
Honda 85 CB650SC & 86 CB700SC
09 Triumph Bonneville SE
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