1972 Suzuki T500J, an introduction and a couple of questions

[SaltyTitan]

Hello!

As a new member of the forum I would like to say hi and introduce myself. My name is Andy and I live on Saltspring Island, British Columbia, an island just off the south-eastern coast of Vancouver Island. I have been riding bikes since I was 16; since semi-retiring I seem to have somehow accumulated a collection of motorcycles, all of which are special to me.

I always wanted a Suzuki two stroke, ever since lusting after a gold GT250 as an impoverished youth in the UK. A few weeks ago, a 1972 Suzuki Titan 500J with less than 14,000 miles on the clock was offered to me. The previous owner had purchased the bike as a runner and decided to do a ground-up restoration.

He did a really nice paint job on tank, oil tank and side cover and chose the pearlescent orange and white combination, which looks very sharp. Sadly, before serious reassembly could start, he passes away and the project sat in boxes in his garage for about three years. His son told me about the bike and I decided to take a look. The frame and all the brackets were powder coated and the engine cases solvent cleaned, there are no broken cylinder fins and internally everything in the engine looks in nice shape. The chrome, rims, pipes, seat, switches and instruments are all fine and cleaned up beautifully, he even has the original owner’s manual.

I could not say no and brought all the pieces home in the back of my half-ton.

Over Christmas I assembled the frame and have now started putting the engine together. It has gone well so far, and found the exploded diagrams and parts book have been really helpful.

I do have a couple of questions that I hope a forum member can answer. The first concerns the wiring. I have installed the wiring; however, I don't have any idea as to how the area by the oil tank should look, with regard to how the voltage regulator/flasher unit/etc. is secured to the frame. Could someone snap me a couple of photos of this area showing how these electrical items are installed? I suspect I may be missing some kind of bracket.

The second question concerns the engine. The parts book talks about an oil deflector plate 24829-15000 which obviously sits inside the crankcase, but I cannot see where it fits. Can anyone tell me how/where it should be installed? Once I have this plate installed I can go ahead and button up the engine.

Many thanks’ folks, I made the crank case oil dam upgrade but if there are any other modifications that I should consider please feel free to chime in with any suggestions.

Finally, if there are any BC-based Suzuki T500 owners out there that would like to get in touch, it would be great to connect.

All the best

Andy

[jabcb]

Some pics are here: https://www.oldjapanesebikes.com/1968_T500/page-2

There are two little posts on the crankcase bottom. The part slides onto those.
One is shown here:


The part has tangs near the top that slot into the crankcase. It’s held in place when you assemble the crankcase.
Pic with part installed:
cafe-T500-2033 by jabcb, on Flickr

[SaltyTitan]

Hi Jabcb

Thank you very much for the prompt reply; that answers my question. I can go ahead and close up the cases today.

Much appreciated!

Andy

[Alan H]

Welcome in Andy - nice intro and plenty of knowledge on the 500 twins here.
The T/GT 500 is a nice bike and 'fairly' simple to work on. There's lots of help on the OJB website - https://www.oldjapanesebikes.com/ , and parts here - https://alpha-sports.com/suzuki_parts.htm - just choose year, model, then area of interest (frame, wheels etc.)

[SaltyTitan]

Thank you Alan, I much appreciate the links

Andy