Suzuki T500 Restoration/Cafe Project

[Alan H]

Be wary of pod filters on a road bike. The standard air box is much better.

[celt_rock]

Any luck locating a seat celt?

Not yet. I want to find at least a seat pan to put on this, I can always re-cover.
I had been thinking of getting a cafe seat from you but I just can't bring myself
to cut off the mounting tabs. I want whatever I do to be relatively easy to undo.
My search continues!

[celt_rock]

Be wary of pod filters on a road bike. The standard air box is much better.

Do tell? I've been wondering the benefits/limitations. I really don't know much about it. Pods seem
easy as my bike didn't come with the original airbox. I might have to start looking for one...

[Suzukidave]

I saw a post here on Sundial that he put spacer tubes between the carbs and the filters to contain the "fog" he played with different length spacer tubes to tune , on the same idea as the Y filter intakes they came up with for the Yamaha 350's that had similar problems .

[celt_rock]

I saw a post here on Sundial that he put spacer tubes between the carbs and the filters to contain the "fog" he played with different length spacer tubes to tune , on the same idea as the Y filter intakes they came up with for the Yamaha 350's that had similar problems .

Whoa... new avatar, didn't recognize you!

Now as far as what you just posted.... ?? what ?? Pretend I'm an infant

[Suzukidave]

I tried to find the old post but i think it was lost in the change over , but if i remember correctly the poster had experimented with putting a tube between the carb inlet and the filter as a spacer . I wish i could remember the length he came up with that dialed it in but i dont but a 2 1/2" spacer comes to mind but it was so long ago

[celt_rock]

what does the spacer do?

[Suzukidave]

The idea was to replace the air box effect with the spacer tubes to contain the fog that spits back out out the carbs between strokes that is messed up with the filters attached directly to the mouth of the carbs .

[Alan H]

Manufacturers tend to know what they're doing - usually.
Not many pod filters standard.

[titan performance]

Back to the seat celt, you can fit our cafe unit without cutting anything off.........you need to remove the front seat mount spindle, and knock down flat the triangular lugs that hold it, with a hammer. They can be bent back up again if needs be.

My 2 cents on pods......I am no expert, but we have fitted pods to lots of bikes, and had no issues at all. My own T500 cafe has open carbs, no filtering whatsoever, but I shall be using pods on my current build.

[celt_rock]

Back to the seat celt, you can fit our cafe unit without cutting anything off.........you need to remove the front seat mount spindle, and knock down flat the triangular lugs that hold it, with a hammer. They can be bent back up again if needs be.

My 2 cents on pods......I am no expert, but we have fitted pods to lots of bikes, and had no issues at all. My own T500 cafe has open carbs, no filtering whatsoever, but I shall be using pods on my current build.

Do you use a spacer with pods? I'd like to see a picture of that setup. I've read somewhere that the K/N pods don't work as well on these bikes as the UNI pods.

As far as a seat goes, I'm talking to someone right now about getting one, not too bad, $50 plus shipping. If that doesn't flow
I suppose I could look into the cafe seat. I hate to bend those tabs though, it'll crack my powder-coating! Since I don't actually have the mount spindle though that'll create another issue and another part to track down.

You just don't realize how incomplete a "mostly complete" bike is until you start trying to track down the missing parts and find out
how much they cost!

[titan performance]

Too true about the missing little parts........we stripped my bike down and put it all into boxes a couple of years back, and are just starting to build it back up. So many small items seem to have gone missing unexplainably. Paul Miller has proven to be a very useful on-line resource for a lot of these minor items.
I understand your reluctance to knock the frame about now it is coated.....good luck with your seat.

On the pods......we have never used any spacer. Simply bolted the pods to the carb as intended.

[Coyote]

I am using plain old el cheapo pods on my GT550 and have no issues. I tried some all foam Uni's and there was no difference at all. Just remember if you go this route that the filters need to be oiled to do their job correctly. Not dripping wet, just a light film. If you get too much, the filters will act as a choke. I use K&N filter oil in a spray can. Easy to just mist some on. No spacers.

[celt_rock]

Man that is a nice ride...

So I'm planning on using the stock pipes, would you still recommend pods in that case?
What would I have to do to my carburetors?

[titan performance]

It's difficult to be precise with recommendations, as I think different pods flow different volumes of air....so trial and error will probably be the way forward. I feel sure that pods will increase the volume of air compared to the stock airbox, so you will need a larger main jet. I would start at 105, and see how it runs. Perform a proper plug chop and adjust from there. I doubt you would need to adjust the pilot jet with the addition of pods alone.