A T200 named Tavia

[Dave West]

This is the story of Tavia... which is supposedly of Scottish origin and means "twin".

(I also post photos to my FB page)

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The day she came home with me...

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Here she is posing with her new sister Tulia... a 2016 TU250.

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The beginning of her transformation...

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Freeing her seized right side piston...

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[Dave West]

The backside of Tavia's engine. Years of crud...

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Yuck...

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Beginning to see an engine underneath the gunk...

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[sportston]

Wow, there were oil lines under all that dirt! I bet that was stuck like glue after all those years

[Dave West]

I hit it with brake cleaner to soften it then used a few popsicle sticks to scrape it off. Still have a have a lot of cleaning to do once I get it completely torn down.

[sportston]

Lolly sticks! Lol. Very good bit of ingenuity. I like it!

[Dave West]

Spent a bit of time tinkering with Tavia's engine today. After pulling off the oil lines and removing the clutch cover, the first thing I noticed was the clutch basket was missing an ear. Is this something that needs replacing or can it get a pass for reuse as is?

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[rngdng]

That should be replaced. I would start looking if I were you. Good luck with the build. My best friend in high school had a T200. Great little bike.


Lane

[Dave West]

Appreciate the advice. Finding one to replace it may be like looking for a needle in a haystack. Good thing I have other bikes to love on as well.

[Dave West]

I lucked out today. Found a NOS part (21200-10000 as per my Suzuki T200/TC200 parts catalogue) on ebay this morning for $125... BIG OUCH! But what can you do when it was the only one listed in a worldwide search on ebay. My luck one will come available tomorrow for half the price I paid.

[Dave West]

Slowly plugging along with this project as time allows...

The NOS clutch basket arrived today.

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[sportston]

Looks good!

[Dave West]

Spent a little bit of time working on Tavia this weekend. Pressed on with cleaning the lower cases of the years of built up crud.

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Removed the pistons from the con rods later this evening. The seized left piston's wrist pin was extremely tight but it gradually pulled out with copious amounts of lube oil sprayed in the pin ends. Left side piston pulled out without much effort. My homemade puller is a foot long length of 1/4" threaded rod, two nuts and an assortment of sockets.

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[sportston]

That is looking a lot better than it did before!
What is the next major outlay? Over-sized pistons and a rebore?

[Dave West]

That is looking a lot better than it did before!
What is the next major outlay? Over-sized pistons and a rebore?

Next phase is to split the cases and see what kind of damage may have occurred as a result of the small stone that was inside which came out when I drained the oil. Since the stone lacks any visible damage I'm hopeful nothing inside was damaged as a result. Weird that it was in there.

The cylinders look to be in decent shape. I'll likely take them to my local shop and get their opinion. If I can go back with stock size pistons and a light honing then that would be ideal.

Since I'm not doing a purist restoration, a set of GT250 forks, triple trees and disc equipped front wheel came in last week that will be swapped onto the front end. There just aren't any T200 forks to be found anywhere whereas T/GT250 stuff is abundant in comparison.

I'm still debating whether I'll keep the tank that came with the bike. I found a GT250 tank that I like the shape and profile of that may find it's way onto the bike.

In spite of my plans for the bike... it's going to be regulated to back burner status as cooler weather approaches and I'll be spending more time in my bike shed. I have my '80 GS450E nostalgia project that I want to get started on (my first bike was this model back in the day when I was sixteen years old) as well as my '83 GR650 Tempter cafe conversion with the hopes of having both of those going by next spring.

Then there is my '79 GS750 project, my half completed '80 GN400 project and the T250 restoration that I just picked up last week. My GS500E project may be getting sold to a coworker which will give me more time for all the other bikes. And of course, I still have some good riding weather coming along and my little TU250 is begging to get out.

[dollydog]

hi dave, i think you'll find the gt250 fork yokes won't fit. i'm sure the stem is shorter on the 't' models than the gt, so you'll need to address that you might be better off with a gt185 front end for the length.
cheers, dd.