1972 GT550 cafe build - new topic

[GTandcbr]

Yes apparently rods were perfect but when he said pins were suspect i told him to change them. Too risky!

[jabcb]

Wheel candy.
cafe-GT550-0758 by jabcb, on Flickr

[jabcb]

Starting to get back to work on this project.
Have the rebuilt crank & cylinders. The painter should be done soon.

Did a rather spiffy job with the motor covers. (We cheated & had forum member Sandman do the work.)
cafe-GT550-8914 by jabcb, on Flickr
cafe-GT550-8918 by jabcb, on Flickr
cafe-GT550-8920 by jabcb, on Flickr

[sportston]

Fine-brushed then clear-coated?
Looks very nice. Kinda wishing I'd gone that route myself. Might have saved me a lot of hassle trying to polish the darn things myself!

[jabcb]

My skill level is really limited in lots of areas, so I farm out quite a bit of work.

I’m not really sure what all was involved in producing that spiffy result. Sandman has vapor blasting equipment that he uses.
We discussed the level of polishing I wanted prior to starting the project. The finish you see is what I picked.

[jabcb]

Next batch of parts done. The drum & sprocket carrier are for the T500 cafe build.
The ram air covers are just polished — am undecided on either sticking with natural or clear coating the covers.
cafe-GT550-9045 by jabcb, on Flickr

[Alan H]

Silver metallic looks nice. I had the wheels powder coated on the 550 and the GSX1400, but rattle can looks good too.

[jabcb]

Silver metallic looks nice. I had the wheels powder coated on the 550 and the GSX1400, but rattle can looks good too.

Interesting thought.

The frame is powder coated bengal silver. The body set will be color matched to aztec gold. The exhaust will be Jemco nickel plated.

The sprocket carrier is powder coated silver. That’s similar to the current look of the ram air covers, but the silver powder coat would knock off the sheen.

But how would the silver powder coat stand up to the heat on the ram air cover?

[Alan H]

Powder coat is baked on and the ram air doesn't get that hot.

[jabcb]

Powder coat is baked on and the ram air doesn't get that hot.

I don’t know what Suzuki was thinking.
The early ram air covers have cooling fins & the cylinder head has a surprisingly skimpy amount of cooling fin surface area.
The later ram air covers have no cooling fins & the cylinder head has a lot more cooling fin surface area.

[jabcb]

The body set turned out nicely!
cafe-GT550-0826 by jabcb, on Flickr

[Alan H]

Mine are slightly different.
Standard - ish, with extra metalflake bling.......
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=12751" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
It's coming on steadily - while keeping the other Suzukis - 550, 750, 1400 and me running...
Look through my older posts - search for Earwig, Yeti and Hippo.

[jabcb]

The color of my parts is closer to yours than the pics suggest. The ruled mat that is under the parts is a lot greener than shown in the pics. Some of the color shift might be from the lampshade.

My 71 T350 is aztec gold. The sidecovers on that bike are prone to crack so I got some NOS spares. The colors are surprisingly different. My painter explained it as being due to the two layer paint. The final color varies based on the application of the second layer.

[jabcb]

Back to working on this build. Hopefully my mechanic/friend will have the motor done soon.
cafe-GT550-0827 by jabcb, on Flickr

[jabcb]

Little peek of the Jemco candy that arrived today.
cafe-GT550-0887 by jabcb, on Flickr