T500 watercooled heads

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A.Holley
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Suzuki 2-Strokes: T500, 1200 Bandit, 125 Stinger, Triumph R3

T500 watercooled heads

Post by A.Holley »

Has anyone ever tried making/ converting watercooled heads for a T500 ?
It’s an idea that keeps surfacing in my head every now and then.
The rest of it will be easy once the heads themselves are sorted, electric water pump and a suitable radiator.
Any input greatly appreciated.

Andrew
Zunspec4
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Suzuki 2-Strokes: T500R, SV1000S, TS125, Seeley T500
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Re: T500 watercooled heads

Post by Zunspec4 »

A.Holley wrote:Has anyone ever tried making/ converting watercooled heads for a T500 ?
It’s an idea that keeps surfacing in my head every now and then.
The rest of it will be easy once the heads themselves are sorted, electric water pump and a suitable radiator.
Any input greatly appreciated.

Andrew
Hi Andrew,

I have not seen an example of just a water-cooled head, but of course there have been full water cooled conversions such as Hi-Tac back in the day. There is a racing series in the UK using much modified MZ 250's and I believe the faster engines in use have the heads water cooled.

However my race engine only reached a Max of 135C on the CHT when racing at Donington at the weekend so you need to balance the need against the effort required to achieve it. On the other hand it would be real cool (pardon the pun :D ) so go for it :up:

Cheers Geoff
dollydog
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Re: T500 watercooled heads

Post by dollydog »

oddly enough geoff, i was reading about the hi-tac engine the other day. i actually googled for a watercooled 250, but ended up on the t500 page. hey ho, it made for interesting reading :D
cheers, dd.
https://ozebook.com/suzi/2017/09/22/hi-tac-suzuki-500/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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Zunspec4
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Re: T500 watercooled heads

Post by Zunspec4 »

Hi dd,

From what I remember they were snookered by a defective set of Krober ignitions which were giving variable spark timings and melting engines. Reputation tarnished, although once sorted they were v/good. I remember racing against one several times back in the day, smugly my a/c was as fast if not faster than this particular machine. Would probably be reversed over a longer race distance but when it's just 6 - 8 laps in a club race a/c just about copes.

Cheers Geoff
A.Holley
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Re: T500 watercooled heads

Post by A.Holley »

I recently read an article on the Hi TAC 500 in one of the classic mags, I never did like Krobers.

My current head set up is std head, machined 1mm and no head gasket. Never had a problem with leakage or cracking. Also I have only ever used the 4 sleeve nuts and that included 15 years of racing in Post Classic class here in Oz.
My current thought is to machine the std head and somehow attach a water jacket. But this is not a hard and fast plan.
While I am at it, I will centralise the plug position.
Luckily I have access to a lathe, milling machine, Tig welding equipment and a workshop full of other metal fabrication gear.
One of the problems I am considering is head bolts. Do I leave them in the water jacket and put a cover over it once bolted down, or have them extend through the top of water jacket.
Any thoughts appreciated folks.

Andrew
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tz375
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Re: T500 watercooled heads

Post by tz375 »

I'd be tempted to start from scratch with a block of billet and machine it from the bottom ( so to speak) to take inserts (aka domes). That way you get a stiff head shell and whatever shape and compression ratio combustion chambers.

Machine some vestigial fins into the outside to make them less obvious and then sand blast the outer surface so they look more "original" to avoid problems with eligibility checks if you ride P4.
A.Holley
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Suzuki 2-Strokes: T500, 1200 Bandit, 125 Stinger, Triumph R3

Re: T500 watercooled heads

Post by A.Holley »

Have decided to try converting original heads, main reason being, I literally have a bucket full of them. I am a great believer in using what you have on hand.
My first step will be to centralise the plug holes.
Has anyone done this? Any pitfalls ?
Is it a good idea to build up the area so that a 3/4 reach plug can be used?
Also, is it best to just thread the aluminium , or use a thread insert?

Andrew
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