I've been messing around all day today with a bike a guy GAVE me, 1983 Honda GL650 "Silver Wing" V twin. This bike is all there, and really nice, but it "had a blown up engine". So, I goes out today, and puts the starter motor back in, because I find the engine isn't locked up, and try to start it, and it has no starter motor action. I test the starter, OK, I test the solenoid, didn't work with the button, but I jumped it, engine rumbled to life, sounds NEW, no issues. I go attend to the master cylinder rebuild it, and now it has front brakes.
So, all this afternoon, I have this nagging thought going through my head, corrosion. I have worked on Honda's that have lived near oceans, lakes, water of all kinds, and they ALL had connector issues, from corrosion, lots of it. I clean the terminals for the solenoid to the bike's wiring, and guess what, the starter works mint now, fires the engine right up. It needs a new battery, for me to finish the tune up and service, fork seals, and it will be good to go.
I think I will just ride this disaster, to torture myself for a while. I have heard they get 55-60 mpg. Then, I will try to contact the former owner and offer it back to him for the actual money it took to get it running, and see if he wants his bike back.
This bike also has the Pro-Link rear suspension, dual front disks, and at the rear, changeable travel trunk/seat/cover. It's a really weird bike, but that just makes it all the neater to play with, like any Toadary on the planet. I'd like to find a free giveaway RE5 Mazda pickup, they get rotten gas mileage, but they sure run neat!
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You have to shame a venerable designer name: Giorgetto Giugiaro, the same who also signed the VW "Golf" and many many others cars.CJF wrote:Very nice bike! Does it come stock with the metal flake paint? It's hard to loose with this bike... you not only get a great bike, you also get enough rolladex storage to last you a life time!!??What the heck were the Suzuki designers thinking with the dash and tail light?
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You cant really fault Giugiaro if he designed the funky cylindrical lights and those spheres for the indicators, it was the Suzuki design team who signed it off into production.
Honestly i like it and i could have easily turned it into a 76 if i wanted too, but the 75s are more rare and a conversation piece.
Tuner you mentioned the Silver wing, and i take it thats the CX 650 model engine in that version of bike. From what i know of those they are pretty bullet proof engines so i was amazed when at first you stated the engine was blown up.
But later on you now found out it wasnt,,,,, oh clean it up and lets see some photos of the bike, then put it up for sale.
You should see how much you can get for it on ebay, you will be pleasantly surprised..they have a,,,,,,,following of dedicated admirers...
Honestly i like it and i could have easily turned it into a 76 if i wanted too, but the 75s are more rare and a conversation piece.
Tuner you mentioned the Silver wing, and i take it thats the CX 650 model engine in that version of bike. From what i know of those they are pretty bullet proof engines so i was amazed when at first you stated the engine was blown up.
But later on you now found out it wasnt,,,,, oh clean it up and lets see some photos of the bike, then put it up for sale.
You should see how much you can get for it on ebay, you will be pleasantly surprised..they have a,,,,,,,following of dedicated admirers...
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The metal flake paint on the Toadary is stock, came in the really nice blue seen here, and a really obnoxious orange flake. The bike pictured here is one of the few just plain neat and beautiful RE5's I have ever seen. What a great find. And, it is the 1975 "Star Wars" model to boot!
The PO of the GL took the bile to a place in Gardenerville, a place I get a LOT of work from, because they have NO clue on how to work on engines. They told him the engine was toast, because they couldn't get it to spin over. Now, from yesterday's tickle and whistle, it turns out that the engine wasn't locked, from my taking the plug out of the front of the cases that allows you to turn the engine to set the valve clearances, that Tesla NEVER took out, and physically tried turning the engine over. They found the engine wouldn't spin, because the starter motor wouldn't operate, so, they ripped the starter motor out of its home, did a spin test on it, and found the starter motor was fine. They then "absolutely know that the engine IS locked up".
What it really turned out to be is, Honda, in their wiring nightmare state of mind, doesn't use nice copper connectors, they use aluminumized ones, that corrode. All the feed wires to the solenoid feed into a 4 wire connector that plugs directly to the solenoid. The wire that actuates the solenoid from the start button, was completely corroded and stopped electricity transmission at the solenoid connection. So, in Tesla Racing's demented little minds, they had an engine that wouldn't spin, but a starter motor that did, so it had to be a LOCKED engine, when it was actually a corroded wire connection at the solenoid stopping the solenoid from actuating. I pulled the connector off the solenoid, and saw the corrosion, and did my patented "Corroded Honda wire connector fix".
That is, small Q-tip with muriatic acid, directly on connector terminals, then fulsh with clean water after all the fuming stops, di-electric or silicone waterproof grease, put connector back together, Honda wiring nightmare fixed, for the next ten years or so. When I did that, the starter worked, the solenoid worked, the engine started right up, sounds mint. This thing is mechanically, very nicely maintained.
I agree, the 650 is now a really good engine, their best effort in an 80 degree V-twin, but conversely, the CX500's are so really BAD, it isn't even funny. The first of this year, I had a CX500 here, fully loaded for interstate touring, engine noise like it was trying to leap out of the bike. So, dummy me, I took the bike in for investigation, bike had 51,000 + miles on it, and the owner bought the repair (much to my chagrin), new camshaft, and sub rockers, (and many, many hours wasted fixing it that I could have been doing something constructive, like sleeping, or jumping into pits of live rattlesnakes, other fun stuff). One must understand, the CX is a real kluge of a thing, has push rods for the valves, solid lifters and rocker arms, BUT, the lifters don't follow the cam, there are another set of rocker arms UNDER the lifters, to get the push rod angles correct for the engine design. Earlier versions were a real pile of junk, and they finally got their act together, FINALLY, with the GL650 and 650 Turbo bikes. I used a GL650 cam and sub rockers in that 500, and the parts are very different in their quality. So far, NO issues with that 500.
So far, to fix it, I will put two spark plugs into it (because Tesla kept the old ones out of it), a new battery, and fork seals/rebuild. This GL also has the three part rear seat/luggage box option.
The PO of the GL took the bile to a place in Gardenerville, a place I get a LOT of work from, because they have NO clue on how to work on engines. They told him the engine was toast, because they couldn't get it to spin over. Now, from yesterday's tickle and whistle, it turns out that the engine wasn't locked, from my taking the plug out of the front of the cases that allows you to turn the engine to set the valve clearances, that Tesla NEVER took out, and physically tried turning the engine over. They found the engine wouldn't spin, because the starter motor wouldn't operate, so, they ripped the starter motor out of its home, did a spin test on it, and found the starter motor was fine. They then "absolutely know that the engine IS locked up".
What it really turned out to be is, Honda, in their wiring nightmare state of mind, doesn't use nice copper connectors, they use aluminumized ones, that corrode. All the feed wires to the solenoid feed into a 4 wire connector that plugs directly to the solenoid. The wire that actuates the solenoid from the start button, was completely corroded and stopped electricity transmission at the solenoid connection. So, in Tesla Racing's demented little minds, they had an engine that wouldn't spin, but a starter motor that did, so it had to be a LOCKED engine, when it was actually a corroded wire connection at the solenoid stopping the solenoid from actuating. I pulled the connector off the solenoid, and saw the corrosion, and did my patented "Corroded Honda wire connector fix".
That is, small Q-tip with muriatic acid, directly on connector terminals, then fulsh with clean water after all the fuming stops, di-electric or silicone waterproof grease, put connector back together, Honda wiring nightmare fixed, for the next ten years or so. When I did that, the starter worked, the solenoid worked, the engine started right up, sounds mint. This thing is mechanically, very nicely maintained.
I agree, the 650 is now a really good engine, their best effort in an 80 degree V-twin, but conversely, the CX500's are so really BAD, it isn't even funny. The first of this year, I had a CX500 here, fully loaded for interstate touring, engine noise like it was trying to leap out of the bike. So, dummy me, I took the bike in for investigation, bike had 51,000 + miles on it, and the owner bought the repair (much to my chagrin), new camshaft, and sub rockers, (and many, many hours wasted fixing it that I could have been doing something constructive, like sleeping, or jumping into pits of live rattlesnakes, other fun stuff). One must understand, the CX is a real kluge of a thing, has push rods for the valves, solid lifters and rocker arms, BUT, the lifters don't follow the cam, there are another set of rocker arms UNDER the lifters, to get the push rod angles correct for the engine design. Earlier versions were a real pile of junk, and they finally got their act together, FINALLY, with the GL650 and 650 Turbo bikes. I used a GL650 cam and sub rockers in that 500, and the parts are very different in their quality. So far, NO issues with that 500.
So far, to fix it, I will put two spark plugs into it (because Tesla kept the old ones out of it), a new battery, and fork seals/rebuild. This GL also has the three part rear seat/luggage box option.
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rotor removal and strange noises
My Buffalo is now running (and charging...Yahoo!) thanks to you all but now I notice a rattling noise from around the alternator. It was there when I first started it up after who knows how many years, but with the bike running so well I thought I would look into it. I got the alternator cover off, and the stator off and started it up and the rattle seems maybe a little louder. One of the motor mounts is a little loose and tightening that helped but the sound is still there. I noticed the rotor seems to have a little vibration to it as it's running but can't feel any slack when stopped. Can I take off the rotor and run it without any damage? Also, Do I need to get the special tool to remove the rotor or is there a "cheap man's substitute? I'm beginning to think I may have a going south main bearing (please tell me it ain't so)
Thanks to all
David
Thanks to all
David
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You can make a rotor remover, basically get a long bolt of the same thread pitch about 4 inches in length and lathe or carefully grind off the threads so approximately two inches from the end is plain shaft.
When you screw it in to the rotors threads the plain shaft part will go into and bottom out in the crankend, tightening it further will push the rotor off.
Its best to tighten it a bit and rap the bolts head with a hammer to loosen it up then tighten again and repeat.
Hold the rotor at ALL TIMES since they can suddenly jump off when the bolt is tapped and if youre not paying attention the slip rings can get damaged when it hits the ground.
When you screw it in to the rotors threads the plain shaft part will go into and bottom out in the crankend, tightening it further will push the rotor off.
Its best to tighten it a bit and rap the bolts head with a hammer to loosen it up then tighten again and repeat.
Hold the rotor at ALL TIMES since they can suddenly jump off when the bolt is tapped and if youre not paying attention the slip rings can get damaged when it hits the ground.
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Rear brake cable (T500) - ?Colour
Quick question. I need to get a new rear brake cable for the T500R. What is the correct original colour?
The one I have on there is black. All the other cables are grey so what colour should the rear brake one be grey or black?
Thanks, Mike
The one I have on there is black. All the other cables are grey so what colour should the rear brake one be grey or black?
Thanks, Mike
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Your opinion of Classic Suzuki Parts NL please
Classic Suzuki Parts NL
http://www.suzukitandgtparts.nl/begin_gt.htm
Haven't gotten response to email. Any good experiences with these folks?
Stu
http://www.suzukitandgtparts.nl/begin_gt.htm
Haven't gotten response to email. Any good experiences with these folks?
Stu
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He might be on vacation. i bought a few things from him and he has been very helpful. Actualy I got one item from him a few days ago the package was sent on the 17th so he was around then.
My experience with him is very good, but it might take a few days before he answer an email but he have allways answered me.
My experience with him is very good, but it might take a few days before he answer an email but he have allways answered me.
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Haven't used him for a while but did buy a fair bit from him about 18 months ago (in lots of different transactions). Have always found him very helpful and he always replied. I did find that some of my e-mails did not get through to him from my home account. He replied straight away when I used a different (work) e-mail. I've met Marcel at several show sand he seems a totally upfront, honest and helpful bloke.
Mal
Mal
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Congratulations, it looks very nice. My dad had one exactly like it, same color and everything. I actually got to ride that bike a couple of times.
The Star Trek instrument console (as we used to call it) was trippy. I liked how the green shield would rotate up out of the way when you turned the key on.
Have fun!
Debby
The Star Trek instrument console (as we used to call it) was trippy. I liked how the green shield would rotate up out of the way when you turned the key on.
Have fun!
Debby
