Crossed 'Q' Emblems

Post by **oldjapanesebikes** » Tue Feb 02, 2010 4:03 pm

I just noticed that the Kettle Club in the UK now has available the 'Liquid Cooled' emblems for sale with the bar across the letter Q as per original. The ones that you normally see and can still order from Suzuki are a conventional letter 'Q' and not the crossed ones.

Cost is £9 a pair - about $14.40 in USD - plus shipping. I've ordered two sets for myself

Post by **Suzsmokeyallan** » Tue Feb 09, 2010 9:57 pm

Oh thanks Ian, now you'll need to order another set for yourself

. Darn i was looking for a set of those to put on my 76 since it has the cross Qs on it but they are in poor shape.

pjmcburney · Post by **pjmcburney** » Wed Feb 10, 2010 1:21 am

Suzsmokeyallan wrote:Oh thanks Ian, now you'll need to order another set for yourself . Darn i was looking for a set of those to put on my 76 since it has the cross Qs on it but they are in poor shape.

Hey Allan,

You're a pretty talented guy - how difficult do you reckon it would be to refurbish an original set of emblems?

If you could remove them from the barrels, smooth them back flat and then either chemically or mechanically remove the original paint, surely then it's just a matter of applying some new (appropriate) colour paint and wipe off the excess on the raised letters?

The crossed 'Q' emblems are rare, maybe another service you can offer?

Just a thought
Cheers
Paul

Post by **Suzsmokeyallan** » Wed Feb 10, 2010 7:12 am

Paul I had planned to remove them and restore them, but for a quick fix id prefer to put on some new ones.
As you said, my plan was to remove them for restoration by carefully applying some solvent along the top and allowing it to work down and wake up the adhesive.
Then once they are off and the old adhesive removed, straighten them carefully and apply paint remover to get rid of the old funky paint some PO has applied on them.
Then id spray them over and wipe the face across a piece of nylon stretched onto glass dampened in some solvent.
This will remove only the paint on the raised portions and since nylon does not 'fluff' so you get a clean edge wipe with no lint lines.
You have to remember my trip time in Canada is limited and the bike needs other more important work done on it so id rather bring the old emblems home to fiddle with than spend my spare time restoring them there.

Coyote · Post by **Coyote** » Fri Feb 12, 2010 8:47 am

Good luck with that one Allan. That adhesive used is impervious to everything. At least mine was. I tried alcohol, lacquer thinner, acetone, and naphtha. Might as well been water. I finally got the adhesive soft enough with a powerful heat gun, but there was still no way to prevent destroying them in the process of removal. The problem with most solvents is they evaporate too quickly to do any good.
The removal left gobs of adhesive still on the jugs to deal with. The only thing that came close to getting it all off was coarse scotch-brite and hours of work. I don't know what that stuff is, but user friendly it isn't.

Post by **oldjapanesebikes** » Fri Feb 12, 2010 11:05 am

Coyote wrote:That adhesive used is impervious to everything. At least mine was. I tried alcohol, lacquer thinner, acetone, and naphtha. Might as well been water....... I don't know what that stuff is, but user friendly it isn't.

That matches my own experience

The folks at the UK Kettle club tell me the labels shipped a few days ago so perhaps I'll have them early next week - if they look half decent I'll post a photo here.

Post by **Suzsmokeyallan** » Fri Feb 12, 2010 11:54 am

Well then if its such an issue ill use a narrow exacto knife and carefully peel it from one side as i cut away into the middle of the old adhesive.
Once its off with minimal bending so the embossed parts are not kinked it can be soaked in a bottle of thinners which will swell it up in a few hours, if not maybe atf or paint remover will do it.
Did any of you try paint remover on the cylinder applied by a q-tip to remove the old adhesive there.
They use a 3M adhesive on the modern badges but i think its the heat that was baking the old ones on

rngdng · Post by **rngdng** » Sat Feb 13, 2010 2:16 am

Hmmm, I guess I don't know the difference between the emblems.

I know some had black backgrounds, and the newer ones are blue.....Post some pics, please! I hate to let a detail escape......

Lane

Post by **Suzsmokeyallan** » Sat Feb 13, 2010 7:40 am

Lane the basic difference is that the crossed Q ones have the little tail piece extending inside the circle of the Q while the ones available now only have it hanging down.

rngdng · Post by **rngdng** » Sat Feb 13, 2010 9:35 am

Now I have to look at mine! I know Blueboy got new ones, but I have a couple of stock engines. Thanks, I never noticed.

Lane

Post by **oldjapanesebikes** » Sat Feb 13, 2010 10:59 am

Suzsmokeyallan wrote:Did any of you try paint remover on the cylinder applied by a q-tip to remove the old adhesive there.

Not paint remover per se, but 'Goof Off' which is mostly ethyl benzene and xylene eventually worked, and then I cleaned up what was left with straight acetone.

Post by **oldjapanesebikes** » Thu Feb 18, 2010 1:43 pm

As promised - here is a photo of the Liquid Cooled emblems available from the Kettle Club in the UK. The upper emblem in the photo is what you can buy today directly from Suzuki under part number 68262-31200 for about $9 USD. The part number was never superceded, but the emblem itself differs from original as the ones that came with the bikes had the 'crossed-bar' Q. The middle emblem is an original, and the lower one is the Kettle Club version.

Note I haven't taken off the clear plastic film on the Kettle Club one so it shows a few specks from the flash that are not actually there. The background colour is black, which I believe to be original (I'm sure a couple of folks will jump in if I need to be corrected

) - the new ones from Suzuki are blue/black. They are embossed on a metal plate, with 3M adhesive on the back. I think they look really good, and that they have done a really nice job !

TLRam1 · Post by **TLRam1** » Thu Feb 18, 2010 11:51 pm

I had no idea my 74 has the cross section and I almost said 74 GT750.

TLRam1 · Post by **TLRam1** » Fri Feb 19, 2010 6:18 pm

Was this stock for all years or did it stop at some point?

Post by **Suzsmokeyallan** » Fri Feb 19, 2010 7:29 pm

I'd suspect the crossed Q was made first and used up till 77, then it was updated to the later version in the early 80s. My 76 has on what looks like the original ones, and they are the crossed Q type so its possible the A bikes had on these as original equipment.
To confirm this we would need a person who owned a B model Buffalo bike from new in 77 to confirm what emblems were on it.