GT550 / 380 Plug Boot I.D.

Coyote · Post by **Coyote** » Tue Nov 24, 2009 8:19 am

A few years ago I bought a spare coil pack off fleabay. These nifty boots were on there. They weren't cleaned up in the first pic but after a good washing and some armor-all they look like new (pic2).
I no longer own these as I sent them to board member advant 63 in Canada. I'm sure he is curious too.
I have no part number and of course they are no longer available. Not even the simple rubber trim rings are available any more. I think these were the originals and were found on the earliest triples with ram air shrouds-- but I am not certain. ---------------------------- Dave?

advant63 · Post by **advant63** » Tue Nov 24, 2009 12:42 pm

you should rename your garage "coyote's unobtainium emporium"
a fair trade for extinct nos light switch parts.
thanks again chris.
dennis

TLRam1 · Post by **TLRam1** » Tue Nov 24, 2009 5:23 pm

Chris I thought I could still get these for my 380, haven't tried though. On second thought, maybe I am just talking about the rings similar to these.

H2RICK · Post by **H2RICK** » Wed Nov 25, 2009 1:06 pm

Yes, Coyote, those were the original boots on the 550 and 380 right from the beginning, but.....they were found to allow spark grounding when they got wet, sooooo.....
Beginning in March, 1975 the system was changed over so that the plug cap now used the short boot (still current today on many NGK replacement caps) and a slotted rubber ring that installed onto the Ram Air shroud
hole.
This change was made as of the following frame numbers:
GT380 --- 36035
GT550 --- 60143

Now this is according to a service bulletin issued by Suzuki Canada dated August 22, 1975 but I believe those frame numbers shown above are in error because they do NOT agree with the beginning frame numbers for the M models listed in the big data sheet in Suzuki Service Publications #3.
As well, the 380 numbers should be waaaayyyyyy ahead of the 550 numbers.
However, even if you reverse the above numbers, they still don't correspond with the beginning frame numbers in the Service Publications #3.
We'll probably never know the exact truth but at the end of it all the build date is probably as good an indicator as anything. If your 380 or 550 was made during or after 03/75 it probably came with the new style cap setup.

UPDATE: As usual Suzuki Canada screwed things up......

The serial number for the 380 listed above should read:

GT380 ---- 86305

Now THAT makes more sense......without the dyslexia and misread numbers. The correction is as per US Suzuki S/B #GT27.