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[Admin]

Evening all,

Well, today I received a call from an editor of a UK classic bike magazine who wants to do an article on the T500. Going straight to panic mode I now have to get serious about getting it to run OK.

Stand by for pleas on carburetion help

Cheers Zunspec

[Admin]

What do you need help with? Just ask away.....carbs are not usually problematic as long as they are clean and not gumbed up with residual waxation. The factory advice on the equalisation of the float level setting is vital to smooth operation and is relatively a simple task. The ony problems I encountered was with sticking float needle valves,but I cured that by running the engine thoroughly at the end of the season adding fuel stabiliser to the petrol and also using the aerosol spray, bore- preserver that I also use on my Mercury outboard motor.

[Admin]

Hi Bob,

First of all I am going to strip and re-clean the carbs and this time measure ans set the float hights etc. Then recheck the points gaps and static timing, basically re-doing the basics

At the moment the bike runs OK from low revs but bogs down at about 4000 and is reluctant to rev out freely. If the above does not succeed I shall come looking for help, of which this forun is so hansomely blessed

If the bike makes it to the magazine I don't want to let the Suzuki T500 side down

Cheers Zunspec

[Admin]

Sounds more like either an intake air problem or you need a fresh set of plugs..the correct ones as there is some debate.......also you could have a timing problem with the throttle slides which is easily remedied. Try running it open choke,air filter disconnected. If there is any significant spitting back you may then need to spend a good while getting the ignition timing spot on....SuzukiDave can royally help you with an easy method of achieving that!

[Admin]

I thought id share a bit of emblem resto work i was doing, naturally its part of many things going on so they are not completed yet.
We all know these OEM metal flake GT emblems are long gone now, but you can refurbish used scratched ones to bring new life back to them.
First off, you need to find some that have the original metal flake paint in really decent condition, then you need to straighten them out as flat as possible.
This step is important because you are going to sand on their faces, yup thats right sanding on them, first by using some #240 wet paper on a sheet of glass.
In the first pic this is how the scratched emblems usually look, and on this ebay sourced example, two small spots are missing on the metal flake paint but these little sections can easily be fixed.
Once you have the raised faces all flat and sanded level, the new satin 'finish' will show up as how it looks in the second pic.
From this part of the process you then move onto ever finer grades of wet sand paper until you are up to #2000 grade.
You'll then need to polish up the sanded areas so they shine as the original ones did which were actually anodized. A fine cotton cloth such as an old T shirt stretched onto a piece of glass and applying aluminum polish or similiar, should get the shine coming out in no time on the sanded sections.
Once its looking as intended, you then move on to removing the old black paint, but be careful not to get any of the paint remover onto the metal flake paint sections, so use a tooth pick and or a "q" tip in the small narrow areas around the GT letters.
A quick wash up and final checkover, then some clearcoat to protect the shine will be the last step before applying the new flat black paint background.
Obviously the flat black has to be sprayed only on the background sections, so mask up and cover off the raised areas not needing it.
At present i have no further pics of the process, but once i get time to do more of these emblems refurbishment ill post them.

[Admin]

Does anyone have a good set of pics of the paint colors and graphics
for a 73 GT750K model? I have seen some in red and blue but nothing
clear enough to determin which I want to do mine in .

if someone could post em up or email me some that would be great.

thanks

[Admin]

I have some good ones of a red 73, PM your email and I will send.

[Admin]

Looks great, I never thought about sanding them down, I have repainted a few of them with model paint and tiny modeling brushes for the black part, looked OK, Lane redid the metal flake on some, maybe he will post and refresh my memory as to what he used.

[Admin]

http://www.suzukicycles.org/GT-series/index.html

[Admin]

I did see the emblems Lane did on his bike 'blue boy'and they looked very good.
You could in fact buy the present red GT ones and fill in the GT letters in a translucent flake orange model paint on top of the red, using it as a base.
At first i thought the casting under the paint was textured and some orange type of resin was poured into the wells of the letters.
This is actually not the case and the letters themselves are flat and smooth in the wells, its just metal flake orange paint thats painted in them.
The whole thing of doing the resto work is to refurbish some half decent original emblems and have the satisfaction of knowing YOU did them on your bike.
I'm also working on restoring some of the ultra rare tank emblems found on the 76-77 Buffalo and RE5, same sanding pricipal and work, so far these are looking very good too.
If anyones restored some emblems feel free to post them here..

[Admin]

http://www.suzukicycles.org/GT-series/index.html

i looked there they show a blue and a gold and I know theres a red for 73 , any other colors offered that year? and are the graphics color specific?

[Admin]

Heres what i have in my files, unfortunately a lot of the 73s dont exist in great quantities with decent tank photos from what ive observed in my collecting of these photos.
If you want detailed pics of the tank stripes, check with member "big hole John" hes got his 73 done in the blue with white/red stripe.
Also, sorry i dont know anything about the girl on the red bike.

[Admin]

Heres a pic of the completed tank badges i sanded and polished then clearcoated.
Now once this all dries properly i can go onto doing the flat black paint on the recesses.
For this area some modellers flat black water based paint is best, basically because it will wipe off easily if you go over or mess up big time. This will be tricky for what i am planning, since suzuki were not too tidy and on these badges, and the original black would often be seen on some portions of the letters sides.
I plan to NOT get any on the letters sides, and only on the crosshatch sections of the recessed areas, talk about steady hands for the job.
Once ive wasted enough time on these, they should look almost original or better when completed.
These badges were quite abused in their past, so anything i do to improve their physical appearance can only help them to look better.
The letters faces are shiny, but somehow the camera was only able to show this reflection on the left top section of that emblem.

[Admin]

Looks good......How did you get the paint out between the letters?

Can you hand paint where it will not look like it's been brushed?

[Admin]

Masking tape the areas you dont want painted. I use a razor blade or Xacto knife to trim away the tape and make a nice clean line. You can even spray the badges so you dont get brush strokes.