Suzuki off the road for a while but now fixed

So back at the beginning of May the Suzuki started misfiring on the left hand cylinder.

I went through checking the spark, changed the plugs, checked the points and points gap, checked and reset the timing and still no change. 

Then by mistake I happened to leave the fuel tap on overnight, there was a pool of fuel under the bike but when I started it the misfire went away and the bike rode OK for about 10 miles then it returned and there was fuel overflowing from the left hand carb

I therefore thought it must be an issue with the left hand carb. I replaced the float needle valve assembly and set up the float height to 27.3mm as specified in the workshop manual and Suzuki tuning data. However the misfire was still there and fuel was still overflowing. I experimented with increasing the float height bit by bit until it would stop overflowing, but then when running it it would hold back due to fuel starvation. I experimented with different float heights but the misfire was still there and I either had a carb overflow or fuel starvation. 

Then disaster struck! Where fuel had leaked on to the top of the crankcase it somehow ignited and I had a fire! I put it out very quickly by smothering it with a rag. Sadly the fire had damaged one of the oil injection lines which was now leaking and letting in bubbles of air. 

New injection lines are not available anymore and they are a rare part secondhand. I've only seen two sets of oils lines for sale in the UK since owning the bike and couldn't find any for sale at all in the UK now I need the part. I did however find a set on ebay in the US from an American motorcycle shop. Priced at $99 USD (about £80) it was about the same price as they sell for in the UK, the carriage was $16 but I decided to buy. Then I was hit with VAP applied by the UK government when I checked out on ebay so an £80 part cost me £115 with carriage and tax, ouch! The parts took a couple of weeks to arrive.

Used set of oil lines from the US

In the meantime out of desperation and replaced the condensor, I had fitted a new one last year but thought it was worth a try. The condensors are a little awkward to fit as they have a soldered but joint with a heatshrink cover on one of the wires. I'm getting a little shaky in my old age and soldering is not easy so I recruited my son to solder it for me. I tried the bike and the misfire was cured, I still had a leaky carb and the oil line was still leaking so I didn't go far but at least it was now running.

I stripped down the carb yet again and tried resetting the float height. The float unit has two floats joined together with a bar/pivot tube. I happened to check both floats this time and found that one was nearly 3 mm lower than the other, it was slightly bent out of shape, so setting to the correct float height on one side wasn't actually correct. I got hold of another float and fitted it. 

Float assembly with pivot shaft

The oil lines then arrived from the US and I fitted them, cleaning them out first with petrol injected from a syringe which also checked the function of the non return valves which they have built in. I also primed the lines with fresh two stroke oil using the syringe. I also followed the Suzuki recommended method of purging the oil lines which is to start the bike but open up the oil pump cable lever to the full throttle position, obviously this had to wait until I had refitted the carbs.

The bike now runs properly without and oil injection leak or overflowing carb. It's great to get out on it again, a shame I've missed a couple of months of motorcycle events but I took it out this morning to the Blackbushe daytime meet.

At the Blackbushe meet today

Grab Rail Added to my T500

 My 1975 T500M is painted and restored to look like a 1973 T500K. One detail that was fitted to the T500K but was omitted by Suzuki on the T500M was a rear grab rail. Although I'm not that likely to carry pillion passengers I wanted the bike to look as much like a T500K as possible so I decided to fit the missing grab rail.

They are no longer available as a new Suzuki part and I've been looking for a used one for about a year now, however they are available as a new aftermarket part made of polished stainless steel rather than chrome plated steel. So I bit the bullet and ordered one last week from classicbikeracks.co,uk. It arrived today and I fitted it this evening. It's a quality bit of kit and really looks the part.

Rear Grab rail prior to fitting

Grab Rail fitted left hand view

Grab Rail fitted right hand view

A bit of a detail job on the Suzuki

 It's the little details that make a difference to a restored vehicle if you are going for an originality look. OK so my '75 T500M has been restored to look like the earlier '73 T500K but that is a better looking colour scheme IMHO.

However, one small item that is missing that would have been present on both a T500M or T500K are reflectors on the front forks. The reflectors themselves are readily available as a pattern part, but the bracket that holds them is not. I did see one single reflector for sale on ebay last week and it had the bracket in place in the photos. This meant I could design and make a couple of brackets.

I bought a pair of reflectors, made up the brackets and mounted them on the bike. The brackets are not at all load bearing so I made them out of 1.6mm aluminium and gave them a polish with a wire brush so they look fairly similar to the originals which would have been chromed.

Bracket in place on a reflector prior to fitting

Bracket in place on a reflector prior to fitting

Fitted on the bike

Fitted on the bike

 

Another little job on the Suzuki

Just swapped out the handlebars for ones that are correct for the later model T500. Mine had early bars with a cross brace fitted by the previous owner. The new ones are the same profile and rise but without the brace. 

New Handlebars and Mirrors Fitted

Handlebars and Mirrors fitted by the previous owner

I also fitted a new pair of mirrors as the previous ones didn't match.

The bike is a '75 T500M but has been restored with the '73 T500K paintwork, both models had the bars without the brace like I've fitted. I'm trying to make the bike look as much like a T500K as I can having already previously changed the rear lamp unit for the classic Suzuki "Dogbone" rear lamp as it had been fitted with the earlier smaller round one by the former owner. It's now looking very close to a proper T500K, I just need a rear grab rail now which was fitted to the T500K but not the T500M, thats a job for the future.

Suzuki Instrument Refurb

 One detail that lets my pretty immaculate Suzuki T500 down was the speedo and tacho.

The Speedo had a cracked glass and the tacho had a very faded red line area and also the red indication jewel for the main beam warning light was faded so much it shined white when the main beam was on. The fluorescent end to the needles on both instruments had also faded.

The gauges on the bike when purchased, cracked speedo lens, faded red line area on the tacho and faded main beam warning indication jewel.

Closer view of the cracked speedo lens.

Both instruments functioned fine though so what was needed was a cosmetic refurbishment. The good news is that there are a couple of sellers that sell the main parts I needed to refurbish. One seller,  Classic Gauges (Will Barber, ebay name Terryturbo) sells a thick self adhesive overlay to refresh the dial faces and indication jewel lenses for most classic bikes. Another japmotorbikeparts (David Foxall  ebay name1970sjapmotorbikeparts) sells a set of new cases for the T500 speedo and tacho, the lens on these bikes is an integral part of the case so this was the way to fix my cracked lens on my speedo. Also the tacho had a few marks on the case and lens which I could have lived with but could still be improved with a new case. So the parts were duly purchased. Seconds of the cases do sometimes come up from the seller for£62 but he only had first quality ones when I ordered so I shelled out £103 for these. The gauge face overlays were £37.

I had an interesting messaging conversation with Will from Classic Gauges as he noticed my ebay name was related to the Triumph GT6 and he asked if I had one as he also owned a MK3 GT6, small world. Also the indicator jewel lenses were not listed so I asked if he could supply them, he actually sent a set through to me free of charge due to the GT6 connection which was great!

I started off deconstructing the tacho, the internals are fixed to the body with a sealant/glue which has to be carefully scrapped off to release the innards. Once apart the needle has to be removed very carefully using two teaspoons to lever it off the spindle. The next job was to remove the gauge face plate held on by two small crosshead screws, one undid OK the other rounded off so was a bit difficult to remove but I managed to get it off using some pliers on the head. 

Classic Gauges recommend that the gauge face should be sanded to remove all traces of the original screen printing which I did. I also made up a jig for positioning the new self adhesive gauge face into place with two suitable sized nails (the same diameter as the screws) spaced correctly in a block of wood.

Jig I made for locating the gauge faces

Tacho face plate cleaned of screen printing in place on the jig

I also dismantled the Speedo, a similar process except it has the trip meter knob on the side retained by a small screw which had to be removed. The screw was very difficult to remove and wouldn't budge, but I read on one of the forums that it can usually be removed by applying some gentle heat first so I used a hair dryer on it. I didn't want to use my heat gun as I thought it may be too  fierce. Sure enough the screw undid easily after a bit of heat was applied.

The two instrument innards with the face plates removed (screen printing yet to be sanded off the speedo)

After cleaning the screen printing off the faces I used my jig to add the new self adhesive gauge faces to the clocks.

New Gauge faces fitted

I fitted new indication jewel lenses to the Neutral, main beam and turn signal indication position on the tacho.

New indication jewel lenses with the tacho faceplate

New indication jewel lenses fitted

As one of the screws that holds the face to the gauges was damaged and also because they were lightly corroded I decided to fit new screws. When I measured the thread it was a very unusual size M2.2 which is not easily available. I therefore tapped the holes out to a M2.5 size, not much different but a much easier screw to find. I also obtained a screw to replace the retainer for the trip meter knob which was a more standard M2 thread.

Tapping out a faceplate fixing hole to M2.5

I then refitted the face plate to the speedo with new M2.5screws.

.I refreshed both needles with a coat of white modellers enamel and once dry painted the tips with fluorescent orange modellers enamel. I left this to dry for a couple of days before refitting to the gauges being careful to push the needles into place aligned with the zero. Some vehicles have a needle rest wire on the instruments but the Suzuki doesn't and relies on accurate needle positioning.

Needles repainted with modellers paint.

Refreshed needle fitted to the Speedo

Refreshed needle refitted to the tacho

The seal for the trip meter was inserted into the new case and glued into position. There is also supposed to be a seal where the innards bear on the base of the cases, one of these was missing on my bike and the other wasn't in great condition, so I sourced an appropriate O ring and glued it into place.

O ring used to replace the damaged and missing seals

Difficult to see but the O ring was glued into place

The Speedo was the reassembled with the innards positioned into place in the new case. The trip meter knob was screwed into place with a new M2 screw.

Trip meter knob screwed back into place.

The innards are attached to the cases originally by a green sealant/glue around the perimeter. classic jap motor parts suggest using mastic for this so some mastic was applied to both instruments, a messy job but it won't be visible once installed on the bike.

Mastic smeared around the perimeter of the speedo innards to secure in place.

The two chrome trims were replaced they are loose and held in position by the mountings when fitted to the bike but I wanted to put them in place to show the finished job!

The finished speedo

The finished tacho

Super Bright!

 The headlight on my Suzuki T500 had a 35/35W tungsten bulb that emitted about the same light as a candle and it was pretty unpleasant riding at night along unlit roads.

The generator on the Suzuki has a very limited output and it would not have been possible to upgrade to a decent 55/60W halogen like I have on the GT6 as it would flatten the battery. Also the headlamp bowl is full of wiring joints and it would be difficult to change the reflector and glass to one suitable for halogen as it would probably be too deep to fit.

Then I found that you could get a focussed LED conversion that replaces the standard tungsten bulb which on the Suzuki was a BA20D. Looks like this had already been changed from the original Suzuki Bulb holder TBH as the Suzuki bulb is a bit of a special so a previous owner had upgraded the bulb holder to the BA20D which is fitted to some classic Hondas like the 400 four.

For more modern vehicles with Halogen or Tungsten headlamps it's not road legal to just change the headlight bulb but for pre 1986 classics it is. For post 1986 vehicles the whole light unit needs to be changed to one designed for LEDs with a CE marking.

I did try a cheap Chinese manufactured focussed LED BA20D conversion from Amazon but when it arrived it was faulty and the dip was wired on main beam and vice versa so I returned it. However there was a British manufacturer of conversions for Classic Cars and Bikes, Classic Dynamo & Regulator Conversions Ltd, that had a stand at the NEC classic car and motorcycle show which I was visiting so I bought a conversion bulb from them, a bit more expensive but the quality is great and I'd certainly recommend their bulb conversions. The bulb has a focussed pattern rather than using the reflector which gets around the issues of using a reflector designed for a tungsten or Halogen bulb which would resulty in a poor bulb pattern.

BA20D focussed LED conversion kit from Classic Dynamo & Regulator Conversions Ltd

I fitted the bulb to the Suzuki today and it's very bright and takes a lot less power than even the Tugsten Bulb which is great on a bike with a low output generator.

GT6 on the Club Triumph Stand at the NEC Classic Car and Bike show

I've just returned from a nice few days at the NEC Classic Car and Bike show where Club Triumph had invited me to display the GT6 on the Club stand. In particular they wanted it with it's Round Britain Run livery in place to promote the club's prestige event.

Normally a weekend ticket would have been over £90 and having the car on the stand gave me free entry so I agreed straight away! I was also put up in a hotel for 3 nights by the club which was nice!

My GT6 on the Club Triumph Stand at the NEC Classic Car and Bike show

My GT6 on the Club Triumph Stand at the NEC Classic Car and Bike show

The Club Triumph Stand at the NEC Classic Car and Bike show

The hotel had a very appropriately named bar!