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What's going on out at GrandPaul's Place

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Turned out to be an easy fix - fuel tap was left on, and a float stuck. Flooded the engine with fuel, puked it out the breather pipe.

I did a double flush with new oil filter and all is well.

Removing the sidecar to work on it took exactly 8 minutes, almost to the SECOND. Not bad!

Now, PUTTING IT BACK ON, that was different story! After almost having it done, I realized I forgot the spacer at the top front mount! ARGH! 35 minutes total. I could have done it under 20.

The test ride went GREAT! Got it up to 65 with ZERO shimmy, no "fighting" me. Just tooling along smartly. LOVE IT!!!

[Linked Image]
 
TDtrans said:
Glad it worked out you definitely put lots of effort into it
Click to expand...
I ain't done quite yet!

I still need to remove the convertible top and have it repaired (and patterned & duplicated).

Also need to possibly re-trim for the bike's "lean-out" as recommended; to me it feels fine, but I think it might invite excessive tire wear.

Then, I'll probably remove the sidecar one more time to give it a really good detail cleaning then repaint the under frame, it's really shabby under there.
 
Today was a very good day!

I was given a '76 Suzuki GT500 Titan (2 stroke twin street bike) a couple months ago, after volunteering to help a neighbor get it running and sell it; when we went to fetch it from his storage, he said he thought it would probably be easier to just give it to me.

Anyway, today I had my youngest son (Alex, 15) help me clean up the shop after the wild thrashing that's been going on with my oldest son Jason's '76 Yamaha RD400 refurb-mod, then the design/build of my sidecar subframe for the '97 Triumph T-Bird. That took nearly 2 hours, it was a right mess.

Much better...

IMG_5512.JPG


So, after a well-deserved ride to lunch at El Rancho in Bertram, we pulled the Suzuki out of the storage container and wheeled it into the shop for a "Make-Run" session.

IMG_5513.JPG


I had Alex pull the seat, gas tank & airbox, and drain the oil, while I yanked the carbs and popped them open...

TOTALLY CLEAN INSIDE!!! Now THAT is RARE! Just some slight / faint residue that cleaned right up. Even the tiny low speed jets were perfectly see-thru. Another rare "plus", the rubber boots are still pliable and NOT cracked at all!

IMG_5514.JPG
 
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I "happened" to have a brand new pair of exact spec Champion spark plugs, it was a quick swap (one of the old ones didn't fire).

So next, I pulled the petcock and (again) SURPRISE! clean as a whistle!

These things are usually plugged solid with debris. Don did tell me that he made sure to run the bike with the petcock turned off (12 years ago), so that the carbs would run themselves dry; he even decided to drain both bowls, as well as the petcock bowl. Smart lad.

Now, after the fact, I learned the petcock rubber gasket seen in the photo, is too hard and doesn't seal. SMALL price to pay!

IMG_5515.JPG


Meanwhile, Alex drained what looked like BRAND NEW, clean oil with ZERO particulate, and zero "milk"! Unbelievable (to me), having seen several hundred old bikes' innards after they've sat for TWELVE YEARS. Don didn't mention it, but I'm betting he also changed the oil before storing the bike. The bike got 2 quarts of new oil anyway.

While I was dumping in the oil, I directed Alex to grab a small AGM battery that I've had sitting for awhile, and swap the pigtail off the old battery (which he did), then I re-installed the carbs, including replacing one cracked fuel line. We dumped in some gas and the petcock drooled a bit, but not enough to cause alarm.

Since Alex was doing more than his share of the work, I decided I'd let him have the honor of attempting the first kick...

First kick, sputter, pop, blah.

Second kick... "LET THERE BE SMOKE!" ...and there was smoke, and it was good.

Perfect idle at 1,000 RPM, no hint of a stumble. (I froze this frame from a video I took)

IMG_5516.JPG


So, I quickly pulled out the big fan to clear the sop of the wonderful blue smoke, and we pulled the bike into the sunlight to slap all the bodywork and stuff back on. I topped of the front brake reservoir, AND THE DANG THING PUMPED RIGHT UP STRAIGHT AWAY! No sticking pistons, no bubbles, just a nice, firm, brake.

JOB DONE!!!

Total input:
-2 quarts oil
-2 spark plugs
-6" fuel hose
-AGM battery
-1/8 cup brake fluid

I'm ordering 2 tires and 2 tubes, and a fuel petcock o-ring.

All in, I'm still going to be under $500. How cool is THAT?
 
grandpaul said:
I "happened" to have a brand new pair of exact spec Champion spark plugs, it was a quick swap (one of the old ones didn't fire).

So next, I pulled the petcock and (again) SURPRISE! clean as a whistle!

These things are usually plugged solid with debris. Don did tell me that he made sure to run the bike with the petcock turned off (12 years ago), so that the carbs would run themselves dry; he even decided to drain both bowls, as well as the petcock bowl. Smart lad.

Now, after the fact, I learned the petcock rubber gasket seen in the photo, is too hard and doesn't seal. SMALL price to pay!

IMG_5515.JPG


Meanwhile, Alex drained what looked like BRAND NEW, clean oil with ZERO particulate, and zero "milk"! Unbelievable (to me), having seen several hundred old bikes' innards after they've sat for TWELVE YEARS. Don didn't mention it, but I'm betting he also changed the oil before storing the bike. The bike got 2 quarts of new oil anyway.

While I was dumping in the oil, I directed Alex to grab a small AGM battery that I've had sitting for awhile, and swap the pigtail off the old battery (which he did), then I re-installed the carbs, including replacing one cracked fuel line. We dumped in some gas and the petcock drooled a bit, but not enough to cause alarm.

Since Alex was doing more than his share of the work, I decided I'd let him have the honor of attempting the first kick...

First kick, sputter, pop, blah.

Second kick... "LET THERE BE SMOKE!" ...and there was smoke, and it was good.

Perfect idle at 1,000 RPM, no hint of a stumble. (I froze this frame from a video I took)

IMG_5516.JPG


So, I quickly pulled out the big fan to clear the sop of the wonderful blue smoke, and we pulled the bike into the sunlight to slap all the bodywork and stuff back on. I topped of the front brake reservoir, AND THE DANG THING PUMPED RIGHT UP STRAIGHT AWAY! No sticking pistons, no bubbles, just a nice, firm, brake.

JOB DONE!!!

Total input:
-2 quarts oil
-2 spark plugs
-6" fuel hose
-AGM battery
-1/8 cup brake fluid

I'm ordering 2 tires and 2 tubes, and a fuel petcock o-ring.

All in, I'm still going to be under $500. How cool is THAT?
Click to expand...
I had one of those around 78 79 paid 500 dollars for from a neighbor road the wheels off it then got 79 kz 650 mine was blue gotta love a 2 stroke
 
I had a '69 T500 with over 80k on it. Swingarm had the consistency of soggy pork rinds, but I rode the dickens out of that thing.
Mufflers were shot and too loud, so I sheet metal screwed two small Folgers cans filled with steel wool on the end of them.
Ugly as sin, but it worked!
 
Replaced the "backwards" Legend speedo drive for the proper T-Bird speedo drive on the Thunderlegend, and re-installed the front tire with a new tube.

Then I decided to fit up a quarter fairing I had laying around spare. I kinda like it; I wish a new proper height windscreen wasn't almost $200...

Took it out for a quick road test, feels nice and smooth at 90, with MOST of the wind going over my head. The full height screen makes ALL the difference.

IMG_5654.JPG


(without fairing)

IMG_5637.JPG


Not bad for a scratch-built klunker...
 
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Well, as the smoky Suzuki GT500 isn't going to "fix itself", I decided I'd go with the 100% unanimous advice and send out the bottom end to have the crank seals replaced. Of course, there's no way I'm pulling the engine out and not spiff up the rest of the bike while that's being done; so...

I started tearing the old girl apart, making notes so that the EASIEST way to put it back together would simply be in reverse order of how I took it apart! Now, why didn't I think of THAT before? hee hee

IMG_5675.JPG


It was all going right along smoothly, I was jotting down each step, and taking pix of details so it would all go right back together fuss-free. Well, not EXACTLY smoothly, as the brake hard pipe fittings were NOT going to go without a fight. Well, I'm a LOVER, not a FIGHTER...

IMG_5678.JPG


Take THAT, sucker!

Lots more stuff came off and got put on the project bits shelf, with all the hardware in a small tub, etc. I was making great time...

Then, the bottom engine mount bolt decided it was perfectly happy to stay frozen inside it's spacer tube, and NOT come out. The rattle gun could spin it freely, but it was well and truly rusted SOLID. (photo taken after a dozen hard whacks with a 5# sledge whacked by a 5# Ball-Peen hammer)

IMG_5682.JPG


Well, shoot. And it was getting late. I whacked some more, but this sucker wasn't moving. END OF DAY 1 - 3.5 hours.

IMG_5672.JPG
 
Day 2 started with hope, but quickly devolved into misery; whacked my thumb instead of the sledge hammer. (no photo)

I decided I'd re-position, to get a more direct hammer-swing on it; that FINALLY got it moving one thread ever 87 whacks. This might or might not be an exaggeration, but it was a heckuva lotta whacks.

Finally, the nose of the bolt was clear of the frame tab after I used a punch to beat it in as far as I could. I rigged up my mobile manual boat winch that I have bolted to a 2nd floor joist, and slung it around the frame neck to tip the bike over and get to the now protruding bolt head. That poor thing surrendered to the angle grinder with a new blade in about 2-1/2 seconds.

No fires were started with the glorious shower of sparks. Ever accidentally light up a biscuit of steel wool? hee hee, I've done that, and not on purpose. Note the handy fire extinguisher behind the ladder...

IMG_5698.JPG


The rest was easy. The divorce is FINAL!

IMG_5702.JPG


Cylinders look better than I expected, no scratches...

IMG_5715.JPG


I'm going to send the cylinders in with the crank, 1st overbore.

There will be new pistons, of course... (yuck)

IMG_5717.JPG
 
Now, to get that pesky bolt shank out of the sleeve, I HAPPENED to have a utility box I built for my bike jack, and upon taking a quick measurement I decided it could use a big hole in it...

IMG_5712.JPG


It also needed a little hole for the wayward bolt shank to drop thru, and it worked an absolute treat!

IMG_5714.JPG


I happened to have an almost identical bolt in my spares bin, and it made the perfect driver. Of course, now that the engine was out, and the bolt was super-easy to get to, I tapped out without a lot of fuss...

So, that's it and all about it.

IMG_5711.JPG


That WD-40 can sure looks smug, sitting there doing ABSOLUTELY NOTHING with it's broken tricky modern nozzle... It was ZERO help.

One bike, in many parts...

IMG_5710.JPG


End of Day 2, coincidentally also 3-1/2 hours, with almost a full hour of bottom engine mount bolt drama.
 
grandpaul said:
Now, to get that pesky bolt shank out of the sleeve, I HAPPENED to have a utility box I built for my bike jack, and upon taking a quick measurement I decided it could use a big hole in it...

IMG_5712.JPG


It also needed a little hole for the wayward bolt shank to drop thru, and it worked an absolute treat!

IMG_5714.JPG


I happened to have an almost identical bolt in my spares bin, and it made the perfect driver. Of course, now that the engine was out, and the bolt was super-easy to get to, I tapped out without a lot of fuss...

So, that's it and all about it.

IMG_5711.JPG


That WD-40 can sure looks smug, sitting there doing ABSOLUTELY NOTHING with it's broken tricky modern nozzle... It was ZERO help.

One bike, in many parts...

IMG_5710.JPG


End of Day 2, coincidentally also 3-1/2 hours, with almost a full hour of bottom engine mount bolt drama.
Click to expand...
I hate smacking my hands like that i always say I hitting where I was looking instead of looking were I was hitting 😤 lol
 
Very successful day at PPSS, enjoy them Paul, at least I loaded you up with some spares, great fun. Remember to practice with those front brakes. The white one is the THE STOPPIE BIKE, the black one is a very close second. Love me some 690s.
 
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