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T500 smoke machine


cubastreet

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Just picked this up. It needs plenty of work but I've got most of another bike for spares.

It's a 69 T500

t500.jpg

Plan at the moment is to strip it down, rebuild the motor, repaint and see how much I can clean up the chrome.

It needs a new seat, not sure on shape but it has to carry 2. Give me some suggestions.

Like the colour scheme of this bike:

suzuki-t500-4.jpg

so might go for the red/white theme too. I quite like the red frame.

I'll just tickle the motor a bit, nothing wild.

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I don't have money to be spending on this at the moment so it'll be a slow build.

I'm not sure what the bars are off, everything else looks pretty standard.

They don't look too bad flipped upside down, so it sets the scene for a bit of a cafe style:

bike.jpg

I should have a brand new set of chambers in black, but the owner gave me a box with guzzi pipes by mistake so I'll swap them with him sometime.

I'll give the guards a bit of a chop and find some small indicators for it, grab some rearsets off a katana or something and ride the shit out of it.

I'll stick with the useless drums cos they look so dope. Who wants to slow down anyway?

I'm considering lightening it a little with the angle grinder because it's 187kg standard, but not sure I have the heart to do it.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Well I started stripping it:

Part-Stripped.jpg

The motor looks nice and big now it's not hidden by all those unnecessary items like the pipes and fuel tank.

I can't believe people actually put screws back in when they get this bad. These were on the timing cover:

Screws.jpg

Fortunately the impact driver shifted them.

I tried tinfoil and vinegar on the chrome, but it was too much hassle so I knocked together a bath for electrolysis.

Basically you buy, steal or make something to hold enough water to soak the parts you want to de-rust. I made a box out of scrap wood big enough to put the pipes in, then lined it with a cheap tarp.

Fill it with water then add something to make it conduct electricity. Normally people seem to use washing soda, but I didn't have any around so I used dishwasher powder.

Put the item you want to de-rust in, and hook it up to the negative lead of a battery charger.

Hook the positive lead to a piece of scrap steel and throw that in the wash too, making sure it doesn't touch the other hunk of metal.

Turn on the power, and it de-rusts all by itself.

I should have taken more photos for before-after, but this headlamp bowl thingy was pretty much covered in rust:

Headlamp.jpg

If only it would bring the chrome back ....

I like that they put this on the exhaust:

exhaust.jpg

Of course I won't!

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  • 2 months later...

Thought I'd add a quick update to this..

The bike is completely stripped and I've been slowly cleaning up all the pieces.

This should be pretty quick because it's just a bike, but after 15 years in a damp basement it's a fair bit of work.

The T500 had a known problem with chewing up the 4th and 5th gears when the oil level dropped a fraction.

This was fixed later on by installing a rubber dam in the spot where it would overflow into the clutch housing, and the capacity was increased from 1200 to 1400cc

My bike didn't get that fix, so the gears were screwed.

Luckily I had a spare motor in pieces which had a holed piston.

Unfortunately whoever diamantled the motor put the gears in an icecream container with some water and they got seriously pitted.

So after 2 months of searching I found another gearbox in Invergiggle.

Also picked up a nos seat cover from England,

engine seals and carb rebuild kits from Japan,

squish heads from Palmie...

Still need swingarm bushings (anyone got some phosphor bronze I can have?)

steering head bearings

a seat pan that hasn't rusted apart

a gearshift lever

footpeg rubbers

and tyres

Hopefully I can get it all back together before the summer disappears.

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I was so excited yesterday when the courier arrived with my replacement gearbox.

Only, it looks the same as the original one with wear on 4th and 5th.

gears_zpsac9a56d4.jpg

I've been told that gears are hardened, but once you've worn through the surface they'll wear really quick. Anyone can confirm/deny this?

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