Trial and Error

       Not advancing as quickly as I'd like to on the project, but moving steadily. I finally figured out how the engine comes apart.  I thought it was seized together, turns out I had missed a bolt in the sludge!  Go figure.  Next time, clean it thoroughly! And when I think I'm done, clean it again.








        Ren once again came to the rescue and helped me tear the motor into pieces and spill out its innards. Man is she ever sexy inside! Clean as a whistle.  The only pitfall the motor has that I can find is a weak center bearing on the crank. It unfortunately clicks as you rotate it.

Research is key. Since I didn't know how to take a triple crank apart, I set to trolling the internet for resources.  I had come across a great site, Suzuki2strokes.com that specializes in Suzuki street bikes, specifically Suzuki triples. With a few write ups that are on the site, I think I have a fairly good idea of what I need to do.

Tonight I finally got around to taking the original swingarm off the bike and semi mocking up the single sided swingarm to it. Does it ever look like what I envisioned!  She's a beaut!

Now all that's left is to machine either the chassis or the swingarm or a combination of both, down to accept the width the RFV400 swingarm has.  I think it's looking great so far. 

A 2003 R6 front rim arrives Tuesday, which I'm really looking forward to.  On order is a set of Micheline Pilot Pure's 3 rubbers to wrap around the 17" front and 18" rear rim.

Leaps and Bounds

Just before I left on my honeymoon, I had ordered and got delivered the front steering head bearings for the bike.  If you have never heard of them, or haven't checked out their site, go to Allballsracing.com (No I'm not getting paid for this advertisement!).  They have an awesome directory that allows you to match the bike you have with the front end you want to mate to it and get the proper bearing sizes!  No steering stem or neck modifications necessary.   Ecstatic with my purchase I set to installing the bearings on the bike.

Installation was super simple and straight forward. The real pain was not buying the special nuts and washers that hold the triple tree to the chassis when I purchased the front end.  Live and learn. Do remember that steering head bearings need to be packed with grease prior to installation.  If not, it can lead to premature head wear and can be dangerous.

 

Clip-ons and folding, adjustable levers went on pretty quick with excitement to see some progress on the bike.

Polished

Stuff is arriving daily!  It's awesome.  Little bits and pieces that I've been waiting for are showing up at my door in record number.  The mail man must be bewildered as to why I have so many packages showing up.

I had some down time and wanted to try out a new polishing wheel I picked up at Princess Auto (Canadian version of Harbour Freight).   The cases came out amazing for being 40 years old! The two before pictures...

 After a little while of polishing, I concluded on the cases looking pretty good I must say.  Granted I have spent several hours on most of the side cases, but well worth the investment. I think the pictures speak louder than words...

Doing a clarity check on the finish... not bad!

Little Progress Unfortunately...

The project is still on the back burner while I continue to get all my ducks in a row for my up coming wedding in a few weeks. Thankfully though, I have an amazing understanding wife to be.  She knows how much I love to spend time in the garage. It's not as if it's something new in my life,  I've been wrenching for the last 20 years if not more.  A very useful skill my dad taught and I thank him every day for it. We'll be spending time together doing something and she's the one asking me if I'm going to be spending some time in the garage.  Not in the accusatory sort of way either!  What a woman!!

The GT380 has taken a backseat only in the physical sense.  This is my first project where I am 
 completely taking apart a bike and performing significant modifications.

The current list as of late is as follows:

- Total engine rebuild - all new gaskets, seals, bearings and anything that is worn out.

- 2003 Yamaha R6 front end swap

- 1995 RVF400 (NC35) Single Sided Swingarm

- Clip ons

- Folding, adjustable levers

- Throttle cable

- RVF400 rear master cylinder

And the list goes on.   Things arrive daily in the mail.  Good thing I get home before my fiance!

I've spent hours amassing information on the bike and looking at other projects in search of bits and pieces to frankenstein the bike together. Currently on the search for a front headlight and front wheel.   

Wanting to match the RVF400 rear wheel which is 8 spoke, the bikes that have popped up showing promise always end in the same,  Oh sorry, just sold that.   I'm not even being picky either!  I'll take a wheel from a CBR F2/F3, VTR1000 (RC51), VFR750/800/400 or RVF400. Nodice.

Complicating The Matter

A solid Ebay purchase today.  6 piston rings for $39 shipped, versus $55 from the dealership for 2, 2!  I am well on my way to amassing the parts required. The rods are solid in the bottom end, so I don't think they'll need to be changed.

Here is the front end I plan on putting on the bike,   I believe it came from a 2003 R6. Rear sets are for an unknown bike,  but a solid purchase at $20 when I had every intention of making them fit some way or another. There's a set of '03 Kawasaki 636 rims as well to go on the bike. A few more things to consider are the rear shocks and swingarm. 

Well, with some suggestions from my friend Ren, I spent a few hours searching high and low for a single sided swingarm to go on this project machine.   Finally finding just a rim from a VFR400, a quick inquiry found me an entire single sided swingarm assembly. A few going back and forths and $500 later, there you have it.  A new swingarm for the bike. As if tearing a bike down and rebuilding it from scratch wasn't already taxing enough, my impulses are getting the better of me!

In the mean time, life has taken over and the project has taken a backseat for a few weeks.  Stuff here and there has been going on and collecting tools that I will need to finish the project has been in the works. With the right side motor case removed, I discovered a broken gear.  Made of plastic, so no big deal.  The bigger deal is $49 on ebay!  Yikes!  I may have to call the dealer for this one… Still not sure if I broke the gear myself when turning that part of the motor, or it was broken to begin with. Either way, it still needs to be fixed. 

In the beginning there was junk...

       While browsing through Kijiji (Canada's much better version of Craigslist) I came across an ad posting "2 suzuki? Bikes - scrap metal or ---- " .  The 2 heaps I saw in pictures were enough for me to call and inquire. Luckily, I was the only one that had called him.  We settled on $200 over the phone and made arrangements to see the bikes.  They definitely were in deplorable condition.  Rust everywhere, parked underneath a veranda for 15 years.  Terry, the previous "owner", said that he had 2 lesbian tenants that bought them with the intention to restore them back to showroom condition. Shotly thereafter, they left town for the west coast and thus these two bikes stayed tucked away in a dream-like state for so long.

 

       Fast forward 15 years, I litterally dragged these two bikes out from underneath the veranda at 9:30 at night in pouring rain with the help of a friend Ren. Ren's a total 2 stroke gear head and makes himself available when old 2 strokes come a knocking. As a matter a fact, he's the reason I got back into 2 strokes after retiring from shifter kart racing. The 2 bikes currently reside in my 1 car, 10'x20' unheated garage tucked in next to my 09 CBR600rr. The one bike, good ol' 72, is a rusty heap.  The aluminum on the bottom end has become a bit brittle from sitting outside for so many years somewhat exposed to the elements. With no gear shift, drum brakes front and back no handle bars nor top triple tree clamp, I decided to tackle that bike second.

        My prize just so happened to be a 1973 Suzuki GT380 Ram Air 2 Stroke. Upon doing some research on YouTube and Google, I discovered another bike that I have which has a strong cult following. Ebay turned up thousands of listings for different parts here and there.  My main concern was acquiring piston kits. On a lot of older bikes these become highly sought after therefore, I wanted to ensure I wasn't going to be screwing myself getting all into this project and discovering someone will have me by the tight and curlies for some pistons. Luckily, Ebay has presented many piston kits. Much to my chagrin, I called the local Suzuki dealership to see if they can get parts still.  I was in luck!  Parts were available, not cheap mind you, but still available.

         When I had picked up the bikes, I had told myself that I wasn't going to be diving into the projects just yet. I had just purchased a house, the garage was not setup yet, tools weren't organized and I had no light. And of course that didn't stop me one night when I had an hour to start tearing into the '73.  Bolt after bolt came out as easy as if they were new. I got the warm and fuzzy feeling inside knowing that I had just found a diamond in the rust. <-- Read that again. I tore out the carbs and peeled one apart to find a super clean float and bowl. Success!  I brought them to my dad (my 2 stroke god) and he agreed.  Cleaning up the carbs yielded nice clean metal which required just a bit of cleaning up to be presentable.

The following day, I had the motor on my new "work table" and tore into it with a vengeance. Heads came off, good shape, good sign!  Cyclinders came off, also in good shape!  Thankfully this particular bike did not suffer the common middle cylinder seizure. In fact, there was actually a carbon build up a couple of millimeters thick on it.  Unfortunately, when I initially inspected the bike I had pushed down the kick start to check for a seizure and compression and damaged the pistons. After sitting for so long, they had ever so slightly stuck to the cylinders and produced some scratches on the pistons.  But for the $200 I'll spend on them, it was well worth it.

 

The motor currently sits in pieces while I wait for a set of JIS screwdrivers for one of the side covers. In the mean time, I cleaned the motor up with a rag and a bit of brake clean.  The results were pretty good!  Since the bike did not come with a tachometer and speedometer, one can only guess the kilometers on the bike.  Based on the carbon build up on the pistons, and only about an 1/8" of grease from the chain on the cases, I'd guess it was only driven about 3000km before it was put away.