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.
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