I’m not completely certain this will be a good idea, but I have gone ahead and set up an OJB page on Facebook. You can take a look at it via this link. It is ‘public’ so you don’t actually need a FB account to see the contents, although you will get nagged to login or create an account if you don’t happen to be one of the 1.17 billion active monthly users (as of the second quarter of 2016) already using FB.
The original idea was to link this blog to it so I could cross post automatically – but that doesn’t seem to work, or at least I haven’t been able to get it working …………….. yet. 🙂
Here is a screen shot of what it looks like – I plan to leave it up for a month or two and if it proves to be a bother then I can always delete it !
A fellow I know in the UK by the name of Ian Beardsley (an excellent first name by the way 🙂 ) has been making reproduction bits and pieces for the Suzuki GT750 for some time now. I bought a few stainless steel brake tabs for my next rebuild for example, and I was very pleased with them. You can take a look at his web site at this link.
Ian recently started selling an exact copy of the neoprene gasket used in the GT750 airbox, which was never available from Suzuki under its own part number. These are normally in pretty rough shape after all these years, and of course if you are painting or powder coating the airbox, then the old one won’t be there at all ! In the past I have used weather stripping as it is readily available here in Canada (we have long winters), but having something that actually fits as it is supposed to, is definitely a good thing I think. I’ve attached a photo to the right – just ‘click’ to see a larger image. The seal is water jetted from neoprene, and so has a very nice edge and it is self sticking (adhesive backed).
The quality is excellent and the price for this sort of thing is reasonable – recommended !
So your turn signal/indicator relay just exited for its place in electronics heaven, and as a result you now have a distinct lack of flash about your machine. You can resort to arm waving, but I suspect most younger drivers in these parts at least would have no idea what you are trying to communicate, so adding the flash part back into the mix seems prudent. Suzuki indicator relays are still available from your friendly neighbourhood Suzuki dealer, but in Canada cost about $75 CDN each ! Cheaper options are available.
If such things matter to you, preserving the look of the original part is nice to try and do. The original Suzuki relays are housed in an aluminium can and have the Suzuki part number, specifications and OEM supplier name ink stamped on the end (just click on the image to see a larger version).
The end cap having the wire leads comes out easily and there is a yellow wire inside which is secured to the bottom of the can which can just be clipped. This releases the relay mechanism for complete removal. This specific unit is perhaps not the best example as the ground wire on the outside of the relay can is not original – the original wire was soldered to the metal ring that has the tabs on it for holding the end cap in place.
The replacement relay is a TRIDON HD12 which is readily available from just about any automotive parts supply place for between $8 and $14 CDN. It is ‘electronic’ in that the flash rate does not change with load. That doesn’t really matter for this application, but is an added bonus I suppose. The key thing is it is a two terminal unit of the correct voltage.
The entire new relay unit neatly slides into the old Suzuki relay can, and you then just fold over the securing tabs to secure the new unit in place. The ‘X’ terminal is the power supply (so the orange wire on the old flasher relay) and the ‘L’ terminal goes to the lamp circuit which in this instance would be the light blue wire. You have the choice of soldering the leads, or using a crimped spade connector. Either method works fine, and of course later model GT750 signal relays use spade fittings anyway.
The end result looks identical to the original, and is good for another 40 years !
The summer is, yet again, blasting by faster than it has any right to and our safari to eastern Canada is drawing to a close. The main reason for our extended road trip was our younger son’s wedding in Toronto and it was excellent. The ceremony was very well done, the venue was exceptional, the weather cooperated, a good time was had by all, and the bride was lovely. We have known Hana for quite some time and are delighted for our two families to be joined together.
The venue was the McLean House on the Sunnybrook Hospital grounds, and I never would have guessed that Sunnybrook offered this sort of thing in addition to all the other services they provide ! My brother Stuart spent months at Sunnybrook many years ago and more recently his son was also treated there. It is quite the facility.
The McLean house is at the back of Sunnybrook and was a private home built in 1928 and lived in till 1966 before being taken over by the hospital. The fees charged for functions like weddings support the hospital, so it is a win-win all round.
The trip east also provided a plausible excuse for us both to drop in for a visit with our older son and his better half to see their new home ! It is a very comfortable place, in good condition and in a very nice location. And, something only another parent would likely understand I suppose, but it made my heart glad watching him mow his own lawn using his own lawn mower.
While we have been travelling I have been busy relocating my web sites to another hosting provider. I was with Netfirms and for the most part I can’t fault the service they provide, however I had started to notice that the site responsiveness had started to degrade during the past year. Added to this was the fact that the Canadian dollar has tanked relative to the US dollar and as all the fees were in USD this was starting to get annoying. The new hosting company I’ve moved to is WHC based here in Canada. So far they have been very helpful and the site management tools they offer are at least as good as the ones offered by Netfirms.
Moving the site and this blog provided me with an excuse to refresh a few things, as well as also requiring me to test everything to ensure it still worked so the exercise has been a good one, if not a bit tedious. Time will tell if the move was a mistake or a good idea !
We leave the place we rented on Big Bald Lake in the Kawarthas today for home. As always it is sad to be saying goodbye to the kids, but at the same time we are both looking forward to getting back to our own bed ! And of course SWMBO’d has some quilts waiting to be quilted, while I have some bikes that do need to be ridden !
So I needed a new visor for my helmet, and normally I buy clear ones as they are easy to clean and also relatively cheap. A replacement clear visor to fit my HJC Sy-Max helmet is about $25 CDN. None were available here in Canada to fit the helmet I had, and so as is often the case I had to make a choice: buy a visor I didn’t want, or buy a new helmet. Having to buy a new helmet (a minimum $300 hit to the wallet for the few months of riding pleasure we have here in Alberta) seemed a bit excessive, so I reluctantly went with the $45 option of a mirrored visor. And I have to say that when it arrived and I had installed it I actually liked it ! It added just a hint of grey tint which is useful on a sunny day, and the air of mystery that the mirrored look lent me offered a touch of hipster attitude without having to use 50 feet of bandage on my exhaust system !
There was a down side of course. If you actually ride your bike you will get plastered with splattered bug juice which at some point you will need to clean off, and that is when I discovered a new use for my favourite shop cleaner: ‘Simple Green’. The name says it all ! Safe, effective and environmentally friendly plus it even works which I consider an added bonus. It readily removes splattered bugs from clear visors and I’ve used it for exactly that purpose for years. I was initially somewhat dismayed to learn however, that it also quickly removes the mirror finish from $45 visors !
A blotchy mirrored/somewhat un-mirrored visor is not easy to see through, so what was I to do ? And in a moment of inspiration I had the answer !
After a few minutes work and the application of more of my favourite ‘Simple Green’ cleaner I had managed to convert my oh so cool $45 visor into a more useful, utilitarian and easily cleaned $25 clear visor, which is what I’d actually wanted in the first place.
All I have to do now is work out a way to explain how this makes any economic sense at all to SWMBO’d before I have to buy my next one ……………………………
You may recall my 1968 T500 Suzuki Cobra build which was detailed here back in 2014. Once on the road, while the bike ran fine, I was unhappy with the front brake as it juddered and no amount of adjusting of the brake shoes and the brake linkage seemed to fix it, so off it came for a closer inspection. You may well imagine my surprise at finding a series of fine cracks in the cast iron brake liner ! Not good, and definitely the sort of thing that could seriously ruin your day.
This generation of front hub was well-known for cracking, but on the right side plate which I had inspected closely. Admittedly this sort of side wall failure seemed to happen in racing applications where the side stresses are obviously higher than what you would normally expect to encounter, but I had never heard of the liner itself cracking. You can see one set of cracks in the photo below.
The only fix was to replace the entire front drum and so the Cobra was parked in the shed till I could find a replacement. That took a little while, and then as is often the case other events got in the way, so it continued to occupy the ‘I’ve been a very bad boy’ corner of the garage till this year when I decided it really needed to get a bit of use.
While it had been sitting I had decided to have the original wheel rims re-chromed. I had replaced them with new rims when I first did the rebuild. These new rims were from Suzuki, but the original supplier (Takasago) had changed hands and now the rims came with the new manufacturer’s name ‘Excel’ prominently stamped into the side of the rim, which frankly bugged the heck out of me. The original rims had the correct date stamp for the year of the bike (take a look at this link on how to date your Suzuki) and so it made sense to me – if not to anyone else – to put them back on. While I was at it, I also ordered some stainless steel spokes from Buchanan’s in the USA. I’m hoping SWMBO’d will never see the final total cost !
Today I got it all back together and will take it for a ride tomorrow, and while I’m sure there will be other issues still to be sorted, at least I am reasonably sure the front hub will not be coming apart due to stress cracking ! 🙂
You will recall from an earlier post (see this link) , that the first of the three 1972 GT750’s I am restoring was to be in ‘oily rag’ condition, so no new paint, no new fresh chrome but rebuilt/refurbished mechanicals . I made a deliberate choice to use the early style of engine having the bolt on carburettors, and the early style of frame which lacked the added cross-bar between the two down tubes holding the radiator. So the starting point was a bare frame and a set of engine cases, together with some boxes of parts (as always – just ‘click’ on any photo to see a larger version) :
I had several original style crank shafts available, and also had a couple of the newer style ones. The two main differences between the early and late types are the lack of an oiling slot in the small end of the connecting rod, and the width of the fly wheels at the big end due to the change in fixed vs. floating big ends.
This photo shows the two small end designs – new on the left and old on the right. It is interesting to note that several of the engines I’ve opened up have shown bluing on the small ends indicating lubrication issues, and so using the newer style of connecting rod made sense to me. As well, the later style of crankshaft with the full floating big end was to me at least, also preferred. The older crankshafts being heavier may have contributed to the torque many owners attribute to the early engines, but I was less interested in that and very interested in engine longevity. In the end, I used a freshly rebuilt new style crank shaft and did the cylinder block conversion using shouldered cylinder bolts as were introduced with the late 1974 GT750 models and outlined in Service Bulletin GT-6 which you can read at this link. I also updated the starter clutch bearing and clutch main bearing to the later design, again with a view to engine longevity. I had several suitable transmissions to choose from, and I fully rebuilt the water pump using new parts sourced from Reiner in Germany.
The one thing I could not easily fix was the infamous water bypass line join face which was a source of leakage from day one on these engines, and which required a full engine strip to repair. In the photo lower left you can see the original design, and to the right the design that replaced it at engine number 36198.
The only solution to the water bypass problem is to be very careful about using the correct Three Bond sealant, and also to be sure to use some Bar’s Leaks or some other sort of radiator stop leak in the coolant.
I had several sets of wheels and brake drums to choose from, and laced up a couple of wheels using new spokes. Something to be sure to check is that if re-using old brake shoes, be sure that the linings are still actually securely bonded to the metal carrier. I have now seen several instances of the lining separating away from the metal carrier, which could seriously ruin your day if the lining came away completely while riding. New brake shoes are a better idea, and it is worth noting that any of the on-line parts listings I’ve seen for the 1972 GT750 front brakes still show you as needing quantity 4 of the front brake shoes. In actual fact Suzuki updated the packaging at some point, and now include two shoes per card, so rather than having to order 4, you actually only need to order 2 of part number 54401-07840.
The other thing I noticed was that the wheel bearings are quite small on the front drums, and in one instance showed signs of the bearing having spun in the carrier housing. To avoid this happening again I secured the bearings with some Loctite 609 retaining compound which is specifically designed for this exact application.
The rest of the build was fairly straight forward, although I did end up spending quite a bit of time repairing the wiring harness. I’ve also installed a solid state voltage regulator sourced from Oregon Motorcycle Parts , and as well I’ve installed an electronic ignition system from Accent Electronics in Germany as I really like their design and have had no problems with it at all. I also spent quite a bit of time on the clocks, using a pair of my reproduction shells and one of my reproduction trip reset knobs also. I sell the shells on eBay and also directly on request, and as of last week have sold just over 200 of them to owners and restorers of the 1972 GT750 J all over the globe. For details, you are welcome to check this link.
I managed to put together a decent set of original paint ‘Candy Lavender’ tin, a serviceable exhaust set complete with the end cones and I recovered the seat using a Pit Replica cover from Thailand on a rebuilt seat pan using new foam. The end result is one I’m happy with. The bike looks time-worn and used, but handles and runs like new ! Now that the engine is broken in, I’m getting between 45 and 50 miles per Imperial gallon which isn’t bad for this model.
As always, additional detail on the build is elsewhere on my web site – you are welcome to check this link for the Oily Purple story specifically, and this link for the ongoing story on the next two 1972 GT750’s I’ll be restoring over the next couple of years.
After buying my Nimbus, one of the first things I did was contact Ed Oleson in Ontario who is the Nimbus guru here in Canada. I had met him at a couple of the CVMG (Canadian Vintage Motorcycle Group) rallies in Paris, Ontario several years ago which is where I saw his Nimbus for the first time. Prior to that I hadn’t heard of the make and Ed’s bike was (and still is) immaculate. Certainly it made enough of an impression, that after some years of looking I was finally able to buy my own.
While discussing my bike and giving me a few suggestions in the ‘care and maintenance’ area, Ed casually asked whether I’d ever seen a red Nimbus here in Calgary. I hadn’t, but I promised to ask around. They are different enough from anything else on two wheels and also quite rare here in Canada, so I was certain if anyone had seen one they would be sure to remember. In very short order, I was able to connect with another CVMG member here in Calgary, who not only knew of a red Nimbus, but was also able to show me a photo of it and promised to invite me over to take a closer look. More time passed till just last week, when I was finally able to get a good look at the mystery machine and take a few photos.
Every machine has a story to tell. This particular Nimbus started life as a Danish military model, having the small head lamp and the speedometer mounted on the right headlamp mounting bracket. Of interest is that the frame number is within twenty-five numbers of the last Nimbus recorded to have been made, making it perhaps a bit special from a collector perspective. It was originally painted in olive drab and belonged to Ed’s brother Anders, who lives in Denmark. Anders had a sidecar attached, and after an eventful life in Denmark (which included being stolen and retrieved at least once), a deal was made and the sidecar was sold to a buyer in Belgium and the bike itself was crated in a one cubic metre crate for shipment to Ed here in Canada.
Given the Nimbus has a wheelbase of 1.4 metres, to fit it into the shipping crate required fully disassembling the machine, and so Ed painted it and put it back together in his basement during the winter of 1972/1973. The photo below shows Ed’s daughter on the newly restored machine, and the photo at the top of the page shows the bike just after being carried up from Ed’s basement and made ready for its first ride. After being shown at several rallies, including the inaugural CVMG rally held in Welland, Ontario in 1973 where it was one of 37 entries, Ed sold the bike to Frank Tucker here in Calgary, Alberta in the spring of 1975. Ed promptly went and bought another Nimbus which he still has, and is the one I first saw roughly eight years ago. It is red also, but that is story for another time.
Frank was well known as a collector and restorer of Indian motorcycles in Alberta, and he had a passion for four cylinder machines specifically. He was either a founding member, or at least a very early member of the Ace-Hy Motorcycle Club here in Calgary in the early 1940’s. One of his 1940 four cylinder Indians (he had several) was recently restored to as new condition, but he also owned other makes including the Nimbus. Below is a photo taken in 2002 of Frank with his grandson on the Nimbus which was taken at a motorcycle show here in Calgary.
Sadly, Frank died in December of 2003 and while most of the rest of his collection has been sold off in the thirteen years since his passing, the Nimbus still remains. Normally covered with some dust covers, it is sheltered in what can best be described as a very busy shed, but it is safe and also dry.
The engine is dry seized, the tires are well passed their ‘best before’ date and the glass lens is cracked on the speedometer, but otherwise it seems complete and looks to generally be in pretty good shape. I suspect a bit of releasing oil down the spark plug holes would probably free the stuck engine, and the other issues are cosmetic and easily addressed. The ignition key was missing, and while I know you don’t really need one to start the engine, I had a spare Nimbus key which I have given to the family. It is now tie-wrapped to the steering damper.
The plan is for it eventually to be passed down to Frank’s grandson shown in the motorcycle show photo earlier, who hopefully will someday recommission it and ride it again. Until that day comes, the red Nimbus patiently waits.
As per my last post, I have been working on an update to the T/GT500 section of the web site, and the first iteration is now complete. As always, it will continue to evolve as I gather additional material either from my own projects, or from other owners.
There are (in my own view) four main versions of the Suzuki two-stroke 500 twin although it was produced for nine years, and close to 95,000 units rolled off the assembly line. I group them as being:
The 1968 Cobra (or MK I or 500/Five as you prefer and depending on your local market).
The Police version called the Patroller.
The various models produced between 1969 and 1975 which varied for the most part only in paint and trim.
And the 1976/1977 models called the GT500 in most parts of the world.
The link to the new section is here and please do check back every few weeks to see it continue to take shape as new material is added.
For those folks out there who have an interest in old Suzuki’s, I made a few updates to the OJB web site this week. I try to do this about every six months and limit myself to just tuning and tweaks in between. In theory that should lessen the addition of errors, but I’ve found that isn’t always the case ! 🙂
So in no particular order:
I spent few hours at the local library and copied the North American GT750 1977B microfiche into digital format. As a result, I am now cross-eyed and really needing a new set of glasses, but I am hoping some will find it useful. Unlike elsewhere on the globe, North American parts listings after 1974 were not available in a printed format – only on microfiche. While this made them easy to carry, they are very hard to read without the specialised readers, and there are parts differences between the North American models and elsewhere. The link is here.
I’ve also added the 1972 GT750 J owners manual here and the plan is to have all the GT750 owner’s manuals on-line for easy reference eventually. The link is here.
There is the GT250 A service manual supplement here.
And a copy of the T10 parts manual for North America here. It quite an interesting bike as it had a hydraulic rear drum brake which was quite unusual.
There is also the S32-2 service manual supplement here.
In the next several weeks, there will be updates to the Suzuki Dating section (which has nothing to do with what some may be thinking), the T/GT500 section is being completely reworked, plus I have also made quite a number of changes to my ‘Field Guide to the Suzuki GT750‘ – too many to list (plus still more to be added 😕 ), but check out the J, L and B sections, as well as the section on Movies, the Small Screen etc.
No doubt I have managed to also introduce a few errors – but presumably at least a few of the many visitors passing through each day will spot them and let me know !
