Fawteen
Well-known Member
- Location
- Downeast Maine
- Thread starter Fawteen
- Start date
larry@stinescorner
Well-known Member
thats really interesting! I had a 1975 Kawaski 500 ,bought it brand new,I Think around 1200 /1500 dollars It was fast,,,but Im lucky Im still here to talk about it,,,lol
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Fawteen
Well-known Member
- Location
- Downeast Maine
There is a reasonable assortment of conversions out there for the old points bikes. I put a PAMCO unit on my XS650 and it's marvelous: Set and forget. Starts better, runs cleaner, never needs tweaking.
The ones for the Suzuki and Kawasaki triples are correspondingly more expensive and many come out of the UK where the two stroke street bikes are hugely popular.
The PAMCO uses a rotor with magnetic inserts which fire a Hall Effect transistor. The unit I'm looking at for the Zook uses a slotted disk that makes and breaks a beam on a photocell.
The ones for the Suzuki and Kawasaki triples are correspondingly more expensive and many come out of the UK where the two stroke street bikes are hugely popular.
The PAMCO uses a rotor with magnetic inserts which fire a Hall Effect transistor. The unit I'm looking at for the Zook uses a slotted disk that makes and breaks a beam on a photocell.
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Fawteen
Well-known Member
- Location
- Downeast Maine
I rode one of those shortly after they came out. I'd been riding for several years by then and had been playing around with some pretty hairy dirt bikes and dabbling (unsuccessfully) in motocross.
That thing scared the slime out of me. Feller told me to go easy on first and second gears, but when I hit third I twisted it's tail and when that puppy hit the power band and hauled the front wheel off the pavement at about 40 mph, I about soiled my BVDs. Fun when you knew it was coming tho.
Problem with them was that the handling was marginal and the brakes downright laughable. Most guys I knew that had them rode them until they scared themselves silly a couple of times and sold them. I have seen a restored ones with upgraded suspension and decent brakes that I'd like to try out. Prices on them are nearly as ridiculous as restored muscle cars tho.
That thing scared the slime out of me. Feller told me to go easy on first and second gears, but when I hit third I twisted it's tail and when that puppy hit the power band and hauled the front wheel off the pavement at about 40 mph, I about soiled my BVDs. Fun when you knew it was coming tho.
Problem with them was that the handling was marginal and the brakes downright laughable. Most guys I knew that had them rode them until they scared themselves silly a couple of times and sold them. I have seen a restored ones with upgraded suspension and decent brakes that I'd like to try out. Prices on them are nearly as ridiculous as restored muscle cars tho.
dr sportster
Well-known Member
I remember those. My friend would let me ride his. They had a digital readout for what gear you were in which was pretty novel at the time. The one you have is very clean for how old it is.
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Fawteen
Well-known Member
- Location
- Downeast Maine
That photo was definitely taken by a Spin Doctor. The bike was actually filthy, rusty and covered in 40 years of road scum.
But, the tin is straight and the engine seems to be sound so everything else is just time and elbow grease.
I'm about to go see if I can buff the rust and pitting out of the fork tubes. It's not down where it'll tear up fork seals, but it's pretty unsightly. Then I've got to see if the spare headlight shell I've got for the Yamaha can be adapted to fit the Zook. The original is beyond saving. First glance looks like it'll work.
But, the tin is straight and the engine seems to be sound so everything else is just time and elbow grease.
I'm about to go see if I can buff the rust and pitting out of the fork tubes. It's not down where it'll tear up fork seals, but it's pretty unsightly. Then I've got to see if the spare headlight shell I've got for the Yamaha can be adapted to fit the Zook. The original is beyond saving. First glance looks like it'll work.
My first bike I got when I was 16 was a Suzuki T350. I don't remember the year but I got it in 1980 so it must have been about 10 years old. Two stroke two cylinder road bike. I grew to really dislike that thing. Hard to start and noisy as hell. If it didn't start on the first or second kick it would flood and then you got to spend 10 minutes kicking the thing and playing with the chock before it would decide to start. Never got used to the two stroke engine noise. Sounded just like a big chain saw. It did have pretty good power for the size of bike it was.
Second bike was a 1978 GS550 Suzuki. That was a pretty nice bike. It ended up getting put in my dad's machine shed after I finished college and moved out of state. It sat for 20 years. Gave it to my nephew a few years back because he was into playing with motors and mechanical stuff. He got it back on the road and sold it to buy a better bike.
Second bike was a 1978 GS550 Suzuki. That was a pretty nice bike. It ended up getting put in my dad's machine shed after I finished college and moved out of state. It sat for 20 years. Gave it to my nephew a few years back because he was into playing with motors and mechanical stuff. He got it back on the road and sold it to buy a better bike.
Robin Hood
Member
Quite a project you have underway. I like the way you have it organized too. That is a good lesson for anyone doing a major rebuild. A little extra time on the front end will pay greatly at the back end when things go back together. I have learned that lesson too, but I had to learn it the hard way. Good luck with it.
Is that oil injection or mix?
Is that oil injection or mix?
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Fawteen
Well-known Member
- Location
- Downeast Maine
Injection. One of the things I have to check and make sure is working properly.
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Fawteen
Well-known Member
- Location
- Downeast Maine
Nice Beemer!
Still riding that one?
Still riding that one?
blue water massey
Well-known Member
ah the memories
my 1st bike 1976 Suzuki GT550 triple
two stroke oil injected
paid 500 bucks for it back
wish I still had it
was the best bike of 6 I ever had
starter on mine was toast and a new one was more than I aid for the bike but it almost always fired on one kick so never fixed the starter
the muffles rotted bad on mine so we took the middle tube and made two tubes to connect it the outter two pipes the put two after market mufflers on the ends cleaned up the look as well as the noise level
rode that bike everyhere put over 30,000 on it in one yr
never had any trouble setting the points up or timing them either 8 thou before TDC if I remmember correct but I think we added 2 thou for more advance
getting the carbs in sync was the hardest but not too hard if you have the eguipment but can be done with 3 vacum gauges
was told to use injector oil in and never had any issues with it
and agin if memory serves me right it only used about 1qt of oil about every 1000 miles
wish I still had pics of it
I'll be watching this progress along
thanks Fawteen
my 1st bike 1976 Suzuki GT550 triple
two stroke oil injected
paid 500 bucks for it back
wish I still had it
was the best bike of 6 I ever had
starter on mine was toast and a new one was more than I aid for the bike but it almost always fired on one kick so never fixed the starter
the muffles rotted bad on mine so we took the middle tube and made two tubes to connect it the outter two pipes the put two after market mufflers on the ends cleaned up the look as well as the noise level
rode that bike everyhere put over 30,000 on it in one yr
never had any trouble setting the points up or timing them either 8 thou before TDC if I remmember correct but I think we added 2 thou for more advance
getting the carbs in sync was the hardest but not too hard if you have the eguipment but can be done with 3 vacum gauges
was told to use injector oil in and never had any issues with it
and agin if memory serves me right it only used about 1qt of oil about every 1000 miles
wish I still had pics of it
I'll be watching this progress along
thanks Fawteen
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Fawteen
Well-known Member
- Location
- Downeast Maine
I've got more experience than I care to admit synching motorcycle carbs. The carbs on this thing are all bolted to a common bracket and the three throttle slides are operated by one cable operating a common shaft with three lifter arms on it.
I can get them REAL close by bolting the assembly together and then using a feeler gauge to set each slide to the same height. If necessary, I can hook my homey-made manometer up to fine tune them.
That's a LONG way down the road yet tho.
I can get them REAL close by bolting the assembly together and then using a feeler gauge to set each slide to the same height. If necessary, I can hook my homey-made manometer up to fine tune them.
That's a LONG way down the road yet tho.
BWM, I had 2 of those GT550's. They were old when I got them, probably 15 years ago. I acquired a GT750 parts bike at the same time. The 550's sure were noisy, things lol. I ended up parting out all three of them and scrapping the remnants. My buddy still has a running GT 550. I moved on to a '78 Yamaha 750 twin that wadded up the engine telling/showing a buddy that it would run 140 mph. It did, it touched 140 for about 10 seconds before it came unglued. Then got a GS750, now that was a smooth, fast bike.
Ross
Ross
Only cycle I bought new from dealer was a 1968 T500 Suzi. Got a few speeding tickets with it. Finally sold with some other cycles when younger brother died and old family farm shed space no longer available. The BMW /2s and the /6 project supposed to have gone to a shafty collector, various of the Japanese 2 strokes like the 250 and old t500 leftovers went who knows where- the guy acting as sales agent for most of them had about 10 days to find buyers before scrap man came. The 550 4stroke went to cousin, he's slowly getting it ready for road. Got about $900.00 as half share for the lot, kept the CM400,Oldwing and lately have a 30 some year old 650 suzi as this seasons run around. RN
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