Project two-stroke...

I thought I might aswell write about my new project on here, as some might like to see it.

I was on eBay browsing late at night as usual and ended up buying this:




It's a 1980 Suzuki GT 125, Two stroke Twin cylinder. It's been badly 'Cafe Racered' and hasn't been on the roads since 1999.




The previous owner had it sorned for around 4 years, then he sold it to the guy I bought it off (in a house collection), when It got delivered I was handed a few pages of paperwork, including a Haynes Manual, and a receipt for oversize pistons.

It has plenty of compression, yet had no spark when I tested it. I took the stator cover off and had a quick look, to find it has had new points and new condensers.



I got out my feeler gauges and adjusted the points, gave it a quick kick over and got a massive spark !

I'm hoping after a good clean of the carbs I'll have it running this weekend.

I plan to make it look like an earlier model GT, with the chrome rear mudguard and light, similar to this one below:



I will be keeping all the original parts & spraying them as well so I can always revert the look back to a 1979 model if I want too.
I've ordered a mudguard off eBay from the USA, a new set of 70's side panels, A zinc plating kit to do some bits, a new gasket set and picked myself up a new seat earlier this evening.

 

Good little find that, hopefully you can get it going!

 

have the clock face plastics gone that crappy yellow colour and cracked common fault on old suzuki's where others used glass they used plastic

 

Will look forward to the updates. Keep us posted :thumbsup:

 

Clock's are in good nick ! I've read they were a common problem, Suzuki trying to cut costs using plastic I guess..

The tank should look like this :



It's a 1980 model, so a different style tank I assume ? Although it's very possible it's the wrong tank, seeing as I'm going to put some earlier bits on it I may just get another tank.

I'll be pricing it up to get the frame & swing arm powder coated next week, does anyone know a good place that does it ?

 

Think it looks pretty cool as it is, some better bars, a carrier Tlc ,way u go. Ps check its Timed up Properly.

 

I think if the previous owner has forgotten to gap the points, the timing will be way out ! So will check it when the engine goes back in.

I managed to strip some bits off the other day and got the engine out for a look.



The top end of the engine all looks good, with the oversize pistons fitted.



Then this morning my 'new old' side panels arrived, so I had a quick mock up of the seat & panels.



Then got to work stripping down the rest of the bike for powder coating next week, it's now sat in the garden like this.



Also took off the old tax disc, I might copy this and put it back on the bike, seeing as they're not needed now.

 

I had a brand new gt125 in 1980 it was a great little bike, it felt like a rocket to a 17 year old lad red line in every were.
Can't wait to see your progress with this one.
Keep us posted mate.:thumbsup:

 

Got a few bits for the bike this week:



Not looking forward to fitting the new steering head bearings, I'm going from the original individual ball bearings to the modern tapered bearings.

Speedo & Tacho are odd unfortunately, So will need to get a new speedo before I paint & restore them.

Having loads of trouble getting new fenders unfortunately, have found one which is perfect, although it's in France and the seller refuses to ship it .

Will hopefully have the frame dropped off at the powder coaters tomorrow, or Tuesday so should get that back next week.

Stephen.

 

I've not had much progress with the bike yet due to being lazy and not wanting to spend any money .

A new powder coating place opened up a few months ago over the road from where I work, so I'm going to use them to have the frame done either this week or next week, they do all shot-blasting on site, and have an Acid Dipping tank, so should get a good finish & will be handy to have them dip a few other bits for me to strip the paint.

I found a rear mudguard from Germany for £50 and ordered it, It's in really poor condition and would cost a bomb to have it re-chromed, but luckily I found a guy selling one in France the other week and ordered one in slightly better nick from him, along with a set of original air boxes, some ignition bits, and some other little bits & bobs.

The plan now is to paint the handlebar switches this week, once the frame is powder coated build it up as much as I can to get it out the way, and then once I've sourced a tank spray the tank & plastics.

I haven't even touched the engine yet, but It's being completely stripped and vapour blasted, then rebuilt with all new seals/gaskets.

The only real thing I've done to the bike is paint the headlight.

When the previous owner 'Cafe Racered' the bike, he removed the speedo/tacho and replaced it with a single speedo, butchering the headlight in the process by drilling a hole and mounting the ignition barrel in it. As I'm restoring it back to stock, the ignition barrel will be mounted under the speedo, So the hole in the headlight had to be filled.



I used a 1" hole saw on my pillar drill to cut a circle in a piece of scrap steel. I then welded that into the headlight, to roughly fill the original hole, I then gave it a quick skim of bodyfiller, and flatted the filler, I then applied a few coats of filler primer and painted it gloss black.





I'm happy with the shine I got from the paint, but there's little bits of dust and rubbish in the finish. I wanted to paint it purely because I was bored and it wasn't going to cost me anything, although I'm going to have this acid dipped with the rest of the bike bits and spray it again.

I want to have the bike done for March/April so I really need to get my finger out and get it done !

 

Thanks for the up date i was wondering how you were getting on with the gt.
Nice to see some progess.
Keep up the good work mate.:thumbsup:

 

Managed to spend a few hours prepping some bits for powder coating today, should be able to drop the frame off on Tuesday to be coated, I just have to finish repairing a bit of the frame, and have to remove the old bearing races from the steering yoke in preparation for the new tapered roller bearings.

I stripped the filthy caliper, which is going to get completely rebuild with new piston & seals, after being powder coated satin black.



Most of it came apart quite easily, although the screw that held one half of the pads in was rounded off, and seized solid. I tried heat, My impact driver, and cutting a slot in the head of it and turning it with a screw driver to get it out, but had no luck. So I drilled the head off, drilled a little bit into the shaft of the screw, then punched the pads out with a punch.



This is what I found behind the pad, no wonder it was seized.



I welded up some holes in the back of the frame that someone had drilled (I can only presume as part of the terrible 'Cafe racer conversion')

Then I noticed part of the frame where the footrest hangar bolts to is broken, I cut a piece of metal the right shape, then welded it in, and am going to drill & tap it. I got about 70% done, then my welder decided it'd had enough and died on me, So I'll take it to work tomorrow and finish it!



Should have it powder coated this week hopefully

 

I don't know where you are based but 'hi-tech coatings' in the RAINFORD Industrial estate do a great job and a cheap price too if cash. Most of the lads there are bikers and take great care to plug up threaded holes etc unlike some coaters who do bikes less often. The Forman there is a top bloke. 1 day turn around on parts too