The Puller

Getting the barrels off of the GT750 engine can sometimes be damn near impossible. What happens is the cylinder head studs corrode, especially the locator studs, and the barrels become firmly stuck. In the past I’ve pulled the cylinder head nuts and then filled the bolts holes with 3-in1 or PB Blaster penetrant from Canadian Tire, left them to soak for a few days or a week and then been able to eventually wrestle the barrels off.

Suzuki actually recognised that getting the barrels off was a problem quite early in the production of the GT750, and made a change to the cylinder head bolt washers (service bulletin GT-5 of May 1, 1975) to try and address the corrosion issues, and also made available a puller (service bulletin GT-25 of August 15, 1975). Both of these service bulletins, and all the others, are available here and here.  The problem with the Suzuki puller, is that if the barrels are REALLY stuck, then you risk stripping the threads you have to cut in the barrels per their procedure and then you are totally stuffed !

An alternative is as per the photo to the right which was made by John in the local Calgary Water Buffalo group. Basically its a flat steel plate drilled out in the same pattern as the cylinder head. The plate is bolted the top of the barrels and then threaded rod is run through nuts welded to the plate, down into the cylinder bolt holes till they seat on the studs. Then, if all goes well, you just walk the barrels off by progressively tightening the threaded rod which pushes against the tops of the studs and lifts the barrels up and off.

This is a view showing the barrels pulled up part of the way – you can see the degree of corrosion on the studs which meant they really did not want to let go ! In a case such as this, a puller is almost mandatory.

I was just tearing this specific engine down for parts – it is one of two that was included in the 1973 Suzuki GT750 basket case that I picked up in Kincardine, Ontario. While the barrels, crank and pistons were all scrap (lots of severe damage, and signs of seizure), there was a brand new (or at least virtually unused) nylon water pump gear and as well, the side covers and the actual crankcase halves were in good shape as well. As the pistons were first over size, it looks as if the engine had been rebuilt, and then blown up very soon after putting it back on the road.  I’m sure I will be able to use a few of the engine components in other projects at some point.

You can see what the plan is, and follow along on the project progress on the 1973 GT750 project site located here.

1973 GT750 Suzuki Rebuild

For my next project (you can see a list here of what I have planned or completed)  I have picked up this 1973 GT750 basketcase in Rubbermaid tubs from a fellow in Kincardine Ontario – basically after hauling a load of items down east for our son’s I was not prepared to come back empty ! It was advertised as being a 1973, but in truth it was a real dog’s breakfast with parts and pieces from several years, although the tank, side covers, frame, front forks, headlamp, radiator side covers, radiator surround, carburetters and exhaust were from the right year. I was happy to get it if only for the parts – the carbs by themselves were worth the cost of hauling it back, plus I expected to be able to salvage at least something from the two engines also included in the deal.

After doing some soul searching, I’ve settled on a way forward. Basically the engines that were included with the basketcase are the wrong ones for the model year, and in any case are not in the best of shape – one has a holed piston, and the other has had some sort of catastrophic mechanical failure that has destroyed the cylinder barrel as seen in the photo to the left. I’m assuming there are still bits of a connecting rod under the leaves at the bottom of the barrel but given the general condition there doesn’t seem to be much there worth saving other then the engine side covers and (perhaps) the water pump. The second engine is slightly better in that it isn’t seized, and other than the holed piston there doesn’t seem to a lot more wrong with it but of course till I tear it down I won’t know.

As I was picking through the Kincardine Rubbermaid containers, Fred and Janice here in Calgary of the local ‘Loyal Order of Water Buffalos’ sub chapter of the CVMG – Rocky Mountain Section, made me an offer which I couldn’t refuse of another 1973 model year bike. This one has been sitting outside since Adam was a boy and is a very tired old soldier, but it does have the right engine for the model year and a few other good bits and pieces so it should work out, assuming that I can get the engine apart – getting the barrels off these older GT750’s can be next to impossible. I’ve borrowed Fred’s puller which should make it easier, but we’ll see.

So the plan then is as follows:

• Keep the Kincardine Rubbermaid Suzuki rolling frame seen below to the lower left as it is already nicely painted. The front end has a few problems, as does the centre stand, tank and side covers, but I have some parts on hand left over from the GT/GS750 project bike I finished earlier this year so I don’t expect too much trouble – plus it has paperwork which is a pleasant bonus !
• use the engine, instrument cluster, radiator and a few other bits from the donor bike from Fred and Janice seen in the middle photo – most of the rest of the bike, including the frame, is too far gone to salvage. The tank, while not really usable, does have the right pattern for the paint and so will be useful as a guide.
• and at some point later this year or next, I’ll have something that will look like the photo to the lower right !

The next step then is to strip the donor bike down, salvage what I can and also go through the Rubbermaid tubs that came with the Kincardine bike to see what should be kept from it. As with my other projects, I’ll keep a record of what I do and problems I run into on a project site, which for this project will be here.

It should at least keep me out of trouble !

I bought this 1973 GT750 basketcase in Rubbermaid tubs from a fellow in Kincardine Ontario – basically after hauling a load of items down east for our son’s I was not prepared to come back empty ! It was advertised as being a 1973, but in truth it was a real dog’s breakfast with parts and pieces from several years, although the tank, side covers, frame, front forks, headlamp, radiator side covers, radiator surround, carburetters and exhaust were from the right year. I was happy to get it if only for the parts – the carbs by themselves were worth the cost of hauling it back, plus I expect to be able to salvage at least something from the two engines also included in the deal.

In the photo to the lower right, you can see where I’ve stuck some of the bits together just to see how it looks. The seat is one that  had on hand and as you look at it, it almost looks like a real bike. In fact there are a few problems. For example, many parts appear to have been damaged in the course of either disassembly or attempts to repair which will necessitate doing some parts hunting. Most seriously, I’m missing the right version of engine.

After doing some soul searching, I’ve settled on a way forward. Basically as mentioned previously the engines that were included in the basketcase are the wrong ones for the model year, and in any case are not in the best of shape – one has a holed piston, and the other has had some sort of catastrophic mechanical failure that has destroyed the cylinder barrel as seen in the photo to the left. I’m assuming there are still bits of a connecting rod under the leaves at the bottom of the barrel but given the general condition there doesn’t seem to be much there worth saving other then the engine side covers and (perhaps) the water pump. The second engine is slightly better in that it isn’t seized, and other than the holed piston there doesn’t seem to a lot more wrong with it but of course till I tear it down I won’t know.

As I was picking through the Kincardine Rubbermaid containers, Fred and Janice here in Calgary made me an offer which I couldn’t refuse of another 1973 model year bike. This one has been sitting outside since Adam was a boy and is a very tired old soldier, but it does have the right engine for the model year and a few other good bits and pieces so it should work out, assuming that I can get the engine apart – getting the barrels off these older GT750’s can be next to impossible. I’ve borrowed Fred’s puller which should make it easier, but we’ll see.

So the plan then is as follows:

keep the Kincardine Rubbermaid Suzuki rolling frame seen below to the left as it is already nicely painted – the front end has a few problems, as does the centre stand, but I have some parts on hand left over from the GT/GS750 project bike I finished earlier this year so I don’t expect too much trouble – plus it has paperwork which is a pleasant bonus !

use the engine, instrument cluster, radiator and a few other bits from the donor bike from Fred and Janice seen in the middle photo – most of the rest of the bike, including the frame, is too far gone to salvage. The tank, while not really usable, does have the right pattern for the paint and so will be useful as a guide.

and at some point later this year or next, I’ll have something that will look like the photo to the lower right !

The next step then is to strip the donor bike down, salvage what I can and also go through the Rubbermaid tubs that came with the Kincardine bike to see what should be kept from it. It should at least keep me out of trouble !

Crosby Again

While we were in Ontario for our son’s graduation last month, I took the opportunity to drop by Crosby Hieghts public school to pick up one of their 50th anniversary t-shirt’s and also to take a quick look around. I wrote about rediscovering some of my grade one classmates and Crosby’s 50th anniversay planning here and so wanted to hear a bit about how the event had gone. Sounds like they had a great time, and walking around the place brought back many memories – once I found the entrance ! The old entrance where the principal’s office used to be (I seem to recall spending quite a bit of time in there ….) was locked as a new office facility had been built, together with a new parking lot and a completely new entrance off of the east side – the school has grown quite a bit and is considerably larger than when I attended !

Once I managed to find my way in, the staff were very accomodating, and I was asked to speak to one of the grade 6 classes in what is now the library, but which used to be part of the north playground when I was there. It was an interesting experience, and there were some good questions from the kids, but as it was pretty much the last day of classes for them I tried to keep it short and let them get on with their summer.

As a part of the preparation for the 50th anniversary event, I had been interviewed by a couple of the grade 6 students (Phyllis and Jansen), and that material had been included in a multi-media presentation the class had put together for visitors to watch during the 50th anniversary event. The class had done quite a number of interviews, and I was impressed with just how well it turned out – they did a really nice job.

As I left, I walked by my 1st grade classroom – yes its still there, and if you took away the TV and the other modern additions perhaps not surprisingly it really doesn’t look much different to how it looked when I was in that same room in 1959. Just like 50 years ago it was filled with the bustle and noise of small children – and I wondered what they will recall of their experience 50 years from now, and whether they will have the honour of being interviewed for a 100th anniversary ………….

9,574 km Later …..

We are safely back home again after our trip down east – we were away 20 days, although just nine days were ‘travel’ days and we covered a total of 9,574 kilometres. The average fuel consumption over the entire distance with the Volvo while hauling a trailer, turned out to be 10.6 l/100 km or about 26.7 miles per Imperial gallon and we averaged 84 km/hour over the whole trip. I improved on the fuel consumption from what I was able to get last year, by just lowering the rear tail gate on the trailer to reduce its wind resistance – doing so basically paid for about three tanks of gas and so was well worth it. We had good visits with both my brothers, a few friends and also relatives on my wife’s side of the family, and best of all spent some time with our two son’s. The high point was the graduation of our younger son Derek at York University.  All in all, a very successful trip.

We took the trailer so we could deliver a load of items to our sons in Ontario, and rather than come home ‘empty’ we dragged back a 1973 Suzuki GT750 basket case seen in the photo to the right which is in a very sorry state, but which does have a few parts and pieces I can use elsewhere if I don’t actually try and restore it. As well, tucked away in one of the boxes, was a possibly rare Clymer repair manual – it is a third printing covering only the 1972 380cc through 750cc Suzuki triples, is dated 1974, and appears to have not been used so I’ll add it to the collection in my library. I need to clear away a few of my other projects before I decide what I’m going to do with the basket case, so it will probably just sit in a heap in a corner of the garage till next year at which point I will include it on my project web site.

While travelling we usually try to use Shell fuel stations as they are after all the folks paying my pension, but after having travelled to both the east and west coasts of North America a couple of times in the past year I can say with some authority that Shell really doesn’t always make it easy for expressway and turnpike travellers to buy their products. We several times fuelled up at Esso/Exxon or some other brand simply because they had advertised ahead on the highway so we knew they were there when we needed fuel – while a Shell station may have also been available, we many times didn’t find out about it till we had passed it. The other thing was being able to easily get to a station that you knew existed. Many years ago, a fellow I worked with by the name of Jerry Beneteau told me that the secret of a successful service station was ‘good dirt’ – it appears that this useful insight has been lost by Shell retail in the USA and Canada, as in a few cases, having confirmed that a Shell station existed, getting to it was not convenient from the perspective of a highway traveller wanting to just fill and go with the least fuss and time investment.

The other thing I really started to find annoying was in the USA being sometimes asked to enter a zip code at the pumps when paying by credit card – of course, being from Canada I don’t have a #$%@ zip code so I then had to go into the office and negotiate with the sales clerk which sort of defeats the whole idea of speed and convenience in today’s self serve world.  In one case (not a Shell station) , I actually had to prepay and then go back and get a refund for the amount I didn’t put into the tank !  I can accept the idea of doing something to reduce fraud, but modern credit cards have PIN numbers so rather than creating a new, non-standard method I don’t understand why they wouldn’t just use what already exists ? It seemed to me to be a slightly stupid, non-customer focused process.

When I was working at Shell, I recall regular discussions amongst the retail folks about how to boast sales – I think one easy way would be to stick a few senior executives in a couple of cars for a few weeks, and have them do some actual ‘on the ground’, coast to coast highway learning to see what it looks like from the customer side, rather than from the inside of their offices.  I’m pretty sure there would be a few changes made really quickly if they did !