Metric Drill Bits and Canada

Every once and while you stumble across something unexpected – take drill bits for example. Canada started to move over to the  ‘metric’ system of weights and measures in 1970 and by 1980 most things people dealt with on a daily basis (weather forecasts, highway signs, fuel for the family car etc.) had been switched over. There continue to be oddities, largely for historical reasons. For example, you still see lumber sold as 2×4’s , and 4×8 foot sheets of 1/2 inch plywood even though if you check closely you will find it is actually cut to a metric size. There are other examples, which brings us to drill bits.

Today while doing some work on one of the GT750’s I’m restoring, I broke my 4 mm drill bit which was very upsetting. This bit is part of a set I bought in Holland, sold under the Black and Decker label,  and they are the best drill bits I’ve ever owned. They cut through steel like a laser and after repeated use, are still sharp and a delight to own. Most folks would have familiarity with the usual drill bits you get stuck with which although marked as ‘cobalt’, or ‘HSS’ are seemingly made of a soft material akin to cheese ! Often all they do is remove the rust, and make a small, hot,  shiny spot on the surface of whatever you are desperately trying to bore through, while you apply yet more pressure till you can’t see for the smoke starting to wisp out of your over-heated drill ! In contrast , if you expose a metal surface to these Dutch drill bits, a hole seemingly appears as if by magic with those lovely little metal swarfs evenly turned out on both sides of the drill bit’s flutes – almost pure poetry and no effort at all !

Alas, today due to a brief moment of inattention, my drill fell over and landed on the floor ‘bit first’ and my 4 mm drill bit snapped into many small pieces. After a lengthy commentary using colourful language directed at the floor, the drill and the idiot who’d allowed it to happen, I regained my composure and I said to myself  ‘OK – I’ll just go out and buy another !’. That’s when I learned something quite interesting. In Canada, after more than three decades of being a metric country, you can’t easily buy a metric measure drill bit anywhere !

Canadian Tire is usually my first shop of choice – after searching around for a while I finally asked one of the pimply faced sales clerks for some help. I normally try to avoid doing this, as often all you get is a limp arm wave in an ambiguous direction, and some mumbling about checking aisle 489 or something – they usually don’t have a clue and you are better off just moving into the store for a couple of days still you can find it yourself. In this instance, while his eyes did glaze over somewhat, he surprised me and actually did know where the drill bits were kept and was able to confirm to me what I’d already figured out – there weren’t any metric ones visible on the shelf. He then checked the store inventory via the store’s computerized inventory system and found an interesting thing – Canadian Tire doesn’t list metric drill bits for sale ! I thought this was quite surprising and asked him to please double check (this is Canada – we say please a lot here). At this point the back up system they use was brought to bear and what looked to be a 200 year old guy was wheeled out from some dusty back room where he is kept for emergencies, and he carefully told me that it was true – they don’t stock metric drill bits, and that what I should do is buy a 1/8th inch size as it was almost the same.  This is true – it is ‘almost’ the same and actually is only about 0.03248 inches too small – that’s not the point. Putting aside the amount of maths one would have to do in one’s head while standing in front of a display of fractional inch drill bits ( and this is a daunting thought when one considers 4 mm is 0.157480315 inches, and a 1/8th inch drill bit is 0.125 inches which is a slightly better option than a 3/16th inch one at 0.1875 inches which would be too big, etc.) I was left wondering how is it possible that in Canada, after being metric for more than 30 years, when I’m trying to cut a hole for a metric tap to make a metric thread, I have to run around and figure out what arcane fractional sized Imperial drill bit is ‘close’ to what I actually need ? After over 30 years, why can’t I just buy the correct damn size ?

Canadian Tire had no answers to that question, and I have since checked at my other usual places of entertainment – RONA, Home Depot, Princess Auto, etc., and find that none of them have metric drill bits either. I’ve also checked on eBay, and interestingly most of the hits I get when I do find metric drill bits are from UK based stores which I find very odd given the UK is the home of all things measured Imperial ! As things sit at the moment, I suppose I will eventually find what I want in some specialty tool place somewhere in Calgary, or the other option will be that I have to take a quick trip back to Holland or the UK to get some decent  – correct – drill bits.

Weird.

Kentucky’s National Quilt (Museum !) plus Dillon’s

Leaving Rotary Recycle, we continued north through Tennessee’s rolling hills and cotton fields, through Nashville and into Kentucky. We had debated (very briefly) stopping in Nashville to see a few of the sights, but neither of us is even slightly interested in country music or country singers. Consequently the level of enthusiasm for stopping was rather less than it would have been for hitting one’s thumb with a hammer – in others words, not very high at all !  Our Kentucky target was the town of Paducah located at the juncture of the Ohio and Tennessee rivers, and it is as close to being the quilting capital of the USA as one is likely to get as it is the home of the National Quilt Museum ! A friend of mine in Toronto has expressed surprise that such a place actually exists, or that anyone (me for example) would actually want to go to such a place – he probably won’t eat Quiche either ! Putting aside the fact that I generally go where ever SWMBO’d tells me, the fact is modern-day quilting at the higher levels is an art form, rather than being a means to make something to keep you warm at night. Some of the examples produced within the past 20 years or so are really quite amazing to look at, and in many cases may have taken years to complete. The museum has about 200 quilts on display, made by women – and a few men – from around the world,  and they have been indexed in an on-line format here.

At the moment, the museum is featuring a special exhibit of WWII quilts. These include many quilts that were made to be auctioned off as a part of fund-raising efforts in communities during the war, as well as quilts made to be distributed by agencies such as the Red Cross either to civilians or to service people overseas. There was actually a Canadian made Red Cross quilt, suitable for a child, which had been originally distributed in England and was now a part of the collection, which has been pulled together by Sue Reich who also researches and gives lectures about quilt making history. It is quite a moving, as well as interesting display. If you like art – and especially if you like quilts – recommended !

Continuing north through Illinois, Missouri and Iowa the ground levels out, the cotton fields give way to fields of corn, and grain, and the trees start to disappear as you enter the central plains and prairies. Along the way, we made a small detour into Nebraska and the city of Omaha to drop in and see the folks at Dillon Brothers Motorsports which is whom I normally order my Suzuki parts from. As I’ve commented previously a few times here, the prices for parts from Suzuki Canada are often (not always – you do have to check) double what the exact same parts are sold for by Suzuki in America. I think Suzuki Canada’s behaviour is borderline criminal, but that’s life – I just don’t feel obliged to support them, and so have purchased several thousand dollars worth of parts, mainly from Dillon Brothers, in the US over the past couple of years. Even after adding in the costs of shipping and brokerage fees I have saved a bundle over what it would have cost me to deal with Suzuki Canada resellers.

Of course, when buying items over the internet, you always have a nagging thought at the back of your mind, as to whether the outfit is just a couple of unshaven guys sitting there in their underwear amid piles of empty beer cans and operating out of their basement, or whether it is actually a ‘reputable’ company, hence the slight detour to just take a quick look ! I’m pleased to say, Dillon Brothers has quite a nice facility so hopefully they will whether the current economic squeeze and continue in business for as long as I need parts !

We are starting to get close to home – just a few more stops !

Barber Museum and Rotary Recycle

Leaving New Orleans,we headed north out of Louisiana, through Mississippi and then into Alabama to the site of the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum which is located about halfway between the city of Birmingham and the Talladega racetrack. As we drove north, the vegetation changed from tropical trees, live oaks, the occasional banana and palm tree, to being more of a mixed, almost temperate forest and the sugar cane gave way to cotton fields.  The swamps gave way to rolling hills and obviously we were no longer at sea level.

The Barber collection of vintage motorcycles is counted as being the largest in the world, and one of its several claims to fame is that 99% of the bikes can be made to run within an hour. That would likely not be true of the single example of the Suzuki GT750 they had as it was incomplete, and not really ‘correct’ which was a bit disappointing.  By way of compensation, the other bikes that were on display were beautiful and there were many I’d only ever read about: Munch Mammoth, Kawasaki 1300 6 cylinder, Benelli 750 Sei, Allen Millyard’s V8, 1300 cc Kawasaki etc. It’s almost too much to grasp as there is something like 1200 machines in the collection ! I could probably have stayed there for days, but we did have a firm appointment for dinner that evening with some friends so eventually, and regretfully we had to leave. There is an annual swap meet and auction held at the facility in October and I had hoped to attend this year, but that just didn’t work out from a scheduling perspective, however I am seriously thinking of going next year.  And you can be assured if I do, that I will be spending much more time in the museum – highly recommended.

The next day, we went to meet Jess Stockwell the new owner of a company called Rotary Recycle in  a little town called Tullahoma in Tennessee.  On the way there we drove by the Jack Daniels distillery in Lynchburg, but we didn’t stop – if you can believe it,  it is located in a ‘dry’ county (has been so since prohibition) – so there are no sales of alcoholic beverages, and no tasting on the tour ! You have to drive to the next county to buy a bottle of JD – weird. 

Rotary Recycle was started by Sam Costanzo who bought the remaining RE5 stock and spares from Suzuki when Suzuki decided to give up on the rotary (Wankel) engined RE5 motorcycle that they produced in 1975 and 1976. He also bought up whatever parts and pieces he could track down for the Hercules W-2000 rotary engined bike, built by Sachs/DKW in 1974/1975. With Sam’s retirement, the business was sold to Jess who has relocated the stock and parts to the new warehouse location he has put together in Tullahoma. The business has been open at the new location for about 6 weeks and the web site is still a it rough, but hopefully things will come together in the next short while.

Walking through the warehouse (visits are by appointment only), I was amazed at the amount of material on hand as well as the number of certified, used engines and parts bikes on hand for both the Suzuki RE5 and Hercules W-2000. It is an immense collection – most probably the largest gathering of rotary engined motorcycles on the globe, and I really hope Jess can make a go of it as it would be a huge loss to the RE5/W2000 owner community if he doesn’t. If you own one of these rotary engined motorcycles, give him a call.

Next stop – the National Quilt Museum !

Powder Prep

I’ve been spending a few days preparing several items for the Calgary CVMG club ‘powder coating day’ this coming Saturday.  Should be interesting as I haven’t actually seen this done before – other than on television of course ! I hope to have two motorcycle frames ready to go – both are Suzuki’s, one being a 1973 GT750 and the other being a 1977 GT500. I’ve spent the past few days disassembling and getting them stripped down, taken lots of photos and bagged and tagged many of the smaller bits and pieces, nuts and bolts.

Today I spent some time washing off the accumulated dirt and  oil from 30+ years of use.  I had briefly thought of  doing this in my driveway using my pressure washer, but very quickly rejected the idea as it would flush small amounts of oil and grease down the storm drain. Instead, I took everything over to a local Shell car wash as they (supposedly) are set up to keep this sort of debris out of the storm water system.

I’ve touched on Shell’s marketing folks and what an odd lot they are previously. Some time ago (before I retired !) I had suggested to the same brilliant marketing folks at Shell that keep closing filling stations so you can’t find one when you need one, that they start to consider the value of putting Shell’s name on the roofs of our buildings. When you consider the number of people using the various free mapping services offering satellite photos that show tons of detail, you would think it would be a no-brainer. A few companies have actually done this in the USA, and Microsoft offers this capability in a virtual fashion with Tim  Horton’s coffee shops and Petro-Canada filling stations in some parts of Canada using their Bing mapping service. In the photo to the right, you can see the Shell station and car wash I used – or at least you can now that I’ve pinned a label on it with an arrow !  Imagine how it would look with a big Shell pecten on the roof – this of course hasn’t happened. As I may have mentioned previously, our marketing folks border on genius in much the same way that hammers do – not very much at all actually, but I digress ……

The parts are now all freshly washed, and tomorrow I go over to the good folks at Consolidated Compressor here in Calgary to sand blast all the bits and pieces. I wrote about them previously here , and this time I will be using their indoor glass bead blasting cabinet for the smaller items and the outside sand blasting stations for the two frames. I have to admit, for someone like myself who doesn’t have to do this sort of thing for a living, there is a certain fascination about watching the old paint, rust and anything else that happens to get in the way and isn’t firmly attached get blasted into oblivion – it promises to be fun ! If all goes well, I’ll have Friday to blow out any bits of grit and make sure everything is ready to go for the main powder coating event Saturday morning.

I’ll let you know how it goes !

1973 GT750 Rebuild – Rethink

More problems – so making a few changes to the project plan.

Once I had the Calgary donor bike stripped down, I was able to put its frame along side the Kincardine frame and then noticed a few differences. Earlier GT750 frames in 1972 had a 2 bolt hole side stand and in late 1972 for the 1973 model year, this was changed to a 3 bolt side stand mount. For some reason, the Kincardine frame was the earlier 2 bolt hole style, and the side stand itself was not original and would need to be replaced. As well, on closer inspection I found that the Kincardine frame had a broken engine mount. The engine and frame for the Calgary bake were original and so the serial numbers very nearly matched (Suzuki frame and engine serial numbers seldom match exactly, and can actually differ by a wide margin). As they were original and close, it seemed a shame to give that up. The frame was cracked in the rear fender stay – not really a key structural member and so could easily be welded. The centre and side stands were both in very good shape. The engine was another story entirely. The Kincardine frame of course had no engine, and so would have been a ‘bitsa’ bike anyway – given a choice then of building a ‘bitsa’ or doing a restoration, I decided to restore the Calgary frame and engine. Of course nothing is ever easy …..

Whenever the Calgary bike had been parked – sometime back in the 1980’s – the oil was allowed to drain out and then it had sat outside in the snow and rain for the next 25 years or so. The barrels came off easily using the puller, but the sight that met my eyes once I cracked open the side cover wasn’t pretty.

There was a lot of rust – my guess is that the engine probably had been in good condition when parked, but over the years had gradually become seized solid with corrosion. Basically other than the cases, barrels, cylinder head and side covers there wasn’t much else I could really use – luckily I have several sets of transmission clusters, and crankshaft assembles so I can replace all the internals with parts from other engines. This does cause a bit of a potential problem though, as the number of teeth on some of the drive and intermediate gears changed over the model years, and I’m not sure which model year cluster sets I have on hand. As well, I will have to mix and ,match the gear sets a bit to minimise the lash in the drive train. Normally there are paint codes on the inside of the engine case, and sometimes on the gear clusters also to assist with lash adjustment, but for some reason this engine had no paint codes inside at all. The water pump, not surprisingly, is shot but I can either rebuild it or replace it. More work than I had expected, but all very doable.

Today I took in a GT750 crankshaft to Greg’s Cycle here in Calgary to have new seals installed. Assuming that nothing much else is wrong with it, I expect It should be ready in about 2 to 3 weeks.  I still need to check the barrels to see whether I need to use over-sized pistons, or just re-use standard size ones, but that can wait till after the crankshaft is finished, and I have the gear clusters, crankshaft and all the other bits and pieces back in the cases.

The next few weeks then will be busy getting the above items sorted, plus I have another item I need to prepare for also. Our club is having a ‘powder-coat’ day here in Calgary in early September which I’d really like to take advantage of. This is made possible by a local supplier and basically you show up with your items prepped and ready to go, and take them home freshly powder coated for very reasonable rates. With a bit of luck I hope to have both a GT750 and GT500 frame ready to go, together with all the bits and pieces (battery box, side and centre stands, swing arm etc.).

Of course that means I’ll need to strip down the 1977 GT500, which I haven’t really even looked at yet.

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 !

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 !

The GT550 Lives !

For those who have been following along, the engine started up almost immediately and I took it out for a short ride today. It sounds good, no ‘bad’ engine noises at all after about 20 miles so I think I’ll call this one a success. There is still a lot of snow on the ground – I have about a 1 metre pile at the end of my driveway for example, but there is lots of snow elsewhere on the sides of the roadway and people’s yards as well, although the roadways are generally clear. The air is a bit brisk, but the real worry is all the sand and small gravel on the roads from the winter as they have not been swept yet, plus as the temperatures drop quickly in the evening things like sewer covers can get quite slick.

One minor problem I had during the first few miles was the turn signal switch which seized up solidly. It had been a bit tight when I was testing it, but I thought it would loosen up with a bit of use. After disassembling the mechanism, I found nothing wrong with it mechanically and so just lubed it up with some dielectric grease and it now work fine.  At any rate, the plan for the next while is to gradually put some mileage on both the GT550 and the GT750 project bike  over the next few weeks, and to see what else shakes loose, or needs to be adjusted before taking either bike for longer runs.  I also have a few additional photos etc. to go up on the GT550 web site, as well as a short list of minor updates so that will keep me busy also.

With a bit of luck, I may be able to show them off at the CVMG Bike Night sometime in the next few weeks - all we need is some warm weather !

GT550 Rebuild Continues

Following on from my previous post on my Suzuki GT550 rebuild, it seems that luck is in short supply as I am still waiting for a couple of seals to arrive.  For whatever reason, there seems to be an inordinate number of basic things just not available for this specific model – like an o-ring for the starter motor for example which Suzuki has rather unkindly discontinued ! I have one coming from an NOS parts supplier in Toronto, and while I likely could also have matched one up from an industrial parts catalogue if required, it all just adds time to the process.

While waiting for things to either be located, or if located for them to be shipped I have gone ahead and assembled most of the engine – while doing so, I noticed that in addition to revamping the clutch assembly Suzuki had also changed the gudgeon pin design. The piston failure in the centre cylinder seems to actually have started with the gudgeon pin cracking in half, and so I was pleased to see that the new pins had a much thicker wall, as can be seen in the photo to the right. Presumably then, the failure my engine had was not an isolated event !!

I realise I said this in my post of March 20th, but if everything goes according to plan, I may have the engine in the frame this coming week, possibly in time for April Fools Day !!