The Suzuki Project

Well check that one off the list. They looked like they were full of caramel but after copious amounts of carb cleaner they look great. Thanks Trev and Brant for working on them. If the gasket kit ever gets here will be in good shape.

Good thing I have a long weekend coming up. The gasket kit should be here soon. In the mean time the carbs need to be gone though and a little more polishing up of the block. We should inventory the bolts for the covers. Hopefully we have everything and can get down to business. Shouldn't take too long if we have what we need. Just because I said that it will be a disaster. Way to go Ryan.

I spent an hour or so just cleaning up parts with Dad tonight. Most of the rust cleaned up really easily. The oxidation on the aluminum however is pitted a little deeper. I figure that it is cosmetic anyway and my concern is making it run again. The cylinders have really freed up. The crank can be hand turned now. Things are coming along nicely.

I found a complete gasket kit from partsnmore.com for $30. I'll get it ordered but I wont be able to work on it for a few weeks. I'm also going to pick up some more penetrating oil and wire brushes.

Went out today and sprayed a little penetrating oil in the cylinders. We next found a socket and ratchet and gave the crank shaft a little turn. Ready for the good part? That baby turned with very little effort.

We separated some of the parts into groups, plastics, engine covers, clutch parts, gaskets, mystery parts and coolwhip containers full of bolts and springs. I think that we are well on our way to having this lil baby licked.

We also sprayed some penetrating oil on everything that was rusty. We'll let it sit over night and try to get it cleaned up soon.

So to start things off we have a 1973 Suzuki GT380. The bike needs a lot off work, but we have the manual, hopefully most of the parts, and two big hearts that would love to see her screaming down the street.

Last night after a discussion I set out once again to find the missing repair manual for the Suzuki. After an hour of looking in all the places we had already looked, I went back to the bookshelf where the book was kept. I proceeded to pull books off the shelf to see if by any chance the manual was stuck behind them. As it turns out one of the girls paper back books had been placed on the self just so as to hide the manual inside of it. Mystery solved! Now time for the work to begin.