Road Racer Project

[CJF]

I started building up a TR500 replica road racer earlier this year. I've been making steady, but slow, progress so far and have posted pics of the build on this link.
http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/21 ... 4055DfVEdT

[muzza]

Well done Chris.

I have placed your photos on the Suzi Fans site to make it easier to follow your progress if that is OK?

You've made a good start.

What welder do you use?

The GT looked pretty good...have you now got some GT parts to sell?

Pics here on ozebook....

http://www.ozebook.com/compendium/maps/ ... ts/25.html

[CJF]

Muzza, thanks for posting the pics up on your site. I'm usig a Miller MIG welder to tack weld everything into place making sure I have the right fit. My brother in law is going to elp me out with the finish welding. He has a TIG welder that will create some nice looking welds and allow for the thin tubing to be welded up. My MIG welder is fine for tacking hose tubes in place, but will blow holes into it if I try to finish weld with it. Plus, my brother in law is a way better welder than me.

If you take a close look in the background of this picture, you'll see a '75 T500 . I picked it up off ebay for $100 and the guy lived a 30 minute drive from my house. She isn't pretty, but I couldn't pass it up. Like you mentioned, I happen to have a bunch of spare parts ready for a road worthy runner. I would have missed ridding my GT500 on the road, so this will eventually be my "GT500" for the road.

I'll post some more pics in the future as things progress. Hopefully, someone else will be inspired to build their own....just like I was from your suzi fan site.

[gt750inmass]

Great post Chris! I have been waiting to see pics since you mentioned it on the Sundial board a few months back. Don't you have some swarbrick style spannies for this project as well? How about a few pics of those as well. Keep it up.
Thanks for sharing,
Bryan

[CJF]

I just posted 2 new pics showing the bolt on parts I've been assembling over the part 6 months. I inclued a pictur of the Jemco Swarbrick style pipes. Jemco does real nice work and he is a good guy to deal with...a laid back southern guy. The other parts were purchased mostly off ebay. Gotta love Ebay for building classic bikes!!

I have been very "lucky" while gathering up these parts. On 2 occasions, my patients really paid off. The carbs were bought off an ebay seller and he told me after the fact that they were on back order. I had to wait about 7 weeks to get them,but he ended up giving me the shipping for free and dropped the price per carb to $70 each. I ended up saving $60 on that deal.

The wheels are another story in patient pays. The aluminum Excel flanged wheels I had built were from East Coast wheels. They do great work. I had to wait 8 weeks for these because the wheel builder got in a bad accident the day after I placed my order and they got real backed up. After making a status call every 2 weeks (and stll being nice about it), I received my wheels with free shipping and he cut the price by $200. No kidding....$200!

Here is the link to the 2 additional pics showing the parts.

http://community.webshots.com/album/563 ... z?start=36

[gt750inmass]

Wow those pipes are beautiful. That bike is going to scream. Thanks for posting!

[muzza]

they look good......real good.



What do they charge for those pipes?

If you could send anymore pics my way.....I'll put them on the Suzi fans site for you Chris...

muzza@ozebook.com

[CJF]

I agree...Jemco does a real nice job with these pipes. They are probably one of the most expensive parts of the overall build, but based on some of the other guys racing these bikes..like desmocat from the sundial board, I believe they are worth it solely for the performance let alone the looks.

Jemco charges $600 USD which includes the aluminum flange mounts for the cylinders and the baffled silencers. This beats the Swarbrick prices by a fair amount especially after considering the currency conversion and shipping costs. I have seen Swarbrick's work close up because I bought a set of Honda CR750 pipes from him. Jemco is right on par with Swarbrick in terms of the quality of fabrication and level of service.

I'm still thinking through how to finish them. I like the raw metal finish and may just clean off some of the weld oxidation and clear coat them with a ceramic high temp clear finish and chrome the silencers. I know I probably shouldn't worry about the look too much being a racer, but I have to admit I like to look at the bikes I build as much as I like to ride them.

Muzza...I'll send pics to your address as I make more progress. Thanks again for posting.

[diamondj]

Muzza,

I think Jemco is getting $600 for the Swarbrick style pipes.

Chris,

Make sure you rubber mount the pipes at the back. They should be able to wiggle about a bit. This is critical unless you want to reweld the mounts at the track when they break off. Also, the front mounts should be slip fit (so the backs can wiggle about a bit) and you seal them with the red permatex high heat goop. And last but not least, I've known people that have had problems with the steel silencers being too heavy for the pipes and causing breakage. You can upgrade to a set of aluminum silencers from one of the guys off the North American two strokes board that makes them for $99 a silencer:

http://www.mfactorywest.com/

Looking good so far! When are you going to be ready to race? WERA posted their 2009 schedule - Summit Point is April 4 & 5, Then Nelson Ledges on May 2 & 3, back to Summit on June 6 & 7, and then Beaverun June 20 & 21. WERA offers a "race school" for $75 but you may want to get in a couple of track days first. I wish Beaver was sooner as Apex to Apex offers a WERA license race school for $85 for a full Friday class. Let me know when you plan on getting your race license as I still need to get mine and it would be fun to have another T500 to race against....

Jim

[GT Tim]

Jim, do you know if Jemco makes a 'street' chamber for T500? Need a set of street chambers for my project.