T500 project and questions (of course)

flatlander

I picked up this '73 T500 a couple of months ago, thinking it would be a nice project. I have read a lot about these bike and really liked the looks of them, so when the price was agreed upon, it was pretty much a no brainer. It had been sitting for about a year and turned over nicely and I was told it ran when parked, though it would no longer fire up. Running or not, it was all there and had never been hacked up the way most old bikes are usually found. After looking it over and taking a few pics, I pulled the tank and proceeded to dump a cup or two of rust out it. Hmmm, no wonder why it wouldn't start up. Next I pulled the carbs and found equal amounts of rust and that nice white powder coating everything in the float chambers. These turned out to be a bit far gone, at least for now, so I found another set of carbs to temporarily take their place. After stripping most of the bike down for a thorough cleaning and a few new parts like the chain and stuff, I finally got it back together last week.

Ok, so yesterday I put the rebuilt carbs on, oiled the cylinders and popped some new pugs in before mixing up the gas and oil for the aux tank. Kicked it a few times and it fired up, which was a great feeling. Though far from running great, I had to hold the throttle open a bit while I started it and to keep it running, that's when I heard a knocking sound coming from the left cylinder which also seemed to be audible from the end of the exhaust pipe. Sounds like something internal, which doesn't thrill me, but after running it for about 30 min, it seems to have calmed down a bit. In that time I played with the carbs and got it to idle at about 1300 but the revs were now hanging before settling back down to idle. Decided to pull the plugs after noting that there was little to no smoke coming out of the right pipe and the temp of the exhaust was pretty cold. Found that the plug on the rt. cylinder had not been firing the whole time. I have a new set of points and condensers that I got from Paul Miller, who I must say is great to deal with, so I still have to throw those on and recheck the timing. I'll have to check that rt. coil now too and maybe that plug.

I expected a few things like this to pop up after starting it, actually I really didn't expect it to fire as quick as it did, but it has been a fun project so far. I don't think I'll have it on the road before it gets too cold, so I have time to troubleshoot the carbs and ignition while getting the tank cleaned out and repainted. Not sure of the color yet, but that pinkish paint has not really grown on me yet. I usually like to put things back to the way they were, you know, keep it all original. Just don't know if I want to do it on this one. I'm kind of liking the red and white, but I did see one on here that was kind of a dark red or maroon that looked nice. Any thoughts on original or not ?

The one thing I can't remember is where the turn signal flasher mounts, does anyone have a pic of that so I can get it mounted again.

Here is a few pics of the before and during. I'll get some as it sits a little later.

dorT500 · Posted: Wed Oct 13, 2010 4:09 pm Post subject:

Here is an old pic of member RayRay's T500 project. The turn signal flasher mounts to the rectifier. The flasher itself is missing in this pic but shows the black tubular rubber jacket it slides into.

flatlander · Posted: Wed Oct 13, 2010 4:16 pm Post subject:

Thanks for the pic dor. Embarrassingly enough, my wife held it up in that same spot yesterday and said it has to go here. I told her there was no way it went there. So I'll mount it up, put the seat on and we'll just say this conversation never happend Wink

Dave

dorT500 · Posted: Wed Oct 13, 2010 4:53 pm Post subject:

BenEberle · Posted: Thu Oct 14, 2010 7:02 pm Post subject:

Great score, Dave. Likewise....your story of the flasher never happened. Your secret is safe.

I had the same deal with my project T500 this spring. I was pretty amazed to find that what is written about these things true: they are nearly bomb proof. I fired mine up after digging (yes, digging) out the carbs and flushing the tank. Started nearly first kick. I was amazed. On the first run it smoked had some trouble, but, man....after 5 minutes, it started to all smooth out. The transmission was shifting hard at first, but, again after taking it easy back a forth from work, things started to 'figure themselves out'.

It runs like a beast now, with only a minor vacuum issue with the left carb. Got some expansion pipes which are awesome. Really lots of fun. I also think I should replace my coils, but will probably wait for winter. Only so many riding days left up here in New England.

H2Lou · Posted: Fri Oct 15, 2010 6:48 am Post subject:

Bikegeezer

flatlander · Posted: Sun Oct 17, 2010 7:27 am Post subject:

Thanks for all the replies and keeping my secret safe Wink

. Would have got back sooner but my work schedule (12hr shifts) leaves little besides work and sleep.

Thanks Ben, I think it was a good score too. One of those you only come across every now and then, and if you don't pick it up, that's the one you will remember. Here's to getting them running good over the winter. Good luck on yours.

Since the bike had been sitting for awhile, I put a few ounces of 2 stroke oil in the cylinders and cranked it over a few times, just to make sure it wasn't too dry in there.

Nah Stu, I didn't mix the stuff in the oil tank on the side of the bike. Since I have the oil tank off and prepping for paint, I did a pre-mix and put in an aux fuel tank, the kind you hang up and hook up to the carbs so you can run the bike w/o the fuel tank. The gas tank would have plugged everything up real quick w/ all the rust in there.

Looks like I will need a new coil. The rt. one turned out bad after checking it, so I need to hunt one of those down this week. Also looks like the idle adj. on the rt. carb had stripped threads. I kind of knew this when I was rebuilding it, but now it will barely turn. Has anyone had this happen, or know a fix ?

Will try to get some more work done this week.

Dave

Bikegeezer · Posted: Sun Oct 17, 2010 3:02 pm Post subject:

dorT500 · Posted: Sun Oct 17, 2010 3:19 pm Post subject:

After I had read that you had read a lot about the T500 before buying one and mentioning how bad the inside of the tank was, I had assumed that 'the auxiliary tank' meant you used a remote premix supply for the initial start up....I should not have assumed that and after re-reading your post I can see where it may have appeared that you ran premix through the oil tank/pump. I am glad Stu pointed it out for further clarification from you.

It's the wording you used...'the' auxiliary tank instead of 'an' auxiliary tank. Wink

I noticed this time in your last reply, you did use the words 'an' auxiliary tank. Smile

Funny how that can make a big difference in ones meaning isn't it?

If you need a carb body,
I have a set of spare carbs off a 1975 T500M that late VJMOG member 'Blue' gave me. They are packed away somewhere and I remember one or both of them had some missing parts. I will check them out as soon as possible and see if they are otherwise ok (adjusting screws and threads,etc.). I also have two sets of ignition coils packed away somewhere. Both sets have not been tested (given to me and packed away) and I would want to keep one set of them. The other set, even if a test shows them to be good, has 'spongey' feeling spark plug wires. You can have them if they test good for the cost of shipping. See what you can come up with on the ignition coil you need and let me know if you want to take a chance on mine. I have sent you a pm with a link to one set of coils you might be interested in.

Bikegeezer · Posted: Sun Oct 17, 2010 7:05 pm Post subject:

I also have a bunch of T500 stuff that I'll probably toss out in the next few weeks. Not that it's bad stuff - I don't have a T500, and the parts are clogging up my storage space. Let us know what you need. That goes for anyone else that needs T500 parts.

Stu

flatlander · Posted: Tue Oct 19, 2010 12:33 pm Post subject:

Thanks again for the replies and parts offers.

dor, I could use another rt. carb body as I don't think using a heli-coil or tapping it would work, though an extra set to have on hand is not a bad idea anyway. I saw those coils and wasn't 100% sure on them, though I did see a few other used ones on ebay as well. Haven't made any commitments to anything yet. Is it possible to swap the spark plug wires on those ? Mine seem to be in good condition, but I would have to test the one on the bad coil. If it is possible, yours may work.

Stu, I know pre-mix is probably not the wisest way to run the bike, as the oil pump on these bikes are top notch. Curiosity as to whether it would run or nor got the best of me and I had to give it a try. I don't plan on running it too often that way and as soon as I get the oil tank finished its going back on.

The only other parts I am looking for at the moment is a turn signal flasher and 2 turn signal lenses. I also need 1 of the reflectors that go behind the bulb in the turn signal housing. A left cyl. head is also on my list, but not a dire need.

Dave

dorT500 · Posted: Tue Oct 19, 2010 5:51 pm Post subject:

.....parts diving....standby.....this could get messy. Wink

dorT500 · Posted: Tue Oct 19, 2010 6:58 pm Post subject:

Ok. It has been a few years since I looked at the not so good set of coils. It is not that the HT wires are 'spongy' as I remembered....the left has been taped over and all the other small wires have electrical tape on them also. The rightside HT wire is just kind of weakly hanging off the coil with wire exposed. I won't even bother taking them to work tomorrow and testing them...I will just box them up tonight along with the good rightside carb body with good adjusting screws in it. Just chunk the coils if you cannot do anything with them. About your question concerning installing new HT wires in these coils...I have never done it but it seems I had seen a pic an article about doing it...don't even remember it it was a T500 coil. Stu, know anything about it? There is a question posted right now about the same thing on a T20.. Might watch that. Just swap the rest of the parts from your carb to the carb body I am sending you after some cleaning. Turn signal lens: I have three but all have some damage. Two are red. One is amber. The amber and one of the red ones each have a piece of the rim broken off but the pieces are with them and can be glued back on. The other red ones' rim is torn up a little but would probably be sealed by the gasket. Junk really but you can have them if you want them just to use temporarily until you find something better. I could have sworn I had one or two turn-signal bulb reflectors that were rusty and figured I would have them re-chromed someday. They should have been with the other turn signal stuff...but no.I will let you know if I run across one. Let me know if you want the turn signal lenses and send me your shipping address in a pm. I cannot see the shipping being more than $8.00 or $10.00 I will send it USPS no frills and just send me the postage after you get the stuff. What is wrong with your left cylinder head?

Bikegeezer · Posted: Tue Oct 19, 2010 8:40 pm Post subject: