T500 swingarm swap - Suzuki T250J

I was already planning to fabricate a longer swingarm to my Suzuki until I came across a T500 project thread in dotheton.com which displayed a T500 swingarm and started to wonder if one would fit to my T250. 

I started comparing part numbers from T500 and T250 swingarm and rear wheel parts lists and realized that most of the bushings and spacers for swingarm axles were same. Part numbers for different rear wheel parts seemed to match as well.

I made a want to by add for T500 swingarm to our local Finnish veteran motorcycle website/forum and quickly came by one. Same guy who sold me the GT250 fuel tank had one for sale. He also recommended that I buy a rear brake cable as well since it's a bit longer in T500 than T250.

Suzuki T500 swingarm and axle,
rear brake cable and oil tank.

Comparison of T500 and T250 swingarms.

Overall length of T250's swingarm is approximately 385 mm and T500's 505 mm (axle to axle). Width of both axle's fastening points are same in both swingarms (182 mm for swingarm axle with bushings in place and 195 mm for rear wheel axle (inner dimension)). Fastening point in frame is 190 mm wide (inner dimension).

Comparison of T500 (upper) and T250 brake cables and swingarm axles.

T500's rear brake cable's housing is 445 mm long and T250's 310 mm. Both swingarm axles are 14 mm thick. T500's axle is 249 mm long and T250's 225 mm. Threads are 25 mm long in both axles.

Fastening points for rear shocks in T500 swingarm are a bit wider than the ones in T250 frame (224 mm vs 208 mm) so I had to turn couple of spacers to get rear shocks lined. Other than that swingarm fitted right in place.

Dimensions for spacers,...

...turned,...

... and in place.

Rear shock installed.

Closer side view.

Overall side view of my Suzuki T250 with T500 swingarm and oil tank.
Fuel tank and seat are from GT250.

Mikuni VM26SH twin carburetors - Suzuki T250J

I rebuild twin carburetors for my Suzuki T250J. I cleaned all the metal parts with ultrasonic cleaner. Carburetors had to be disassembled before cleaning. I also bought a pair of Keyster carb kits and replaced old and warn parts. One of the carburetors had a badly warn pilot jet stuck inside which had to be drilled and pulled out with a removal tool. Other than that the carburetors were in pretty good condition.

Mikuni VM26SH carburetors and pair of Keyster carburetor repair kits.

Keyster repair kit (KS-0219) contains main jet #113, pilot jet #25,
jet needle 5CN3 [Y40] and clip,needle valve assembly [2.5], 
pilot air adjusting screw and spring, float chamber gasket, 
mixing chamber cap gasket, carburetor heat insulator gasket and o-ring.

Float chamber after ultrasonic cleaning.

Rebuild Mikuni VM26SH carburetors.

Some GT parts - Suzuki T250J

I have been scavenging some parts for my Suzuki. I saw an advert for GT550K parts nearby. The guy selling those parts is building a flat tracker out of '73 GT550K and he replaced the old suspension with KTM parts. First time I went to meet him I bought those rear shocks seen in the picture and a tail light. After a while I decided to buy the front fork also. Fuel and oil tanks are from GT250 as well as the seat. I bought the seat from a Finnish auction site and found the fuel tank from a guy from southern Finland. I bought the oil tank from ebay.

The front fork is a bit different than the one in my T250J. I'm going to replace the stock triple clamps with custom made parts and lower the shocks as well. So stay tuned for that. GT250 fuel tank is a bit dinged and is going to need a bit of straightening, bondo and a fresh paint.

Front forks and rear shocks are from '73 GT550K.
Fuel and oil tank as well as the seat are from GT250.

Rotisserie for my Bug's body and pan - '65 VW Typ-1

Isometric view of the rotisserie for VW Bug's body.

Isometric view of the rotisserie with supports for VW Bug's pan.

Profiles used to build the rotisserie.

Measurements used for middle beam of the rotisserie.

Measurements for the end beams.

Measurements for front and rear axle supports.

Measurements of supports for pan.

Materials for the middle beam.

Wheels and brackets.

Materials for front and rear axle supports.

Started the build by drilling 12 mm holes to angle irons and end beams.

I attached the angle irons to the end beams with M10x80 bolts...

...and welded nuts to them.

Then I attached the angle irons to the ends
of the middle beam and welded them in place.

I also welded nuts to pipes which belong to
the end of the posts of the middle beam.

Tube tacked to the post...

...and welded.

Posts tacked in place.

Rotisserie standing.

I drilled holes to wheel brackets and sanded them.

Then I welded the brackets to the end beams and finished welding the posts.

Finally got the rotisserie on its wheels.

Supports for the body welded.

Supports for the pan.

Rotisserie ready for use.

Introducing my Bug project - '65 VW Typ-1

I bought this '65 1200 Bug around two years ago. At the time I had also another older Fifties oval windowed Bug project in my garage which was missing quite a few parts. I wanted to own one which was a bit more complete. So I wrote a want to buy add to our local VW forum and ended up buying this one. I managed to sell my oval bug last autumn and now I have a bit more space in my garage for this one.

I don't have a special plan for the car yet and it is not going to be a short term project. I'm going to focus on getting my Suzuki T250J ready for the summer. I have already disassembled the car and separated the body from the floor pan. I'm going start from restoring the floor pan first by changing the floor plates and napoleon hat and go on from there. The body is going to need extensive rust repair but I'm not going the start repairing it before I finish the floor pan. This bug still has its original 1200 engine and transmission which I'm also going to rebuild.

Glass blasting and boring T250J cylinders - Suzuki T250J

My T250J cylinders were in a pretty bad condition when I bought the bike. Other cylinder had deep grooves inside the cylinder sleeve which had to be removed by boring the cylinder to the next oversize. Bore was 55.00 mm (stock is 54.00 mm) before so the next step would be 55.50 mm.

Before I dropped the cylinders to my local machine shop to get bored I glass blasted them. I covered all the holes and ports in the cylinders were I didn't want the glass get into with a masking tape. I also removed rubber cushions from the cylinder heads. Both of them had 11 cushions between the cooling fins. Before blasting I used diesel fuel to get all the excess dirt out. Glass blasting is usually used for surface finishing so it might be necessary to sandblast the parts you are cleaning first. My cylinders had thick oil and dirt stains which needed to be sandblasted to get rid off. Below are some pictures of my overhauled Suzuki T250J cylinders and heads.

Suzuki T250J cylinder sleeve. Bore is 55.50 mm
(+1.50 mm/0.060" oversize).

Intake port of Suzuki T250J cylinder.

Exhaust port of Suzuki T250J cylinder.

Left side port of Suzuki T250J cylinder.

Right side port of Suzuki T250J cylinder.