Unintended GT750B restoration

[philshort7390]

I bought a GT750B, 77 vintage, in the misguided belief that with a quick spit and polish it would be a nice runner while I tinkered on with my never ending (or should that be never starting!) Sanders & Lewis project. It looked like a 98% original, clean, honest bike. Then I started working on it. It is now pretty much stripped down, and having a crank rebuild and new water pump. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

I'll document here my progress, and I have a bit of catching up to do as I'm a couple of weeks into the job already.

Here's the bike as it arrived at my garage.

If you want to play spot the non-standard bits please carry on, just don't scroll down to the next post just yet, as I will be listing what I beleive they are there.

[philshort7390]

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OK, ready yet?

* Seat (obviously).
* Polished top yoke
* Gloss sidepanels
* Gloss tank flap
* Chromed footrests
* Stainless footrest bolts
* Chromed pillion rests
* Chromed torque arm (I know, you can't see that!)
* Glossy clock surrounds
* Allen screws on casings
* BT45's

Please feel free to chip in if you spot anything else. Some of these I will not be "correcting" as they are genuine improvements. Stainless and chromed items for example - and in fact many more parts will join them. I'm after a rideable and slightly blingy clean bike rather than a faithful factory restore. Life is too short, and it's what I'd have done back in the day as soon as I bought a new one anyway.

Gloss black paint where it should be satin? Not sure if that will get corrected or not, but probably not, and probably for the same reasons as above.

BT45's will stay as once it is all nice and shiny I want it to stay that way.

[philshort7390]

So, apart from the non-standard bits, what else is wrong?

Firstly the battery was flat, the petrol tap leaked like a sieve, and it was dripping water. "The old flat battery trick" I hear you cry! Well no, the battery was flat, but the seller jumped it off and it ran while I checked it out. I was reasonably satisfied that all was in order, but only ran it on the stand as I didn't fancy getting soaked in petrol and ignited on a test ride.

Paintwork is great, including the frame and swing arm. I suspect they have been refinished at some point, they are just too good. May even be plastic coating, although I can still see the stamped frame number on the headstock, and the finish has work off to smooth polished metal under the tank where the wiring passes over a weld. Whatever the finish, its black, glossy and rust free so I'm happy with it. Shame the same isn't true of the battery box and the air box, both of which have some surface rust and look their 38 years. Some refinishing to do there.

Brightwork is generally good, rather than excellent, with some dents and scratches on the engine bars, the pipes and the radiator bar. The centre downpipe is inevitably not as pristine as the other two, and the rear mudguard looks like it has been polished a little too earnestly over the years.

One more thing; the front brakes were binding on quite badly. I blamed this for my feeble lack of ability to get the bike onto the centre stand. More practice required!

Next installment: fixing those faults.

[philshort7390]

The dripping water I had stupidly assumed would just be and old and crusty hose, but no. Closer examination revealed the leak was from the pump. Damn. New (flat black silicone) hoses had already been ordered, so they will be fitted anyway, but it looked like the pump seal was leaking. No sign of water in the gearbox oil however - curious. After some internet (and soul) searching I decided to replace the entire pump. Getting it out looked like it would be a hassle, so getting it out, stripping and repairing it seemed to me like asking for trouble. Know your limitations! I would almost certainly break the pump while fitting new seals, so I decided to fit a whole new pump from the off.

I have to say I was a little disturbed by the nasty rusty fluid that came out of the centre pipes as I removed them. I was also less than impressed with the murky mess that came out of the coolant drain plug, which you can see in the container in the shot below. I was expecting something blue or green, not oily brown. Mmmm.

Yuk.

The water pump cover came off without too much bother, though it did need a little persuasion with a suitable flat blade between the mating surfaces. Carefully of course. The impeller popped off easily enough, and probably would have been easier if I had taken the cirlip off first. Maybe I would have noticed that if it hadn't been covered in brown gloop.

What, more brown gloop? What is going on here? More later.

Next was the pump body itself, and no, it didn't just fall out. It wouldn't pull out either. Time for the casing drill hole trick. I drilled a hole as per the template drawn up by a clever chap "WaterBuffalo" (http://www.suzuki2strokes.com/forum/vie ... 961#p88284) and tapped the pump out with a 5mm drift. More oil came with it.

While I'm waiting for the new pump to arrive I thought I'd take the head off and lift the barrel. Not just for fun, that would be daft, no, I have a set of stainless head bolts to fit anyway, and a ready reconditioned and polished head, and while I was at it it would be criminal not to check to see if the barrel was seized on and what condition the innards were in generally. That's for the next episode.

[Roger Ackery]

Hi,thanks for posting the photos & the report ! always good to see what other people are up to with their bikes,brings back memories of my little project 14 years ago keep the news & photos coming
Cheers,
Roger
GT750A

[andygt750m]

Looking forward to following your progress

[44harry]

Where did you find that, bet you wish you hadn't!
I will put the maps away
H

[mark.read3]

Looks like you've got your work cut out there Phil.
It's going to be interesting seeing the progress, pretty sure this will be a top notch bike when finished.
Looks like the previous owner was a bit over zealous with rad weld at some time.
Mark

[TonytheSkin]

Firstly good luck. Secondly thanks for the chance to learn from what you are facing. Looking forward to following this thread.

[philshort7390]

Where did you find that, bet you wish you hadn't!
I will put the maps away
H

Hello bud, no worries, it's coming together! I'm a bit behind with the story here, it's even more stripped down now but loads of parts out getting reconditioned. I'm starting to clean up what is left ready for when parts come back - switches I have back already, carbs are in progress, crank is in progress, I have the water pump and a ton of other new bits to go on. Debating, like you, if I should get the clocks refurbished. Having great fun, and it will be on the road soon enough. Got a cracking centre downpipe off eBay tonight, sorry mate, finders keepers!