74 suzuki gt750

[willie]

2 memories come to mind re: the way mine runs with expansion chambers. A magazine editor approached me about doing a story on my bike when I lived in SoCal. I agreed and they sent a writer/rider over to interview me re: all the mods I'd done. The guy took me up on my offer to let him ride it and rode it down a long straight while I stood on the curb and watched. It sounds great whether you're riding it or not. Anyway, the guy comes back really impressed. I look at him and told him to try it again and this time redline it. He did and came back doubly impressed. He wrote a cool article that I still have laying around somewhere.
The other memory involves allowing a Suz mechanic to ride it that was a real authority on 2 strokes. He came back from his ride and said he couldn't understand what was causing the "problem" that he noticed. He described it as running great until it comes to the beginning of the powerband. He said he couldn't figure out where the other cylinder was coming from because at that point it sure felt like a 4 cylinder machine. lol
It's going to take awhile but I'll see what I can do about getting a soundbite to post.
Also, I know of a great source for getting the crank rebuilt if needed. He did mine and it looked so good when I got it back I thought it was a different crank and felt bad about hiding it inside an engine instead of displaying it in a glass case.
Willie

[sprman4lissa]

Ok i started working on the 74 suzuki gt750 bike and there is a problem i don't know how bad... Well the back will is froze or something i unhooked the back break & it's still wont turn... and another thin is i can kick start the bike over in neutral but when i kick it over in gear it won't kick over it's like it's locked up even when i hold the clutch in.... so if anybody that has an idea i would appreciate it.... I think i know why they sold it for $250.00 :-) thank you

[supersonictoys]

well it stands to figure that if the rear wheel is frozen as you said and the chain is still on the bike the motor shouldn't turn over when in gear. remove the chain and try again. try turning the rear brakes lever with a large crescent wrench. maybe oil it up good with some wd40 and allow it ton soak for a day or two and try tapping on the rear brake hubs actuator shaft. sounds like corrosion between the aluminum brake hub and the steel shoe spreading actuator shaft(what ever its called). also , I wouldn't sweat the crank seals. suzuki had totally different crank seals than the trouble prone kawasaki triples did. I have seen gt750's that have sat for 15+ years and still run great after freshening up the tune up stuff. even saw one with 60,000 miles. also , don't run the bike without the injector system as I don't believe the top case is drilled to feed premix oil to the crank bearings. this was a pressure lubricated crank and not designed for premix at all. worst thing I can remember about working on a water buffalo was getting the cylinder to come off the cylinder studs ran through the water jackets and they would rust into the cylinder making them nearly impossible to get off. seems like suzuki had some kind of puller for removing them but I have also heard of people having to make their own 6 inch long home made hole saw which would fit tightly around the outside of each cylinder stud and would cut the rust and corrosion all the way down around each stud. what a hassle....

[atb1998]

YES for sure clean up and polish the engine. I used to own a gt750,. The guy i sold it polished up the motor and it looked 100 pecent better. Very different, yet fun bikes to ride. Watch that 2 stroke powerband, it WILL surprise you

[Big T]

Ok i started working on the 74 suzuki gt750 bike and there is a problem i don't know how bad... Well the back will is froze or something i unhooked the back break & it's still wont turn... and another thin is i can kick start the bike over in neutral but when i kick it over in gear it won't kick over it's like it's locked up even when i hold the clutch in.... so if anybody that has an idea i would appreciate it.... I think i know why they sold it for $250.00 :-) thank you

1. The rear wheel bearings are frozen up - a PITA to get out and easy to replace. Pull the rear wheel off and set it on top of a bucket. Loosen the axle nut until it's just a bit past the treads (nuts are cheap). Put penetrating oil on the top side of the axle as close to the hub as possible. After a few hours, flip over and repeat oiling. It may take a few days to penetrate to the bearings, depending on whether you can remove the brake hub and cush drive. Then, tap (don't pound) the axle out, take the bearings out and go down to the bearing house and get some new ones. Clean up the axle and reinstall with grease

2. This may be how it is made. Check the Triples forum for better info on this

BTW, I just saw a nice shiny one listed for $6,000!!! locally. I saw it in person that day, very nice

There's all sorts of good info on polishing cases. Use the Search feature

$250 is a steal. It's bound to have some problems, that's why they didn't ride it anymore.

Clean the carbs. If you can get it to run and make it look 1/2 way decent, sell it next summer for some big $$$.

Then use that money to buy another GS

[chiphead]

Read the below. Suzuki made a special puller to get the cylinders off these things. It was nasty business. Like a woman giving birth if you know what I mean.

well it stands to figure that if the rear wheel is frozen as you said and the chain is still on the bike the motor shouldn't turn over when in gear. remove the chain and try again. try turning the rear brakes lever with a large crescent wrench. maybe oil it up good with some wd40 and allow it ton soak for a day or two and try tapping on the rear brake hubs actuator shaft. sounds like corrosion between the aluminum brake hub and the steel shoe spreading actuator shaft(what ever its called). also , I wouldn't sweat the crank seals. suzuki had totally different crank seals than the trouble prone kawasaki triples did. I have seen gt750's that have sat for 15+ years and still run great after freshening up the tune up stuff. even saw one with 60,000 miles. also , don't run the bike without the injector system as I don't believe the top case is drilled to feed premix oil to the crank bearings. this was a pressure lubricated crank and not designed for premix at all. worst thing I can remember about working on a water buffalo was getting the cylinder to come off the cylinder studs ran through the water jackets and they would rust into the cylinder making them nearly impossible to get off. seems like suzuki had some kind of puller for removing them but I have also heard of people having to make their own 6 inch long home made hole saw which would fit tightly around the outside of each cylinder stud and would cut the rust and corrosion all the way down around each stud. what a hassle....

[chiphead]

Absolutely stunning!

I remember the Skoal Bandit one. I'll dig the mag out and scan it, in the meantime feast your eyes on these:

Old



Newer

[supersonictoys]

you know, isn't it funny how bike manufacturers used to make such nice looking , comfortable machines and now the bikes cost 5 times as much and are uncomfortable and made mostly of plastic and dont look near as nice? in about 1989 I bought an entire suzuki/yamaha/bridgestone dealership that had closed down abruptly in late 1976. the owner was open one day and closed down the next when his fairly young wife had I believe a stroke. he had his employees carefully haul all the rows and rows of free standing shelves full of his vast inventory of parts home and stand them back up in a good sized metal shop building on his property. the neat thing about this dealership was that it was open from about 1967-8 and the owner never resold a trade in bike. he just took them home and parked them in his large shop building as he would rather sell a new machine. anyway, I purchased all his new parts(about 6 8x20ft trailer loads) and "78" pre 1977 motorcycles from him for $3000. among the bikes I found several gt750's. one was a bike used for test rides by would be customers and it had been lightly laid down on its left side during a test ride and parked.(probably why dealers don't offer test rides anymore)anyway, it had 600 miles on the clock when I rolled it off the trailer. after moving all the bikes and inventory to my warehouse I set up the included microfiche machine and found the card for this (72 I believe) 750. a couple of my buddies were there that night and we went through all the parts and pulled the following by number right off my own shelves. all 3 new pipes, new complete seat, new candy purple tank and cap assembly,new candy purple plastic side covers, new front fender and generator cover, new left foot peg assembly, new handle bars, new tank emblems, new optional hard bags and all mounts and get this... brand new carbs and petcock. we stayed up all night just assembling the bike to new condition and had it running (with the wrong battery) before the sun came up. it was a fun time for sure. I sold out of those parts for a number of years. and rode that cherry gt750 in candy purple for about 6 months before letting it go. they were a fun machine and would smoke a cb750. wish I had it back now. this isnt mine but this sure is what it looked like.

[Octain]

<<<(probably why dealers don't offer test rides anymore)>>>

Harley dealers do..

[supersonictoys]

but only once your credit has been run and an agreement has been signed

[Octain]

You're wrong.. Imagine that?
Im sure the perspective buyers attitude may have something to do with it.
I rode mine before I bought it in 04. All they wanted was a copy of my drivers license.

[81gs1100]

Don't mod it, restore it... They are great bikes in original form.

This is a picture of ours, bought for close to $5k

[supersonictoys]

You're wrong.. Imagine that?
Im sure the perspective buyers attitude may have something to do with it.
I rode mine before I bought it in 04. All they wanted was a copy of my drivers license.

am I ? called my local Harley dealer today and asked and they Laughed and said NO! insurance wouldn't cover it. Imagine that... thanks for keeping me on my toes though

[Octain]

am I ? called my local Harley dealer today and asked and they Laughed and said NO! insurance wouldn't cover it. Imagine that... thanks for keeping me on my toes though

Perhaps they just dont like the sound of your voice and know your not serious.
I wouldnt let you ride my bike either.
Jes saying..

[supersonictoys]

I wouldn't want to ride your pink sportster with that big rainbow on the tank anyway.....

we are still just kidding around ...right?