The Engine

Well after getting the engine out of that frame. I thought its time to tackle the b@stard!

Here is the before shot of the motor.

As you can see... ALOT of corrosion. And to be honest it was the dirtest engine. 25 year old grease dirt clogging up everything it was terrible.

When I was taking off the clutch cover alot of the bolts just rounded so they had to be completely replaced with new ones.

I just took alot of blood sweat and tears to get them out!!

After alot of scrubbing and some elbow grease I was able to come out this result...

I am really proud of the result because I wanted a clean looking engine (nothing fancy like some super polished engines.)

Brand new gaskets all round and everything cleaned, scrubbed and refurbished if not replaced!

I made sure I could not see a spec of dirt, dust ANYWHERE on this motor.

Finally some pretty bits

I have finally got my frame back from sandblasting and powdercoating! Doesnt it look pretty!

Frame looks like new!







Oh and the rest of the bits!

The Carby

Just a quick note for people who are stuck with the Suzuki RE-5 Carb and adjusting the cables properly. Here are some good tips:

• Make sure its CLEAN, I mean ultrasonically cleaned. all the jets etc etc.!! (cannot stress this enough.)
• Make sure there is no bits missing in the carb (alot of people forget the little needle)
• check the float gasket (black rubber one) for old age. If this gasket leaks you bike will run crap.
• Make sure the cables are well lubed.
• All the adjusters are out. Metering oil, port valve, throttle, and throttle block.

Now I found a good way to adjust the carby without the use of the angle tool. (You can use it if you have one). (This tip worked for me and i stole it from another guy on the RE-5 mailing list)

Firstly get another person. Now take off the fan on the right hand side and take off the port valve cover and also take off the horn intake so you can see the inside of the carby.

Now with the help of your friend get them to pull the throttle completely open. and adjust the carby pull cable so the primary butterfly opens completely. (This adjusts full throttle.) once you are done get them to shine a flashlight at the secondary limiter plate (its really easy to see through were the fan was.

Tell them to turn the throttle slowly and stop when the limiter plate starts to move.
At this point you have to adjust the port valve to start opening as well. Adjust the port valve so at this point its touching the second lever on the port valve.

This should get you into the right direction into clearing the bucking and all that between the 3.2 - 4k range.

You might still need to adjust the port valve a little to get it perfect.

I should also mention that its important that you have the mixture screw perfect as well.

Some people say 3/4 turns out from botteming out is a good start and go from there (some people have success at 1-1.5 turns).

Hope this helps anyone out.

I will keep posting more of the restore pics when I get time. I just wanted to share my experiance with getting the RE-5 carb perfect.

Dismantling the beast!

After a good nights sleep, I thought it would be a good idea to start working on the Suzuki RE-5.

I started working from the front to the back of the bike.

This is what I discover...
Seeing that the bike has sat for 25 years the brake fluid has completely solidified inside the brake master cylinder and inside the pistons and brake hoses.




The rust inside the headlight...









The Radiator was full of solidified coolant! was as hard as rock and flushed it about 10 - 15 times with pressure before I got it all out!

Finally got the whole front of the bike off! The fluids in the bike were to be honest shocking! the only good fluids were the engine oil and metering oil tank!!

A shot of the bike from the side. As you can see alot of dust and dirt build up. plus surface rust on the frame. Frame will be sandblasted and powdercoated.


As you can see the chain case is not very healthy.












Progress so far. Front is competely off and exhuasts are off. (they have ALOT of rust so I can safely say they wont be rechromed but might look into ceramic coating.)

Engine has alot of corrosion. Will need to be bead blasted and polished.

Wheel are also showing alot of corrosion (alloy wheels but have that clear coating which is pealing.)



Will post more once I get more time.

The RE-5

September 14th, 2008.

After looking all around Australia for the RE-5 and many many phone calls I found a person with one (in so so condition) only 50 km from home (great!).

Went to have a look and after a quick 15 min look I bit the bullet and said to the owner i will take it!

So next day I get the trailer and tie her down and off she went to her new home.

Here she is when i got her home. Minus the tank and side covers.

Now I started to relise how much rust there really was under all those bits and peices .
According to VicRoads the bike was unregistered since 1985, so im assuming the bike has been sitting with a couple of owners for the last 24 years.

So noticed there was fuel in the tank (dont ask how old as it would not flow through the fuel tap!!!) must of been just full of rust and gunk.

So I got a bottle and fixed in some premix and some fuel and put it to the carby. Started her over and she started first go! Ran her for a good 20 seconds and shut her down. after all the smoke cleared we noticed some welding rods shoot out the exhaust pipes! previous owner must of used the exhaust pipes as holders for the welding rods!!!!!

Finally....

I have finally got sometime to start a 'blog' was never really into it but wanted to share my stories and information that I have collected while rebuilding my bikes.

Hopefully sometime today ill get some time to start on my first post about the story of the 1976 Suzuki RE-5 Rotary.