1972 TS185J

[JADERD]

Hi All,

Starting another project, Dads first bike, 1972 TS185.

He sold it to my uncle in 75 when he got the Kawasaki F11, now F11 is complete i chatted to my uncle and he let me have dads orig bike.

1972 Suzuki TS185J

Basically all orig except for different rear tail light (from a diff year i think) as dad went a bit too far with a mono once .

Had not been started in 12 years, put some oil down spark plug hole, checked gearbox oil, some fuel in, second kick on choke and it started for a few seconds, then afew kicks later and it ran, so atleast now i know it went before pulled apart.  Only slight concerning bit i swear it was normal oil not 2 stroke oil in CCI reservoir  :unsure:

Only actual damage is top triple tree right side cracked so need new top triple tree.  Needs the usual other stuff, new levers, cables etc.  Carby was crazy clean when apart. Exhaust fingers crossed looks like it has no pin holes at all

pulled apart bits to bring back to melbourne from mildura, uncle will bring rest of bike in July, grabbed all the staff i can rebuild, clean and polish.

At moment my plan is to strip all unnecessary items off chuck them in a box for incase ever want to restore to stock, and setup for Vinduro use, thinking 1973 rear guard as straight and flat, aftermarket plastic front guard, alternate rear shocks (honda XL 185 or something (bit more height) rebuild stock front shocks (come stock with 3 way front adjustment).

rear wheel 18" front is 19", will chuck on some nice knobbys

Anyone know of other triple tree fork setups that fit 1972 TS185 ?

was thinking seeing top triple tree broken should i update to some other triples, forks and front tyre bringing up to 21" rim etc....would cost a little though i think and looking at budget build so this may be a later option.

some pics below


Dad in 1972


May 2012

















Whats left for uncle to drop to Melbourne in July

[Tony T]

Gotta love the fact that it was your old man's! 
I reckon I've got a NOS speedo cable for it.
I'll check the part number, but if it's right, send me a pm with your address and I'll send it off to you.
I know it's not much, but it's a start........ 

[JADERD]

Cheers Tony, that sounds awesome, thanks for looking into it, yeah like the fact both my bikes were dads from new, hopefully i can keep them for my kids and so on.

Cheers mate

[brent j]

I'm pretty sure the triples are the same as TS125 and maybe even TS100 of the same year.

I don't have access to ZEDDER as present to check the compatibility and I probably have a spare set of clamps but they are in Darwin and I wont be back there till early July

Brent

[JADERD]

Cheers for info Brent, if you do have a set you want to get rid of once your back up in darwin please let me know ill flick ya some coin for them, bike n triples etc are in mildura until mid July anyway so may be perfect timing.

Cheers mate

[JADERD]

Quick update

tank was clean as inside, which was good, outside has done dings and scratches, also rear near seat looks like petrol stain as if leaking at some point, will see how it goes once on, if leaking will fix / get another tank.  Cleaned and polished / waxed tank, like the look of the aged tank though shiny n waxed. polished up cap.

started pulling carby apart, so clean every jet perfectly clean, so surprised as never opened in 40 years, needle perfect etc.

also bought:
New cap for oil tank, did have an old milk cap on it
New chain buffer
1985 TS185 rear shocks, they are exactly the same as the ones i used on the kawasaki F11 resto, though the ones i bought for F11 were sold as KL250 shocks, either they were sold with wrong identity or KL250 and TS185 had same shocks at one point ?, either way happy as cheap and good upgrade from stock, firmer, stronger and longer

[JADERD]

Some more expenditure this morning.

Bit the bullet and grapped some MX VINTAGE OEM HONDA BEND 7/8" bars, will see how they go, if anything i may need some 1-2 inch risers as lower than stock bars.

Also grabbed a headlight,chromed steel, smaller trials style, comes as 12V so globe change back to 6V as cant be bothered converting bike to 12V and its really only there for purpose of gaining club reg / rec reg.  Still not sure which reg type i will aim for. At the moment im thinking Rec reg so that i can reduce excess controls, wiring and ancillaries like indicators and really only run a kill switch and a converted hi/lo beam switch positioned elsewhere, can even ditch the horn and run a bicycle style horn/bell - ofcourse brake light required etc

[JADERD]

Quick Update.

Have ordered some more parts from Ebay, after looking at complete bikes for parts bikes, not many around VIC and prices get too high and logistics of picking up etc, and also looking at a few nice completed bikes i have decided its more fun to source the parts and build bike myself.

recently got

NOS sprocket washer set
TS 250 savage foot pegs, appear as if should fit from part numbers
Rear TS plastic fender
Front TS plastic fender
Top yolk, bottom yolk and steering stem (my top yoke one side cracked)
Wiring Harness.
Grips

Everything except the grips and sprocket washers were off one guy in US, let me buy it all them he did a total for postage combining all which was great, postage came to $70 which i was happy with as individually each item had around $25 postage on them.

Best purchase so far was the triples and steering stem $47 incl postage from US, on ebay AUS ppl want $40 + just for top triple.

so happy with whats on its way. Will prob get some 7/8" 30mm risers for handlebars as new ones are only 70m high as opposed to 100m of stock.

Hopefully within the next few weeks my uncle will be doing a trip to melb so i can get the rest of the bike and start getting stuck in.  I want to have atleast a semi restored roller by Jap Classic day in late Nov this year.

On another note my twincam corolla is being inspected Sat 8am for club reg so very soon that will be nice n cheap to use throughout the year.

cheers

[JADERD]

Update,

My uncle who gave me the bike came down from Mildura for a holiday and bought down the bike.

He and my other uncle bob ( one who recovered kawasaki seat n will do same with Suzuki) came for a drive out to Doreen from Richmond to drop it off.....I shouted them breakfast out for their troubles .

Put together a small table I found in the rubbish area at work ( our office is in a residential complex in hawthorn east, sounds racist, but I'm not, seems majority of residents are Asians and they have a massive throwaway mentality, apparently in Asian culture second hand is seen as bad and poor etc). So I scored the table, strapped on my garage crawler added an old cutlery drying container & pegboard container and I now have a nice mobile bench, wheel away when pull car back into garage.

Started removing bits and pieces and moved the kawasaki outside not enough space to both in garage, once Suzuki built might be ok but during building need more space.  Rigged up a tarp and bought a motorbike cover, works well as had rain straight after finished, cover hardly gets wet thanks to tarps.

My parts from america should arrive very soon. Happy I have the entire bike at home now

Also happy to now have my twincam on club reg, nice n cheap now, this car will be used as tow car for getting to vinduros.....eventually.

[JADERD]

Quick update.

Sideburn mag issue 11 arrived and also my bulk parcel from eBay, from USA.

To my surprise the guards are Preston Petty couldn't tell from pics in for sale and were sold as TS185 1972 model, I figured might be 73/74 model plastic ones so to be Preston petty I'm very happy, a few scuffs, a few drill holes and in need of light sand, paint etc but very happy.

The foot pegs appear to be a direct bolt in which is great too, bought them hoping would fit, wasn't sure.  Triples and steering stem looks great, wiring harness I haven't bothered unwrapping yet, I just added that to purchase as a backup so I can remove what I don't need and be able to take back to stock road version one day if want.

[JADERD]

Ahhh bloody iPad lost all the text I had written.

I'll shorten it.

Piston shagged - barrel looks ok
Connecting rod has some movement left to right etc, needle bearing shagged ?

I'll out more detailed pics and vids in time.

Any advice would be great, obviously top end rebuild, I've never done that before, how does it work re. What oversize do I get, I'm guessing you go standard if haven't had barrel machine if have you got up to the first level of oversize ?

Any advice for home tool to get piston pin out? C clamp ?

Also bike resto is on a little cash as possible, bike will be used in vinduros and get thrashed I guess, what would you do if yo were in my shoes regarding rebuilding the top end, any porting ? Should I crack the cases, once again I've never done this before.


Now I know engine needs some work I'll wait to get advice off pp, do some research and get all the rest or the bike sorted. 


Cheers in advance for any advice.

[tony27]

When you do a top end the best thing to do is find the specs for bore size & work out whether the bore is still in spec as well as what oversize it is already on
If you clean the head of the piston there should be a mark on it telling you which size it is if oversize
You'll need to tidy up the head a bit, get rid of the damage as best you can as the sharp edges can cause detonation/pre-ignition?
Side to side play in the rod is probably okay as long as there is no up & down play. You'll need to have a look on a parts site to see if there should be thrust washers to minimise that

[JADERD]

Brilliant cheers tony, it will be its first piston still, dad and uncle would have never changed it etc.

Thanks for the tips of where to start

[JADERD]

Ok bit of an update.


I think I exaggerated re up down movement, though there is def some movement maybe 1-2 mm which I'm guessing would mean the needle bearing which I think you call the main bearing is prob worn out or broken.


Measured the piston 63.8 mm


Measured Barrel 63.9 mm


That's with my vernier calipers, digital not most expensive ones but atleast let's me know nothing has ever been done before.  Piston just has the front arrow on it same as Kawasaki did, 100% sure orig piston.


Barrel looks ok like I said earlier, does appear to,have some slight scratches that you can just feel at base of barrel.  No real nicks or lips at all around ports that I can see.


I also smoothed out the head a little, just concerned about 2 deeper holes, should they be filled with weld or something ? Or be ok , or buy new head


Let me know what you think, cheers

[Doc]

Simon, looks and reads to me like it has dropped the big end bearing which in turn has done the damage to the piston, head and cylinder. Don't like to be a pessimist but I'd say it'll need a complete rebuild (rebore, oversize piston and rings, gudgeon pin, clips, small end bearing, conrod, big end bearing, crank pin, thrust washers, main bearing, complete gasket kit, machine work and crank work) Conservatively about $400+ if you split the engine and reassemble the engine yourself Good news is all parts would be available. Considering it was your Dad's bike it all depends how much it means to you.