And the darkest hour is just before dawn.

We left off with the battery not fitting the box. When I looked at alternatives they were all the same size so it looked like the box had taken a hit. I had the hardest job putting it in and I really didn't want to do that again but eventually I gave in and pulled it. On the bench it was clear that it was distorted and with some fine tuning I got the battery to fit. So the battery came out and the box went into the frame with just as much nausea as the first time.
I primed the carburetor and fired it up, NOTHING. Then purely by chance I found that the starter is disabled unless the clutch is pulled in. (How things have changed in the 40 years since I rode a bike). Attempt number two and incredibly the engine fired right up.

I live on a private road so it seemed pretty safe to take it on a shake down run even without tags, a license, helmet or insurance and was that ever sweet. I thought that it was a little noisy and but chance the previous owner turned up and she thought so too. Investigation revealed that I had not bolted up the header flange right and with that done the engine became much more bearable although now I can hear the sounds of loose tappets. That's OK though as after a few hours I will re-torque the head and re-adjust the valve clearances. But for now I think there will be a moratorium on blogging because I am having way to much fun.


Two final points. I wanted to keep a log of costs, well just because I like to. The bike was $500 and the parts were $492. I did not charge the cost of the tools to the project because I will probably use them for other things anyway. So $992 and I have a pristine Suzuki Savage (and kudos to Lee for looking after it so well). I also had hundreds of $$ worth of fun in fixing this thing
Secondly this was supposed to be a winter project but just like a bottle of wine once I started I couldn't stop. So here we are at 12/4 and four months of winter left. Looks like I will have to use my fallback of annoying Susie. Wish me luck.

Two steps forward and one back.

Actually several steps forward. When I built the engine I used some special lube that sticks to the cam and rockers so they don't start dry. Then when I had to remove the cover to insert the oil mesh thing I lavished some more lube on all the top end parts. Clearly some made it to the bottom of the engine where it promptly leaked onto the garage floor. It looked like it was coming from the left side cover and when I got it off and cleaned up it seemed like the crankcase had taken a huge hit which had deformed the metal. Being soft aluminium I gave it a tickle with a file and it looks (touch wood) like it is all better. I also got the tank on today and hooked up all the fuel, vapor and vacuum lines. Then the seat went on and bonjour! this is what it looks like.




So now all that remains is to install the battery, fuel up and start up. Except that the battery is 1/4 inch too tall to fit the box. Thank you Amazon thank you so much. It looks like I will have to put a hold on the project until I can get the right size battery but that's OK I have got all winter to play although I will have nothing to blog about for a while. Sorry!

The end is in sight

Well to be more precise the end of the build is in sight. I am fully expecting there to be some many fine tuning issues as well as the inevitable issues that always occur after a big rebuild. Fortunately that is all in the plan as I shall mess with this thing throughout the winter and as soon as I am happy it is solid and as soon as the weather has warmed up I will get it inspected, insured and on the road.
Anyway back to the story. I picked up the 32mm socket and gave the pulley some 80 foot pounds. That done I started to put on the covers and trim and it looked so good I had to put in the battery box and toolkit holder. The battery box proved the old adage that 10% of the job takes 90% of the time and I had the worst time getting the screws to line up. Finally it was done and that seemed a good point to end on. So now to fit the tank and work out where the plethora of fuel lines and vents go (thank you California for caring for the environment). Sometime this week I am going to have to press the start button but in the meantime we are looking good.

More Progress

I have toured this town for 10mm x 1.25 lock nuts to no avail so the engine is held in with regular nuts, lock washers and copious quantities of Locktite. My plan for today was to install the drive system which meant jacking the bike up and removing the rear wheel. I really don't like doing this as it all seems so unstable and I am not buying a lift for one job. In the end I pushed it parallel to my workbench, ran a ratchet strap through the vice and clipped it to two parts of the frame. Things went well until it came to tightening the drive pulley nut. I am guessing that it is 25mm but whatever it is necessitates another trip to Lowes, oh well.


All this progress got me in the mood even if it is cold and damp in the garage. The next step according to the manual is to fit the carburetor and once I thought to warm the rubber couplers with a heat gun to make them more pliable, that job took less than 5 minutes. So I have to finish the drive train, install the guards, on with the battery box, the fuel tank and we are getting scarily close to pressing the go button.

Carburetor installed and below the big nut that needs 85 foot pounds of torque tomorrow.

Moving On

I haven't worked on the Suzuki for a few days now, I could use Thanksgiving as an excuse but the truth is I just didn't want to. After having made so much progress in the last week or so, I couldn't get my head around taking it apart again for the sake of some %^&*# piece of steel wool. Well today was the day and I pulled off the nice chrome bits and the inspection covers and rotated it to TDC and all the rest of it and pulled the head cover. It wasn't that hard to do in the frame but what saved my sanity was having a 10mm 1/4 inch drive ratchet because there is no room in there for much else. So with the strainer in place and it all back together I thought that I should do something that would please me and looking at the manual the next step was to install the exhaust pipe. Now here is the funny thing. The pipe had some strange marks on it and when I lined it all up they were clearly where a boot had rested on the pipe and melted but those marks were completely hidden by the very smart chrome heat shield. So I have to wonder if Lee, or twinkle toes as I like to call her, was riding without the heat shield and if so why. Enquiring minds need to know.

A reversal of fortunes.

I feel that I am on the home straight as far as building goes. Of course whether it will start or not is another matter. The pile of screws and nuts and little rubber bits is getting smaller and smaller and of course the plan is to end up with 1 motorcycle and 0 parts on the bench. However this odd thing confused me, I can only describe it as a neatly folded strip of steel wool.

Eventually I asked the owners club and they told me that it was an oil strainer to prevent oil being blown down the line into the air box and that it goes inside the cylinder head. Oh dear, all that is buttoned up and the engine is in the frame. When I suggested to the club that I could try to run without it they pretty much threw up their collective hands in horror. So the head cap is coming off dammit. I am reliably informed that it can be done with the engine in the frame so it is not all bad news. First job after Thanksgiving.


Edit : Having just re-read the previous post I said that I had used the original left crankcase cover and if I had to get the seized inspection plate off I would work that out later. Well I realized that it had to come off so that I could rotate the engine to make sure it was at top dead center before removing the head cover. Yesterday the judicious use of a cold chisel and an air gun popped that little sucker right out. As the previous owner had already bought a replacement we are set to go. I can hardly wait.

It's starting to look a little like a motorbike.

The workshop manual states that the frame has to be upright (as in not on the side stand) so I used a floor jack to get it up on some wood blocks. Then I thought that I should make sure it didn't get pushed over as I jemmied the engine in so I strapped it to immovable objects and we were set to go. I anticipated that this was going to be a nightmare but the it took less time to get the engine in the frame than it did to type this. That said, fully assembled, it is quite a lump to pick up so I placed a workmate near the frame to act as a landing zone for the journey from the workbench and then a pile of old quilts by the frame. Anyway hats off to the designer who made sure that I didn't need a shoehorn and a tub of Vaseline.
There was, of course, the usual nausea like discovering a switch that needed installing and having to remove the foot pegs again to do it but all in all it was a huge success. I decide to use the original left cover as opposed to the one I bought as the stator was still connected and I was anxious to move on. If I  ever need to remove the seized on inspection plate I will work something out later.
So here we are and I am still looking at the ancillary parts like they are a jigsaw but I think that we can all agree it is starting to take shape.

I realised that I forgot to add the as yet unused crankcase cover to my running total and since the last post I have also bought two oil filters and a battery. So my parts spend now stands at $498.46.

A Big Day

I always think that it is a great day when I turn the ratchet handle from undo to tighten because that generally means that the job is now heading in the right direction and Thursday turned out to be a great day.
My cheapo honing tool worked out real well and within a few minutes all the glaze was busted and the cylinder nicely scored. The tool also survived so if anyone wants to borrow it, you are welcome. The rings slipped on the piston and the piston slipped easily into the cylinder. It was kind of a faff keeping the timing chain in the right place and I ended up using some string which wasn't entirely successful. I was also reminded for the umptenth time that I do not know better than the manual which clearly states to insert only the rear chain guide. I of course inserted both guides only to find that the front one has to be inserted after the cylinder is on as it locates from the top. After a small temper tantrum which sent Susie and the dogs heading for the fallout shelter I took it all apart again. This time armed with a portion of common sense I ended up with this.

You can see the timing chain tied down to stop it slithering back into the crankcase as well as the rear guide in place and the front guide (which has just been lowered in from the top). As the rocker arms are fixed to the head cover fitting the cylinder head was a no brainer or it should have been. I have every size and combination of sockets known to man except, apparently, a 14mm with a 1/2 inch drive and that was the one I needed to torque the head down. As a slight aside, back in the day, when men were men (and so unfortunately were some of the women) engines were made from cast iron and we scorned the use of a torque wrench. These days engines are made from aluminium which has a tensile strength of play dough and so it was shopping for me. Anyway I walked into Lowes found the part and was back in the parking lot in minutes. I was so surprised and delighted I took a celebratory selfie, lucky you.

Joking apart the torque wrench is an absolute must although I got so scared pulling the head down I had to stop just to test the wrench on a few random bolts. Eventually the head was held down to the required 24 foot pounds and nothing got stripped. Then a generous smear of sealant around the oil plug (which is the cause of the infamous Savage weep) and on with the head cover and rockers. I thought that I may as well adjust the tappets on the bench and then put on the crankcase covers. So at the end of a long but satisfying day I ended up with,

I am taking today off mainly because I am feeling a touch weary but also because the next session will be to put the engine in the frame and I need all my faculties intact. I also need to work out how to get the Savage upright and secure so that as the engine goes in I don't end up faced with a choice of saving the engine or the frame as it all topples over. I shall ponder on that tomorrow.

Lesson Learned

The moral of this story is that if your ducks are all lined up in a row the DMV can be a remarkably efficient place. Yes indeed I finally got all my paperwork in exactly the order that the DMV wanted and within minutes I had a title and they had $85 of my hard earned. I guess that the DMV is a huge revenue source for Virginia.


Actually it's been a good day. Lee turned up with the missing keys and the USPS turned up with the honing tool and some engine assembly lube. I didn't do any work today as I was busy with some other stuff but tomorrow I see no reason to have this engine completely built by close of play. In fact I am so confident that I shall order a new battery now so that I am not held up next week.


Watch this space.

Turning Point

Finally, I have the piston and the new rocker arms. I am still waiting on the honing tool (curse you Amazon) so there is not much to do. Just because I could I fitted the rockers and I suddenly realized that I was putting things together and no longer pulling them apart.


I also worked out the deal with the cylinder head nuts. I was looking for 4 identical nuts and not finding them so when I was collecting the parts I had ordered I decided to get a new set. When the guy brought them up on his computer it was clear that 3 are dome heads and one is a regular nut and I knew I had that combination so I passed on them. Now I find that I only have 3 of the 4 copper washers so I probably did screw myself. Oh well it's all good, I'm sure that I can find one locally. For now I am just pleased to be tightening things up.

A short break

Well I think I am going to have to take a short break here. It's not that I want to but I am awaiting parts, partially because of my poor logistics skills and partly because Amazon are trying to prove a point. After I discovered that the local engine shop was no more I decided that I could quite easily hone the cylinder myself. Locally the tool is $32 but Amazon has one for $12 and being financially conservative tight I went for the Amazon option, figuring if it is the usual Chinese crap, well it will only be used once anyway. Now as usual Amazon try to persuade me to pay for 2 day shipping and as always I click on the free stuff. So 4 days after I post (and pay for) my order they send me a text to say it has shipped. 4 days to pick an order! Oh dear looks like this is turning into a rant, let's move on.

One of the things I have discovered about the Savage is that the top end lubrication is not that good, in fact the owners club suggests that you should not let the engine idle when the machine is on the side stand. The owners manual makes a big deal of setting the idle at 1000 rpm but doesn't explain why. (The owners club says that this is to keep the oil pump running fast enough). This is bourne out by my experience that when it is run low on oil the top end is trashed. The cam lobes have survived but the rocker arms are toast and that I don't mind as they can be replaced. However the cam sits directly on the aluminium head so if it melts, the head and head cover are screwed. The manual glibly states that if the cam bearing surfaces are out of spec, the head and associated parts should be replaced. Just for fun I looked up the price of a new head and it is an eye watering $740. It goes without saying that I have polished mine up and I am optimistically calling the score marks "oil retaining grooves". Now when I was a boy (which admittedly was many, many decades ago) bearing surfaces would have a phosphor bronze shell and when the wore thin they could be winkled out and replaced for pennies. It is hard to imagine some Japanese engineer thinking that this is a good idea. Does anyone? Enquiring minds want to know. Oops it looks like I am back into rant mode, moving on.

Lots of good news. In the latest batch of parts were several pieces of bright work bearing the grime of 5 years of storage. In a quiet moment I cleaned then with some polish and they came up like new so I am confident that this nearly 20 year old machine is going to look like new when it is all done. Also, apparently some years ago the dealer cross threaded the inspection plate on the left side cover. I tried to remove it but even with a pneumatic impact screwdriver it is on for life but the good news is that I found one on eBay for $10 so high five me. Also in the good news department is the fun I am having in working out how this all goes together. Having not taken it apart it can be a challenge but also a high when WTF! turns into "oh that is how you go".

Finally Gerry and Lee if you are reading this (and I know you are) the Savage is still not mine. The wretched DMV are  not playing nice and even tears and Lord's name taking of in vane won't help. I think that we will will all have to go together with the Savage and a Supreme Court Justice to notarize the transfer. To this end I have booked my drinking pal His Honor Justice Antonin Scalia, or Dog Breath as he like me to call him, to attend the DMV next week. They will not defeat me.

More progress

I am now waiting for parts to arrive so to pass the time I thought I would clean the carburettor. I was hoping to make it last the morning but it was a 30 minute job and as it happened the thing was pretty clean anyway. Then Lee turned up with all the missing parts and a bonus bag for the front forks. Later in the day I polished up the chrome work that just arrived and it came up like new so although I didn't acheive much it feels like a good day.

One very clean carburettor.

I like these specialist forum groups and when I restored the golf cart I picked up a lot of useful information. It turns out that there is a forum just for the Savage so I joined, read a lot of good stuff, including how to cure the "Savage oil weep" and then asked the question as to what damage would occur if the engine was run low on oil. Two guys predicted that the rocker arms would be destroyed and now I have them, they really are.




It is kind of hard to see but those cam lobes should be convex and they ae worn to concave.

All in all it is kind of good news as the parts are fairly cheap $62 each and it is good to find something wrong. Of course if I am wrong about the bottom end being good then the engine will be back in the frame, started up and pulled right out again to my deep shame.


So I ordered the parts locally today including a piston and rings (and by the way am I alone in thinking the piston should come with a wrist pin and circlips? It doesn't). The spend was $285.49 which makes a running total of $398.97.


I know that there will be some other expenses and I am already thinking of a battery and a rear tire but I quietly confident that I can bring this project home for less than $1000. We will see.

Onwards and Upwards

Monday turned out to be the usual frustration. Fisher's did not carry a spring compressor (I know really) and when I asked about honing the cylinder they told me that the engine shop closed years ago! NAPA were polite but useless so once again I was back at Advance Autos. They only had a crappy Chinese compressor for $20 so I bought it along with some lapping sticks and paste. The compressor of course didn't work and I ended up removing the fork on the end and taping it to a C clamp. If you ever see one of these run, don't walk.

On the much more positive side I got the valves out and cleaned them up nicely. I washed the head and cylinder with kerosene and everything now looks good.

I found a honing tool on Amazon for $12 and as they are $32 in town that is a bargain. I also ordered a complete gasket set which is on its way. Talking of gaskets it looks like Suzuki stick them on with mastic. I know this because I spent the better half of the afternoon trying to peel them off while not scratching the super soft aluminum.


I'm going to keep account of the money put into this project just because I can. So far we have $50.49 in tools and stuff and $62.99 for gaskets and the honing tool, so a grand total of $113.48.

Why I hate shopping

No matter what else might need work I am, at the very least, going to need to replace the piston rings, hone the cylinder, decoke the head and lap the valves. In addition and only if I am feeling particularly adventurous I will polish the ports. So just to have something to do on a Friday night I decided to scrape the carbon off the piston. As soon as I started I found some very strange dings around the crown of the piston. They are clearly not valve damage but they are enough for me to scrap the piston which is no big deal as at $70 it is probably a good investment anyway.

Little knicks around the crown

I don't know why I would be bothered to remove the old rings from this now scrap piston but I did and to my surprise the oil control ring fell apart. It's been a long time since I got this deep into a motorcycle engine but I am sure that this ring should be one piece not three. I wonder if this is the source of the strange noise.




We have in town three auto stores and so I was confident that I would find a small valve lifter, a lapping stick and some valve grinding paste. Well you would think wouldn't you? NAPA was like the land of the living dead with the two octogenarians behind the counter frozen in time. Advance were employing GED failures who hadn't a clue what I was talking about and I arrived at Fisher's at 12.04 and can you guess what time they close on a Saturday. As a result I had a despondent afternoon just dicking around. I made a half hearted attempt to clean the cylinder head but to be honest I wasn't feeling the magic.

Anyway, enough whining, first thing Monday morning I shall have another go at NAPA.

The Savage is Home.

Courtesy of the Gerry and Lee shipping company, the bike is home. Already my fingers are itching to get to it but for now here are some pictures.

How it all started.

Sometime in 2014 I was desperately searching for a project to keep the Devil away from these idle hands. I have always enjoyed working with internal combustion engines and recently I have restored a 1986 golf cart with a 247cc 2 stroke engine (which I still have) a 1963 Ford Galaxie (which I sold) as well as repairs to a plethora of chain saws, tillers and weed whackers. Anyway scouring through Craigslist I stumbled across a Suzuki Savage motorcycle with a blown engine. The bike looked pretty and a single cylinder 650 cc engine would probably be just the right size to work on. I pontificated for just a few minutes and called the guy only to find that the bike sold within minutes of the ad being placed.
For some bizarre reason I became infatuated with the Savage and only that would do. I searched Craigslist and eBay and found squat. Fast forward a year and we had our good friends Lee and Gerry across for dinner. Apropos nothing at all I mentioned my quest and Lee looked at Gerry and Gerry looked at Lee and they said that not only did they have a Savage but it had a blown engine. Once again Dame Fortune clutches David P to her sweetly scented bossom and smiles. Over dinner a deal was done and as I bonus I got free delivery, how cool was that?