Pennsylvania 350 GTR

[dcr]

Picked up my "new" 350 GTR on Saturday. Frame tag number 21F06232 with 3713 original miles. According to the serial number guide it is a 1968, but this bike was originally registered and titled as a 1971 Brig & Strat Motorcycle. The original '71 registration card was with the bike and to show how small the world really is, it turns out that I went to high school with the original owners son. The notary that is handling the title transfer is attempting to clean up the year and name - we shall see how it goes.

Overall, the bike is in really good shape considering it hasn't run in years. There are a few items missing, like the exhaust baffles and the front brake handle plus a bolt or 2, but the motor appears to be in great shape. The cylinders walls look really good, the heads are intact but the pistons are kinds burnt below the rings. At least the cylinders are ready to go and wont need re-plated.

The biggest issue at this point appears to be the wiring harness. There is no key with the bike and someone hacked the daylights out of the harness to bypass the ignition. There are wires cut, taped, stripped and hanging loose.

At this point, I am disassembling the bike for a thorough cleaning and de-greasing. In all likelihood I will just clean and reassemble since they are only original once.

[dcr]

I haven't really dug into the tank yet, but there is definitely something "suspicious" about it. It has a solid sound when I tap on it and a lot of goop around the bung. My early suspicions are it leaked around the bung and someone tried to seal the tank with something to cure the leak. I took the fuel petcock apart and it is all gummed up with something that looks like 30 year old epoxy. It chips off fairly easily but that's a project for later.

[rwgibbon]

Dan,

It looks like a great find.

Enjoy the adventure of bring it back to life.

Randy

[BS Mechanic]

Great looking bike!  Looks like a fun project.

The tank fitting looks like it might be a challenge, hope it cleans up ok.

The pistons really look pretty good. They look good on the skirts, and that's just carbon deposits on the upper part which should clean up well.  Depending on the mileage and the clearances a new set of rings is probably the only thing I'd replace.,

[BRT-GTR]

   Dan
           Bike looks like a great find. Any engine that turns over and has good bores is a winner.

     One of my bikes came with a tank that sounded and felt like it was half full of cement !  Your tank is likely loaded up with 30 year old petrol residue and rust. Used the instructions that come with the 'Tapox' sealing kit to clean mine out as follows :-

             1) Rinse for an hour with 50cc of washing up liquid and a litre of warm water.
             2) Second 1 hour rinse with half litre of alkaline(waterbased) cleaner. Think I used 'Flash' available in the UK.
             3) Finally used the UK equivalent of Evaporust, with a good hand full 6mm stainless nuts. Kept turning it round and giving it a good shake, swilling the nuts along the base
                 of the tank, for about 48hours.
    Unfortunately, the tank may develop pin holes as you clean it out but these can be soldered or brazed up. This is what came out of mine.            Brian.

   

[slawsonb]

Dan, I expect your petcock will clean up well. Not the worst I've seen for sure. Just takes dedication and time...;-) And to echo some other posters, its a great day when you have a motor with good cylinder chrome and a free crank. Sky's the limit.
Congrats and good luck!
...bert

[dcr]

I spent about an hour last night on the petcock and it did clean up very well. Inside was clean although the smaller tube was packed with crud. I will start to examine and work on the fuel tank one day this week.

[husker]

Looks like an excellent bike to restore. I hope the clutch plates are in good shape.  Blizzard in Nebraska today so I am spending some time on my neglected 350.....Rod

[dcr]

2 broken friction plates and 2 inner plates worn down past the dimples.

[dcr]

I'd swear someone dumped a large can of coffee grounds into the fuel tank. This isn't even half based on what I can see still in there. Tapping on the tank with a rubber mallet got this loose but now its on to lacquer thinner, a handful of loose nuts, shaking/rolling, soap and hot water, evaporust and whatever else it takes to clean this mess.

EDIT - Forgot to point out how bad it smells. Oil/gas or some other heavy petroleum based smell. (or all of the above)

[OldSwartout]

It looks like that is the remains of some kind of sealer like you guessed in your earlier post.  Really nasty looking.

[slawsonb]

Looks like the guy was trying to burn coal! Yikes!! 

[dcr]

Good news from the Pennsylvania DMV. The title came in the mail yesterday and the make and year have been corrected. Instead of a 1971 Briggs & Stratton, my title now reflects a 1968 Bridgestone MC.

[moonpup]

Glad to see you got that straightened out Dan, it's amazing how muddled the info on these can get.

I had a GTR that came with a title that listed it as an "Allstate", along with 3 or 4 wrong numbers in the serial number. Turns out it had one mistake too many for the state of TX to be willing to make corrections.  

[dcr]

High School baseball season has once again slowed all things Bridgestone to a grinding halt. I finally got the motor put back together and in the bike. I've got some wiring to clean up as the previous owner tried the "no key" approach and made some changes as well as the main ground and main hot wires are missing. Also need to get some tank work done. In one of the pictures I posted here you can see the painted over buildup around the fuel valve. I ground it all away as it leaked there anyway and found it was some type of really hard compound designed to stop the fuel leak - which didn't completely solve the issue. The bung almost fell out when i removed said compound so i removed it and cleaned up the surrounding area. I'll get that brazed in at some point, hopefully soon. I still have to get the rest of that goop out of the tank so maybe this will make it a bit easier.

Other than that, it's almost completely back together after a thorough cleaning and degreasing. Hoping to have it running in the next few weeks.

Dan

[stickman]

Pa is a good place to get a title, I got a title for a 4 wheeler and the girl had me put her name on the letter, i paid the tax and she got me the title. I live in WV.

Stick

[dcr]

When I stripped the motor to clean things up and inspect the internals, I found that  one of the fork guide pins (2113-9000) was really chewed up on the left end. I pulled the motor completely apart and got a replacement part from Moonpup with the idea of simply swapping out the pin.

When I put them back together, the pin is shorter than it needs to be, but the 2 originals and the replacement are all the same length. Looking at the parts manual, part number 2139-9000, 8 plug, appears to be a piece that sits in the left side of the motor case that would take up the slack and make the fork guide pin the correct length. The opening for both guide pins on the left side of the case has dimples like a plug was originally peened in there and that would make a lot of sense.
 
Am I correct that there is a piece that goes in there and if so, anyone happen to know the correct length of that piece?  I figure I can make one out of the old shift guide if this issue is what i suspect it is.

[slawsonb]

Hey Dan. Thanks for bringing this up. I just looked at the lower case I had vapor blasted not long ago (motor number NA1-01351) and in both holes for the shift  fork guide pins there are dowels peened in at end to serve as stops. They are in there tight, so I can't tell you the length, but 09056-102 4 X 8 dowel would probably be the same length. In my situation they appear to be the same part/length. My parts manual indicates a screw to hold 2113-9000 in place, but it is not present in my case. While doing this examination, I also found a ton of vapor blasting abrasive built up in these holes that I had failed to clean out. Glad you made me look, so that stuff did not come adrift in my transmission. 
...bert

[dcr]

Bert - thanks for the input and glad this worked out for you.

Any chance you can measure the depth of the remaining hole with the plug in to get a number? I can work backwards from that. My plan is to use the old guide pin and make a plug from that and re-peen it in.

I see no evidence of a screw to secure mine either. Just 2 dimples from the peening to hold them in - which didn't seem to be very effective in my case.

Dan

[BRT-GTR]

Hi Dan,
           The hole for the left end of the rear guide pin is 15mm deep, indicating the plug is 8mm long approx.
     Suggest you insert the rear pin in it's holes, push it against it's right stopper plate, then measure the depth of the hole at the left end. Subtract 1mm to allow for end float and that's the length of the plug required.
    Remember the plugs needs to be oil tight and are probably an interference fit in the crankcase, so a piece of old guide pin may not provide a suitable fit.
    Bert, Is there a part or index no. for the screw for 2113-9000 you refer to?
    Hope this helps,     Brian.