Downunder Rotary

[CanAm]

Hi guys

Very busy atm but keep meaning to say hello.....

A couple of years back I took a most amazing trip back to the USA.

It was something I had talked about for a few years with some mates from SoCal and Sweden (and some others from UK and South Africa) about doing Bonneville for the land speed records. It was a wild adventure, we are all gear heads. We are joined by a common interest being a rare South African production car, that is a story for another time.

So, back to the USA I go again to meet my mates for a journey to the MotoGP @ Leguna Seca, back to LA, then to Reno for Hot August Nights, to Bonneville for Land Speed Records, back to Monterey(Leguna) for Historic Racing and Pebble Beach and back to LA again. Epic adventure with a truly amazing group of guys.

Anyhoo - first time through Monterey I bought an RE5 up in SanFran. Well, technically speaking I bought it before I left Aus.

So, several years later and a container full of toys I finally have it back in Aus.

I fired it up last night after full fluids change. Took a few turns to get it to fire but yes it does run. I have only ever seen one of these before, took it for a test ride, and convinced myself I had to have one. Pretty happy, it makes the annoying braap braaap noise like an RX7, maybe a little louder than expected so I think a few baffles may be missing. Can't get it off idle yet but I think that is largely due to cable adjustment & I think there is a small vacuum leak too as it has that sound about it.

It has a couple of odd noises. One which after reading the forum seems to be the capacitor in the, forgot the term used - maybe starting circuit board or something. Not sure if it goes away (or if even supposed to) once running as the exhaust is quite loud in my shed. The other (in my limited rotary knowledge) sounds like the seals squealing against the housing - maybe its not getting enough oil into the combustion chamber?

Aesthetically, its gorgeous. Pristine in fact. Well, mostly, unfortunately EDIcustoms dot com dot au fell way way below my expectations with 5 out of 6 vehicles being damaged. The RE5 suffered a scratch across the top of the tank so I can only assume they threw a strap over it for some reason as its that sort of back and forth wear. Really pissed actually as it was so original and now I have to touch it up. I have a custom spray painter mate that assures me I won't be able to tell afterwards but time will tell I guess.

[RE5Gary]

Nice RE5 for sure and it sounds like you had a great time in the U.S. That really sucks that the shippers took such poor care of your bike on the trip to the U.S. A friend of mine from Oz is coming to the U.S. next month. He originally was going to ship his GT750 dragbike to the U.S. so he could race it but his friends and son were really worried that something might happen to his bike on the trip. He ended up buying a GT750 dragbike here in the U.S. and is going to race it here next month. He is very pleased that he made that decision as the bike in the U.S. is amazing and will be a blast to watch it next month.

I hope your painter mate can fix your tank as he says that he can so you can get that eyesore out of the picture. I know the feeling when something like that happens. There are quite a few RE5 owners on the message board from Australia. Maybe you can meet up with them. Welcome to the board and thanks for posting.

[toystoretom]

Welcome to the board!

RE5's are full of odd noises. Most definitely you want to make sure your oil pump is doing its job and lubricating the apex seals. I add a little oil to the gas on a new (to me) bike as insurance until I feel comfortable the pump is working. A little extra oil smoke doesn't bother me at all. The ignition should "squeal"... normal. And they are loud, your baffles are probably just fine.

That is a nice looking bike! Lots of character!

[CanAm]

Hi Guys
Thanks for the welcome.
Not a bad idea with the oil in the fuel - would have to be a pretty weak mix though I'd assume? Do you use engine or 2-stroke?
The shop manual stresses several times ot only use RE5 Oil for lubrication but I'm assuming that regular 4 stroke bike oil is OK?

I was particularly drawn to the cafe style screen. Not everyone's cup of tea but I think it gives it quite a unique look.

Can't wait to get the throttle response worked out and take it for a spin.

I got the T500 running with a donor battery - plenty of smoke at first but it settled down after it warmed up.

[toystoretom]

I use Castrol 20-50 four stroke oil, don't use two stroke oil... there are plenty of threads on here about oil. It doesn't take much, if you put in too much it smokes like crazy and then you have to cut it down by adding more straight gas. To me, it is kind of an experiment on how much because your pump may or may not be working. I put a piece of tape where the oil level is at on the oil tank while the bike is on the center stand and see if the oil level drops after many miles of riding. It drops slowly even if it is working correctly. It think there is a thread on how to measure output from your oil pump, you may want to look for that.

I'm happy when I get a little oil smoke at start up and it gradually lessens as the bike warms up. It gets to the point where you almost can't see it, but if you watch the exhaust exit the mufflers against a dark background you can just barely see oil smoke. You can just barely smell it too. You don't want to lock up the rotor or destroy the apex seals.

I think the RE5 oil is long gone and most people use classic Castrol

[wayne]

Hi downunder. I'm one of a group of Australian RE5 owners. I've had mine for over 30 years and not too long ago bought a second. I've just come back from a week long vintage rally where we spent some time fettling and riding a mate's beautifully running RE5.

There is no reason to use anything but Castrol GTX in the sump or under seat tank. It's cheap, readily available and it was one of two oils I know of that Suzuki recommended for the RE5 outside of their own product.

I'm with Tom re his advice. I run a little oil as premix on a "new" bike until I'm sure the oil pump is working. The Oil pump feeds at 1:100 so just as a safety net mix in something up to that amount until you know that it's all working. The oil pump check is simple to do and definitely worth it. Buy a modern reproduction of the oil line to carby check valve from Rotary Recycle as these are prone to fail and spell disaster for your engine.

[CanAm]

Hi Guys
Been busy with new fence construction, but managed to spend a few minutes on the RE5 today.
A couple of photos.
- Found a loose oil line and connected it to what appeared to be the only logical place.
- The vacuum cap was cracked so popped this bright yellow one on - is it supposed to be capped?
And in the other pic,
- Wondering if this is a factory filter? I get very short run times and figuring my running issues are fuel related.
- There's also a connection on the back of the tap - doesn't leak - but is it intended for anything?
Cheers
Seth

Attachments:

[wayne]

The oil line is correct. That banjo fitting is a one way check valve. Replace it with a modern repro from Rotary Recycle. They are unreliable at this age and failure can mean you run your engine without injection oil.

The yellow cap will do. That's the vacuum line to the B point vacuum switch under the tank. As yours is an A model, you shouldn't have B points. Don't be surprised if the vac switch is still under the tank behind the radiator but it won't do anything anyway in an A model, best to cap that vac line as you've done.

The tube that comes off the 90 degree elbow behind your yellow cap is the vacuum line to the fuel petcock. The fuel petcock vacuum connection is the thing that you're referring to in the second picture. These two should be connected.

Most Suzuki's of the era use a vacuum actuated on/off fuel mechanism. The Fuel tap is always "off" when the engine is not running. Once the engine is running and you have vacuum it sucks a small diaphragm in the fuel petcock which pulls a valve open allowing fuel flow. The "Prime" position on the fuel petcock bypasses this valve and allows fuel to flow freely regardless of whether the engine is running or not.

In many Suzuki petcocks the vacuum operated valve doesn't work well enough to completely seal the fuel flow. Fuel will flow into the carby until stopped by the main valve in the float chamber. These also do not seal well these days so you may end up with fuel leaking when the bike has been sitting for some time. Some install an off valve, some clamp the fuel line and some have done the petcock fix that is a thread on the board that eliminates the vacuum valve altogether.

I strongly recommend that you get rid of that mesh filter and buy a paper element fuel filter. These carbies are difficult to clean and susceptible to blockages, I have found the mesh style filters not good enough. Go to Repco and ask for their smallest paper filter. I think the part number is RPF1003. It's a small neat unit. Supercheap has a rather large and ugly unit but it has the advantage of having a 90 degree inlet/outlet.

EDIT: the inline filter is not factory. They didn't fit one. However, there are filters inside the fuel tank and inside the carby inlet. All of them are mesh.

[CanAm]

Woohoo - Wayne you are a champion.

Yes, I have been gone a while, so many other things getting in the way (such as going down to pick up a FR70 Scooter on Sunday and coming home with it, a spare carcass and a 2 owner licenced/running A80 - ha ha, what psychological disorder?)


So, I just came in from some rummaging around and found that hose that comes off of the petcock and with some specially shaped fingers and screwdrivers to assist managed to get it re-connected.

On to Prime for a bit and we're away again - now running much longer. Only managed to stall it after I decided I had filled the shed with enough smoke and flicked the choke off (probably a bit early as wasn't really warm) - continued to idle happily though a little lumpy (rich?). Tried the throttle and it seems to need some adjustment as its 'stiff' but no change in engine note until you wind it a reasonable distance. Managed to stall it once getting some throttle.

Figured I'd consumed sufficient gas so didn't try it again - besides, at 2020 hours figured its probably not best to annoy the neighbours too much. Looking from the house back to the shed its like a Chinese Smog...........time to go have another shower.......just sitting here my clothes are making my eyes water.........

[mike500]

if your throttle is stiff check the port valve to make sure its not stuck,2 of mine were stuck causing stiff throttle and bad running once I unstuck them carefully both bikes were running amazingly good regards mike

[wayne]

Congratulations Canam, that's not fog, that perfume is Eau de RE and we wear it with pride. The smokey start ups will disappear once you get it running regularly.

RE throttles, if not set up properly, can have a lot of lag. First of all, do what Mike said and check the cable to the port valve to see if the stiffness is due to a sticky valve. If not, then you'll need to pull the tank, remove the throttle and do what you'd normally do on any bike to free up the throttle. Lube the cables, use grease suitable for plastics (ceramic) to lube the handlebar and lube the pully inside the switchblock unit. Make sure there aren't any kinks etc.

As for the slack in the throttle, under your throttle grip there should be a screw and locknut. It's there to take out the slack. Once you get the throttle free and the bike running and idling reasonably well, you can tighten up this screw until it just before it starts to increase engine speed. Then the engine should react the second you twist the grip instead of what you're describing now.

Cheers...........

[CanAm]

Thanks guys.

I will check into the throttle this weekend hopefully.

I ran it again last night - just idle - and the smoke was better.
It does have that uber rich aroma and eye sting of rich mixture but I won't tamper with it until I've run it a dozen times and let things settle in.

Can't wait to go for a cruise!

It is a bit loud too - thinking someone has taken the baffles out - will have to check.
The rumour mill on RX-7's says they burn down mufflers pretty quick but I suspect that's in bridgeport'd/turbo'd monsters.

Thanks again for the help guys...
Cheers
Seth

[wayne]

Just before you disappear into the shed for a while Seth..........re the lumpy idle:

Suzuki actually say that when you've got the idle mixture right, they have a "lope" to the sound......we'd call it lumpy and I'd say it's normal.

I've had 5 of these bikes on a dyno with a fuel sensor, they all run rich and at least two of them were perfectly running bikes with no issues whatsoever, the other 3 were all very nice riders but just not perfect. I beleive that this is the way rotaries (at least in the 70's) were designed to run. The plugs also come out looking a lot darker than you'd expect from a 4 stroke but a Mazda rotary race shop told me that that's what they'd expect....."they all run rich".

[CanAm]

Thanks Wayne
Will get it out of the shed this weekend for some more light and share the cloud with the neighbours ha ha - its not that bad.
Also need to do some clutch adjustment on the A80 I picked up and take that for a rap.
Cheers
Seth