this has been along term bike for me, the old build thread was on the OLD board. i wont bore anyone w all that, but, this was a florida basket case. and, its one of the only bikes i actively sought out to get after owning one 25 years prior.
it was def not a restoration candidate, so i went a bit creative w the appearance. and, its been a great bike over-all. there have been nagging leaks here and there and the biggest issue is (was) the suspension. the front ends on these were just DISMAL. the brake, even though it was a drum, was actually ok, but the forks damping was basically non existent, they flexed (34mm!) and the external springs were just weak. and, i could never get the collars to stop seeping fork oil. i had had enough, so i procured a GT550 front end (1st year disc model) and went ahead and swapped. had the lowers glass beaded, then vapor blasted along w the upper tree, the spacer, etc.
3D printed some badges for the caliper, and some gaiter mounts. new BT46s as well. the improvement was very notable.
also, since the turn signals had to be remounted, (the disc upper tree doesn't have the provisions), i used some spare R5 ones i had (mounts) under the fork cap and emulated the stock location. used k&s aluminum signals, and had to machine spacers in the back ones to kick em out a bit and use a carbon bolt (since the TS holds the grab rail on).
the stock stuff thats good will be used on the 71 i just got, since its missing the rear signals and the front wheel is in need of help.
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Very nice!!
Awesome update to the old girl. Needs chambers! LOL
:clap:
Did you spray clear coat or anything to protect finish on the fork lowers?
Wow, that looks really nice. I would like to do the same thing someday to the fork lowers of my RD.
thanks. yes all the blasted aluminum got wheel cleared gloss wherl paint), holds up well. lowers, upprt tree etc. as far as chambers.. the titan performance ones suck performance wise, especially for the money. I rode Mike longs w them and I knew I could outrun his with mine w stock pipes.. which is sad. I tried to get a set of swarbicks apparently Dave didn't want my money. this bike will get a set of vp heads soon. would have been earlier this year but had a few unexpected expenses come up that delayed that.
Thanks for the excellent (as usual) documentation! I'm enjoying this :thumbs:
figure I'd start a thread here. Will move pics over and report back on final jetting. but in the meantime...
Beautiful looking pipes. :thumbs: What kind of gains are you expecting to make now that they're on the T500?
Sweet
I honestly don't know, I rode it with it jetted super rich it still had a nice kick at 4k. what i thinks really goungvro make the difference is the vp billet heads (eventually) and possibly a set of pwk34s or vm34s. have both but need different intakes than the monster weight stock 32s take
:metal:
So jealous. Let me know how it goes. I was going to pull the trigger on titan performance ones but they do not have any performance to them. I still have to tune those pwk 32 with uni filters. Haven't touched my t500 in ages...
:taz: :bacon:
There's nothing like ringing pipes. No way to only listen once and move on.
Replay, replay, replay.....
when i get it dialed in going to do a go pro video. Im probably going to get a zeel for that bike, already has a cdi. about to go test ride it.
Quote from: 2steve on September 06, 2025, 11:13:40 AMThere's nothing like ringing pipes. No way to only listen once and move on.
Replay, replay, replay.....
:dawg: :thumbs:
Wow. Love the new sound what a difference.
got it tuned in i think. im going to do exactly what i told paul to do on his 400, and get a zeel to back the timing off a bit the higher in the revs. I mean, this thing stock freaking pinged everywhere, even at hot idle. that's how dismal the combution chamber is.
however, NOW, it literally only pings at 4800-5500 then goes away. not after it, not before it. weirdly, the jetting had to be reduced, effectively, everywhere. which makes sense if you know how a chamber works. main jet went from a 107.5 (where i had it before stock stuff) to a 105.
needle went one leaner , so its in clip 2.
air screw went from 1-1.1/8 to 1.5 out.
it just signs off at 7100, but im convinced thats the stock 72 porting at play, which is fine.
nd i'll get the vp heads hopefully before the end of the year. :vroom: :toot:
Thats great to hear. VP will have it made to perfection. I saw a few t500 heads when I was there last month. You still running the stock airbox?
I am yes. and want yo keep it. the early boxes are basically a y boot with a big huge filter vs the later ones and flow really well
was able to retain center stand. bent side kick leg down, to let the feet sit higher. cut nub off end re-welded back on 180 ish, at different angle. made adjustsble stop for it on other side of frame w rubber heel from scratch. the 3/4" i lose of lean clearance seems worth it, not like this things a knee dragging anyway.
on the testride ran into Travis on his 1100
The look and sound of these pipes gives me something to smile about this Monday.
Is jim lomas importing to the US again?
they didnt stop. fast from the past did.
as a follow up.. pipes are really good performers. jetting lands ar 115m, one clip lean, 30 pilots w 1.25 out. now, that being said, I already had to repair the rh pipe hanger. :taz: thin stainless, vibrations, no bueno. I have a plan though, that won't stand. also, I removed the airbox and went with k&ns, 4" long cones. yes, you can do this on piston ports. w the carbs hanging out there, I like them supported so the intake doesn't break. so, I made a small bracket to support them. its actually more supported than the stock box. as a side note, I also have a stock 71 that needed a bunch of stuff, so the stock 'take offs' on the 72 are going on the 71. yes, I cleaned up the rough cut on this after I took the pic. :)
:patriot: :patriot:
Wait...do my eyes deceive me, or is there a set of hard end-capped filters in use in the haus of Haase? :huh:
Are you saying that a piston ported engine tolerates the hard end caps?
they do. those are long so def ok.i ran similar on my old s2, and that put down almost 60 hp.the reeds and the flat backed filters are an issue, or really short flat backed filter on piston ports. an example of that was pancake flat baks that are on triples. purple haze used to do that, and as smart as ron was, tfose worked like shit on an h2 motor.. but they fit the frames. also, on a drag motor, not that big a deal.
That being said, if the filter is long enough, you -can- run them, but you need 5-6" to negate the effect w a reed motor. and.. they don't fit rd frames. however, you'll see really long and big ones used on banshees and rd Karting motors successfully.
fantastic write up
generic muffler straps from Amazon, stainless, for a secondary mount round the pipe body. think these were 100mm. actually, work really well.
And here I am using zip ties on the RD400 FPPs because they were made for a DS7. I think those straps would work regardless of the top and bottom weld flanges.
Excellent, Mark.
I have done something similar. Ended up just getting some bar stock aluminum and making my own brackets. Cost me 7 dollars.
they would. i went with these because, well, they were cheap, and rubber isolated. good thick metal though
They look a lot better than the hack job i did with some rubber straps and pipe hanger metal.
:clap: Those look good and should do the job well
Quote from: quocle603 on September 23, 2025, 09:18:56 PMThey look a lot better than the hack job i did with some rubber straps and pipe hanger metal.
if it works it works :olaf:
A rubber washer between two metal washer doesnt isolate the vibration enough? I had to do that with my old SPEC 2s on my RD400 as the welds cracked at the mounts. I do that to all my pipes now.
nope.
Quote from: m in sc on September 17, 2025, 10:15:41 PMthey didnt stop. fast from the past did.
so who is importing? Google didn't turn up anything but HVC and fast from the past, and like you said they quit.
i bought direct.
Quote from: gargantua350 on September 28, 2025, 09:28:35 AMA rubber washer between two metal washer doesnt isolate the vibration enough? I had to do that with my old SPEC 2s on my RD400 as the welds cracked at the mounts. I do that to all my pipes now.
Great tip.
I went ahead and replaced the bars with some i won at a raffle at a bike show in Piedmont, sc last weekend . I was trying with goung to taller bars but these basically fell into mynlap. they are a bit more pulled back then the bars I had, same pull back as stock t500 bars, almost 2" lower but 1.5" taller than the ones I had. pretty sure they are for a vintage Bonneville. I cut 1" off each side and are actually.. perfect. new bars on the bike, 3rd pic is stock t500, last is what i had on the bike.
I like it :clap: :clap:
so I wanted to add a zeeltronic controller to the cdi (vape). its a bit different to an rd as it has an internal trigger, not a pickup per-say. to do this, I had to use a regular cdi coul, not the vape one. ordered a dynatek cdi coil from economy cycle. then install the zeel as per usual. the cdi drum had to be set to 70 degrees advanced from tdc. zeel uit was a Z-PDCIS-A01T . directions came from John and Borut. its def much better with a retard of the curve over 5k, the rev limiter is nice as well. I also repurposed an old kawasaki.. f11? throttle and kill switch because the t500 doesn't have a battery mounted kill stock. lastly, when uli pulled the cdi, there was oil behind it. :huh: turns out the brand of pul seal i used back when I did the crank is slightly undersized od, so it was seeping on the outside. had no signs otherwise of a failing seal. easy to replace but ffs.
Very nice! :patriot:
Decent heads would make a difference and so would decent porting and larger carbs.
Lomas GT750 street pipes also look beautiful and are designed to peak at reasonable revs rather that balls to the wall.
probably. the vp heads are on the list. im going to get the spare set of cyls decked 2mm and use the jack plate on them eventually,and I have a set of 34mm flatslides new on hand. however, none of these are high revvers overall, this pulls to 7k, overrevs to 8, and im ok w that . even built street ones don't go much higher, I want it to stay together. I have about 1k in ignition, 1800 in pipes so far. the 1k in heads will come soon but fuuuuuccckkk. :burnout: :dawg: right now i am happy w it to be honest. I have black bodywork coming, aiming for this. I've had this Pic for ages. know nothing about it but I like it. figured the fairing out as well.
That black T500 just looks too right.
I don't have FBook, but saw this in images for Ed Toomey Designs. Ed has had his clappy hands on at least one, (that wasn't as good looking).
yeah I know he has done work to them. luckily I don't need help mine. however, I might send him my spare crank to get rebuilt as its honestly not worth my time to do it, and the 71 needs a crank seal