GT380B (1978)

The picture above was taken on the day the bike was sold in 2021 just prior to being picked up by the courier.

The next few pictures below are how it stood when I first got it.

A good solid machine albeit a bit tired and been off the road and not started for a few years. One thing I was warned about was that it was very smoke and suspected it either needed a rebore or the pump needed sorting.

It's a 1978 Model B, but somewhere in it's 40+ years a few bits were not exactly per that model's spec, such as tank and panels, rear light, front mudguard and various other bits.

It didn't take away from the bike being in pretty good condition, plus I'd seen this bike on the road many times before so sort of know a bit about its history.

First pass was to partially disassemble, take parts off, check them out and either clean up or replace as needed.

Took front end off, checked, replaced old rusty nuts and bolts with stainless or zinced parts.

Removed Exhausts and flushed with cleaner to find what seemed to be an alarmingly large amount of black sludge which I'm sure must have been causing some of the smoking issues.

Swapped out both front and back wheels initially for a set of Mellor Alloys I had in the shed. ended up swapping the original wheels for a set of newly refurbished ones.

Electrics all seemed to check out fine, including the charging unit, with only a few connectors needing attention and the wiring given a good clean up. Did spot the points and coils are Nippon Denso and the Alternator setup is Kokusan, but seemed to be working.

Headlight, fork shrouds etc. all replaced or powder coated at CTC in Maldon. Alternate Chrome rim and glass fitted and also alternate chrome and rubber parts fitted for the shrouds.

Airbox and Carbs off. The existing carbs sort of working after a quick squirt of starter spray, but seemed to have some issues and definitely needed an internal clean at the very least. Tried some newly rebuilt carbs and they worked perfectly so chose to use that set over the originals.

Checked compression and seemed reasonable but when I took the barrels off the pistons seemed to show signs of blow by. Rather than leave as-is I got another set of barrels were honed for a set on new pistons, with new rings, wrist pins, small ends etc. and had these, along with a different head blasted cleaned at CTC. Original head has 1 fin broken and I has a spare. Top end fully rebuilt with new nut & washers on both the barrels and head.

I was doing all this as my intention was to keep the bike for myself long term.

Other jobs included....

Replacing the 2 outer exhaust pipes for ones in better condition, plus replacing numerous nuts, bolts and washers with new zinc or stainless items.

The bike had been reported as smoking badly and I knew at least some of that was down to the building up in the pipes I still wanted to check the 2-stroke system out. Checking out the oil pump and spotted a leak in the pipework so that was replaced with NOS pipe and while there also fitted set of new oil seals to the pump, reset the pump and then bled the system to remove any air bubbles. After a test ride, it was still smoking more than I was happy with, so I took the pump off and replaced with another unit. Did all the setup a bleeding again and problem was gone.

New Tacho, Speedo and Clutch cables fitted.

Replaced Rear Light unit with the correct Model B fitment parts.

Fitted new Horn and some other electrical parts.

Took Front Brake off, checked, cleaned and new fluid. It already had aftermarket pipework which all seemed good. These brakes are crap compared to modern stuff, but it's as reasonable as you could expect from something 40+ years old.

Replaced the Front Mudguard, which was not original and also damaged with a Suzuki 380 item. I know it's not the right model, but it's better than what was there.

New Rear Brake Light Switch fitted, new rear pads.

New Petrol Tap

New Chain and Sprockets fitted.

Handlebar Switches taken apart, checked & cleaned up.

New Clutch & Brake Levers

New Mirrors

New Front Footrest rubbers & new Pillion pegs

New Handlebars.

Fitted Spoke wheels, which were built by Hagon and fitted with stainless spokes.

Seat swapped out for a better one.

Gear lever and Gear Indicator oil seals needed to be replaced.

New Fork seals fitted and new fluid.

Replaced the Gear Lever as the spline was worn.

Over the period I was working on the bike a lot was a running restore so it did a few miles, checking new or changed parts as I went.

With the main mechanical work done, it was time to get the proper paintwork on the bike. Got the correct graphics from Image Works and then took the Tank and Panels to John @ BoyzToyz in Brentwood. Another excellent job.

This bike was done for myself as a keeper with just about everything done. The very last step being the paintwork which was done and fitted to the bike, but hadn't yet filled with petrol or taken it out for a ride after the paint was done.

I'm a member of various forums and on one someone asked if there were and Model Bs for sale and seemed to have been looking for a while. I thought about it and in truth having a few GT380s already then this would be ideal for someone else to take it to the next level, so agreed to sell it.

I now have another Model B project, so will get round to doing that one at some point.