John Storrie RIP

February 8th was the anniversary of the passing of my good friend John Storrie.

John was one of the good guys. 

John was a great stalwart and lover of all things Suzuki, but more importantly the GT750.

Those of us that knew John are privileged to have known him and those of us that had him as a friend were more privileged.

RIP John 

Sad Announcement

My old friend John Storrie passed away on February 8th. 

He had  a short illness after being diagnosed with lung cancer.  His funeral was on Monday 2nd March in Milton under Wychwood.

I spoke to him frequently and once he discovered social media and email he was constantly in touch.

I organised a "JS Day" meeting in the summer and he was brought to the motor museum in Gaydon by Tony Taylor.

It was a surprise for him and he looked a little frail even then.  He urged me to get the Kettle up to him to get it fixed up and running.  It was all him that got me this far.

For the average mechanic many of the jobs are probably okay. But for the ham fisted with few decent tools (and nowhere to work) it needs an expert.

Sadly with John gone it might need a new Kettle King to arise.

Kettle - Resurrection Shuffle - 2

I had to stretch my lunch break to er, breaking point to get the Post office part of things done so I have a taxed but unusable bike.

It wasn't as straightforward as the DVLA website would have you believe though. As I don't have a V11 (the tax reminder they send out) and as the bike was SORN (Statutory Off Road Notification) there was no record of it being taxed for a few years.

On visit one the guy at the PO took the V5C (log book as we call it) and the V112 (MoT exemption declaration) and the printout of the web page,. He couldn't get past the first hurdle, telling me to call the DVLA.

I walked briskly back to work and called. Amazingly it took around a half dozen "press 1 for blah-blah, 2 for blah-blah" before I got a human person to speak to.  She listed to my problem.  "On page 2 of the V5C, section 7, write HISTORIC in the box and sign and date it, then go to the PO". I did.

Visit 2.  In and five minutes a different bloke had given me a receipt for the tax priced at £0 and was sending my log book off. A new one presumably with the tax class changed from Bicycle to Historic.

Brisk walk back.

So now the bike is legally if not physically able to go on the UK's and nay, the world's roads.

All this does make me wonder why once the vehicle trips over to 40 years plus 1 second old that they don't do this automatically and record the vehicle as historic? Why do you have to claim the exemptions that are allowed by law?

Kettle - Resurrection Shuffle - 1

In happier days

It seems like I have been here before.

It's all come about after a comment from my old buddy John Storrie once he entered the 21st century and got email and even the dreaded social media....

I have toyed with this before, and as Claire wants rid of it from the garage, I guess the first step is to get it running and in a position to possibly sell it. Possibly.

As it is 42 years since it was first registered it can be classed under tax and MoT standards as a historic vehicle.  That designation applies to all vehicles registered on UK roads before 1st January 1979. It is a 40 year rolling date.

I thought it would be automatic, but reading up is less straightforward. The bike has to have tax, even though it is free for historic vehicles.  It no longer needs to have the annual MoT.

Instead of applying for the tax online and the DVLA have all the details I have to go to a post office that can handle vehicle tax and take the log book (V5C) and a form (V112)  to say that as it is over 40 years old it doesn't need an MoT and it will be sorted.  They might do the tax (free remember!) then and send my V5C off to get it changed to historic.  Might photocopy all four pages first though.

As for the bike itself. I have let it get in a bit of a sorry state.  Generally it looks like the photo at the top of the page, minus a few parts that need fixing.

The accident years ago caused a problem where the end of the throttle was broken. as it was hidden from view it wasn't noticed.  And occasionally the throttle would stick in place and needed to be forced shut.  I have a new throttle assembly for the right handlebar to re-fit.  It came with a matching left grip.

Part #2 in stock!

More seriously is that as it has stood in the garage it has seized.  It's not a hot seize as the motor wasn't running but it could be the rings rusted in the bore. Not what I'd generally attribute to a two-stroke. But over time that's the situation.  John suggests pulling the plugs and putting some neat two-stroke oil down the plug holes and let it seep in for a while and them turn it over carefully to free them up.

Carbs.  I expect they'll need cleaning and the floats checked.  I have a set of choke plungers that came from a contact in Germany some years ago as mine are wearing a bit thin. I just have to find where I put them for "safe keeping"

Part 20 - choke plunger

They are made of brass and the head wears due to metal on metal contact from the lifter.

In the end once I have seen whether I can free-up the engine I need to get it over to John in Oxfordshire to fettle and make it roadworthy. Under the no-MoT regulations it has to be roadworthy.

Best case is that most of the jobs are easy for an expert like him. Worst case is that it needs the engine stripping.

I have a lot of the parts that will be needed and I need to locate them. I have a full gasket set somewhere to along with a set of pistons and the barrel they came out of!

Once the school year comes to an end and I have the summer off it will get me off my arse to get the jobs I am capable of doing, done.

Although I have the parts books, this website is really good - http://www.3cyl.com/mraxl/gt/manuals/partsgt750/index.htm