piston clearance

Gentlemen,
I am trying to find some specifications for piston clearances. The Clymer manual I have, in typical Clymer manual fashion, is not very specific about most overhaul procedures and seems to be missing vital information. It says to measure the piston at right angles to the pin at a certain distance from the bottom of the skirt (about this they are very specific, printing in a table the exact distance from the skirt bottom!) but then give you nothing to compare this measurement to!
Does anyone know what the maximum and minimum piston clearances are?
I would love to find a factory printed manual (actually, any manual more complete than this one!) and toss this Clymer in the garbage!
Sorry for the rant and thanks in advance for all of your advice.
Tim

G'Day Tim, Try this link http://kawtriple.com/tripleed/dalegt380/sm20.jpg - I believe the clearance is the same for the 550

Cheers
Macca

Thanks, Macca. I'd still like to know if someone has the actual nummbers from a GT550 manual, but this at least gives me somewhere to start.
Your bike is awesome! Are those the stock pipes? I think the cafe look fits the GT550 perfectly.

G`day

Have a look at this page: www.ozebook.com/compendium/techbuls/index.htm ( Don´t now how to make the link active )
Excuse for my bad english.

Leif

Hi Tim.....if its of any help i have the Genuine Suzuki manual for the 550 in PDF...i have a ton of other info as well, parts books, service bullitens etc etc....they are stored on a Xdrive account ( free online storage) if you are interested send me a pm with your email address and i will send you a link to the files, they are all downloadable, i must warn you though that the last time i sent sombody a link to the files he couldnt access them, but i dont think he knew a lot about pc`s....if you want to give it a go get in touch, there is some good info on there....all the best...Derek

Thanks for all of your quick responses.
Everyone else, check out the links Macca, Leif and Derek posted here. It's a wealth of info. (don't waste money on the Clymer! lol)
Keep the shiny up and the rubber down!
Tim

G'Day Tim, glad those links helped, the pic of my bike is the 380 and its got the stock pipes back on it. I orginally built it to Drag Race, but put it back to road use after continually wrecking the points drive (that nasty little plastic gear that engages the end of the crank on the 380's). My current project is 550A, I have 2 engines to choose from, one is the standard cast bore and the other has the Nikasil Liners, and am still tossing up which engine to use - The Nikasil bores are still well in spec but require rings(expensive) whilst the cast sleeves would require re-boring - any opinions on Cast vs Nikasil welcome. Whats the Blue Honda in the background of the picture. I have a CB350K0 and 400F Supersports.

Cheers
Macca

Hello Macca,
Do you mean the bike on the lift? That is the '73 GT550K. I plan to drag race that one as well. Something like this maybe... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oflWMbMUwXg I tried to contact the guy to ask about the build, but the guy that posted the video is his brother and doesn't know anything about the bike. Pretty cool, though! I'd put a longer swingarm on it, maybe struts instead of a suspended rear... I wonder how he plans to run a chain around that wider tire... So many projects I can't get anything done!
I actually don't know much about the Nikasil liners. My vote in ignorance would be to go with the tried and true cast liners so you could bore to fit whatever you need. What are the advantages of the Nikasil liners?
Do you have a pic of the 400F? I love those things! I miss the days when a 400cc motor was a respectable mount on a cross-country journey. It seems everyone today wants as big a bore between their legs as possible.

Tim and Roverman, the link to the info is on the way...let me know how it goes...Derek

Tim, had a better look at the photo, with my specs on - and of course its a GT not a Honda. The Older I Get - The Blinder I Get, Mum said that would happen. Love the look of your bikes, will get a pic of the 400 soon.

Many thanks to Derek for sending me a bunch of info. In case anyone was anticipating... the standard cylinder-piston clearance on the GT550 is 0.045mm according to the factory service manual. I'm pretty sure this manual is for a K model, so I don't know if the same limit applies to the Nikisil lined cylinders. Does anyone know? Those didn't come out until the latter years right?

I have a copy of a manual for a 74 L model. It says the original bore was 61mm with stroke 62mm. ( 2.4 to 2.44in). I don't know if that helps.

Thanks for the info, Kyle. Cylinder to piston clearance is actually the difference between the minimum cylinder diameter and the maximum piston diameter. This gap between the cylinder wall and the outside of the piston is covered by the piston rings. Stroke is how far the piston travels up and down inside the cylinder.
Did the L model have the Nikisil lined cylinders, or were they still cast in '74?