Motor's Almost Out

Today, I made huge gains in getting that motor on my bench. I was still having trouble figuring out how to detach the wires from the generator. So I decided to empty out more of the frame, pulling out the oil reservoir, battery box and lower half of the air box. That left most of the electrical harness and components exposed and easy to see.

A long time ago, I was having some weird electrical issues, so I took my bike to this shop, where the owner went by the name Grumpy Bear. He told me that he had to do some creative wiring, but that old bike fired right up and I never had electrical problems again, so he must've know what he was doing. But now that I'm in there really examining things, I noticed that he by-passed the customary plastic connectors and just hard-wired the motor to the electrical harness. Umm...okay...so it worked, but that's not really the way to do things, and it's really not cool. So after cleaning the wires, so I could actually see what colors they were, I labeled them and then cut them. I might need to know this stuff for later reference. But if I end up going with a new ignition that eliminates the battery, it will have it's own wiring. And I do happen to have a electrical harness in very good shape I just recently purchased, so the labeling might not even matter.

I was then able to remove the generator. In order to take the generator out, I had to remove the engine clutch cover, so I could stop the center bolt from spinning, during the removal process. Surprisingly, the clutch was in very good shape- all nice and clean. Matter of fact, when I drained the oil from the engine, there was still about two quarts of oil in the case! I just thought that after leaking all over my parent's garage floor, there would be no motor oil left in there. I finished the night but locating and loosening all the motor mount bolts, readying them for the next day.

Carbs Done with their Cleaning

Today I had a glimpse into the future. This is how I picture my retirement- sitting at the breakfast table scrubbing vintage motorcycle parts, while cooking shows on the Food Network play in the background. What more could I want?

Finally I'm done with all the scrubbing and polishing. I would say that each carburetor took about six hours of labor. The carbs look good as new!

It was a task that obviously had to get done, not only for the sake of their ungodly appearances, but to clean out all that crap that's been sitting on the insides for the past ten plus years. The last time I ever tinkered with them, I had close to no mechanical experience with motorcycles, so when I had jetting problems, I turned to the "professionals", taking the bike to small two-stroke shops. Well, I found all sorts of little parts missing like washers and a spring.

Lots of parts needed attention. The slide in the left carb was frozen in place- gunk had solidified and glued it into place. Both needle jets needed to get popped out- there was so much corrosion and grit in the emulsion tubes- the jets are wasted. The air jets were caked with solid gunk, like barnacles on to a rock. The corrosion was so bad in the left carb float assembly that it had eaten away a good portion of the main jet support. I'm ordering new o-rings and gaskets as well as a spring for both carburetors.

Here are some before and after pictures of the carbs. My method of cleaning them 1) soak and scrub them in a cocktail of kerosene and carb cleaner 2) scrub them with Barkeepers Friend then 3) polish the parts with Never-Dull. Hence six hours per carb.

Got Sidetracked

For some reason, I just felt like working on the carbs today. I pulled both carbs out of the holding box and examined them closely. Maybe it was the simple challenge of getting them to look new again, but I was so inclined to just begin working on those before yanking the motor. It was certainly a shorter and easier goal to achieve- the satisfaction of success was just days away, rather than months away. So I grabbed the right carb, since I knew it wasn't stuck, plus it was the simpler of the two, since there was no choke assembly to mess with. The arduous process began.

Only the Beginning

For some crazy reason, today I decided to start dismantling the motorcycle. I just passed a major milestone in my network professional career, passing my first Cisco certification test. I guess I was just feeling like a little reward was appropriate and this is what I came up with. After all, I've been waiting forever for the chance to really start the restoration. Last year, I started taking the front brake system apart (master cylinder and brake line), but I never even got around to rebuilding it, so that doesn't really count.

I cleared some space in the garage, kicking the SUV out into the wet and cold weather, and got some cardboard in place. Funny, but that fancy motorcycle stand I bought, that's supposed to work with all types of bikes, didn't really want to work with this bike. First, I couldn't get the brackets to move in close enough to support the swingarm. I flipped the brackets around and got them to kind of work- good enough for now. The rear tire wasn't even off the ground, but that's okay for today. And away I went.

My initial goal is to try and get the new motor built in the Spring. I've emailed an old Yamaha mechanic who lives in Castro Valley about doing some work and he's agree. I met him some six or seven years ago, buying parts off of Ebay. He was one of the sellers. I was living in Castro Valley at the time, so I just did a local pick up. He is continuously building RD's and seems to have a neverending supply of old parts. He mostly refurbishes the old parts and hawks them on Ebay. I will probably do most of the engine build myself, including rebuilding (and possibly welding) the crank. But porting is a mystery to me. He has agreed to do the cylinder porting, boring and honing. So I first need to get the motor out of the old frame, so I can tear it down to see what it needs, i.e. piston sizes.

I removed the gas tank, carburetors, most of the airbox, battery and engine covers. Man! what a mess!! The front counter sprocket was so loose that I was able to break it loose with my fingers! Usually you'd need a big socket (28 or 32mm) and a breaker bar to get that sucker off. I pried off the masterlink on the chain and removed that dirty stinking chain. I then was able to remove the counter sprocket and flat washer from the shaft.

That was all for now. Although I didn't get the motor out yet, I was off to a really good start! When the engine is on my bench, I can move the bike back to it's cubby-hole and move the truck back in the garage. I've got another bottom end of an RD400 motor I need to inspect and get refamiliarized with. (I purchased it off of Ebay about five years ago.) It came with a fresh transmission and clutch assembly. So I can actually sell my old engine case and recoup some cash back.

Disclaimer, etc.

It's very ambitious, this restoration undertaking. I've got no formal mechanical training, besides being formally trained at my local REI as a bicycle and ski technician. I guess after wrenching on bicycles for so long (building a good number of personal bikes from scratch), I graduated to working on my Suzuki SV650. Most of my resources are straight off the Internet. In addition to public blogs and forums, I do happen to have a very old Clymer manual, something I bought when I bought the RD.

My design of the bike will be of my own. Many before me have done practically the same thing, but I'm not mimicking anyone's exact layout. I've had years to think about what I'm going to do with this bike and my ideas change all the time. As a matter of fact, I didn't really even consider doing wire-spoke wheels till just recently. When I saw a great deal on Ebay, I just couldn't pass it up! I have a pretty firm idea of what I'm going to do with the bike, but things might change.

About Myself...About My Bike

I'm your average forty-something motorcycle loving geek. I was born and raised in beautiful sunny California. I've spent a few years living in Colorado, while attending CU Boulder, but now I'm back in Northern California- the East Bay to be more precise. I've been riding since I was twenty-one and have only owned two bikes in my life- this one and my daily driver, my 2001 Suzuki SV650S, which has been severely prepped for the track, but is still cloaked in street-legal garb. I got my degree in computer science some time back and am fortunately employed with a networking company, consulting, designing and implementing mainly Cisco equipment for large businesses like hospital systems. I'm a pretty avid DIY'er and get my hands into projects at home, whenever I can.

During my long illustrious college career, I had a stop along the way in San Luis Obispo, California, while attending Cabrillo College. The year was 1986. I picked up the current Motorcyclist magazine. This was a defining moment- this one action changed my life. I was fascinated with all the technical articles- James Parker had a new front swingarm design, and there was a great article on physics and frame design. With all of its innovations, the GSX-R was named bike of the year. I was hooked on motorcycles!

Well, way down Higuera Street, across from the DMV, there was a small motorcycle dealership. From time to time, I'd wander in just so I could sit on a GSX-R. Along with their selection of new bikes, they sold used bikes on consignment. I spotted this 1977 Chappy Red Yamaha RD400 motorcycle sitting in the front lot. I had seen these bikes around before and always liked the cafe way they looked. Naturally, I asked the salesman if I could go for a test ride. He told me that in order for me to take a test ride, I needed three things 1) a motorcycle license or permit 2) long pants and 3) a helmet, which he would provide. Since I was wearing shorts, I told him I'd see him the next day. I immediately went across the street to the DMV and without even looking at the drivers manual, I took the motorcycle permit test. I passed with no problem and left with permit in hand.

The next day, I returned to the dealership in pants for my test ride . I had very little experience riding motorcycles. I had taken a handful of rides on the back of my friends' bikes and a friend had given my a quick tutorial a few years back, but I was by no means an experienced rider. The salesman gave me a helmet and I was off. I was slow, paranoid and a little too careful, but I could see that the bike worked. The owner wanted $500 for it, but after the sales guy called him, he lowered his price to $400. I put it on my Mastercard and rode off. I had no idea what I was in for.

I rode the bike off and on for the next seven years. The bike was always in some state of disrepair. Once one of the exhaust chambers fell off while I was riding. When I later went back to retrieve the pipe with my car, it had already disappeared. During my years in Boulder, the bike sat on my friend's apartment porch, where some friendly neighbors helped themselves to my ignition. Once an angry ex-girlfriend had someone cut my throttle cable. I always had carb problems. and in the end, it was the suspension that tried to drive me into a tree. For years after, my bike sat in various garages, mostly my parent's, while I was living in apartments. Lately, it's been sitting in my garage, waiting for the day it's going to get restored.

For the past ten years, I've been purchasing parts off of Ebay. I let my registration go long ago, figuring that if the bike ever gets built, it'll be strictly a track bike. Somewhere along the way, I changed my mind, so I bought a frame, complete with current registration, off of Ebay. I've got all sorts of goodies (electrical harnesses, electrical switches, forks, bottom end of the motor, Daytona head, etc.) and I've had enough time to figure out what I'm going to do, so finally...it's time.

My goal is to build a repli-racer of sorts, modeled from the old-styled TD3, TR3, TZ250/350's. I'm going with the longer gas tank, Clubman bars, solo seat, wire-spoke wheels (with a drum brake in the rear) and a slightly modified engine. I'm trying to design the bike with the lack of a battery, so I'll get that see through the frame appearance, but I might have to go with a really small battery and tuck in, along with the electrical components, in the seat cowl. I'll have to figure out how to do the turn signals (front and back) and the license plate and light. The first incarnation of the bike will be with a front headlight- I'll figure out the fairing stuff later. I'll probably have to fabricate rearsets myself, since Motocarrera looks like they went AWOL. I'm not crazy about the Raask rearsets. The motor will get all new seals, bearings and gaskets. I'll bore and hone the cylinders and get a mild porting job, if I can find someone trustworthy to do it. I'll cap it with the Daytona head. For the intake, I'm doing a crossover, Boysen reeds and a Y-boot with K&N filter. The exhaust will be built by Zero Factory in Torrance, California. I'm guessing this project will take about two years to complete. When it's done, I'm hitting the track!