My New Best Friend

I just spent two weeks on the road (work related), so I was pretty eager to get my hands dirty and dig into my motor. The prelude to my [work] day was a shopping spree to the local hardware stores. I needed a 29mm socket to pop off the clutch nut, but things went a little differently. Home Depot didn't have squat for their single socket selection. I did happen to find 16oz rubber mallets for under $5. That wasn't on my shopping list, but it made me happy, so I bought it. I later went to Lowes for the socket- they didn't have the 29mm, but they had a 30. I thought I'd take a chance that it still might fit, so I bought it. Silly me. What'd you know...it didn't fit. Oh, well...nothing a quick trip to Sears can't fix.

I spent some time splitting the "new" case. Man! am I glad I bought that new rubber mallet! That made easy and quick work of getting the two halves apart! It's the best five bucks I've spent in a long time. The case came apart fine, but the tranmission was a bitch to get out. The sealant was really tough to break apart and I didn't want to whomp on the shafts too hard. With a little patience and a piece of wood, everything turned out good.

Next came the old motor. I pulled off the heads and it was looking grim. There was so much carbon buildup in the domes of the head and all over the crowns of the pistons it was ridiculous. I hammered on the cylinders with my new mallet and yanked them off. I was a little surprised to see that I had two different types of pistons! The left side did not look like it had the holes typical of an RD400. I'm pretty sure it's a piston for an RD350. What kind of yahoo owned this bike before me? No wonder the bike was always a little hard to tune. I'm glad I'm doing a complete teardown, so I can build it up the right way. I got the pistons and bearings off, now it's time to take out the clutch.

I did happen to make it out to Sears and they did have the 29mm socket that I needed. This time, I brought the nut in with me, so I could make absolutely sure I wouldn't need to do any returns, since Sears now has a very strict return policy.

Zero Factory No More

While traveling on business this past week, I happened to be in Torrance, California. I have read so much about Oshima and the incredible pipes he creates for RD400's at his shop, Zero Factory. I found his phone number and address on the Internet and called his shop. No one picked up- there was a generic phone message, so I left a generic message. I went hunting for his shop. What I found was a Japanese auto parts place. I asked the guy what happened to Zero Factory. Apparently, Oshima couldn't didn't want to deal with the high rent, so he went looking for another place for his business. That was two and a half years ago. Bummer.

I called the phone number again, leaving a detailed message this time, just in case Oshima actually gets the messages. To my surprise, he called me back. He told me that he never found another place to set up his shop. I asked him if he's still doing work anyway, like out of his garage or something. He told me no and he wasn't willing to make me a set of pipes. Oh, well, looks like I might be going with Spec 2.

Exploded View

Today was the day I thought would never come. It's time to reclaim my garage, so my 4Runner can jump back in the barn. This whole thing started when I decided I wanted to pull the motor. One thing led to another and the weeks dragged on. But before I packed all my goodies away, I took a picture to get an idea of how much crap I really have for my project. Not even everything is in the picture- I forgot to take the restored parts out of their cubby-hole and there were some insignificant stuff like hand controls, plusI've got some coils on the way. Probably about one third of the old bike will get transferred to the restoration. As I go along, a lot of the unused parts will find their way to Ebay.

Now that the garage is cleaned out, I can start on some other Winter projects I need to get done, like getting that old canoe ready to sell on Craigslist, so I can fund this restoration project!

Like Chocolate is to Lovers

It was easy getting the rear shocks off. Then came the swingarm, which was covered in grease with dust and dirt stuck to it. Getting the lock washer flattened out, so I could get off the nut was the biggest challenge. That sucker was smashed on there real good! Once the nut was off, it was a piece of cake to push the shaft through and to pull out the internals. I didn't take out the bushings yet- there was just too much crud everywhere and I couldn't even see where the seam was. I'll take some parts to the quart wash and blast them a little before touching them much more.

Mission Accomplished! (Almost)

Well, today was a very productive day indeed! I first finished tearing down the front end. The front wheel was quite easy to remove. I was pleasantly surprised! My forks were absolutely mangled! That happened twenty years ago, when I hit the bumper of a car, while traveling Hwy 17 towards San Jose. Me and the bike jumped up in the air, it landed on my leg, I got bruises on my inner thighs, not pretty. Okay, back to the present- I finally finished getting that electrical harness off the frame. The coils were a small hassle, but no big deal.

I found some curious electrical stuff attached to the bike and I have no idea what it is! It's stuffed right behind the head tube and it almost feels like it's semi-permanently attached- I was afraid to force it out. I'll have to do some referencing and figure out what it's for. Hmmm....curious.

Anyway, I'm down to taking off the rear shocks, then the swingarm and its internals. I should be done by tomorrow morning. Now that I've got a better look at the frame, I can see what I don't need. When I'm ready, I'll build the bike on top of the stock frame first, kind of like a mock up. After enjoying it for a couple of days, I'll tear it down and start grinding, while the parts are out for painting, if I chose not to paint the parts myself.

Untangling the Birdnest of Madness

Work is slow right now, so I took the opportunity to go for a short ride on my SV650 today. It's so nice being in California- the temperature topped out today at 72 degrees. When I got back, I spent a little time sorting out all my parts, so they wouldn't get damaged or lost. My garage is happy.

I decided to dig into the dissassembly of the front end. I popped off the headlamp ring and pulled out the light. Dang! There's a whole mess of wires back there all wadded up! I guess I never realize how many electrical connections needed to be made so short a distance from the instruments. The tach, speedo, ignition, dummy lights, signal indicators and kill switch all run to the headlight housing like a gangbox. Since I get easily spooked with electrical stuff, I spent a good amount of time labeling all the connections, before I disconnected them. Later, I'll have to match up all the labels to the new harness. I've always assumed that the electrical is in fine working order, but I found a number of connectors that didn't have anything connected to them. Luckily I have a good schematic to check it against. Hmmm...it would be so much easier to just build a race bike, no lights or anything- there's hardly any electrical.

More Polishing

I had to take a drill to the tank to get the petcock out. I have tried everything possible to extract that stubborn screw in some kind of conventional manner, but in the end, its will was stronger than mine. All it took was a really fat drill bit, my trusty Hitachi cordless drill and a squirt of olive oil and I was good to go! In this case, might is right.

I took the petcock apart and most everything looked pretty good, with the exception of the cup o-ring that has been smashed beyond recognition (almost). There was a lot of old heavy gasoline residue stuck in the cup and in the main chamber. A good soaking in my special toxic concoction and a good scrubbing with a variety of wire brushes took most of the gunk off. After a good cleaning and polishing with Never-Dull, the exterior came out looking mighty fine.

After I finished the restoration, I realized that I won't be needing it for my bike, since I will be buying a different fuel tank, which will use a different petcock. Although these are still available for about $90 new, I think I can sell this for a few bucks on Fleabay.

Parts Are Accumulating

Recently, I've been purchasing some goodies I just couldn't resist on Ebay. Today in the mail I received a used set of RD400 head lamp ears (some people who restore these RD400's don't always use the original ears, some opt for a different RD model or even an aftermarket brand) - one is slightly bent and the other one is in pretty poor condition, but I've got the perfect complement on my bike, so with a little hammering and some paint, I believe I can restore the ears to a very presentable state.

A couple of days earlier, I got the rear brake linkage for the RD350 wire-spoke wheels I purchased earlier. The wire wheels use a drum brake system, whereas the RD400 came stock with the fluid caliper disk brake. I'm still trying to figure out how I'm going to set up my rearsets. I've read that the old Yamaha FZR600 rearsets match the mounting holes. More research is needed.

Last week, I received a RD400 headlight bucket to replace my dented and mangled one. It just needs a little paint.

More or less, I have an entirely "new" front end on the bike. Everything hanging off of the triple-tree will be replaced, except for the headlight itself and front brake (but that system will get rebuilt). I've got replacement parts for the headlight assembly, speedo, tach, ignition and idiot light console, forks and wheel.

Lately, work has gotten really busy, so I hope I can find some weekend time to get some stuff done on the bike!

Tear Down, Mock Up

Today I picked at the bike a little. I'm actually concerned about the condition of my garage- I've been so careless about using tools, then throwing them into different piles in the heat of the moment, while focusing on one particular area of the bike. I'm constantly having to hunt down the right screwdriver or socket, just to get something done. And piles of old, dirty parts keep multiplying on the garage floor! Oy vey! Maybe I'll start cleaning up tomorrow.

That piece-o-crap seat is always in my way, propped up, so I can get to something else, always on the verge of slamming down only to crush my hand at the most inopportune moment. I relieved him of his duties and he got dismantled. Along with the seat went the inner plastic fender, the scraped up chrome rear fender, tail light and license plate. I found that the plastic tool tray was in very good condition- even the accompanying rubber strap was supple and elastic. Hmm...might be able to sell that on Ebay.

I disassembled the front handlebar controls and removed the handlebar. I put on the new Clubman, just so I could see what it would look like. Very nice, I must say. Since I'm a pretty small guy, I was always wondering how I would fit on a TZ/TD/TR-style bike, with the long fuel tank and all. So I did a little mock-up, placing the old tank on the bike, but way further back to immitate the vintage tanks. I put something down on the dirty frame to sit on and I got on. Amazingly, the motorcycle stand didn't make me fall over! I got all stretched out over the bike and it felt glorious! I felt like I was in a total racing tuck! It wasn't too bad- I could still bend my elbows a bit, but I was really in the fairing zone. That was SO COOL!! Okay...I'm sold. The ergonomics are going to be just fine.

Eureka! I Got You, Sucka!!

What an excellent way to start the new year! It only took about fifteen minutes and the motor was on the floor. I had to do a little wiggling and shimmying to get it out (it probably would've been easier if I had taken off the exhaust flanges first), but with a little effort, it was quite willing to come right out.

I've still got the weekend ahead of me, before heading back into work. I'm thinking of just stripping the rest of the bike now, since I'm kind of ahead of schedule...