Once again, the project has come to a crawl. Not that it's not going to get done, it's just stalled for the time being. Over the Summer, I got wrapped up in Summer classes, which really consumed my time. Now I've got this Fall semester keeping me busy. This change of career stuff isn't all that easy!
I did, however, get a chance to acquire a bunch of cool parts! I had a friend work on my triple-crown and fill in the holes and give it a sweet paint job to give it that classic race look, since I'm going to go with clip-ons. I also put in some fairly big orders to finish up restoring the carburetors- now I just need to get the proper size main and pilot jets. I bought some new intake joints and a crossover pipe, while a very nice friend donated a brand new Y-boot and Uni-Filter setup. I also bought all brand new control cables- most of them are still available through Yamaha, so don't waste your money on Ebay, buying those aftermarket replacements. Also, I found a front master cylinder in really usable shape, so I'm in the middle of tearing it down to marry the parts with my original cylinder.
One of my favorite gets for the season was a brand new (still in the box) Hella halogen headlight and bulb that I found on Ebay. It was a total score- I bought it for less than $30!
Also I started working on refinishing the Daytona head. I tracked down some phosphoric acid from my local Home Depot and gave it a nice overnight soaking. Then I began the wet sanding portion, but decided that I need more grit. Then things got busy.
Eddy,
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed reading your blogs on RD project. I am in the middle or restoring my second Daytona 400. Actually this is the first that I owned and rode it in basically stock condition. I bought a second in a box, badly beaten, and restored it back in '03-'04. Then I started restoring my original and am still in the process 6 years later. Actually, put it on the back burner for a few and have recently jumped back in. Anyway, love the fact that there are still 2stroke lovers out there!! Drop a line if you like to chat bout project. rdmdmn@netscape.net Tom, Bend, Oregon
Tom,
ReplyDeleteGreat hearing from you! Yes, it is so nice to know that there are still so many 2-stroke fans out there. We're a dying breed! Funny how with technology advancing so much, here we are tinkering with antiquity. It's nice that experience has taught so many to understand the dark art of 2-stroke tuning, making it easier for us. Since I've abandoned my lucrative career in technology and returned to school, my budget has tightened. My daily rider (track star) is my SV650, so a lot of my attention and funds gets thrown at that bike. This week, I'm ripping the gixxer front end off a second SV I purchased, basically swapping forks, so I can repair that bike and turn it around for a Spring sale. I've always got an excuse why I'm not working on the RD, but one day, it will finally get done just the way I want it. And I'm looking forward to the wheelies it will provide!
Cheers!
Eddy
Hi Eddy - I just stumbled onto this blog. At the moment I am currently doing an RD400G project - at the moment I am getting the frame ready for restoring and I was wondering how to modify it to mount a full cafe fairing. From your picture it looks like you have done so. Is there any chance that you could send some info on how you did it?
ReplyDeleterogerinpau@yahoo.ca
Hi Roger-
ReplyDeleteYou know, I did have a cheap 1/4 fairing mounted on that bike a LONG time ago. It was so flimsy and I never had it painted, so it just looked like crap. It only took a few hundred miles, before I decided that it was more distractive than useful. But that was simply mounted on by a few L-brackets supplied with the fairing. I'm not really sure how this bike will eventually turn out, but I am really leaning toward putting a full fairing, if I can find a good solution to put a headlamp in there. Might have to cut a hole in a fiberglass fairing and then fabricate a clear cover over it. Anyway, thanks for chiming in to this dormant blog! Keep me informed on how your bike is coming along. Sorry about such a long hiatus- I quit my Cisco network job and went back to school. If anything, I've been putting all my motorcycle time into my SV650, which has gone from track bike to super-fast commuter :)
~ Eddy