It's been a couple of weeks now that I've been fiddling with the jetting off and on. There was a point where I had the low end cracking pretty nicely into the mid-range, but when I tried to hit the open throttle, the bike would just bog, never really getting past 6500 rpm. Making the change to a larger pilot jet really helped the low end, plus I raised the needle just a bit.
In my quest to perhaps still take the bike to someone for tuning, I called and left messages with a couple of parties- Roland Cushway, a well-known internationally famous 2-stroke tuner who worked with Erv Kanemoto, and has won 5 national titles! The other was BRG Racing. I wasn't even sure that it was Roland's phone number, but I left a message anyway. To my surprise later the next evening, I got a call back! He told me a little about his history, but he's very modest about it. He told me that he's more of a machinist. I told him what I've got and he gave me an education in 2T theory! He did have some very good suggestions, some that might be a little over my skill set. The conversation lasted about an hour- I was very surprised that he was that engaged! I really felt honored to have even been able to speak to this man of such greatness!
I also got a call back from BRG Racing. KC called me. He's the owner of the shop. He told me that it would probably be about $400 to do the job, which included about 4.5 hours of labor and dyno runs. They would change the timing, gaps and needles as needed- everything was included in the price. I told him that I would give him a shout in about a month when I've got more miles on the new motor.
Meanwhile I answered a Facebook post to someone who was looking for an RD400 engine case. Turns out that he actually lives in Livermore, so I replied that I've got one. He messaged me and the next day he came by the house. A nice fellow by the name of Julian. I've seen his pictures on the Internet- he's built quite a few bikes and he really knows his way around the Yamaha 2-strokes. I showed him what I've got cooking in my shop. He brought me an assortment of larger Mikuni main jets for me to try out. When he asked me how much I wanted for the case, ti told him that I was going to give it to him- that stopped him dead in his tracks. I really feel like this Yamaha 2-stroke thing is a community. I've met so many helpful people over the decades all having to do with this bike, if he could use the case, he can have it. But I did ask in return that he help me get my bike running and that I may need to borrow some tools. We agreed it was a deal!
A couple of days passed. I tried making some more changes to my carbs, going BIG, but the bike didn't want to start. That's when Julian came over, while my carbs were all over the place. He brought over a couple of timing dial gauges and asked if I wanted to do my timing change to 2mm BTDC now. I said sure!
I showed him a new method that I just pinched off the Internet where you actually use the spark of the spark plug to see when the points were opening. We got the left side set up and found that my original timing wasn't 1.8mm like I thought I had it set- it was more like 1.3mm. That could've definitely had an affect on my top end not going so well. He set it to 2.0mm BTDC. The other side was even worse! It was reading 1.1mm!!! Man, I suck! So he dialed that one in to 2.0mm also.
Then he asked if I want to try and start her up. Oh, shit! I have to assemble the bike under the watchful eye of this 2T stud!? Ooohh, the pressure! Plus I can hardly even breathe with this N95 mask on with all this Covid shit going on! I was sweating and panting! But I did get it back together. And wouldn't you know it? it wouldn't start! I kicked and kicked. We threw a spot of fuel down the right cylinder. Still nothing. Maybe the battery needed more of a charge? Perhaps. He suggested pushing the bike down the street to compression start it, but I said no, because we would just have to push it back. I'll leave it till Sunday. But now I'm just dying to see how the bike pulls with the timing set correctly!!
In my quest to perhaps still take the bike to someone for tuning, I called and left messages with a couple of parties- Roland Cushway, a well-known internationally famous 2-stroke tuner who worked with Erv Kanemoto, and has won 5 national titles! The other was BRG Racing. I wasn't even sure that it was Roland's phone number, but I left a message anyway. To my surprise later the next evening, I got a call back! He told me a little about his history, but he's very modest about it. He told me that he's more of a machinist. I told him what I've got and he gave me an education in 2T theory! He did have some very good suggestions, some that might be a little over my skill set. The conversation lasted about an hour- I was very surprised that he was that engaged! I really felt honored to have even been able to speak to this man of such greatness!
I also got a call back from BRG Racing. KC called me. He's the owner of the shop. He told me that it would probably be about $400 to do the job, which included about 4.5 hours of labor and dyno runs. They would change the timing, gaps and needles as needed- everything was included in the price. I told him that I would give him a shout in about a month when I've got more miles on the new motor.
Meanwhile I answered a Facebook post to someone who was looking for an RD400 engine case. Turns out that he actually lives in Livermore, so I replied that I've got one. He messaged me and the next day he came by the house. A nice fellow by the name of Julian. I've seen his pictures on the Internet- he's built quite a few bikes and he really knows his way around the Yamaha 2-strokes. I showed him what I've got cooking in my shop. He brought me an assortment of larger Mikuni main jets for me to try out. When he asked me how much I wanted for the case, ti told him that I was going to give it to him- that stopped him dead in his tracks. I really feel like this Yamaha 2-stroke thing is a community. I've met so many helpful people over the decades all having to do with this bike, if he could use the case, he can have it. But I did ask in return that he help me get my bike running and that I may need to borrow some tools. We agreed it was a deal!
A couple of days passed. I tried making some more changes to my carbs, going BIG, but the bike didn't want to start. That's when Julian came over, while my carbs were all over the place. He brought over a couple of timing dial gauges and asked if I wanted to do my timing change to 2mm BTDC now. I said sure!
I showed him a new method that I just pinched off the Internet where you actually use the spark of the spark plug to see when the points were opening. We got the left side set up and found that my original timing wasn't 1.8mm like I thought I had it set- it was more like 1.3mm. That could've definitely had an affect on my top end not going so well. He set it to 2.0mm BTDC. The other side was even worse! It was reading 1.1mm!!! Man, I suck! So he dialed that one in to 2.0mm also.
Then he asked if I want to try and start her up. Oh, shit! I have to assemble the bike under the watchful eye of this 2T stud!? Ooohh, the pressure! Plus I can hardly even breathe with this N95 mask on with all this Covid shit going on! I was sweating and panting! But I did get it back together. And wouldn't you know it? it wouldn't start! I kicked and kicked. We threw a spot of fuel down the right cylinder. Still nothing. Maybe the battery needed more of a charge? Perhaps. He suggested pushing the bike down the street to compression start it, but I said no, because we would just have to push it back. I'll leave it till Sunday. But now I'm just dying to see how the bike pulls with the timing set correctly!!
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