Perfect Timing

Work has been keeping busy lately, so progress is slow. My painted parts are nearly finished, as I anticipate retrieving them sometime this week. Lately I've been working with some small irritating problems- 1) the used bent kickstart lever I purchased from another forum member didn't quite clear my Tarozzi rearset peg and 2) after torquing down on the front axle, the wheel bearings are bound so tightly against the spacer that they are practically seized up!

The kickstart lever wasn't even close to clearing- it needed another 1.5" of clearance. I really didn't feel like taking a torch to the lever discoloring the chrome finish and all. After some email correspondences with Jim at Fast From the Past, he convinced me the newer improved model would clear the peg, so I took a chance and ordered it. Luckily it did! Problem solved!

With the front bearings, I thought that maybe once I swapped out the old bearings for new, that would take care of the clearance/tolerance issue and it would be a done deal. Nope. I got the new bearings in and same issue 

So I had to remove one of the bearings again and now I'm in search of a thin shim, so I can create a little more length on that axle spacer.

I also purchased a dial indicator timing device, so I could get my ignition timed. The indicator was in inches, while I needed to configure the timing in metric- it just took a little calculation and I was all set. The timing is set to 1.8mm BTDC, which should be appropriate for the air intake and chambers I'm running.



I'm hoping to get the electrical cleaned up and wired by the end of next week. Fingers crossed!

My Church of Motorcycle

Lately I've had a lot of little stuff going on, so I've just been picking at the bike little by little. I picked all the parts off the original frame and started installing them on the Primose frame. I got the engine in there and installed the new headset in the frame, then installed the forks. Funny thing (not so funny)- when I was torquing the triple crown nut down and had the forks flopped all the way over to one side, that small amount of effort knocked off the front steering lock stop that I had brazed onto the frame! I was astounded at how weak the bond was! Maybe when the frame went into the oven after powdercoating (twice) it weakened the braze? In any case, I had to sand down the surrounding surface and braze it on again!

Then there's that same problem that I had before with the front wheel bearings. After torquing the front axle, the spacer got smashed in there between both bearings that the bearings wouldn't spin anymore. So I thought that it might be different after I put in the new bearings- perhaps the old bearings were so loose that they moved too much. Well, after putting the new set of bearings in, the same thing happened! Argh!!! I think I'm going to just add a thin shim between one of the bearings and the spacer, hoping that it would create some relief. I'll get to that later- that problem isn't going anywhere.

I also had an issue that had been bugging me for a while- the pre-bent kickstarter lever that I bought from another forum member did not clear the Tarrozzi rearset peg. I somehow thought that it could be an issue with fitment from the Marsh frame, so I decided I would revisit the problem when I swapped the motor to the Primrose frame. Guess what?! The problem didn't go away!

I knew that the PO had purchased that kickstart lever from HVC and I also had the feeling like Fast From The Past had the exact same product, so I emailed them both to see if they knew of a fix. Brad from HVC had a fairly useless (unhelpful) response. Jim from FFTP suggested that perhaps the "boss" was not straight (the piece that actually clamped onto the spline). Since I had the original boss, I swapped out the parts, but it yielded the same results. I emailed the guy I bought the kickstarter from, just to give him a shout. He was very receptive and offered the refund my money if I chose to return it. I did still have the option of throwing some heat at the lever (the original straight lever for that matter), but I didn't really want to discolor the chrome. Part of me was saying that I shouldn't have to modify an already modified part- it should work as it was designed to work. I saw that there was a new and improved lever that HVC and FFTP was selling now. Jim said that if I bought a new lever from him and it didn't clear the peg, I could return it, so I pulled the trigger and bought another new lever. After almost 2 weeks of dicking around with this problem, I put the new lever on and guess what?! It clears the peg!! I emailed Jim and shared the good news. Problem solved!

So today I got a bunch of stuff done! I mounted the license plate and LED bolts (only to find out later that I had to rip it off the frame, since it wouldn't clear the rear tire), and the rear turn signals. I cut and installed the rear fender. I cabled up the carburetors and oil injector pump, then synced and adjusted the play on them. I installed all the carb overflow hoses. Then I mounted the rear wheel, cut and installed the chain. (That was a bitch, since I couldn't press out the pin, then I finally realized that I had 2 chain breaker tools sitting in my tool drawer!) I installed the clutch cable and adjusted the clutch lever. The clutch lever itself was a little sticky, so I had to sand down the surfaces a little to relieve the pressure points.

All in all, it was a pretty productive day. More positives than negatives. Can't beat that with a stick.

Finally Finished Up Those Pesky Wheels!

Tomorrow I'm heading to the CHP to get VIN verified, hopefully for the last time. Please Lord, just let Officer Buchannon sign me off! And please let AAA DMV take my verification proof and registration payment, so I won't have to go back to that dreaded DMV line to wait 2 hours!

I don't know why, but I have totally been dreading doing the work on these wheels. Maybe because I don't know what I'm doing and there's a whole lot of guessing going on?

So last week, I had Cycle Gear mount the new tires. When I went to pick them up, they told me that they didn't use the tubes, nor were they able to fit them in anyway. I do know for a fact that they fit, as many others online have done it, but I'm sure it takes much more skill than they have. I didn't argue too much, although I was slightly leery that they might blow off in the middle of a turn one day. But they did seem to be holding air pretty well. I told them I'm sleep on it and if it really bothered me, we'd have to figure something out. Well, after searching around the internet, I think that since the RD400 was literally the first bike in history to come from the factory with cast mags, Yamaha didn't really think about putting an indent around the rim for the bead. Other subsequent models came with tubeless tires and their wheel profiles looked exactly the same. Days later, the tires are still holding air.

So over this Labor Day weekend, I was able to squeeze some time in today to get my wheels painted and polished. Yesterday morning, I stopped by my FLAP and grabbed me a free bearing setting tool rental. Then I went home and pounded the wheel bearings into place. All went well.

This morning, I loaded up my swamp cooler with ice and water and got busy finishing the polishing of the sides of the rims. One of the wheels, I had already done, but it needed a little touch-up love, since the CG guys gave it some scratches with their tire irons. The task didn't take long.

It took me about an hour to mask up the wheels for painting, but it really made the paint job so much easier to do. A little thinner afterwards to clean up the overspray and I was good to go! I cleaned up the brake discs, associated hardware and other wheel hardware parts. Then I installed the new 520 37T rear sprocket. It looks solid. I can't wait to give it a whirl!

Here are some before and after pics of the wheels.

The gold paint was a little brighter than I had anticipated, but I'm good with it. The job came out fantastic and the paint against the polish was tight.

I got the wheels mounted on the bike, so tomorrow morning, I just have to install the exhaust chambers and I good to roll the bike back on the trailer. Wish me luck!!

DMV Woes

So I trailered up the RD this morning and took a short drive to the local DMV. Another swing and a miss! Since my federal sticker was illegible, I got referred to the CHP. Luckily I made an appointment earlier in anticipation of this problem. Now I have to wait another week to get verified! Oh well, I can probably spend some time polishing and painting the wheels....

Trouble in Tinseltown....

I'm trying to get the wheels all situated now, so I can get the bike in for inspection. Yesterday, I tried getting the bearings out of the front wheel. No bueno. That flippin' axle spacer is in there so tight that it won't budge to one side or the other but just a teenie bit and that's just not enough for the drift to get a bite on the inner race. I decided to wait till I tear down the bike again later, then give it another whack. So I figured I'd just do a dry fit on the fork, before getting the tire on there. After I started torquing on the axle, the wheel wouldn't spin anymore! What the heck??! I can't just leave it loose or the forks will twist. I removed the wheel from the forks and checked the bearings. They were frozen! I think that space itself is frozen in there and when the inner race of the bearings got tightened against the spacer, the bearings won't spin any more. Dammit! After doing some research online, I bought a bearing removal kit off of Amazon for $28. I'll take care of that later.

Today I was putting on the front tire. I bought some new 11" tire irons, so the leverage factor will be much easier. I sprinkled some talcum powder inside the tire and filled my spray bottle with soapy water and I was off to the races. Everything was going as planned, albeit tough, as changing tires is always tough. But after I was done and was filling the tube with air, it seems that there's a leak at the stem!! Somehow, the tube must've gotten pinched when I was installing it!

I seem to have a bad luck when installing tube tires. I had to do that twice on the Harley front wheel. Then the tubes exploded two times about a day later. I finally took the wheel into Cycle Gear to have them do it. We discovered that I was recommended, but the Jake Wilson website, to buy the wrong size tube for that tire! That's why it kept bursting. For $15 I had them install it. It's been fine ever since. I think I'm going to do the same thing for both of these wheels. I'm so sick of changing tires having them lose air!! ARGHHH!!!!!

Inching Closer to D-Day

I spent the last couple of days painting a couple of parts. I had purchased a fuse panel a long time ago and although it was in excellent condition, it was white. I'm guessing that perhaps some previous owner thought it might match the color scheme of his bike better or something like that. While I was at it, I gave my battery box a good scrubbing to get the surface rust off, then I shot it with a few coats of black paint. I was finally able to put some of the new rubber parts on the battery box. Check that off my list!

Today I spent some time tooling on the carbs- installing the new pilot jets and mains. The pilot was size 30 and just for a guaranteed starting point, I installed 270's. It'll probably run rich, but better rich than lean. I still haven't adjusted the A/F screw yet.

Then I started assembling the bike for the DMV. I called my local CHP office the other day, thinking that maybe they make house calls, so I wouldn't have to get a trailer. But no, I would still have to drag my bike down to their office for the verification process. But Officer Buchannon did explain to me the DMV inspection process, informing me that I wouldn't even have to step foot inside the DMV building- I just need to drive my trailered bike around back, where a DMV employee will be waiting for me to do the VIN verification, clipboard in hand. As far as completion- the brakes do not need to be operational, nor does the bike need to start up, so I'm going to leave all the main electrical parts off the bike (battery and harness), as well as cables, that way the disassembly will easier and I can avoid the current headache of hooking up the harness just for the inspection.

I made some great progress. First I had to scrub and install the old nasty swingarm back on the frame, since I farmed out the other swingarm for powdercoating. After I reassembled the rear brake and shocks, I got the carbs and intake system on there, as well as the side covers. I had to do a little scrubbing, so the red parts would look nice. I installed the gas tank and lid. Then I put together the rear fender situation. The bike is probably about 95% inspection ready- I still have to remove the cables from the instrumentation, tuck away some of the wiring, then get the tires and wheels on the bike.

So the next major step is to finish up those wheels. I don't know why I've been so reluctant to work on them. Probably because the task seems so daunting. I still need to polish up the outer rims, install the new bearings, install the new tubes and tires, then shoot paint. Yup. sounds like a real pain in the ass all right...

I did take a minute to check out the riding ergonomics on the bike. I know that the position will be slightly different in it's final rendition, since I'll be installing a lower seat. But still, I was thrilled to be able to get on it. It has been over 10 years, since I last sat on the bike! And I have been dreaming of putting new rearsets on the RD for even longer than that! So to actually realize the work that I've been doing was pure awesomeness!!!

Back to the Grind

After a 3-week break, I'm finally back working on the RD with a passion! Actually I was running so behind schedule that the first thing I had to do when I got back from vacation was rework my build schedule with some new deadlines.

At the beginning of the week, I tore apart the carburetors to take inventory of what parts I actually still need. I cleaned and rebuilt these carbs over 10 years ago, then put them in a box for safe keeping. At the time, I did take notes of what was needed, but now looking back, the notes were unclear and incomplete- the only way to be certain of needed parts was to do another tear down and take inventory. Luckily the only parts needed were the main and pilot jets- exactly what Paul told me I needed to order for the newly built engine! I turned to my trusty source, economycycle.com, and ordered a range of Mikuni mains from 250-280 and pilot jets in 30.

For the past 2 days, I've been working on fitting the seat pan to the frame and grinding off unnecessary metal. My final seat pan fixture system was four clevis pins brazed to the frame. That way, I can just remove the clevis pins and the seat comes off. (I still need to access beneath the seat to fill the oil tank.) I also fabricated a license plate and LED brake light mount out of some leftover steel I had laying around from some previous project, then brazed those onto the back of the frame.

I removed the two grommet tabs which used to hold the stock airbox in place. I also ground off the center stand mounts that stick out off the rear of the frame, being careful not to cut too much away, since the right side holds the brake pedal spring mount peg, and both are used as engine mounts. While I was down there, I also decided to remove the stock footpeg mounts. Tons of grinding in a hot little garage on a 100°F+ day!!

The end result was very satisfying! Tomorrow I will take the new unmolested seat pan and fit it to the pins on the bike, that way I can send it out for paint. I need to remove the steering lock stuff (door, pin and lock core if possible), the do a final sand on the ground areas of the frame, then it'll be ready for powdercoating. I'll try and cut and shape the front fender tomorrow, so I can run all the parts out for paint this week.

After all the parts have been prepped for powdercoating and paint, then I'm free to continue working on the DMV build, so I can get the bike registered! One step at a time....