Glad to have forum back in all its glory! I built this bike about a 14 years ago with the help of everyone here. Sadly it more or less sat for the past decade, just firing it up here and there. My partners company needed a display bike for their booth at a bike show, so I decided it would be wrong to display a non working bike. Been tackling all the things I had half finished. Being older and more patient definitely helps lol! Here is how she sits presently:
:thumbs: I like that!
back story.. before it was parked had about 2k miles on a fresh crank, top end, recut squish and o-ring heads. Dave F mods to carbs, dyna ignition. Recent-ish work has been: modified DG pipes.Kept having charging issues so I decided to just rewire the bike and order a new Rec/reg. New hand switches and quick turn throttle. New Hagons for rear. FFP rearsets (took some time to get setup properly!) Curved kickstarter(not in pic). Adapted a Brembo front brake similar to a Monster 620. Still quite a few things to tackle and will need your valued opinions getting this puppy dialed. 🙏
Few more pics!
Bike looks TOPS.
Did you fabricate the front brake caliper adapter?
Great looking bike! Well done sir! :thumbs:
Love the harness work and other details (front brake, pipes, etc.).
Thanks for the compliments! I just cut the caliper bracket on a band saw and used a, drill press, belt sander and file. That said I want to make a nicer one. Currently it is 3/8" aluminum plate, but may redo it with 1/2". I made the rotor spacer years ago in a machining class. Wish I had access to a mill to now to finesse the bracket. Floating caliper noises take some getting used to! Only issue I'm having with the brake is the bleeder valve is weeping ever so slightly. Hoping it's just corrosion at the sealing seat and a new one will solve it. Other issue with a real brake is that it has exposed how bad my forks are! My to do list is:
-brake bleeder
-fork springs/oil/possibly emulators
-polish front hub and lace an rim to match rear, the chromed steel just looks off
-new tires, sadly the Avons are old enough to be in high school 😆
-sort turn signals. They light up but do not flash, despite wiring in a claimed LED relay
-sort out leaking carbs and once that's solved dial in jetting better
-redo seat foam under the upholstery. The person I hired do it used way too soft of foam.
-replace leaking clutch rod seal
-look into hydraulic clutch conversion
-possibly fit a Bultaco Metralla style bikini fairing, with some sort of LED lighting. I'm kinda tired of the round headlight look.
Gonna need some guidance with this stuff! :thumbs:
Nice work! :olaf:
I like your modified DG Chambers, very sweet lookin :thumbs:
bike looks great! What mods were done to the pipes? Cut off the stock enclosed silencers and add exposed stingers + carbon fiber cans?
Quote from: RDnuTZ on May 12, 2024, 10:38:55 AMbike looks great! What mods were done to the pipes? Cut off the stock enclosed silencers and add exposed stingers + carbon fiber cans?
Quote from: RDnuTZ on May 12, 2024, 10:38:55 AMbike looks great! What mods were done to the pipes? Cut off the stock enclosed silencers and add exposed stingers + carbon fiber cans?
Yep that's pretty much it! I contacted a pipe builder and basically told them my idea and the pipe dimensions. He gave me safe dimensions for a stinger. Then just cut the old silencer off, ordered some stamped round steel for flanges, drilled the holes, welded the stinger to flanges then pipes. Silencers just bolt on. Do they perform better 🤷 not sure lol. But certainly can't hurt and they look/sound bitchin'
Been out for some tuning rides! I'm lucky to have a very long 4+ miles straight road near me to do some plug chops. Went to parts store only to find out the b8hs are discontinued! 😢
No matter what I do my carb bowls leak from gaskets it seems. Pools a bit on engine case and eventually drops onto chain and flings onto my back tire 😬 I thought it was my clutch rod seal so replaced that but upon some CSI type splatter analysis it's premix oil. If left overnight a quarter size drop will be on ground. Assuming this also means my crankcase is filling up a bit. It does smoke like crazy for few several seconds after starting. Doing a good job of lubing chain however lol. At this point I may just order a set of new vm28's and swap my brass.
Also installed .70 kg Race Tech springs and new 15w oil. Initial stroke is still plush but feeling much better overall.
Very nice work!!! :celebrate:
I agree, very nice!
yeah looks good. well done indeed. whats the bracket welded to the tank rest/tool kit holder for?
Do you mean this guy? I just cut up the old airbox I think it was? So holds the battery and R/R hangs from bottom.
ah yup. cool, good idea there. :clap:
Well picked this up from a good friend... once I 'button up' the 350 I'll have plenty to do 😂! Always loved the slightly larger frame, rubber mounted motor, and stronger low end on the 400's.
Got some fresh vm28's and swapped my jetting over. Nice that they are already setup for screwing in air jets, no drilling and tapping. The slides are wayyy heavier. They seem to be steel instead of brass and the return springs are longer. I had to use the original top adjusters to make my cable work but no biggie. The longer springs make the throttle pull feel the slightest bit 'crunchy' as the spring coils on itself. The fuel inlets are way bigger than the petcock outlets so had to get creative with the fuel lines. Only annoying part is that the slide adjuster on the right carb is hard to get at. Oh and pretty annoyed that the left one was pissing gas everywhere 😡 for fucks sake! They're brand new! 😭
I took it back off and double checked the float valve etc. seemed fine. So I made sure the breather hoses were not
Kinked or blocked. Now seems to be not overflowing. 🤷 Will take it for a ride tomorrow ✌️
mt tm32s did the same thing at 1st, overflowed for some weird reason for a day or 2, been fine though afterwards. fwiw, you can use your old sprins in there if you want. the aftermarket ones are typically designed to be run as a single carb.
Seems to be sealing now! Yeah I think I will put the original springs in. Real tough to get the needle for tuning also with the linger springs. Those slides slam shut too lol
Well, time flies! Decided to go for a little rip as it's shockingly not raining today in PDX. My headlight blew :'( seems I have an electrical issue. 😡
Been tending my battery all winter, measures 12.8. So I measured the voltage with the bike running and at the battery terminals I get around 14.5 even when revving. However, the voltage is spiking if I measure the voltage at the main frame ground and battery +. Which, to my brain, makes zero sense bc the wire is literally connected to the battery obviously. Measured at the headlight power wire and when revving it went to like 18v. So no surprise it popped.
I have the r/r made by Ricks sold by HVC. Also I notice about a 1v drop anywhere that's powered from the main brown(headlight. Gauge lights etc)when I switch the key on. So I have a voltage drop and an overcharge situation, that doesn't show up at the battery itself. Need some ideas, thanks!
Wow, shot up to 18V? Even an electrical dummy (me) knows that's no good. Wish I could help, your build looks killer!
I'm sure some electrical guru's here will help you.
Yeah I'm not sure how the newer r/r 'senses' the battery voltage. It has one less wire than the original, but I think that's just bc the unit is combined unlike original.
Dug around a little and found a test to perform. According to Ricks: I unplugged the brown wire to the regulator, which I believe to be the 12v 'sense' wire on a Rd350, and made a jumper to connect the brown(from regulator) directly to battery +, so it's reading true battery voltage and not a voltage drop somewhere(main switch/connectors etc). It still is overcharging by quite a lot. The black wire from the r/r is connected to frame at same point as battery so I don't think it's a ground issue. This r/r is basically brand new. Love to hear some thoughts? Thanks.
well for some reason it isn't tuning 'off' the rotor magnet. :umm: this one, correct?
https://hvccycle.net/yamaha-rd350-voltage-regulator-rectifier/
i mean, it might be a bad new unit. it happens.
3 yellows to the stator, one to battery, one to ground, and one sensor wire. this should be off a brown wire from the harness. the white wire, i believe, is the field wire to run the rotor on/off. fwiw, this unit is really a modified SOHC cb750 unit. on those, green is ground and black is switched voltage. however, simce this came pre-pinned its hard to see how this could be incorrect.
is the ground brush at the alternator grounding?
Thanks Mark, yep that's the part. I'll double check how everything is hooked up. So should I just test for continuity from black brush wire to frame ground?
yes, it should ground to the alternator housing, and also the frame.
Ok so I doubled checked the wiring. It's pretty simple, 3 white from generator go to 3 yellow to rectifier, green to green, black to black, red to fuse/battery, brown to switched 12v brown, black ground to frame. The ground brush shows continuity (meter goes basically to zero when set to ohms)to generator cover and to frame ground point. So maybe the part is faulty. Guess I need to reach out to Ricks, dang it.
Went ahead and bought a new battery. Mine seemed a little suspect. These little 5ah alarm batteries are like $17 so why not. Is it possible that an internally damaged battery could cause an overcharge situation?
Also I am trying to determine if the voltage drop I'm measuring is normal or not. Basically with my new battery I get 12.6 at posts, 12.6 at the main red wire that feeds to main switch while grounding the multimeter at frame or any other back probed ground wire. All read the same. With no headlight just led taillight and power to coils switched off I get about .7 volt drop. I figured it was my keyed switch, so I took it apart to clean but it was perfect inside. The springs that push the contacts together felt strong. cleaned it anyway and reassembled. Now with the main switch plugged in I tested the voltage at the factory solder points that are exposed on the back. I get 12.6 at the red wire but once I turn the key it drops to just about 11.9. Both the red wire in and brown wire out drop. This is with kill switch to off so coils aren't pulling juice, also tried with taillight unplugged too, basically no load at all. This really confuses me as all my connections are new. Could this be normal? Anyway, tomorrow I will start it up and see if the overcharging problems persists and if so then new reg/rec time. My current part is out of the 1 year warranty period and I have no way to test if its good to rule it out. 😤
Ok, if anyone has this issue. Check your battery. Installed new battery and it's charging fine now. Maxs out at 14.5 and stays there! 🆒