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I made the attempt to start it. After 6 strong kicks, it started. Music to my ears! After a little warm up, opened the chokes, and it settled into a nice idle. Checked the timing on the Vape ignition, dead nuts on. Thanks Supertune! Did a couple warm up cool down sessions in the garage. Easier to kick over after a little run time. The oil injection must have purged and started feeding oil. Looks like the plugs got oil fouled and gave up. (Running 32:1 pre mix for start up) Need to get new plugs and put some straight gas in the tank so I can give it a shake down run.

It will kick over with the plugs in, just seems harder than any RD I've ever owned.

No contact with plugs, did not pour oil in cylinders, aftermarket stock Daytona head gasket. Bored to pistons by Bill Bune. Ring gaps set to correct spec.

Maybe my old leg is just getting wimpy.

Finally finishing up my '79 RD400 Daytona project. Did final check on everything yesterday in preparation for its first start up. When I tightened down the spark plugs and tried to kick it through (no gas), I thought something was stuck. I removed the plugs and tried again. No problem, kicked through tight (as I would expect) but no detected interference. Reinstalled the plugs and tried again. Compression seems unusually high. Practically have to stand on the kick starter to kick it through. I'm using the stock foil type head gasket, new .020 over bores with modified Wiseco RZ pistons. I tried a compression test and got 90 PSI on both cylinders. Am I missing something? Perhaps head had been previously shaved for a compression bump. I did notice very little (almost no) lip between the gasket surface and combustion chamber. Hate to have to take the head back off. Gaskets aren't cheap. May need to cc combustion chamber. Anyone know what stock value would be?

Both are 2V0 engines as far as I can tell. One has the number stamped, the other does not. The one without the VIN stamped is the one with the wider gear. It does have the center case bosses that hold the exhaust butterfly actuator, so I assume it is truly a 2V0. Maybe a later spare, hence no VIN? Both are 66 teeth. Either basket will spin on the crank gear, the wider one just binds on the clutch hub.

Ok. This had me scratching my head for a minute. Finishing up my Daytona engine and found something unusual. First, I have 2 complete Daytona engines. When checking the clutch basket I noticed about 4mm of slack between the gear and basket. So, I pulled the clutch from the other engine which had no slack. Great! Just swap. When I was assembling the clutch, I noticed the clutch hub seemed to bind against the basket. Upon closer inspection, I noticed the gear from the spare engine was thicker than the one I was replacing. 15mm vs 12mm. What! The assembled clutches work fine, no binding, in the engines they came out of, but won't interchange. Is this normal or is one maybe from a different bike. Same part number in both baskets, 02K0-1#C-1.
One other question. Are the rubber O rings that go with the fiber plates necessary or can they be left out. Thought I read somewhere that they were not needed.

Is one pipe set better than the other? Stock porting, 30 mm carbs, Vape ignition, Y pipe filter. Open to other pipe options.

Thanks for the response. I did finally find the Pipe ID page after your response. Now to get them cleaned up and some dent removal.

Pictures were kind of limited by file size. I can try again if needed.

Sorry, took me a while to dig out all the parts. Here are pics of the 2 pipe sets. These are both off 79 RD400F's. The first has 2 stamped sides welded together. The second rolled and welded cone sections. Head pipe almost looks like an adapter. Hope someone can ID. Thanks for any help.

Has anyone ever posted a way to identify expansion chambers for RD400. I have 2 sets of pipes and do not see any way to identify.   Maybe a collection of pictures and labels. They seldom have a name tag.

That's the plan. Then remove and blend the external mounts. The stator I have is Nippondenso. Don't know if newer (?) is the same manufacturer.

Picked up a 1975 GT185 in decent running condition. When checking why the shifter movement was so stiff, found that the cases were broken on the left side. As if it threw a chain through the cases. All kinds of damage. Someone tried to epoxy repair but there was too much damage to correct the shifting problem. I bought another complete engine with good cases. Stripped it all down to clean up and noticed that generator was different on the 2 engines. The stator mounts inside the cases on one and outside the cases on the other. My question is, do all alternator parts interchange? Do I need to keep the same armature with the stator? The armature that came with the new engine may be damaged and didn't come with the stator.

Need some help restoring an RD400 Daytona frame. Previous owner had removed the foot peg mounts to add their own home made rear sets. I am now trying to replace those studs to install footpegs. I ground out the old remains of the studs and machined new ones. Question is, how far do they stick out of the frame? If anyone has a frame, I need the measurement from the frame to the end of the stud.
Thanks!

Had the same problems with my T500 only it was 3rd and 4th gear. Split the cases and noticed pitting on the offending gears. Picked up another complete transmission set on Ebay. No pitting on any of the gears. Swapped and noise gone. Lately had the same problem with 6th gear on a Suzuki 650 V Strom. Common issue on that bike I found out later.  Must be a problem with gear manufacturing at Suzuki.