Messages

1

General Chatter / Re: lifting the m.c w/out a center stand

« on: January 22, 2021, 11:12:19 AM »

To get the rear wheel out, use any rear paddock stand.  Easy peasy

For teh front wheel, you need a stand that uses a peg into the bottom of the steering stem.  Pitbull are probably stiffest and most secure but there are others out there.  I have a really old Lockhart Pillips stand that is a bear to lift, but makes work easy.

2

Turning Wrenches / Re: alteration of intake port on RD350 cylinder

« on: January 01, 2021, 08:52:49 PM »

And that would generally be a good thing as long as the pipe can use the extra volume. Let the waves do the work...

3

Turning Wrenches / Re: Freeway did her in

« on: January 01, 2021, 08:47:49 PM »

Standard mode of failure on a 2 stroke.  Forget the piston wash interpretation for a moment because it ran home after the meltdown so we can't really tell too much.  Typically, a lot of carbon on the head or piston indicates a lean mixture and a clean surface with more washed than carbon tends to indicate rich, but we can't say too much because we have no idea if that carbon was built up when it was run hard or tootling along.

What we can tell for sure is that the piston expanded to the point that it had minimal to negative clearance and that's why it had a 4 corners seizure.  There's no obvious signs of detonation or oil film breakdown except on those 4 corners.

The causes are usually too little clearance or more likely, it's lean on the needle jet.  Most of us know how to check main jet color on a plug and for slow speed running but if it's lean on the needle, all we do is open the throttle a little more.  And that kills a two stroke cruising down the highway at steady throttle/rpm/speed.  Motor gets hotter and hotter and it either starts to detonate or it nips up like that one.

We had a TD3 that did that too many times at Daytona at full tilt and it turned out to be a minor air leak in an inlet manifold.

Do a leakdown test and see if there's a slight leak anywhere.  Follow that with checking piston to bore clearance or go slightly loose next time and if all that looks good raise the needle one step.

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Turning Wrenches / Re: Pictures of Drilled/Lightened RD Brake Shoe Plate

« on: December 29, 2020, 03:53:22 PM »

I went with cable activation using a Suzuki GT750 cable on this TD3 with some RD parts.

5

General Chatter / Re: another 'what exhaust is this' thread

« on: December 22, 2020, 01:10:26 PM »

They do look like early Toomey stamped pipes.

I have seen Pipelyne pipes that were fully welded and not stamped, but the muffler on those pipes does look like an FPP sleeve over the original steel can and not like a Toomey can.

Can anyone confirm for sure that Pipelyne stamped pipes?  Did they use Toomey dies by any chance?

6

General Chatter / Re: Anyone ever seen or heard of these 2 into 1 pipes?

« on: November 25, 2020, 10:35:36 AM »

That's a really good point.  Not all design elements look right on all bikes.  For example a Manx Norton tank looks fabulous on a Norton but would look out of place on say and RZ350.

I agree that crossovers on a aircooled just look wrong and it's probably because we are used to seeing them on more modern bikes but they look out of place on a square old RD.  It's partly what we are used to seeing.  The brain tries to match things to patterns we are familiar with and if it doesn't find something to match with we consider that it looks "wrong". 

That comes from our ancient ancestors who looked out of the cave and when they saw something moving they had to quickly decide if it was something they could eat or something that would eat them.  It's all about pattern recognition.

It's also why some things look, smell or taste horrible but we still like them because they feel familiar.

7

General Chatter / Re: Anyone ever seen or heard of these 2 into 1 pipes?

« on: November 24, 2020, 04:49:12 PM »

I really like crossover pipes.  Their RD crossovers appear to be styled after late model TZ350 pipes which crossed over.

8

Turning Wrenches / Re: Aft bottom engine mount bolt length RD350A

« on: November 18, 2020, 10:52:47 PM »

Agreed.   

9

eBay/Craigslist watch / Re: Tytronic ignition

« on: November 11, 2020, 11:51:57 AM »

.

10

eBay/Craigslist watch / Re: Tytronic ignition

« on: November 11, 2020, 11:44:20 AM »

Did I read somewhere that they come for the place that made them for a one of the US Honda aftermarket suppliers and either the manufacturer started to sell them directly or that they were copied by a third party.

I used one on a Honda 160 and that application needs only one of the two pickups, so it essentially comes with a spare module 

11

Turning Wrenches / Re: Needle Jet Question

« on: November 11, 2020, 11:40:01 AM »

You can work it out yourself.  Here's a TM32. 

Then get the needle dimensions and compare to other needles to see what changes where. Sometimes you have to buy a few needles to measure just to work out which might work.

What's interesting is how much difference a small change in diameter can make.  Had a guy a few years (decades ?) back with a midrange missfire at Gratten.  I was able to find a pair of needles in my stash that were only slightly different that I lent him and they completely cleaned up the rich miss.  Made him a very happy camper - and he even remembered to return them at the end of the race weekend.

I checked the dimensions the other day and the differences were so small.

12

General Chatter / Re: Pricey Shocks

« on: November 11, 2020, 11:32:36 AM »

You could be right. They need to work really hard to make that sort of small business work and Gil was well known in the ARHMA crowd so that helped - and there was less competition back then.  Now there are many more choices including reworked RFY shocks for the street.  ;D

13

General Chatter / Re: Pricey Shocks

« on: November 11, 2020, 11:24:29 AM »

I thought that I read somewhere that WORKS are back in business, now run by the late Gil's (owner of Works Performance) daughter or son.

Don't recall the details but that was only a few days ago I read it

Here it is:  http://www.worxshocks.com/


As an aside, I had a pair of TZ350E forks "revalved" by Jim Rasheed at  Four and Six in Chicago (they have been defunct for years now)  and he spent days, welding up the rebound holes in the damper rods and re-drilling them until he got the rebound right and changed the compression damping with oil viscosity. IIRC.

I was going to fit a pair of Gold valves but decided to use FZR400 forks instead.  BTW, TZ forks look just like RD forks but damping rods are a little different and they are much lighter.



 

14

Turning Wrenches / Re: Needle Jet Question

« on: November 09, 2020, 12:06:38 PM »

If it rips better with a P-0 with needle at the richest setting, that is confusing.  Taper starts at 35mm and at idle (closed throttle, the needle is around about the 25mm mark, so still on the root diameter.  Raise it fully and the taper will now start at around 30mm, so the needle starts to have an effect from say 1/8 onward.  By 50%, the needle will be at around 45mm ie where the needle jet sits in the metering part of the needle jet and will be much richer by then and with the double taper, will be way richer at the top end.

I'd try a pair of 6FJ41 needles from Jets R Us and see if that cleans up the top half. You may have to change to a single taper needle like a 6F9.

I may need those needle jets when you have it all dialed in.

15

Turning Wrenches / Re: Anyone know what thread this is

« on: November 04, 2020, 03:47:38 PM »

Yes.

It is the thread about threads....

I would expect that thread to be M10 x 1.25