RD400 under construction

[rd400greenhorn]

I remembered chuck mentioned that i had to remove the middle piece on the piston - Could you maybe explain why?
I remember it was something to do that the piston was for a rd350lc?

Iam currently Looking for a milling head to remove the alu to make room for my v force reeds, Hopefully i Will get it done soon. Then i can get the cylinders bored and honed and mounted on the engine 

Stay tuned

[joseimport]

I remembered chuck mentioned that i had to remove the middle piece on the piston - Could you maybe explain why?
I remember it was something to do that the piston was for a rd350lc?

Iam currently Looking for a milling head to remove the alu to make room for my v force reeds, Hopefully i Will get it done soon. Then i can get the cylinders bored and honed and mounted on the engine 

Stay tuned

i did the same on mine (removal of the tang on the piston) or you run the risk of this breaking off against the ports and causing mayor damage.
+ 2 mm of the side skirts (using rz350 yamaha pistons on rd400f). this is because if you fit this pistons normaly....  it would hit the counterweights on the crankshaft.


^As I read on the forum, the tang In the middle was removed and almost 2mm from the bottom also.
Here you can compare both pistons side by side with the pin inserted. Everything below the red lines was removed.



otherwise the piston skirts

[rd400greenhorn]

the tang was removed but i dont think I heard chuck say anything about the 2mm of the bottom of the piston? at least not on the 66mm wossner pistons i have.

Chuck can  you confirm?

[SUPERTUNE]

The extra 2mm he was saying applies to stock Yamaha RZ/Banshee pistons and Vortex pistons.
Not needed on Pro-X pistons, Wiseco pistons and Wossner pistons.
All they need is just the tang removed.
Chuck

[rd400greenhorn]

Roger that ☺️

[rd400greenhorn]

So, my uncle helped me out again, accessing a mill at work, he made room for my yz85 vforce reeds.
As soon as Possible i Will take my cylinders and pistons, to be bored and honed! 

[tony27]

Try to blend out the step where your uncle finished machining using either a die grinder/dremel or riffler files.
I fitted the YZ85 reeds into a TY250 after reading about which block to buy on the old forum - RDs & TYs have the same reed block going off part numbers.
I was able to use my dremel with ballnose endmill to remove metal quickly which takes a steady hand, I had marked how far into the cylinder the reed needed to sit before I started & knew how much needed to come out at the deepest point & kept trying the reed block in the hole until it fitted nicely. After that I just tapered the port wall out until it met the liner & knocked the lumps off the casting but didn't touch anything with sandpaper
Takes a bit of time but is better than wrecking a cylinder by breaking out the side of the port

This is how the sidewall looked when I'd finished

[rd400greenhorn]

Tony27

I was thinking the same actually but is it nesessary to grind out the step?

Because i just delivered the cylinders of to be bored and honed so i would rather not do more work to Them 

[tony27]

To get the best effect of the reed upgrade you really need to remove the step. Do it before you give  the cylinders the wash to get rid of any grit left after honing, I had already had my cylinder bored & honed before modifying the port

[SUPERTUNE]

I'm with Tony... no harm in working on grinding ports in the intake track to smooth it out to the inlet port.
Just stay away from @ the cylinder bore.
Chuck

[rd400greenhorn]

Allright
I Will tape the hole up i to the cylinder bore and try to smooth it out, clean it in cleaning benzin and fingers crossed its All good 👌

[rd400greenhorn]

So, finally some progress

After receiving the cylinders from bore and hone, i dremeled out the 'bridge' in the in the cylinder ( Reed goes in), cleaned it good, oiled up and Got the top end together. Sprayed it with heat resistent clear coat afterwards to protect the bare alu.

As It sits now

Next i Will try to make a seat pan( No expetience what so ever) in some 1,2mm sheet metal. Hopefully i can make it work 🤔😁

[rd400greenhorn]

Sorry for the lack of updates, but life gets in the way.

But, I have stainless news for you, allthough i havent fit Them on the bike yet,
A set of laser Cut and welded, glas bead chain tensioners.

I think They turned out pretty, now They need to fit and Its perfect 

[rd400greenhorn]

So just a small update, letting the internet know that the build is very much alive

Cut the brackets this weekend under the frame, so the pipes cleared the frame.
Got the hvc cycle sidestand extender on, but Must admit i Hoped and thought it would be a plug and play, it definately not is.
If Iam Lucky i can find some sort of rubber to go on the spring so it wont hit the pipes (as hard) or i Will have to take drastic measures.

Also Got my one off stainless steel chain tensioners on, They turned out good :)



And oh.. Allthough i Cant afford it, (the restoring and custom work etc) i had to buy a New project for the future.
It was a frame with papers, a somewhat complete engine and some other bits and pieces. ( Its not a rebuild, making my own take on it)

Suzuki gt750, ska the kettle aka the water buffalo 😅👌
I just had to do it.

Stay tuned

[rd400greenhorn]

Waterbuffalo