Chef Boy-RD400 Project

[The Red Scourge]

So this is my attempt to salvage what little there was of my build thread from the old site.  There was a bit of advice given, so I will add that in here and do my best to credit the poster as I go.  This is partially for my own reference and anyone else searching in the future. 

In December 2016, I bought this 1976 RD400C.  The previous owner said that it ran, but sat for something like a year.  It wouldn't start when I went to look at it though.  I got him to throw in some NOS seals and such.  Some of these I may not use because of age though.  When I got it home and cleaned the carbs it fired up.  The tires are dry rotted.  The rear brake is frozen.  Rust in the fuel tank.  This thing needs work.  I'll be ditching those cheapo pod filters for UNI foam filters with the stock boots.  According to Chuck Quenzler, those are old DG chambers on it.  I'll be running those, although they'll get repainted and I'll attempt to pop out some of the dents.  Most of the chrome is pitted.  Just about everything needs to either be painted or cleaned and polished in the case of some of the aluminum. 

I'll update this thread again soon with the pictures to catch up to where it is right now.  I haven't worked on it as much as I'd like because my wife had a baby not long after I bought it.  I'm hoping to get more done on it this year.  Thanks for following along!

[Hawaii-Mike]

I like the Geneva Green.  Nice bike!

[The Red Scourge]

It won't let me post more than 1 picture per post due to size.

[The Red Scourge]

I'll be repainting the tank and side covers.  I love the green too, but it's trashed at this point.  I've been wanting to do the classic racing scheme with yellow and the speedblock down the side.

[The Red Scourge]

When I asked for a baseline for jetting to start with (factoring in the UNI pods and chambers) Chuck posted this:

"Make sure you set timing to 2.0mm for today's crappy gas.
I would use 30-32.5 pilots raise the needle to #4 groove (one rich from middle) start with 240-250-260 range for the main jets.
Stock jets with a restrictive airbox is 25 pilots and 115 mains and we had very good leaded gas back then.
Chuck"

Here's the link to the archived thread in case anyone wanted to see what it looked like the first time. 

https://web.archive.org/web/20170716014507/http://www.2strokeworld.com/forum/index.php?PHPSESSID=709f01c3cb0d5bf05ec3a90c8772f9e2&topic=31120.0

[The Red Scourge]

I'm not sure what the previous owner(s) were doing with this thing.  The chambers look like they've been taken off road.

IMG_1733 by James Bashaw, on Flickr

Acorns inside.  I always find something odd inside expansion chambers.  The CR125 I'm working on has dirt in there.

IMG_1732 by James Bashaw, on Flickr

[The Red Scourge]

I got back into the shop after a few months away from the project.  I'm still finishing up the engine.  I keep finding myself in the dilemma of do I just slap it together so I can be done or do I do it right.  The latter was my intention when I started 3 years ago, but life has taken some turns.

I pulled the piston rings to check the end gap.  Lo and behold, they're all out of spec.  All larger than .030.  Since it ran when it was in one piece I wasn't even going to check them.  Sigh, gotta do it right I suppose.  I'll be placing another order with John at Economy Cycle!

[The Red Scourge]

I've started working on the forks.  I got a pair of Mike's XS emulators from TNWillie.  I hit a snag tearing the forks when I couldn't get the damper rods to release from the bottom tubes.  I tried all kinds of different things.  What eventually worked was a variable socket thingy called Gator Grip, a Brad-Man idea that worked perfectly.  I did have to sand the finish down a tad as it was getting hung up on the fork tube.  Seals, dust covers, and fork oil is on the way and I'll have them back together after I drill out the damper rods.




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[quocle603]

glad that you had good luck with that gator grip thing. I've destroyed both of mine (gift and personal). They are terrible imo.

[Organicjedi]

Aren't the Mike's XS emulators for 35mm forks? You've got 34mm forks.

Good luck on your project!

[Tuck]

Aren't the Mike's XS emulators for 35mm forks? You've got 34mm forks.

Good luck on your project!

Yep, will fit Daytona but not earlier models.

[The Red Scourge]

I've been told they will fit 34mm forks as well.  I'm about to find out I guess.  I got them from a member here that was selling them at a big discount, so if they don't fit, it's not the end of the world.

[m in sc]

THEY WILL FIT. Have them in mine actually. have pics of the install somewhere..

[Organicjedi]

THEY WILL FIT. Have them in mine actually. have pics of the install somewhere..
[/quote

[SUPERTUNE]

Yes, they will fit...
C