Chef Boy-RD400 Project

[The Red Scourge]

Okay RD gurus, I've hit another snag.  I assumed these fork emulators I got would drop right into the damper rods.  They do not.








As you can see from the Mike's XS instructions, it would appear that the damper rods for the Daytona and XS650 are different than the 400c's rods.  What do I do?  I read on another forum that you need to have them machined.  The Race Tech website mentions something about adapters for them that comes with their setup.  Any advice would be appreciated

[SUPERTUNE]

No, they don't fit without a bunch of work and make a adaptor to fit...done several and did have it posted on the old forum in space now.
I suppose I have to start another 'How To' in Team Scream section...
You have to machine the ends of the stock rod  to below the holes, then make a aluminum collar to sit on the newly machined dampner and on the top side to fit the gold valve.
I'll post a couple of pics here after I upload them to my host.
C

[teazer]

You could also buy a pair of adapters from Race Tech.  Just don't tell them you are using copy cat parts.  They sell them with a seal or plain spacer design. 

BUT the tops of the damper rods have to be modified to allow oil to pass through to the emulator.

BTW 35mm forks on E and F models sold outside the US use that same damper rod shown in your picture from MikesXS.  I fitted a pair in a TZ350 (or a TD3 I don't remember which) a few years back.  RD350 has open top damper rods similar to a TZ but RD400 are closed IIRC.  Racetech used to have a page showing how to modify damper rods IIRC

If Mark can't find his details I'll see if I can dig up any pictures of the last time I went through that conversion.  Chuck posted a thread on the 400 conversion which I dumped as a pdf print.  I can send that to Mark if he needs it or if Chuck can't resurrect it

[Organicjedi]

You have to cut the domed top off and then drill two extra holes of the bottom of each damper rod. The emulator will now sit on the top and be able to flow oil through the rod.

The RaceTech ones come with instructions and you can probably download the PDF off of their site. It was easy enough where I could do the cutting and drilling myself.

[The Red Scourge]

Ok thanks guys.  I'll do some more digging.  It does suck that we can't search the info on the old site anymore.  I'll go to the archive of it and see if I can locate anything.

Edit:  I found Chuck's old thread on doing this mod here: https://web.archive.org/web/20170705055141/http://www.2strokeworld.com/forum/index.php?PHPSESSID=709f01c3cb0d5bf05ec3a90c8772f9e2&topic=32182.0

Thank the 2 stroke gods for the Internet Archive!

[Organicjedi]

Here's the PDF instructions from RaceTech

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://racetech.com/download/InstructPDF/IP%2520FEGV%2520S3002.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwjZ6uyD--7lAhUMbq0KHQZXBvgQFjAAegQIARAB&usg=AOvVaw1WcHO63wWEFGQczH85RhNJ

[The Red Scourge]

Made a bit of progress on the damper rods.  I decided I would try the ol' hacksaw method instead of having them machined.  It's kinda funny.  Looking back the Race Tech instructions actually make sense, but I had to read them a few times and talk to people on here until it clicked.  Slow learner I guess.  Anyway, next will be making the spacer.  The only thing about that is figuring out the length of it.  I'm assuming it just needs to take up the length i cut off the top of the damper, minus the height of the emulator, leaving the same amount of space for the spring.  Race Tech will sell me the spacers for $20 a pair, but that seems a little silly to me.

[SUPERTUNE]

I'm a bit to annel I guess, $20 for gold valve spacers is WAY cheap. Took me 1 1/2 hours in a lathe to make them with finding all the tooling and material. 

I'll have to start another 'HOW TO' post.
Here's a few pics...

Pipe material for spacer






Face it




Turn it down.




Bore to fit Gold Valve bottom.









Cut off for length.







Cut a step for self centering to fit the rod I machined.







Rod was cut like this.









Finished spacers.







Chuck

[SUPERTUNE]

Added the extra holes in the lower portion of the rods.
Stock rods pic




Then drill above the stock holes.






Drill twice... so you have 4 more holes to double the volume. Debur well, I used a small chamfer bit.






Chuck

[The Red Scourge]

Awesome.  Thanks Chuck!  Maybe I'll just buy RTs spacers.  I think the ones you made are nicer than theirs. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[rodneya]

Ive seen guys make the spacers out of 3/4" PVC pipe or bronze bushing as well.

[The Red Scourge]

I finished the spacer for one side.  I wasn't going to, but decided to cut a step into the top of the damper rod.  Next time, I'll definitely have it machined (or buy a mini lathe).  It took more hours than I'd like to admit to do all that and cut the spacer with basic tools.  Now I need to do the other side and drill out the holes on the bottom of the rods. 

I also got my $50 S&W rear shocks in the mail today.  I'll post pics when I can.

[85RZwade]

Nice bit of hand-milling there!
Wade

[The Red Scourge]

Nice bit of hand-milling there!
Wade

Haha, thanks.  I'm trying to do as much of this build myself as I can.  Having someone machine it would be a lot cleaner though.

I finished drilling out the holes on that rod the other night.  1/2 way there!

[The Red Scourge]

I fiiiiiiiinaly finished the front forks.  Mike's XS emulators are in with spacers.  Definitely not the prettiest work  I've ever done, but they should operate just fine.  It was incredibly satisfying slipping those new dust boots on!