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I dipped the NOS cylinder in light phosphoric acid to remove some light surface rust from 60+ years of storage life, then repainted it, honed it and reassembled the motor. The bore itself was not rusted at all thanks to the creosote. Here is the cylinder after dipping:

I have a philosophy about taking off parts and reassembling - if it gets taken off, it doesn't go on until 100% clean. This is the rear of the motor after cleaning, where the external gear selector is attached:

I have many Parilla sources around the globe and was lucky enough to source a NOS cylinder, piston and rings, as well as a new gear selector (which is external). Take a look at this weird piston design:

After researching and verifying the correct jetting, cleaning the taps and changing the oil, I poured in some HEAVILY mixed gas (the original manual calls for like 20% oil to fuel.... I put 18:1 waging on advances in 2T oil since Italy 1957). She fired about just a few kicks, but it didn't rev well. After much tinkering with carb settings, it still wouldn't run well and would hardly pull.

I decided to investigate beyond just taking off the head like I had already done. Much to my chagrin, I found this little hole in cylinder wall. The piston was the max overbore than was available at the time too.

I thought you guys may enjoy this due to the oddities of this old 2 stroke motor. This bike was imported from Italy in '91 to California and remained untouched until I purchased it several years back. It is one of about 4 in the country that I know of, but they are somewhat easy to find in Italy. It had all the right stuff for an easy restoration or at least a refurbishing - strong compression, spark, squeaky clean tank inside.. but no carb. I sourced a NOS carb from Italy after much searching and Google translating. Then I started working on it!

Hey guys. I am interested in getting into racing but have no clue how people get involved. To be honest, I just want a chance to learn how (slowly) in some sort of racing class that is, simply put, not very serious. Does such a thing exist? I figure I could go to racing schools somewhere to learn as well? Sounds expensive though.

I am currently building a DS7 which I intend to leave piston port 250 for now. May or may not want to race with that, I have been advised that you don't want to go learning on a bike with that much powerband.

I used to have a heavily modded RD350 that I took around the track at Barber Vintage for a few laps with some WOT. I've had the desire to get into it ever since.

I also noticed that the R5/DS7 2.0 slides were chromed steel, whereas all RD 2.5 slides that I came across were greenish colored aluminum. I somehow found some 2.5, steel, R5-height slides at a swap and ran those, no idea what bike those came from. I preferred the throttle response of the steel slides, they had more weight to them and seemed to close with more "authority".

The Scitsu tachometers are awesome. Battery powered and very easy to set up. I had one on my last build and it was smooth and good looking. You can get whatever RPM you want on the dial and they have different models depending on how if your ignition fires (stock or lost spark etc.)

Very interested in this - if the heavier R5/DS7 crank makes a difference in performance. I just bought my next project bike (a DS7) and the crank is likely bad from sitting without plugs in the top end. If I go replacing it...

Don't forget you have to also get the 400 clutch hub if you are buying just a transmission. The splines on the shaft are different between 350 and 400.

Can anyone speak to whether the crossover tube or a crossover bottle is better for addressing the flat spot / mid range?