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C'mon. It's a chain oiler. No coincidence it's normally pointed at the chain.

...Just like the <1966 pre-PCV cars with a crankcase oil vapor vent down the back of the engine. That was a underbody oiler. Those cars didn't rust because the chassis was coated in oil blowback. So was the garage floor, the driveway, AND the middle of the roads. One of the reasons cars made after '66 rusted to pieces. Easy to forget how greasy the stripe down the middle of the lane was then. Exxon Valdez at every stoplight. You couldn't safely ride in the middle of the roadway until after 1990. Still not a good idea...

IR8D8R

15 psi of pressure adds 45 degrees to the boiling point of coolant. Losing coolant is not the only consideration.
If it holds some pressure and loses it suddenly, the whole load of coolant can flash-boil.

Cooling systems are more complex than just circulating water. Somewhere in the engine the coolant is at the boiling point or the cooling system couldn't pressurize. It's specifically designed to do that. Taking out a thermostat is also a problem because it affects that process. Even more it can cause erosion in the engine due to cavitation where hot spots exist. If the system can't pressurize its efficiency is lower, and you still have places where the coolant boils. Without building pressure stopping the boil it can run away since boiling coolant loses heat transfer efficiency. A small leak defeats the whole scheme. Then you are dependent only on the sheer mass of the coolant taking away the heat at reduced efficiency. I don't recall there being a very large mass of coolant in an RZ. I don't own one so I don't know how hot they get. Might be OK if the system works well enough without a radiator cap. Losing pressure can be more catastrophic than never having any...

IR8D8R

Old school Microns with head pipes

https://www.ebay.com/itm/315058570422?hash=item495af444b6:g:BBUAAOSwuIZljQfP

I think for a 76-78 RD400. Listing is a little vague on that detail.

$400 in Canada.

Not mine etc.

IR8D8R

I did Buchanan wheels on my RD350 2 years ago. Sun rims with stainless spokes and nipples. Parts were around $825. I had a friend lace them up, but Buchanan will do it if you send them your hubs. I scrubbed, blasted, and polished my hubs first. Nasty job. Coats everything with rouge dust. If I ever polish anything again I'll move my buffer outside.

They make Sun rims at Buchanan but they have Akront, Excel, and Borrani. Plus a few other more obscure makes.The advice I got was that Sun were the strongest wheels they make at Buchanan. Probably the strongest on the market. Definitely high-quality pieces. Any other consideration is cosmetic.
 

Nice folks. Small shop type experience. I enjoyed dealing with them.

IR8D8R

Pretty:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vD255B9nh-U

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEJB9s6fNgI

Translation: This is an Egli replica chassis with TZ fuselage engine (racing gearbox, dry clutch) and converted optimized 400 cylinders turned off to 350 cc. The GRP parts that are used for the motorcycle

Those crossed-over Bulgarian OHAZ high pipes on the TDR look wild!

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=663423752501823.

 What's that long stinger pipe going to do to performance? It looks like it's slipped over the actual stinger without a swage, so it is a larger ID pipe.

IR8D8R

https://amcn.com.au/editorial/not-forgotten-art-baumann/.

Looks like the same bike in the photos.

IR8D8R

I've seen yours on the lightweight bike Mark. It's very sanitary. IIRC It was made with a piece of EMT?

 I was going to imitate yours, but what I ended up with makes me happy. I may need to shim it with a brass washer because the mount and stand joint are a bit worn or the tolerances are just loose. The bolt has wear. I found a NOS shouldered bolt on eBay. That should help tighten it up. I don't remember if I still have the OEM castellated nut. I think I just pinned behind a regular nut with a cotter. You really can't use the nut to cinch it up. My first year at DG I had it held up with a bungee. It was making a light show on every left and making me cringe.

IR8D8R

 Back when I worked in a muffler shop a long time ago. I made myself dimpling tools using several different sized ball bearings. I welded the balls to solid Plymouth 383 pushrods with rubber fuel line over the rods for handles. Hold by the handle and smack with a hammer. Dimples look factory pressed. Ball bearings don't leave scratches like hammer blows. Heating cherry red before dimpling is a good idea, especially if the spot is visible. It makes the dimple more sharp and shapely and is less likely to dent the tubing. They are useful for a few things.

IR8D8R

I had a bad kickstand interference issue with my chambers on my RD 350. Dragging on corners and rubbing on the pipe. My kickstand mount had been cracked at the plate and poorly booger welded at some point. I tried one of the extenders and it didn't help. Made it worse in some ways. Very early FPP chambers. The side stand is not bent. I had intended to make a stand from scratch.

 I ended up carefully cutting off the mount with a zip wheel, replacing the cracked sheet metal plate on the bottom of the frame, and moved the stock mounting bracket out so that it welded to the frame tube and the bottom plate. They are originally welded only to the plate. Maybe moved it out by 1/2"-3/4" while testing the folded and unfolded positions with the mount clamped in place. It folds perfectly flat against the frame and completely misses the chambers. It is leaned a bit further than stock but less than with the extender. No more sparks on tight left turns. You could extend the length of the stand with a piece of EMT or block under the foot to correct the lean. I had to remove one pipe to accomplish this and laid the bike down on some blocks with the tank off. It looks basically stock. No regrets. Others have moved the mount forward which probably leans over less. Not sure that is as stable welded just to the frame tube. 

IR8D8R

Cognito Moto has a lot of billet triple-tree stuff. They do custom work as well. Pretty sure you can find the stem and upper and lower tree pieces to fit an RD 350/400 there, but nothing comes up for Daytona. Aren't they 35mm fork tubes?
 There is an "Any fork to any bike option" It's nice looking but pricey. A little under $1k for the custom tree assembly. Presumably you tell them what forks you want on which bike...
 
They have billet hubs and wheel conversion parts as well. No idea if they are a good company.

https://cognitomoto.com/collections/fork-conversion-parts.

IR8D8R

 Seems like too much to lighten the piston. Piston has some areas that could be cut if this one is similar. You could also bore the pin and shave some off the con rod.

 3.088 oz sounds like a lot. 86.46 grams. Here's the volume of some metals to equal that weight: Aluminum 33.27 cc. Steel 11.01 cc. Lead 7.62 cc. Tungsten 4.41 cc.

 Apparently the TM400 cranks have the crap drilled out of the rod side of the flywheels already, if this photo is typical. Hard to see where you could remove another 11 cc from that side. Drill the crank pin if it's solid maybe? Shallow dimples around the outside rim of the wheels? I'd think that removing weight is preferable. Slugging the crank with tungsten is probably easier. You'd need to compensate for the weight of steel you drilled to fit the slug too.



IR8D8R

It looks like if you cut off the clutch slave's third mounting ear and milled a spacer slug that fit into the adjuster cover hole you could almost use the stock mounting bolt holes. Would it be stiff enough with only 2 ears?

IR8D8R

I'm still looking too. On Nathan's bike the Motolanna looks a little odd at +2" but he said it didn't change the handling too much. If I went that way our bikes would be nearly identical from 20 feet.

 What stops me is the rear disc brake since I just did wheels and all new parts for the drum brake. For that reason I'd prefer an RD350 part. +1 would be OK. I think that requires finding a vintage piece. Unless we can talk Makr "Speed of Cheese" into making a run... I'd love to see what he could do. Maybe if 5 or 6 of us wanted one? or 10? I have 2 RD 350's...

IR8D8R

Your pipe header is leaking at the coupler. Runs better with it tight.

https://www.economycycle.com/shop/yamaha-rd250350400r5ds6ds7-parts/engine-related/gasketsseals-engine/rd250-rd350-exhaust-gasket-360-14714-00-00-between-header-and-muffler/

IR8D8R