My RD400D Slooooww Build

[svgarage]

I've bought this used RD400 back in 1986, while going to school in San Luis Obispo, California. I've always loved the way they looked and I would frequently drop by the now defunct Kawasaki/Husqvarna dealership way down on Higuera St. to sit on bikes. One day, this old beat up RD was sitting in front of the shop. It was being sold on consignment for $500. I asked for a test ride and the salesperson replied no problem, provided I had 3 things. 1) I needed to be wearing pants (I was wearing shorts)  2) I needed to wear a helmet which they could provide for me  3) I would need to produce either a M-class license or at least a permit. I told him no problem and that I would be back the next day. I didn't have a license or permit, so I then ran literally across the street to the DMV and took the test without even looking at a handbook. The following day I took the bike for a test ride and fell in love! I was able to haggle with the owner a little and purchased the bike for $400!

I rode the bike for a number of years while going to school, as it was my daily commuter. Eventually the bike was retired in 1994, as I bought a car, then another brand new bike. So for years after, the bike sat around in various garages until I bought my own house. Finally around 10 years ago, I tore the entire bike down and put her in boxes, awaiting the time for a nice restoration.



I've always had intentions of rebuilding this RD- it was the first bike I've ever owned and I was totally in love with it. I started buying parts for it in the late '90's, pretty much when the Internet was starting to make a major impact on the world. (eBay was still in its infancy, but I still hadn't discovered it yet.) I found a wiring harness in Australia off the Internet. That was my first parts purchase for this bike in the new era. Over the years since, I've collected another RD400 frame (complete with clear California title), engine case complete with transmission and extra kick starter, forks, headlight buckets and ears, Daytona head, Factory Products chambers, side covers, fuel tank, RD350 wheels, MotoCarrera coils (probably just Emgo), gauges, and boxes of other parts not worth mentioning. My computer probably has about 1000 bookmarks having to do with this bike. Over the years, I've had interesting conversations with Gary from Spec II, Doug Johnson of MotoCarrera fame (we had talks about me purchasing his company), Scott Clough for building my motor. It's been a long journey, but now it's finally time to actually begin the build!

For years, I've dreamed about building up a TD3 replica vintage racer, but more recently, I've decided to go with a more ridable/streetable RD creation with no fairings. That alone will probably cut a few thousand off the budget. I'll be using a stock coffin fuel tank, while I'm still shopping around for a nice aftermarket seat.  I've already purchased all Race Tech internals for my forks and I'll be going with Ikon rear shocks. For the first iteration, I'm going to use the RD350 wheels with Battlax tires. I'll still be using points and condenser for ignition- I'll probably switch to a different system later. I'm handing my motor off to a local engine builder- a Yamaha trained mechanic who's been building these motors for 30+ years. One of my cylinders was already bored out to 66mm, so there wasn't much meat left to bore. I was recently lucky enough to snag a set of jugs off of eBay for just over $200! These cylinders are still standard bore, claiming that the engine had only less than 400 miles before it was torn down! I've managed to purchase just about everything OEM for the engine except for the connecting rods- I went with Pro-X.

I spent last week polishing up the Daytona head. I don't really care for it to be mirror fine- I'm not after "show" quality. I do plan to use this bike and I just needed it cleaned up, as it had really oxidized a bit.



I spent a few hours thumbing through all my old paperwork and I do believe that I actually registered the bike non-op back in 1994! I am pretty certain that the DMV will have no record of my bike in their system. I'm hoping that they're just going to have me sign an affidavit about non-use, then have me verify my bike with my local LEO. With any luck, I can get this bike registered for under $200! (I have an old classic BMW car that sat in it's previous owners garage untouched for 30 years, but was luckily put in non-op before being put to bed. It took me 5 trips between going to AAA and the DMV to get the registration up to date, so I kind of know this drill!)

Yesterday morning, I did some insurance shopping. I was able to add this old RD to my Geico Harley Davidson policy for a mere $35 more per year! That's good enough to get the registration process rolling. Once the bike is built up, I'll shop for better insurance.

I then drove down to AAA and presented to them my problem. The told me frankly that if the non-op goes further back than 10 years, I need to pay a visit to the DMV- just what I had suspected. I stopped by the DMV, but the line was already 10 people out the door! and it was only 10:00am!! I went home and made an online appointment for next week rather :)

So now is the waiting game. I've still got parts coming in the mail, so all is good. It's a good time to take a little break and get my garage organized for this build. I've got a small parts washer coming that should show up in the next couple of days. Last week, I bought a fairly large compressor for media blasting that I need to get set up and situated.

[Alain2]

What happened to the fork tubes?

[svgarage]

What happened to the fork tubes?

Good question! I was young and stupid and passing cars down a skinny, windy 2 lane highway, when suddenly all traffic locked up! I could see tire smoke up ahead! At that point in my life, I didn't have much mechanical aptitude, so my bike was not well maintained. My brakes weren't slowing me down very well (especially on the decline), so I tried to split the cars to buy myself some braking distance. But instead, I ended up smack directly in the middle of someone's rear bumper. I was still going about 30 mph. That car was still moving just a little. The bike and me both flew in the air about 4 feet, before it crashed down on its right side, landing on my ankle. I also got a couple of nice bruises on my upper thighs. Things could've turned out way worse, but I was actually able to ride the bike 15 miles back home again.

The forks were destroyed, but I kept on riding the bike for a few years after since I really didn't have any money to fix them. But the bent forks eventually became a real problem and the bike tried to kill me a couple of times, so I stuck her in mothballs.

[SoCal250]

Cal Poly Mustangs?
You've got a great start with all those parts. Looks like you could build 1-3/4 bikes! 

Based on those fork tubes and your story I'd say you got pretty lucky. It could have turned out much worse!

[svgarage]

Actually I was going to Cuesta College- trying to transition in to Poly, but it never happened. I changed my mind and ended up at UC Santa Cruz instead.

But yes, I definitely do have a pile of parts. And that picture was from 10 years ago! I have so much more now!

[pdxjim]

I went to UCSC as well.

[svgarage]

I went to UCSC as well.

Gotta love them slugs! Hahaha! But I only lasted there for one year, before I shoved off to the University of Colorado at Boulder. Then my friend was supposedly keeping an eye of my bike for me. It actually just sat on the porch of his mother's apartment, where vandals started picking parts off the bike! I should have known better....

[Alain2]

Are you going to use the drum rear brake instead of the rear disc?

[svgarage]

Yes, I'm opting to go with the drum brake. One day, I might switch back to the original RD400 wheels, but for now, that's the plan  8)

[svgarage]

I think one of the hardest decisions that I have to make is in choosing a seat. I'm not crazy about the gigantic stock seat, so I'm looking to fit a cafe style seat of some sort on there. Two issues that I've noticed are that  1) In order for most of those fiberglass pans to fit on the frame, the metal seat hinges and the lock receiver plate has to be ground off the frame and  2) There's the problem with that big gaping hole at the rear of the gas tank.

If I find a seat that's high enough, that should take care of the tank cavity- raising the pan just a little or using more seat foam padding should do the trick. But the real conundrum I'm wrestling with is having to cut the frame. I know that RD owners do it all the time and maybe it's not really a big deal to them. But I realize that these frames are becoming harder to find and by altering the frame, it destroys the chances that future owners would have to possibly return the bike back to stock. Is it really worth cutting it up? or is there a way to make the frame whole again?

Luckily for me, I have two frames- one with matching numbers to my engine and the extra frame I picked up some 15 or so years ago. If I do chose to grind parts off, I'll do it to the extra frame. Then I can always save the original frame should someone want to do a restoration. And in reality, the second frame didn't cost me that much, so it's not a big financial loss if it just became scrap metal.

Any thoughts?

Eddy

[biggraham]

My seat has been shortened (before me) in length, and with the stepped foam I think it looks pretty good:

[svgarage]

Just a quick update on the bike. Things are moving along nicely, albeit at a slow and steady pace. Life is keeping me busy lately- 6-day working weeks, both sides of the family live closeby, plus now I'm taking an online class to get another job-related certificate. But nonetheless, I am making progress!


The forks got rebuilt- tubes polished and swapped out. The sliders and caps were stripped and polished. New RaceTech internals installed. New seals. I used PJ1 15wt fork oil. I had a chance to rework my "custom" top triple clamp, filling in the riser holes, then carefully sanding them down, a few coats of some black paint and I was pretty pleased with myself. I do have new chrome dome nuts, but I haven't installed them yet.


I've been working on my braking system. I decided to use my OEM cast wheels rather than the RD350 wheels, so I had to purchase some rear brake rebuild stuff. Both master cylinders have been rebuilt using NOS kits. The front brake caliper has been rebuilt using NOS parts too and painted. I still need to finish rebuilding the brake caliper then get it painted along with the master cylinder. Using Galfer brake lines- half of them have arrived in shipment, the other half is on back order.


I've got my hand controls pieced apart and cleaned, been spread all across my kitchen counter and breakfast table for a week now. (My wife is such a saint that she hasn't complained about it yet.) Housings are light sanded and awaiting paint, but my work schedule suddenly got over-populated. I bought some new CRG Lane-Splitter mirrors, so my front end is nearly finished. I'm eager to get the wheels cleaned and polished and put on the bike. They'll get new bearings of course.

All the parts are purchased for the motor. I just need to finish cleaning case and painting the side covers, as well as blasting the cylinder exteriors and the fins of the head. I've contacted my painter in Sacramento and he is totally on board for this project! I'm very hopeful that with any luck, this bike will be on the track before the end of the year   

[svgarage]

The project is [still] moving along quite nicely. I'm actually surprised how much is getting done, since work has demanded so much of me lately, plus other home projects, vacations, etc.

My engine builder has the motor parts and is making steady progress. He's been recommending parts where needed. It's nice to have an expert on board! I've ground off the seat hinges and lock from the frame, and have brazed the steering stop tab back onto the front of the headstock. I'm finishing up the seat mounting this week, then the frame is off to the powdercoater, and the painter will get the other parts. I'm still working on the wheels- need to change out the bearings, do some painting and mount the new tires.

Getting down to the nitty gritty. After a decades in storage, some parts got lost, so I'm figuring out the stuff that I forgot I needed. Gas cap gasket, gas tank mounting parts, miscellaneous nuts and bolts, etc. With any luck, this bike will be tuned and ridable sometime in August!!

[svgarage]

The build is slowly moving along. Before my cruise to Alaska, I got the engine back from Paul. I had a chance to mount it to the frame, but that was about it. A few weeks later, I was at it again, but this time finally finishing up on the other frame.


To fit the cafe seat pan to the bike, I brazed some clevis pins to the frame- since I'm keeping the oil tank and filler assembly in the stock location, I'll still need to be able to remove the seat. The seat foam and upholstery will be held in place by industrial strength velcro, and the pan will be afixed with clevis pins. I fabbed up a quick license plate and LED brake lamp mount out of leftover materials I had from a previous project and brazed it to the frame.



I took an angle grinder to some of the unnecessary metal still attached to the frame- stock air box and footpeg mounts, and most of the center stand mounts. I also cut down the front fender to give it an updated look.


Tomorrow I'll be dropping off the frame to the powdercoater. Hopefully the other parts can go out for paint later this week. My next steps are to complete the build on the original frame, so I can get the bike registered and back in the DMV system. I'm still a ways off before the bike is rideable, but I'm inching my way towards the end of the build 

[abbott10r]

Pretty cool project SV! looking forward to the upcoming progress