1984 Yamaha Gray Ghost RZ350 And So It Begins

[Kawtriplefreak]

https://youtu.be/hR8oOjUb9ho

And so it begins. This is the RZ that my friend Karl Jones gave me that covered the guy from Cycle Drag in a large cloud of smoke when Mark and I cranked it in for its' 1st start in five or more years at the Deals Gap meet this year. I recently started the awakening and this is the 1st time I got it to run right and idle. The carbs were amazingly clean and the floats were a couple MM rich but for the life of me I couldn't get it to idle or fall back to idle unless the enrichner was on. This morning on what seemed like the 43rd time I pulled the carbs off I found

The hose that connects the enrichener circuit between the carburetors had a split in it. Every thing on the bike works except the tach and one instrument bulb. A previous owner apparently tried to drive the tach drive into the worm gear and bent the shaft. I will be running an electronic multifunctional after market cluster anyway so I will just cap off the tach drive hole. Frank B came over the other day and we shimmed the oil pump as it had 0 Gap up on the cam so we took a shim out of a parts pump and it is oiling a bit too much now whereas before there was no movement on the pump at idle and no smoke. Better a bit too much than not enough until I  get time to try a thinner shim and/or order some from Economy Cycle. It lives and supposedly has a fresh top end installed. It needs the usual stuff from setting. Brake calipers cleaned, new pads, fork seals and some Progressive Springs. The tank is full of scale and varnish so it has to get a dose of Cawell. All fluids changed and a set of new Avons. I also cannibalized the clutch cable off of it at the Gap when mine broke on the white RZ. Thanks to M in SC for the guidance and Frank B for the help. Much, much more to follow...

[msr]

Man, that first startup was fun to watch. Dude never knew what hit him. 

Good luck getting it running how you want it.

[Kawtriplefreak]

Thanks !!!
I am working on it here and there as I have a lot going on. I sent the paperwork off to the VT DMV last Friday so hopefully in 4-6 weeks I will have VT registration and tag. I am compling my parts list for an order from Economy Cycle as well. I also had a coolant leak I couldn't find and I figured out it was a hose on top of the head seeping. I got rid of the constant pressure  clamp and installed a conventional worm gear hose clamp snd that fixed it.

[m in sc]

sweet. good work there, that thing should be a hoot 

[85RZwade]

Happy to see you bringing this RZ back, Tim!

[Mgmark]

That's great Tim! Nice to see another one back on the road.

Mark

[Striker1423]

Been waiting for this since the video! Sweet!

[Kawtriplefreak]

Roll around build table dragged out of the corner and cleaned up. New parts organized and inventoried. Waiting on tires and a trailtech mount for my after market temperature gauge. 111 days until Deals Gap. I gotta get rolling.

[m in sc]

LOOKS GOOD TIM. AT LEAST OYU DONT HAVE TO DO A TOPEND OR FRAME REPAIR.. PLENTY OF TIME.  DONT MAKE ME DRIVE UP THERE!   

[msr]

LOOKS GOOD TIM. AT LEAST OYU DONT HAVE TO DO A TOPEND OR FRAME REPAIR.. PLENTY OF TIME.  DONT MAKE ME DRIVE UP THERE!   

ROAD TRIP!

[m in sc]

 

[Kawtriplefreak]

I won't Mark!

[Kawtriplefreak]

1st progress in a while been busy on the farm trying to get rid of another dumpster load of scrap to augment my play money for the Gap.
Yesterday's project was the removal of the clutch cover and subsequent  R&R of the clutch.

Pretty much what I expected after I found the bent and stuck tach driveshaft. One half of the tach drive gear was lodged up near the shaft and the other half was lodged behind the shift shaft. A tooth and the drive pin were laying in the bottom of the clutch cover. I removed the retainer clip and washer from the shaft as well. I did a thorough inspection with particular attention to.the right hand crank seal and no damage was noted.

[Kawtriplefreak]

My new Yambits clutch cable is a perfect fit.

[Kawtriplefreak]

 
Clutch adjusted and free play set.