rd400g project story

[joseimport]

So its been a while  and other projects have taken my entire time and budget.

after the pandemic started i found a good non working but complete 1975 cb750k2. which is still ongoing.
also this january i got a honda tr200 fatcat.

those two bikes are still going projects but they are as of last week in working order.

i  just didn't have the space at home for working on three projects, i wanted to get those two out of the way since this rd is my first baby.

i have everything i need to rebuild it.

so first things first is getting  rolling chassis.

the frame had been covered in vynil for the last 3 years,  had forgotten how good it looks.



IMG_2941 by manuel caicedo, on Flickr
▲I rebuilt the wheels, had the shop paint them, brand new bearings and internals, new sprocket, new shocks from progressive, fitted the center stand.

[joseimport]

finally  got a rolling chassis.

my rear axle's threads where really messed up, found a perfect one on eBay, had to wait for it to get here.


rd400 20210625 02 by manuel caicedo, on Flickr

rd400 20210625 04 by manuel caicedo, on Flickr
▲Fitted the clocks, they are in excellent condition for their age.

rd400 20210625 01 by manuel caicedo, on Flickr
▲Had the calipers painted, i have another pair which have been powder coated, but these looked better. i rebuilt them using new seals and a new caliper piston.
The brake lines are old, but seem fine...  might get stainless steel ones from Hel or Venhill. I will finish the bike first since I'm not convinced with the handlebar, it's too short and  curved down, I don't think it's original. once i have the correct handlebar and the correct lengths for the brake lines i will have some custom made
What is the best replacement handlebar for this bike?

rd400 20210625 03 by manuel caicedo, on Flickr
▲rebuilt the front forks, new springs from progressive.

rd400 20210625 05 by manuel caicedo, on Flickr
▲Started the engine, since i have three engines I chose the best gears out of the three and rebuilt the whole tranny with new internal and external bearings.

[SoCal250]

Looking good! 
For handlebars there a lot of choices. Superbike is a popular bend. http://www.2strokeworld.net/forum/index.php?topic=2333.0

[joseimport]

Getting some work done on this machine.

I assembled the engine basing my built on the link from the uk´s aircooled forum.

https://www.aircooledrdclub.com/smf/index.php?topic=51430.0

he explains it very good, there are some minor things here and there that should have been explained better. but nothing a little bit of research won't do.

I honed the cylinders with a flexhone, really easy job using a milwaukee m12 drill. the cylinders went in fine, no special ring compressor needed.





IMG_4893 by manuel caicedo, on Flickr

IMG_4896 by manuel caicedo, on Flickr
▲All the electrics in place, the manuals do not explain the routing very well, but some common sense and everything fits nice.

IMG_4901 by manuel caicedo, on Flickr
▲Getting her ready for the carbs

[hayduke]

You've done a great job resurrecting this machine, it looks fantastic from here!

[85RZwade]

  terrific attention to details 

[joseimport]

One of the things that i was not sure what to do about was the original exhausts.

i managed to get a hold of a set of used 2r9 pipes and headers from Canada.

they looked good but had been painted black , I had been looking for a shop that would rechromme them but finding a three stage chroming process here in Colombia (zinc, nickel, chrome)  that is needed for exhausts has been impossible.


exosto 1 by manuel caicedo, on Flickr
▲you can see the chromme on half the pipe i did yesterday.

they had been painted black, I got them around four year ago, so I had wrapped and stored them for that long, yesterday i took them out to remove the paint.

to my surprise the black paint appeared to have been applied on top of the chrome as a rust prevention method....

i used paint remover on the pipes and it came right off, did not even had to wait 10 seconds for the remover to act.

the original chrome below is not perfect, it has some dings here and there, but overall i think they look really good, and with some 0000 steel wool, and some sanding and polish i think i can recover the pipes and have them look really good.

This is a breath of fresh air, i had been thinking on getting expansion chamber in case i could no t find how to recover the chromme on the pipes.

I can fit them and ride the bike as it was intended with this pipes. in the future i might get chambers who knows. i do have to get an exhaust system for my cb750k this gives my wallet a little rest.




exosto 2 by manuel caicedo, on Flickr
▲as always chrome does look better on pictures, the resolution hides a lot of imperfections, but still they look great