First Model TT350??

[LWC82PE]

For TT350 all models my book (Fast Facts for Yamaha 1995 edition) says 533ml of 10w fork oil. Same specs for the TT250's  up to '93 with 41mm forks too.

[Colin Jay]

Thanks for that. I also found a TT350 owners manual online that said 533cc 10W.

[Colin Jay]

Well, the comedy of errors that started with me buying a TT250 and not the TT350 that I thought I was buying continues.

Things have progressed well over the past month or so. I have had the frame, hubs etc powder coated and all the spokes, nuts, bolts etc re zinc plated and started putting the chassis back together. I have also been able to build up an engine putting the TT250 cylinder head onto a XT250 bottom end since the crank in the TT was totally stuffed. This weekends jobs were to finish overhauling the front forks, rebuild the wheels and get the chassis up on the wheels and fit the engine.

All went well with the front forks, and lacing and truing the front wheel was fairly straight forward as I was using the original rim and re plated spokes. The rear wheel gave me a few moments, and was just being a pain in the arse trying to lace up. Even though I have rebuild numerous wheels over the years, this was the first with Yamaha's infamous Z spokes. Things just didn't want to go together, I had a nice new Excel rim and was using the original spoke set, freshly re-plated. After a lot of struggling, I decided that something wasn't right. I then counted the number of spokes in the hub. This was the light bulb moment. Yes I was trying to lace my shiny new 36 spoke rim to a 32 spoke hub. Bugger! Bloody Yamaha, and there stupid designs.

Not to worry, god looks down on the idiots of this world with some compassion. On Thursday a mate in Darwin bought a 1991 TT350A for me off of Gumtree for $300 (we are trying to sort out how to get it from Darwin down to me in SA with out spending more than the cost of the bike itself). Anyhow, there was a spare rear wheel with the bike. John is going to remove the tire, check the condition of the rim and if it is OK ship said spare wheel down to me so I can use the rim on the 250.

So a couple of pictures, here is the stating point;



and here is the bike as it is now.

[LWC82PE]

Wow thats looking nice so far. I know you can get 32 spoke Excel rims because i did some YZ/TT600 wheels that were 32 spoke. From memory the front Z spoke (85 YZ250) laced up to the rim ok but we had to mod the spoke holes in the rear rim to get the angles right. This was for a sidecar too. I don't know who has trouble with Z spokes/Z spokes hubs breaking but we have never had a problem with either Z spokes breaking or hubs breaking. In the 24hr the odd drive side rear spoke (not a Z spoke) would break which was accepted as the norm (spokes zip tied together so you just keep riding)  but that's about it. I thought if they were such a bad design that it surely would have shown up with sidecar use but never did. I think it must be only hard motocross or supercross type jumps that caused failures back in the day and or lack of maintenance? I do know with brand new bikes it takes a while for the spokes to bed in and you need to tighten them up a fair bit initially. I have found this to be the case with any new Australia Post bikes.

[shelpi]

Good work

[Tomthesparky]

Damn that's a great looking bike

[Colin Jay]

A bit more progress on the TT this weekend. I have had the rebuilt engine running, it was a bit smokey for a while, but after clearing out the oil from assembly and from an over oiled air filter element it settled down and is running nicely and smoke free.

I also finished making the new lighting set, and have also finished my 12V electrics conversion using the XT250T stator windings and rectifier / regulator and a modified std TT wiring harness.  I have started to make up a new battery box as I couldn't find a 12V battery small enough to fit into the std battery case. I also haven't fitted the HID gear for the top light, and will probably just run a halogen globe in it for the initial test rides and leave the HID installation until just prior to the start of the 2017 season.



As it was raining today I got a bit more free shed time and was able to cleanup and polish the very oxidised cooling cowls that fit onto the fuel tank. they are now a reasonable shiny red, and not the dull pink they used to be.

Also, an end is in site for my rear rim dramas. After contacting all of the wreckers that I normally use without any luck, I found a guy on Gumtree in QLD parting out a TT350 and have done a deal on buying a rear wheel. As my luck has it, my younger brother rang to tell me that he was buying up a heap of stuff from a wrecker that had closed up. Yes, he had a TT350 rear wheel in goodish condition, so I now have two complete rear wheels on the way. I suppose that there is no harm in having a pare wheel.

Hopefully the wheels will arrive during the week, and I can steel a bit of time from the house reno to build up the rear wheel and get the bike off of the bench.

[LWC82PE]

These LED H4's get good reports. Big thread on them at ADV rider forum
http://advrider.com/index.php?threads/new-long-range-led-aux-lights.839163/ probabl want to skip the first 50 or so pages and go to the lastest info though
http://www.cyclopsadventuresports.com/3800-Lumen-H4-LED-Headlight-bulb-_p_83.html

These are good small batteries too. I fit a lot of these to bikes these days
https://shop.antigravitybatteries.com/
look at the small case versions
 I have replaced battieres the size of car batteries with these Lithiums which are way lighter and still have enough CCA's for electric starting. No more acid leaks, mount in any position, light as a feather, long life, no maintenance required etc etc

[shelpi]

These LED H4's get good reports. Big thread on them at ADV rider forum
http://advrider.com/index.php?threads/new-long-range-led-aux-lights.839163/ probabl want to skip the first 50 or so pages and go to the lastest info though
http://www.cyclopsadventuresports.com/3800-Lumen-H4-LED-Headlight-bulb-_p_83.html

These are good small batteries too. I fit a lot of these to bikes these days
https://shop.antigravitybatteries.com/
look at the small case versions
 I have replaced battieres the size of car batteries with these Lithiums which are way lighter and still have enough CCA's for electric starting. No more acid leaks, mount in any position, light as a feather, long life, no maintenance required etc etc

thanks

[Colin Jay]

The first of my two "new" rear wheels arrived in the post on Friday. With a bit of effort (plus CRC and heat) I was able to get all the spokes undone and the rim off. On Saturday afternoon I managed to lace the rim to the powered coated hub, true the wheel, fit the new tire and sprocket and have the wheel in the bike in just under 1 hour.



I still have a few minor thinks to finish off, the battery box, a new alloy sump guard, applying the rest of the decals and fitting a new front brake disc. But the who can resist the temptation to ride a newly rebuilt bike? So I took the bike off of the bench this morning, fired it up and took it for a quick blast around my block. Oh the joy of living in the country on a few acres, where else can you do a race start at your front gate and be almost fully tapped out in 6th gear before the end of your driveway! Overall I am quite happy with the bike so far, it it has a bit more poke than the old XT250, and handled nicely when I went for a slalom run through the trees in my wood lot. I will have to do something with the rear suspension, its a bit soft for a rider my size, but that can wait until next year.

[80-85 husky]

great outcome, cant beat living next to a good riding spot for that all important test ride followed by a couple of very cold test beverages

[FourstrokeForever]

Another rescued bike....Good stuff!