Author Topic: RD350 Dirt Tracker  (Read 84858 times)

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Offline shelpi

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Re: RD350 Dirt Tracker
« Reply #180 on: April 13, 2014, 08:57:58 am »
Great job ;)

Offline yamaico

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Re: RD350 Dirt Tracker
« Reply #181 on: April 13, 2014, 12:50:07 pm »
Finally got it together, but waiting on the air filters to arrive before I can fire it up. Still need to make the chain guide, stand bracket and stand and double pole kill switch for the PVL ignition, but all the hard work is finished. :-\
The motor is pretty much stock aside from the pipes, squish clearance, compression, carbie jetting and ignition. I made spacers for the reed blocks to move them back to unshroud the boost port, but the rest of the porting is factory. I'll see how it goes and then decide which way to head.
RD400's have closer ratio 4th, 5th and 6th gears so I'll look around for a used gearset.





I think it will be an interesting bike to ride........

Offline ty4

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Re: RD350 Dirt Tracker
« Reply #182 on: April 13, 2014, 02:08:05 pm »
beautiful

Offline Stan S

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Re: RD350 Dirt Tracker
« Reply #183 on: April 13, 2014, 02:08:38 pm »
Pete, it's a credit to you and your skills how this RD tracker has turned out. Just goes to prove what you can produce for very little money if your prepared to have a go yourself. Hope to catch up at Broadford and have a look at it in the flesh.

Regards Greg.

Offline yamaico

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Re: RD350 Dirt Tracker
« Reply #184 on: April 13, 2014, 03:14:07 pm »
Thanks Greg. Unfortunately Broadford's not looking too good as I was going down with Firko and Jonesy.  :(

Offline SON

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Re: RD350 Dirt Tracker
« Reply #185 on: April 13, 2014, 03:52:10 pm »
If Broadfords out what about some track time at Barleigh Ranch?

Offline Iain Cameron

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Re: RD350 Dirt Tracker
« Reply #186 on: April 13, 2014, 04:09:57 pm »
What can one say Pete , That is art . well done she looks amazing . Iain  ;D ;D ;D
Yamaha tragic ; dt1, rt1, dt2, rt2, dt2mx , rt2mx , mx250, mx360,sc500, 74dt125, yzx125, yzc250, yzc400, yzd250, yzd400, yzh250, yzh80 , dt100 , xr75 ko xr80 03 , it175 82 . Not a member of any club

Offline yamaico

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Re: RD350 Dirt Tracker
« Reply #187 on: April 17, 2014, 01:53:15 pm »
I got the kill switch made up which was a pain because it has to be double pole so that the two coils aren't shorted together under normal running conditions. I ended up getting a pit bike switch, pulling the guts out of it and fitting up a miniature double pole momentary pushbutton from Jaycar, which works fine.



Also got the sidestand finished. Made up a little aluminium bracket that bolts onto the old left rear footrest bracket, which I left on for that purpose. (The right hand bracket was used for the footrest and brake pedal bracket.)



My photography is very poor, but this shot shows almost the right shade of blue that the bike actually is. It's a match for my Yamaico, on Firko's suggestion, and looks pretty good in the flesh.



I got the little short uni filters yesterday, so I fired it up. No kickstarter any more so I bumped it down the street and it fired as soon as the wheel turned over (maybe that PVL was a worthwhile purchase). A good warm-up and then a few twists of the throttle responded in a wail that sounded like a GP bike. Time for a run down the street. Holeee shit, what a weapon. Went through the first four gears, not even giving it a hard rev and it's pawing the air and trying to throw me off the back. To quote words made famous by King Kenny Roberts after riding the Kel Carruthers prepared TZ750 at the Indy Mile, "they don't pay me enough to ride this thing" ;D ;D

I'll take it up to Gloucester for the grass track, but I'm thinking I'll probably end up riding the CD YTX400 :-\

A bit of fine tuning on the mixture and she's good to go. Thanks to everyone for all the positive comments. This bike has been a lot of fun to build, but taken a bit longer than expected. The final cost was just under $1500, with most of the blowout being a result of nearly $500 worth of PVL ignition :-\


Offline bazza

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Re: RD350 Dirt Tracker
« Reply #188 on: April 17, 2014, 02:07:58 pm »
 nice work Pete.
Once you go black  you will never go back - allblacks
Maico - B44 -1976 CR250- 66 Mustang YZF450,RM250
Embrace patina

Offline shelpi

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Re: RD350 Dirt Tracker
« Reply #189 on: April 17, 2014, 02:39:19 pm »
Well done, hey where did ya get the Magura levers from?

Offline micks

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Re: RD350 Dirt Tracker
« Reply #190 on: April 17, 2014, 03:05:29 pm »
two pole kill switch. had the same problem with an xs 650 so i put a single diode on one off the coils wire, it worked and ran a normal kill switch. don`t know if this would help you. anyhow i enjoy reading the progress of the bike. credit to you   

Offline yamaico

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Re: RD350 Dirt Tracker
« Reply #191 on: April 17, 2014, 03:54:09 pm »
nice work Pete.

Thanks Mike.

Well done, hey where did ya get the Magura levers from?

Thanks Shelpi, the Magura levers come from "Weekend Warriors" on ebay. The guy is Mark Thompson, who is a vintage enthusiast. The levers are around $70 delivered - good value in my book. If you get some that you want to use on a Jap bike make sure you request the large ID adjusters.

two pole kill switch. had the same problem with an xs 650 so i put a single diode on one off the coils wire, it worked and ran a normal kill switch. don`t know if this would help you. anyhow i enjoy reading the progress of the bike. credit to you   

Thanks for the suggestion Micks. The issue for me is that the RD ignition is AC whereas your 650 would be DC, so a single diode wouldn't work for me.

Offline Slider29

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Re: RD350 Dirt Tracker
« Reply #192 on: April 17, 2014, 04:11:44 pm »
THAT!!........ is bloody fantastic. You should be proud. I love it!
regards  Mark

Offline firko

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Re: RD350 Dirt Tracker
« Reply #193 on: April 17, 2014, 04:23:05 pm »
Flucking genius my friend. We finally found a bike that the Knight tank suited. I had it on two bikes and I think Jonesy tried it on three. It's absolutely spot on on the RD. I hope I can get to Gloucester and maybe bring the little 360 short tracker and possibly the Cheney. Of course it's all down to what happens with mum.
'68 Yamaha DT1 enduro, '69 Yamaha 'DT1 from Hell' '69 DT1'Dunger from Hell, '69 Cheney Yamaha 360, 70 Maico 350 (2 off), '68 Hindall Ducati 250, Hindall RT2MX, Hindall YZ250a , Cycle Factory RT2MX flat tracker, Yamaha 1T250J, Maico 250 trials, '71, Boyd and Stellings TM400, Shell OW72,750 Yamaha

HeavenVMX

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Re: RD350 Dirt Tracker
« Reply #194 on: April 17, 2014, 05:02:44 pm »
Gloucester entry forms here guys don't forget the free entry for Pre65 and/or Pre70 only entries.

http://www.heavenvmx.com.au/2014-vmx-rnd-3-gloucester/

The RD looks fantastic by the way. Wonderful vision and execution can not wait to see it in the flesh. It just looks as if it rolled out of a factory race shop 8) 8)