Had my RD350lc rebuilt in 1987 at a cost of around £350 so what it cost you seems pretty reasonable to be fair . God speed your foot recovery so you can enjoy all your hard work 👍👍
Nice job!!! Out tonight, but I will watch the video tomorrow morning over coffee. My winter maintenance on my RD350 LC2 is nearly done too. Down to installing the battery, cleaning the chain, and a final clean and wax. Spring weather is almost here. 😊
I just pulled my 350 out of winter storage and stuck about 60 miles on it last weekend. Culture shock after riding mainly four strokes over the last year but once I was into it absolutely fantastic. Now need to get it back on the dyno to check the AFR before it gets used in anger. It blew up big style last year after three years of faultless running including track use, strangely three miles after filling up so I’m very suspicious of modern fuel. I’m not the first person to report this either.
Pleased to hear your getting ready for the riding season, shame about the engine though. I try to avoid E10/5 if at all possible but it’s getting harder to do. I have seen specialist non ethanol petrol you buy by the oil drum, but it’s expensive and I’d guess not home insurance friendly
Fantasic job . Thanks for showing us how you work . Lots of tips that help many of us . Great stream . Get out and ejoy just as soon as your fit mate . 👍👍👍
When owning bikes like the RD, it is well worth joining a forum or similar (the Aircooled RD club in this instance), as the wealth of information you can glean from others is invaluable in my experience. Personally, I would have sent the oil pump to the club guru (Arrow) who does a full overhaul and set up for very reasonable pricing. That way you would know that your pump is good for the next 30 years +. You have learned much on this journey and hope that your RD now gives you many years of trouble free enjoyment. Personally, I wouldn’t mind seeing the Fizzie in the next video, as many of us have a soft spot for them
I've let my Aircooled membership lapse which is rather foolish, I'll rejoin. I've done much more than I thought possible, made a few mistakes but I'm pleased it's ready for the summer. That's two votes for the fizzy!
I rebuilt my D about two years ago. With the crank rebuild, rebore and all the parts (gaskets, seals etc) it came in about £500. If you take off the vape parts and allow that everything has gone up since then youre probably in the ball park. The older RDs up to the C i believe had the primer wheel on the pump. Later ones not. It just did away with the oil seal on the primer wheel shaft which was always the first thing to leak. The nut on the pump plate does need to be tight. Also the factory manual gives 0.20 -0.25mm as a minimum on the pump stroke so you are ok there. They do not give a maximum so as you have said a little more is better than a little less. I saw a comment about running the engine in. From the factory it was 300 miles at max 4,000 rpm and then 300 miles at 5,000 rpm. 2T oils have come on a bit since then so there is a small amount of leeway but i tend to still go with what Yamaha specified.
@@RepairandRideout The other thing is the oil feed line to the pump hooks round the alloy post with the oil lines to the carbs. Might just be the camera angle but yours looks like it's in danger of being cut in half with the pump cable. Look forward to next installment.
A note on the oil pump. Check the shims don't hit the pump case on full throttle or it will restrict the oil flow at high rpm. Had this issues with my 400.
2nd comment - on the suzuki you have a knotch in one of the carb sliders and a port hole. been too long since I had a yamaha.(!) .when I bled my oil pump I set the revs to 2K and pulled the cable so the pump was on full . There was an adjuster on the cable to the pump and set via that knotch I mentioned. the stroke of the pump obviously affected oil delivery but so does the throttle slider hight ( via cable adjuster on yours ? ) a quick google search showed that shimming on these now old motors is needed as part of maintenance . yambits has a slection apparently , so good luck and fingers crossed !
If you are referring to the oil pump adjustment on a Ts 250 The method you describe only applies to the 1976 models and up, the J K L and M models are adjusted differently but really easy to adjust.
I've only owned the GT range , 250 , 200 and 185cc, so never had a TS model , so they are different , I learn something new , kool , thanks . @@malcolmbrady1958
Hi. I am old enough to remember the days when you could ride a 250cc on an L plate at 17. The RD250 seemed to be the 'go to' choice of lads back then. Honda Super Dream and Suzuki X7 would be thrown into the mix too. The LC250 was a desirable but expensive choice. I think we all lost some good friends to accidents back then. I hope you recover soon.
Thanks Nick. The law changed when I was 17, I had a TS185 which became worthless overnight! Still some 125 stickers seemed to be good enough for plod back then. It did encourage me to take my bike test
@@RepairandRideout I am not sure if the new 125cc only at 17 was a good idea or not. It was a big step from an FS1E to a RD250 though, plus when you are that age you think you are invincible. I came across your site by accident and it has me feeling all melancholy for 1970s bikes again.
Nice one mate.I like the feeling your way educating yourself and helping some of us.Watching total bang on "experts"is good but in a certain way not as informative. Keep up the great Vids.
Well Done Great job !! and you did the work correctly you must be pleased with the result, I agree with you that it is better to have slightly more oil going to the top end than not enough ! better for piece of mind, And dont forget to run the engine in I think it is generally no more than 4,000 revs for 1,000 miles, I own a Suzuki TS 250 M 1975 Great Bikes and pretty much Bullet proof motors, always attracts viewers when parked up, had many a chat with people regarding the bikes people owned during the 70s. Enjoyed the videos youve done on the RD Keep em coming I say. Take Care !!!
@@RepairandRideout Running an engine in for 1000 miles is WAY too long, also if you 'baby' the engine the rings will never bed in properly, the honing marks get smoothed out before the rings have been 'worn' enough to match the bores. You need to load up the engine with short bursts of acceleration, this creates gas pressure behind the rings and pushes them into the bores. (The radial tension on the rings is not enough to do this on its own). Short bursts means that not enough heat builds up which then causes a problem (bore glazing, piston seizure, that sort of thing!) You need to increase the length of time for each burst of acceleration but allow a little time between them so that the engine can cool off. Once you are at the point where you are loading up the engine for 10 seconds or more its basically run in (Race engines such as TZ350's are run in in about 3 or 4 laps of a track). You should be able to get the whole thing done in 150 miles at most. I have run many bike and car engines in this way, including race engines. In fact some V8's that I have built have been a problem because they were fitted to light weight cars, it's then really hard to put enough load on the engine without ending up at 3 figure speeds within a few second of acceleration. Car and bike manufacturers want you to spend months running in an engine, they are hoping that it takes so long that the vehicle is no longer in warranty by the time you get to open the throttle in anger! By the way, the above info is not my thoughts on this subject, I have just repeated what I have read in many books on the subject of engines, A.G. Bells book on 2 strokes is one of them that springs to mind. Here's a bit of 'fun' with some maths! Lets assume that you run the engine in for 150 miles at an average of 40 miles per hour, the revs on average are 5000 RPM. So it would take you 3.75 hours to cover the 150 miles, that's 225 minutes. If the engine runs at an average of 5k RPM it would have turned over 1,125,000 times. How many times do you think you need to rub two bits of metal together before they become a 'matched pair' ? Over one million times should be more than enough! 🙂
I would love to see the FS1E in one of your videos. I think the old tat is more likely to appeal to us old gits than the modern stuff (well at least for me anyway 🤣)
Hopefully you recover soon to take her for a ride , i would love to own one or a rd350 , i really like the style of theese bikes and love the engine(used to ride my brother banshees)
Did you rev your motor while strobing? I have a Lambretta, and quite often, on those, the aftermarket electronic kits (Vape being one maker) can have the pulse generator set in the wrong position on the stator. It can make the timing move when revving the motor.
@@RepairandRideout It's a good idea to rev it for a few seconds. One kit on my Lambretta was advancing by about five degrees. If that wasn't sorted, I'd have holed my piston.
Thank you, getting better everyday. I'll try the bike around the village on the oil pump and see how much smoke it's making. Otherwise I'll go to pre-mix for a while
Well done, when you rejoin the aircooled rd club download some proper rd manuals, personally i would not trust haines. As i am an old git 70 strokers are my thing.
The 350 is one of the classic bikes of all times. This one is it's little brother and a beautiful little bike it is. I love the red paintjob 👍
Thank you
Had my RD350lc rebuilt in 1987 at a cost of around £350 so what it cost you seems pretty reasonable to be fair . God speed your foot recovery so you can enjoy all your hard work 👍👍
Thank you. All in all I don't think the costs were too horrendous
glad to see another video and I hope you a speedy recovery ( summer beckons ! ) , thanks
Thank you, can’t wait to be riding again
Nice job!!!
Out tonight, but I will watch the video tomorrow morning over coffee.
My winter maintenance on my RD350 LC2 is nearly done too.
Down to installing the battery, cleaning the chain, and a final clean and wax. Spring weather is almost here. 😊
Hope you had a great night out. I’d love to get a 350LC
You have done a great job. Hope it runs well once you are able to get some miles covered.
Can't wait to get out and about on her
I just pulled my 350 out of winter storage and stuck about 60 miles on it last weekend. Culture shock after riding mainly four strokes over the last year but once I was into it absolutely fantastic. Now need to get it back on the dyno to check the AFR before it gets used in anger. It blew up big style last year after three years of faultless running including track use, strangely three miles after filling up so I’m very suspicious of modern fuel. I’m not the first person to report this either.
Pleased to hear your getting ready for the riding season, shame about the engine though. I try to avoid E10/5 if at all possible but it’s getting harder to do. I have seen specialist non ethanol petrol you buy by the oil drum, but it’s expensive and I’d guess not home insurance friendly
Fantasic job . Thanks for showing us how you work . Lots of tips that help many of us . Great stream . Get out and ejoy just as soon as your fit mate . 👍👍👍
Thank you. I think that I've been offered far better advice than I've proffered. Anyway I hope to get out and about soon
When owning bikes like the RD, it is well worth joining a forum or similar (the Aircooled RD club in this instance), as the wealth of information you can glean from others is invaluable in my experience. Personally, I would have sent the oil pump to the club guru (Arrow) who does a full overhaul and set up for very reasonable pricing. That way you would know that your pump is good for the next 30 years +. You have learned much on this journey and hope that your RD now gives you many years of trouble free enjoyment. Personally, I wouldn’t mind seeing the Fizzie in the next video, as many of us have a soft spot for them
I've let my Aircooled membership lapse which is rather foolish, I'll rejoin. I've done much more than I thought possible, made a few mistakes but I'm pleased it's ready for the summer. That's two votes for the fizzy!
I rebuilt my D about two years ago. With the crank rebuild, rebore and all the parts (gaskets, seals etc) it came in about £500. If you take off the vape parts and allow that everything has gone up since then youre probably in the ball park. The older RDs up to the C i believe had the primer wheel on the pump. Later ones not. It just did away with the oil seal on the primer wheel shaft which was always the first thing to leak. The nut on the pump plate does need to be tight. Also the factory manual gives 0.20 -0.25mm as a minimum on the pump stroke so you are ok there. They do not give a maximum so as you have said a little more is better than a little less. I saw a comment about running the engine in. From the factory it was 300 miles at max 4,000 rpm and then 300 miles at 5,000 rpm. 2T oils have come on a bit since then so there is a small amount of leeway but i tend to still go with what Yamaha specified.
Thanks for your comments, good information I'll heed. I'll do my best to keep below 4,000 😉
@@RepairandRideout The other thing is the oil feed line to the pump hooks round the alloy post with the oil lines to the carbs. Might just be the camera angle but yours looks like it's in danger of being cut in half with the pump cable. Look forward to next installment.
@@colinculverwell325 Thanks I'll check that right now!
@@colinculverwell325 You were right, I had incorrectly routed the feed pipe. Thanks for pointing it out
The RD250 was a little before my time. My original crush was the KMX200, and then TZR250. Be well, soon. Take care on your new toy. :)
Thank you. Both KMX and TZR are great
I would love to see you restore the little Yamaha . Thanks Get well soon .
Thank you. I'm looking in the classifieds for something interesting as well as another Copart repair. But I do have the fizzy on hand.....
A note on the oil pump. Check the shims don't hit the pump case on full throttle or it will restrict the oil flow at high rpm. Had this issues with my 400.
Thanks for the advice, I'll check
Hope the foot is better soon and we can see the first ride. The FS1E would be a nice follow up.
2nd comment - on the suzuki you have a knotch in one of the carb sliders and a port hole. been too long since I had a yamaha.(!)
.when I bled my oil pump I set the revs to 2K and pulled the cable so the pump was on full . There was an adjuster on the cable to the pump and set via that knotch I mentioned.
the stroke of the pump obviously affected oil delivery but so does the throttle slider hight ( via cable adjuster on yours ? )
a quick google search showed that shimming on these now old motors is needed as part of maintenance . yambits has a slection apparently , so good luck and fingers crossed !
If you are referring to the oil pump adjustment on a Ts 250 The method you describe only applies to the 1976 models and up, the J K L and M models are adjusted differently but really easy to adjust.
I've only owned the GT range , 250 , 200 and 185cc, so never had a TS model , so they are different , I learn something new , kool , thanks . @@malcolmbrady1958
Hi. I am old enough to remember the days when you could ride a 250cc on an L plate at 17. The RD250 seemed to be the 'go to' choice of lads back then. Honda Super Dream and Suzuki X7 would be thrown into the mix too. The LC250 was a desirable but expensive choice. I think we all lost some good friends to accidents back then. I hope you recover soon.
Thanks Nick. The law changed when I was 17, I had a TS185 which became worthless overnight! Still some 125 stickers seemed to be good enough for plod back then. It did encourage me to take my bike test
@@RepairandRideout I am not sure if the new 125cc only at 17 was a good idea or not. It was a big step from an FS1E to a RD250 though, plus when you are that age you think you are invincible. I came across your site by accident and it has me feeling all melancholy for 1970s bikes again.
Nice one mate.I like the feeling your way educating yourself and helping some of us.Watching total bang on "experts"is good but in a certain way not as informative.
Keep up the great Vids.
Thanks for taking the time to comment, much apprenticed
Well Done Great job !! and you did the work correctly you must be pleased with the result, I agree with you that it is better to have slightly more oil going to the top end than not enough ! better for piece of mind, And dont forget to run the engine in I think it is generally no more than 4,000 revs for 1,000 miles, I own a Suzuki TS 250 M 1975 Great Bikes and pretty much Bullet proof motors, always attracts viewers when parked up, had many a chat with people regarding the bikes people owned during the 70s. Enjoyed the videos youve done on the RD Keep em coming I say. Take Care !!!
Thanks Malcolm, your comments are really appreciated
@@RepairandRideout Running an engine in for 1000 miles is WAY too long, also if you 'baby' the engine the rings will never bed in properly, the honing marks get smoothed out before the rings have been 'worn' enough to match the bores. You need to load up the engine with short bursts of acceleration, this creates gas pressure behind the rings and pushes them into the bores. (The radial tension on the rings is not enough to do this on its own). Short bursts means that not enough heat builds up which then causes a problem (bore glazing, piston seizure, that sort of thing!) You need to increase the length of time for each burst of acceleration but allow a little time between them so that the engine can cool off. Once you are at the point where you are loading up the engine for 10 seconds or more its basically run in (Race engines such as TZ350's are run in in about 3 or 4 laps of a track). You should be able to get the whole thing done in 150 miles at most. I have run many bike and car engines in this way, including race engines. In fact some V8's that I have built have been a problem because they were fitted to light weight cars, it's then really hard to put enough load on the engine without ending up at 3 figure speeds within a few second of acceleration. Car and bike manufacturers want you to spend months running in an engine, they are hoping that it takes so long that the vehicle is no longer in warranty by the time you get to open the throttle in anger!
By the way, the above info is not my thoughts on this subject, I have just repeated what I have read in many books on the subject of engines, A.G. Bells book on 2 strokes is one of them that springs to mind.
Here's a bit of 'fun' with some maths! Lets assume that you run the engine in for 150 miles at an average of 40 miles per hour, the revs on average are 5000 RPM. So it would take you 3.75 hours to cover the 150 miles, that's 225 minutes. If the engine runs at an average of 5k RPM it would have turned over 1,125,000 times. How many times do you think you need to rub two bits of metal together before they become a 'matched pair' ? Over one million times should be more than enough! 🙂
i had a 250 dx back in 84 wheel color was gold
Sweet
I would love to see the FS1E in one of your videos.
I think the old tat is more likely to appeal to us old gits than the modern stuff (well at least for me anyway 🤣)
Thanks for your vote, the FSIE seems to be popular
Hopefully you recover soon to take her for a ride , i would love to own one or a rd350 , i really like the style of theese bikes and love the engine(used to ride my brother banshees)
Thank you. I'm really looking forward to the first ride
Did you rev your motor while strobing?
I have a Lambretta, and quite often, on those, the aftermarket electronic kits (Vape being one maker) can have the pulse generator set in the wrong position on the stator. It can make the timing move when revving the motor.
I did blip the throttle but didn't really rev it
@@RepairandRideout It's a good idea to rev it for a few seconds. One kit on my Lambretta was advancing by about five degrees. If that wasn't sorted, I'd have holed my piston.
@@johnthorp3649 Thanks, I'll do that
well done lad gettin there hope you recover soon you could use premix if your unsure of oilpump you no uve got oil there always next video please
Thank you, getting better everyday. I'll try the bike around the village on the oil pump and see how much smoke it's making. Otherwise I'll go to pre-mix for a while
I got told to take plugs out to hand crank pump into fully out position go check gap
Bon récupération
Merci mon amis
Well done, when you rejoin the aircooled rd club download some proper rd manuals, personally i would not trust haines. As i am an old git 70 strokers are my thing.
I did email you a link to the official Yamaha service manual just after suggesting here in comments you should get a set of original exhausts...
Hi Jabba, sorry I missed your email. I do have the original exhausts but I'm smitten by the sound of the expansion pipes.