500 Two-Stroke Tech

Pulled my ignition off and expected to find the key number stamped into the alloy lower body, but nothing... Are the 500's numbers somewhere else, or do I have an aftermarket ignition here?

The top of the ignition does have moulded in 'YM-4' showing where there is a cut out in the very faded decal, but both keys work all the locks... and no, they are not Yam keys, it was said the PO's Ex wife kept them or threw them out.

Should be on the key or on the bottom of the lock Jon, Are you trying to replace the keys with genuine Yam keys.

Yep, that's what i was hoping to do, the ones with the bike are from Mr Minute.

Maybe it is an aftermarket ign... unexpected tho and I'd have thought he'd have said.

Are you trying to figure out which Yamaha key blank to use Jon?

There is more than one Yamaha blank, but this one has worked for me. I have used this one for all of my RZ350s and RZ500s as well as my TZR250 and TDR250. Did the TDR key last month.

Which key do you have, There are 6 types of keys..

Here are the codes

Johns above is an "A" key

Yep aware of the A-F types, I wanted to find a number in case i could find the right one.

The key number was on a ally tag which came with the bike keys when they were new

Here is one of my nos lock sets

Ahh mystery solved. Thanks. Looks like mine is long gone.

I have a couple new RZ500 ignitions and caps etc and all mine, even the ones on the bikes have numbers on the bottom, I never had a tag Steve, Is it an RD thing.

The reason Jon I was asking what key code you have is.....
I have a thing about keys and bikes... All my bikes HAVE to have OEM keys, The keys that came with the bike.

What I did with a couple of mine was trawl eBay till I find either a cap, ignition, seatlock etc with 2 OEM keys that have the same code as my locks.
Then I redo the pins in the tumblers on all the locks to work with the Keys.

A lot of Yams use the square black keys, FJ/SRX/FZ/FZR/RD/

Something like this, An "A" key set... https://www.ebay.com/itm/YAMAHA-FJ1100- ... rk:14:pf:0


Then I rekey the set I bought with the old keys and sell them on....

The plot thickens...

The number on the bottom is what I expected to find, its how the 2/350s and other Yam ignitions are.

Yes I am the same with keys, Ive spent many a happy hour rekeying my locks like you have Tacky. My obsession was noted on the 350 side of this forum on my LC resto build, some suggested I 'went the extra mile', others that I was insane. LOL

The ebay trawl thing is a great way to sort your keys, I do that too

Lol. So I’m not the only one with the “key” thing

nah, its ok, its normal... well, there are at least 2 of us!

tacky1 wrote: ↑Wed Jan 30, 2019 8:51 pm The reason Jon I was asking what key code you have is.....
I have a thing about keys and bikes... All my bikes HAVE to have OEM keys, The keys that came with the bike.

What I did with a couple of mine was trawl eBay till I find either a cap, ignition, seatlock etc with 2 OEM keys that have the same code as my locks.
Then I redo the pins in the tumblers on all the locks to work with the Keys.

A lot of Yams use the square black keys, FJ/SRX/FZ/FZR/RD/

Something like this, An "A" key set... https://www.ebay.com/itm/YAMAHA-FJ1100- ... rk:14:pf:0


Then I rekey the set I bought with the old keys and sell them on....

Sorry to clam onto your thread Jon, awhile back I had the same issue and kinda gave up on it. In my youth I lost my only original key and had to have a locksmith make me a replacement. The replacement looks like my house key, I'm not a fan of it to say the least. After reading your post I feel inspired again to get this sorted out, lol. The back of my ignition however looks a bit different than the pic Paul posted? Mine simply has three digits on it, 410. I'm always amazed at how much variation there is in a niche bike that was only produced over a 2 or 3 year period?

That's really interesting. Mine is totally blank.

Are you sure the 1 isnt an L? That would be 4L0, ie RD350LC....? Not that any of my LC ignitions have ever said that on them, they always have a key number...