Restoration of 47X

[rammstein86]

Hi

My name is François, From France and i just bought a RD500LC 47X of 1985 with 83 000km.

Sorry for my worst english.

My father and me, we will to restore this bike like origin, with restoration of engine, frame, fork, brake, painting of the frame, fairing painting

We have some invoice, list of maintain between 1991 and 1999 (Bike bought by the old owner in 1991 at 47 000Km and stop in 1999 around 83 000). The bike have not run since 1999 at least, but the engine is not blocked, good compression.

In 1994, at 67 000km, the bike had a rebuild engine with 4 pistons, pistons ring, correction of the 2 cylinders head, bore of the 4 cylinders.

Bike is complete at 85-90%. She have a fork, front wheel, handle bar and caliper of 1000 fzr, and a rear wheel of 1000 FZR too. Old owner give us the front wheel with brake disc, turn signals, horn. The bike have Jolly Moto exhaust

I search, and find many of the missing parts : Fork of RDLC 500, calipers front and rear, rear wheel with disc, mud guard (copy), chain guard, grab rail (in the photo the grab rail is FZ 750, i make a mistake but i fund a rdlc grab rail), stone guard and his bracket, handle bar

For the fairing, unfortunately, we don't have the front fairing. For the rear fairing, i think they was cut because it seems small (my right rear fairing don't cover the rear brake tank).

I'm not very happy of this solution but i bought copy of fairing, in ABS. I don't like because it's not genuine parts but at least it's not fiber glass, it's ABS like origin and with a very nice paint, it will be OK

We have to restart the bike before disassemble. Before restart, i think to change cooling liquid, and change the old oil. I will clean the oil pump (do you have advice to do that) and all oil pipping.

[rammstein86]

Do you have others advice for the restart ? Keep the oil pump full throttle

[rammstein86]

[phildu31]

Salut.
Vu l'état, inutile de démarrer le moteur : de toute façon, c'est réfection complète.

[TwoStrokeNut]

It's great to hear this is going to be a father/son project... the journey (mainly, time spent together in the shop) may be more rewarding than the prize at the end. Finding parts can always be difficult with these old bikes, but it sounds like you are doing well with tracking down needed items.

I'm not sure if it will help much, but my RZ500 restoration thread in my Sig line might detail a few items of interest to you. Carbs come to mind and a good cleaning after all those years of rest is a must to get smooth running up through the rpm range. Page 2 of the thread has an index of sorts with links to each task.

Good luck and enjoy!

[MK]

You may find this helpful:
https://www.rd350lc.de/downloads/MK-Dok ... Seiten.pdf

[rammstein86]

Thanks a lot

The idea is not to start the engine and run with the bike but just see if the bike make strange noise.
we doesn't insist if the bike not run, and if she run, she will run just some minutes and with many precautions before starting.

Yes it's a father/son project. But not the first. We make 1 Suzuki GT 380, 1 Kawasaki zxr Stinger, 1 CB 750 K2, 1 GPZ R 900

[lost1750GTV]

Almost guaranteed the petcock will leak and need rebuilding, which isn't always apparent as it shows itself as leaking carbs.
Plenty of threads on both.

[rammstein86]

Ok. The first restart will be make with additional tank

[rz500guytexas]

Do premix. Pull the air filter boxes off and be sure there is not debris that can get sucked in the engine such as mouse nest. By the look of the bike carbs are probably plugged up. Remove the elephant ear and squirt some fuel in each carb to see if it fires off. Be sure you have a well charged battery. Good luck but by the look of the other you can do this. GT380 is an all time favorite. My first bike and the one that almost killed me.

[phildu31]

Never mind the battery.
You can even ride without one.

[rammstein86]

Thanks
One professional of RDLC in France advice me don't touch the oil pump because i can make damage. He say me the engine is in the oil so the long stop is not a problem. I will change the old oil
I think i will look the carburator and the carburator setting.
I will remove the spark plug and look the cylinder with a camera before start

[rammstein86]

I have 4 kester kit for the carburator.

For the restoration, i need the lengh and the high of the stickers Yamaha white on the front fairing down and the v4 stickers (and for the v4 the width of the black circle)

Thanks a lot

[rz500guytexas]

I would use a battery there are a lot of electronics that can possibly be damaged. Best in my opinion to run it as designed. Change the oil and use some cheese cloth to strain oil so you can look for bits of metal. Do not remember how hard the filter is to access but good idea to clean it up. The oil pump is pretty reliable i believe. You can break the line on the right side of the engine that feeds the transmission and kick it over to see how it pumps after changing the oil. At least you will know it is working. Bits of sealer, clutch debris, and the bits off shop towels will find a way into it. What ever you do if it is hard to start do not push it, pull it, or go down a hill to bump start. If it has a bunch of oil or something else in crank case you could bend a rod.

Pull the plugs and kick it over so you know everything moves. Then put plugs in and kick it over by hand . Then if all is good try starting. These bikes can fill the crankcase with two stroke oil or gas and if it fires over you can do a lot of damage. Do not let it sit with fuel becuse it will leak out and be a potential fire hazard. Inline shutoff for fuel, I never trust the OEM one. Inline oil check valve for the injection oil. They will stick and fill the engine up. I have seen people pour a huge amount out of the lower pipes because they will fill up.

You have your hands full but plenty of help on this forum. Good reliable bike if you set it up right, do not cut corners, do not try to modify the engine, the bike is a lead sled, and do not let it sit around collecting dust.

[rammstein86]

Thanks a lot for Many advice.

The engine don't block with kickstarter move with the hand. I think the engine is not full or oil.

Where Can i found inline oil check valve ?