Whymee's #1 & #2 Restore

[kpke]

I am surprised to hear the cheap radiator mounting pins have not been fixed. Was that a recent purchase? I had to do the same to 2 of them 5 years or so ago. RZ is looking good and the RM is really cool.

Unusual comment about "asking to quit". Is this a friend you are doing a favor for? When I leave my job I won't be asking my employer Uncle Sam for permission. Looking forward to it but not in a big hurry.

[Whymee]

I am surprised to hear the cheap radiator mounting pins have not been fixed. Was that a recent purchase? I had to do the same to 2 of them 5 years or so ago. RZ is looking good and the RM is really cool.

Unusual comment about "asking to quit". Is this a friend you are doing a favor for? When I leave my job I won't be asking my employer Uncle Sam for permission. Looking forward to it but not in a big hurry.

The rad was purchased October 8, 2019.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/All-Aluminum-R ... 2749.l2649

As for the job, yes the GM is a friend. I am doing him a favor. Out of this experience I have learned a few things.
Namely, the bad:
I do not particularly like working for any other company, other than mine.
Getting up at 5am to be at work at 7:45 sux
Driving 35 miles to work is not my idea of quality time in the seat
Just the idea of leaving my abode because I have to, is not pleasant
Wrenching on 4 wheelers & side by sides really blows dead bears.

The good:
Human interaction. I don't see many people in my day to day life. (by choice)
Learning new skills. Working on machines I have never touched.
It gets me out of the house in the winter.

I think I will retire, buy a better toyhauler, load up with various toys and hit the highway for a couple years. Man that sounds yummy. Anybody have a big driveway with a MX track close by?

[Whymee]

I have also learned that by wrenching on other peoples machines, I have less time to work on my own. Never the less I do have some updates.

As I said before, the motor is back from Ed Toomey & installed.




PWK 28's have been installed with the stock airbox.



Radiator installed, along with a fan.





Do not know if I mentioned this before but, this radiator is powder coated. Who in their right mind would do that? I suppose to cover nonexistent polishing, If I venture to guess.

I also fabricated a upper mount for the fairing.




I purchased an OEM clutch from a FZ600 (plates & springs) and am in the process of installing them. In preparation I have a Wiseco clutch basket. I did not want to use this clutch basket off of this machine because the clutch was in very good shape. No grooving to speak of. So I pulled a spare bottom end out of the stash, and took off the side case & found this:




I have never seen a Motoplat for an RZ (or Banshee) before. DO not know how rare this unit is. There has to be more to the system, or is there? Someone give me the low down on this gem, please!

[Whymee]

I took off the clutch side cover on my spare bottom end. To my dismay, the basket was in excellent shape. I went ahead & installed the new clutch without the Wiseco basket.

Also purchased Vito's clutch bearing upgrade kit. https://www.ebay.com/itm/290855237127





Went ahead and installed a high flow impeller. https://www.ebay.com/itm//283391840569



BTW, I used a clutch from a FZ600. Fibers & 3 springs. I ended up using the stock steel plates



I also purchased the steel plates for a FZ600. Do not use these plates. They are too thick.




Hopefully I am done with the motor upgrades!

'Till I have more. Stay warm!

[Whymee]

Had some spare time on my hands lately, so I decided to give one of my RZ's some love.

The Toomey motor (#1) machine has not been started as of yet. Decided it was time to at least get that far.

Finished up a bunch of small thinks like:
Vac and gas lines
added fluids
wired in a turn signal relay
reinstalled battery
trimmed injection lines

I am currently refinishing the tank I was going to use, so I pulled a spare out and fitted a new petcock to it and mounted it to the RZ. Put in a 40:1 mix of good fuel and S2 injection oil. Turned petcock on and the left carb (PWK28) starting puking its guts out. After disassembly, there was a small piece of cellophane stuck between the needle & seat. Buttoned it back up and she held.

Fired up on the third kick. Purged air from the injection lines & attached them to their respective carbs. As the temp was rising, I noticed a puddle of coolant on the floor. I had forgotten to tighten up a clamp. Took awhile to get the temp gauge to start moving. So much so, I thought that my gauge was broken. While waiting for my gauge to start working, the tach started to squeal. Disconnected the cable for now.

Finally after what seemed like an eternity, the gauge started moving. I let the needle come up to the horizontal white line, and I turned on the fan. After another eternity, the needle dropped a tiny bit. So far so good.

Turned the machine off & let her sit all night.

The next day (today) I gave it another heat cycle, turned the fan on, and after the needle moved, indicating additional cooling was taking place, I shut it down again.

Tomorrow is first ride, if it is warmer out.

[Whymee]

Ok, first small ride up & down the road in front of my house went as planned with #1. No major issues.

Except jetting the PWK28's.

of note: I did install 3 FZ600 springs. Clutch felt very nice. I will have to do this to #2.

Ride report. Bike was awfully rich, couldn't even begin getting on the main. Barely made it to a little pilot action. It did pull away from a stop nicely. So the AS is close, for now.

Mind you, I am using the airbox as stock. Divider & snorkel. Both Uni Filters with Twin Air Filter oil. Spec II pipes and a Ed Toomey "Stage 2" motor.
Fuel: 3/4 pump 91 no ethanol / 1/4 VP 110 (total octane 95.7) Low 60's, 1046ft. 60% RH

3.5 slide
142
JJH - 3
42
1 turn out airscrew

I dropped the pilot to a 38
Also I took out the snorkel from the airbox lid.
Ride report. Moving in right direction. Mid felt better, although still rich. Still too rich on top. Way rich. Never made it close to the main.

Went from a 142 main to a 138.
Ride report. Getting better. Mid felt a tad cleaner. Still not coming up on the pipe.

Pulled the divider out of the bottom of the airbox.
Ride report. Mid is even cleaner. Started to see a faint hint of a top end. But still blubbering heavily.

I guess my next move is 135 territory. I am just guessing, but I bet I end up around 130-132, and leaner on the needle.

Stay Safe Peeps!

Thinking out loud: I am debating on the investment of a AFR 2 channel gauge. I think this would speed up the jetting process tremendously. Has anyone ever used a AFR wideband gauge for jetting? Any words of wisdom or recommendations? I am all ears...

[brrrappp]

Spring is in the air----Saw your RM restore and couldn't resist adding an action shot

girlfriendweb.jpg (54.16 KiB) Viewed 1629 times

[Whymee]

Mmmmmm, the curves of that machine are... excitable!

The machine I restored is a 83 RM250, pictured a few posts back.

I got a wild hair a month or so ago. Purchased 2 84 RM250's. Right now I am knee deep in the restoration process. Do not ask why. I blame it on this damn virus floating around as of late. No pics of either of those, as one frame is at the coaters, the motor is at Tom Morgan Racing, and the other is all apart waiting on my tig welder to do some fixing of PO's very non-quality work. OEM plastic is almost as hard to find as the RZ plastic. About the same price too. No sane person would dump a ton of dollars into a machine, bring it back to better than new condition, then ride it in the dirt, mud, sand etc.
But it makes me smile. So that is worth something!

BTW: my battery I purchased in the fall of '18 has taken a dump on me. Was on a tender. Haven't even seen the road yet. I just love buying twice!

[Whymee]

Ok...

2.5 miles total on rebuild.

So I lowered the pilot to a 35 & the main to a 130. Another big drop.

Ride report: I can report that I have a powerband now! Sort of.
Taking off it seems slightly lethargic with a very faint hint of sputter. To rich. Need to lean out the AS a tad. Starts to head into a nice midrange rush, then starts sputtering before it leaves the mid. (too rich). I really did not get into the top end as this motor has zero time on it.
While it is nice to report that I am getting closer, I have run out of available pilots & mains. I guess it is time to order in more new brass!

Although I could lower the needle and see if that helps. But if I had to be honest, I would rather end up with the clip in the middle position, so I can do small changes down the road.

Sure would like to have a AFR gauge hooked up. I think I have talked myself into it. Almost!

BTW: this front brake is atrociously weak.

EDIT: Seems like the smallest pilot available is the 35. Either I will have to go with a leaner needle or drop the one I have. I guess I will start with the cheapest option first!

[85RZwade]

You mentioned 3 FZ clutch springs; are the other three RZ springs?

[Whymee]

You mentioned 3 FZ clutch springs; are the other three RZ springs?

Yes

[Whymee]

Raised the clip (leaner) on the needle. 1 notch.

Ride report. Raising the clip cleaned up the rich feeling on take off. Not perfect, but better. Goes through the midrange much better. Sputtering on top still. At this point I do not mind that. I need to ride it to break it in.

I consider it ready for on road jetting. Higher speeds n stuff like that. I cant tell much more by riding the roads around my house. They are poor.

Only prob, is I need plates. And right now that is difficult with the DMV closed. Although I could pull the plates from my other RZ. Yeah, that's the ticket, literally!

[brrrappp]

Ok...

2.5 miles total on rebuild.


BTW: this front brake is atrociously weak.

My stock RZ brakes with braided lines will lock the front wheel with no problem. Although they are not even close to the strength of post 1990 brakes on super sports, a good squeeze will lock them up. I can't say they are terrible unless I just rode a new bike.
The big difference is I can literally lock-up a newer bike with one finger and with the RZ it takes two fingers and a strong squeeze. if you are experiencing spongy feel or are able to pull the lever 3/4 or more then you did something wrong.

[tacky1]

Do the blue spot swap on the brakes. It’s the only way to make the front brakes work. There’s more to brakes than locking up. Feel and power rate a bit higher

[brrrappp]

No doubt there are better brakes. However, to say the RZ350 brakes are "atrociously weak" indicates there is a problem. At least that is my experience. Mine work well enough to leave tire prints on pavement under heavy braking and if I want to, I can lock em up. That is not atrociously weak.