[buellosaurusrex]

I pretty much had the 'Shredder' part figured out.....I do a fair bit of that myself.
Thank you for sharing your incredible eye for detail and fastidious workmanship with us. Now, hurry up and buy another one so we can see you do it again. And, Rock On!

 

[Graceshredder]

Are we, as motorcycle fanatics, ever satisfied? Well, I think the answer is "Not just no . . . but HELL no!". OK, so my restored Yamaha runs like a bat out of hell. I think it looks good too. So what's the problem? Well, at freeway speeds of around 65 mph, the engine is wound up pretty good in 5th gear and I kept reaching for the 'next' gear . . . only there wasn't one. I imagine that is why, after 3 years of making the R5, Yamaha decided to add a sixth gear and call it the RD 350. :biggrin:
So what am I going to do about it? I did some research and discovered the crankcases of both the R5 and the RD are the same. An RD transmission will directly drop into my R5's engine. So . . . I'm on it. I'll keep you posted on the progress/success/folly of this endeavor.

 

[Graceshredder]

Well, after I very slightly modified the bracket that holds the shift barrel in, I found to my absolute astonishment that the 6-speed transmission actually fit! Now to put the rest of the engine together and see how it works.

 

[MONI]

I can tell this is something you are passionate about. My question is, Do you have someone you are training and sharing all of your knowledge and skills with? This is the kind of craftsmanship you rarely see anymore and it's really a shame!! I know there are others out there doing restos but most that I have seen do not go into such details. It takes a lot of patience as well as knowledge to train someone in the correct way to restore these bikes and I really hope you have someone you are sharing with.

 

[buellosaurusrex]

He is sharing it with US.
In a place where it is fully appreciated.

 

[MONI]

Yes, he is and I really want to thank him. I really wish I could have found someone with this kind of expertise that would have taught me the trade when I was young. I guess I am just really intrigued and amazed with his work.

 

[buellosaurusrex]

Never too late to start

 

[Graceshredder]

Well . . . referencing the above exchange . . . I'm . . . uh . . . at a loss for words. Thank you both for your comments and interest. I am constantly amazed when someone comments on my restorations and says they're "Outstanding" or "way above normal". To me, they are just the way they SHOULD be done. You just pay attention to the details and the product comes out, well . . . it comes out like the Yamaha. Anybody can pay attention and take the appropriate time to do the job.

Unfortunately, I don't have anyone I'm 'showing' how to do this kind of work. I just do it as a hobby. For fun. Sorry Moni!!!:frown:

 

[MONI]

I envy you your talents and knowledge. Hubby & I are both retired now and need to find something like this to do during those winter months. He has lots of common sense and mechanical abilities and I really enjoy working on things with him. We also have a grandson (age 10) and might find something construdtive that peaks his interest that we can get into. This kind of thing is so much better than video games and such. Something you can look at when done and be proud to say you did that. I think that is something that is missing with lots of our kids these days.

 

[Graceshredder]

By the way, don't give me such a big head quite yet. Wait until you see how this transmission project plays out . . . Does Graceshredder blow it? Stay tuned.

 

[buellosaurusrex]

Well . . . referencing the above exchange . . . I'm . . . uh . . . at a loss for words. Thank you both for your comments and interest. I am constantly amazed when someone comments on my restorations and says they're "Outstanding" or "way above normal". To me, they are just the way they SHOULD be done. You just pay attention to the details and the product comes out, well . . . it comes out like the Yamaha. Anybody can pay attention and take the appropriate time to do the job.

Unfortunately, I don't have anyone I'm 'showing' how to do this kind of work. I just do it as a hobby. For fun. Sorry Moni!!!:frown:

GS, as a restorer myself, I know what goes into making one as nice as you have on the two projects I've seen. And I've been the recipient of a number of project hack jobs that took more to fix than I ever anticipated. Most 'restorers' out there are sawed-off used car salesmen with the same attitude as one. You obviously do it as a labor of love, not to see how much you can possibly get for something while seeing how much you can possibly not spend. Quality isn't cheap, and neither is fine detail work like yours. Guys like you don't get enough kudos in my opinion.

Moni, you and your hubby can get started with next to nothing. My only advice is to take TONS of pictures, and bag & tag everything (as GS did) as it comes off. And, hell yes, involve your grandson in the project. Skills like these are acquired by doing, not reading about it! And just because you've never done a resto doesn't make you any less of a resto artist than half the pros out there. Go slow, use your eye for detail and do everything the RIGHT way and you will amaze yourself.

 

[Graceshredder]

SOON AFTER - Well I'll be dipped in Sh*t and honey roasted to a golden brown . . . that whole thing failed! As soon as I got it back together I knew I wasn't going to be happy . . . the clutch wasn't working right. So I started it up on the center stand and hoped the clutch would straighten itself out.
But as I listened very closely I could hear the clutch's tiny voice telling me. . . "Pound sand until you bleed, jerk! Something is wrong here!"
Great . . . just great. *sigh* I'll take a day or two to let my head clear and then tackle it again. I'll let you know.

A COUPLE OF DAYS LATER - I spoke with the good people at HVC Cycle and the first thing Brad asked me was, "Did you remember to put that little ball bearing back in the clutch rod shaft?"

Uh . . in a word . . . no! Dumb ass! Well, now that I know what is missing from the repair, I can't find it. Geez, this somehow is not a surprise at all. (Did I actually think the missing ball bearing would be sitting in the middle of my work bench?)

I'll go to the bearing place tomorrow and buy a new 5/16" ball bearing. I'm positive this will remedy the problem.


Here's a fairly graphic representation of the problem(s).

 

[railriderstv]

Wow! what memories....
I could not find any pic's of the r5's dad and I owened....I later on in 1980 bought a used rd 200 ...nice job grcshrdr....thanks for sharing w/us...

 

[Graceshredder]

About 5 days later . . .

Ok . . . I figured out the problem . . . I'm a Dork! :biggrin: (All right . . . quit agreeing so damn quickly you guys) Anyway, I left out a part that I thought was pretty useless. Wrong again, honey. So here's what went down . . .

 

[buellosaurusrex]

You never cease to amaze me. Not only do we get a great narrative, unbelievable pix and a side order of tongue-in-cheek humor, but it's all retro as you did this resto a while back!!!!!
You keep this up and I'm gonna give you your own thread.

 

[skyhawk]

This is great info and needs to be kept on file somewhere for others to use. What a great upgrade to a retro bike! Nice job and the detail of the pictures make it all useful! I fully understand what you went through as I own a 82 XJ550... I'm always looking for 7th gear when I whip out on the hiway!!! I'm looking for a sweet RD350 or 400 to revive myself!!!

 

[MONI]

From the rest of your work I'm betting you figure it out & it works. I did cheat by following your last rebuild thread from start to finish though so I know you get this one going...not sure about the 6 speed though. I'm really interested in that as I would love to have 1 more gear up on my 1985 Maxim. I had to ride the interstate for about 10 miles the other day and felt like I was mistreating it. It will do it, but it was up to 5500 rpm's. It doesn't read line until 9500 but it just seemed to be screaming...at me.

 

[MONI]

Buello,

Should this be moved to the Resto Forum so it doesn't get lost?? I agree it and his last Resto need to be stored somewhere for future reference. His work, the pictures, his way of posting and making it interesting, his commentary, etc...are just so much fun to follow.

 

[buellosaurusrex]

Yeah, was planning on moving it....after we're though playing with it.

 

[railriderstv]

This is great info and needs to be kept on file somewhere for others to use. What a great upgrade to a retro bike! Nice job and the detail of the pictures make it all useful! I fully understand what you went through as I own a 82 XJ550... I'm always looking for 7th gear when I whip out on the hiway!!! I'm looking for a sweet RD350 or 400 to revive myself!!!

Ahhh yes,....I once had a daytona 400.....awsome bike....
What killed it was local yam. shop done me dirty on crankshaft overhaul....stv.