toy4xchris

Well I figured I have had my 76 RD400 since I was 15 so it was time to give it some love.

The scheme of the build is pretty much a cafe set up. It might take a while to finish it up but hopefully this winter it will be done so I can ride it in the spring.

This is how it started exactly the same as 12years ago when my dad gave it to me as a partial bike with boxes of parts

toy4xchris

After spending most of my childhood playing on this bike in my grandmothers garage covered with a tarp it turned out to be my 1st street bike.

when i built it 12 years ago being 15 I really didn't understand the concept of quality work I just wanted to ride so it's finally time to treat the girl right.

Cafe Racer

Nice RD. If you are not planning to to stay "original" and maybe do a cafe racer 2-smoker I have the ideal front end for you.

All built and ready for install. FZR600 forks with RaceTech springs and R6 brakes. Includes a front wheel too. Also included are the WoodCraft clip-ons, Nissin 16mm Radial Brake Master and fender.

I ran these on my FZR400. They are amazing. I recently changed the front suspension to a 2009 R6 front end. I put alot of $$$ and work into building the front. If interested I will let it go for CHEAP. Its just taking up room in the shop. It is in excellent condition. No leaks! New pads.


Miguel, San Francisco

toy4xchris

Thanks Cafe but planning on sticking with the stock suspension set up as of now my fork lowers are being polished out for me from a buddy.

now on to more pics and updates.



stripping it down



making a solid mount for my electric ign

toy4xchris

more
stripping paint on the frame


When my dad owned it he just cut off the mounts for the side cover and oil tank so i made some new brackets and mounts with a drill press some solid round stock and an angle grinder

toy4xchris

more


finished product

toy4xchris

motor stripped down for a check up and clean up

toy4xchris

painted engine parts, frame and rear wheel.

toy4xchris

forks getting torn down


using tube end caps for a offroad bumpers or what not to cap off the factory handle bar mounts because I am running clip-ons

toy4xchris

porting the cylinders


got the triples painted

toy4xchris

got a nice pile of parts stacking up while i am visiting the fiances family


once I get back home I will have more pictures from the motor being finished up and hopefully will get to working on bracing the swingarm and getting the bike rolling again.

toy4xchris

just for a teaser heres a couple pics of my little brothers 1980 GS450 build

me goofing off on his bike while we were mocking it up


In the back ground you can see my Yellow VTR and my other brothers Red VTR

toy4xchris

found a picture of the finished motor.


and we all no my bike runs on premix but I myself like to run on what my buddy calls Fab Juice

Cafe Racer

Nice pics!

toy4xchris

thank you this bike is my baby so doing my best to document the rebuild of it mainly for myself but figured I would share some of the fun

toy4xchris

Update of plans and parts on ordered waiting for me to get back home
parts:
non-bent swingarm
clip-ons
intake boots and boost tube
tapered steering bearings
fork seals
stator cover

plans
since I don't plan to run the factory oil injection system but like the look of the tank I plan to cut it open and make it in to a storage container.

Fab a set of rearsets

the rest you will have to wait to see I guess

3Dcycle

if you need ANY parts for this bike please let me know. i have parts to damn near do 2 of these bikes. well real close to it. also i can powder coat almost anything for you. will last a little longer than paint.

toy4xchris

Thanks man I gota pretty good stock pile of parts also but if I find one I don't have I will be sure to keep in touch with you.

toy4xchris

got my lower fork tubes back from my buddy

toy4xchris

Got back into town last night and started playing with the new parts and realized I had to modify the Banshee carb boots to fit my Rd Reed cages.


The Stock RD one is on the left and the modified Banshee one is on the right.
You can see the difference in the opening sizes.

Then after messing with that I found out that the intake hole on the carb boots are also larger than the reed cages so once again rise above and modify some more.
I started porting the reed cages to better match up with the new carb boots.

toy4xchris

when I got the boost bottle it was a little worse for wear some good sized rub marks and scratches so I cheated and did some wrinkle finish black paint to try and hide some of them.

toy4xchris

Got the bike set up as a roller for mocking up the tail section/seat pan and for steering clearances

toy4xchris

Got some work done on building my own rearsets




pressed together and welded

toy4xchris

Cut down with the brake lever mocked up

toy4xchris

still got some work to do but I am getting closer

VTRsurfer

This last Sunday was the "2 Stroke Extravaganza" at Cook's Corner in Trabuco Canyon. My wife, on her SV, and I ride out there most Sundays for breakfast.

There were RD's, Kawi triples, a bunch of 250 and 500 race bikes and some obscure stuff. Very cool.

There was one RD400 that was restored to concourse condition, with low cafe bars. White and red, it was beautiful.

At noon they had a "fire up", where all the bikes were fired up in a cloud of blue smoke and ring-ding-dinging in your ears.

toy4xchris

Thats awesome... I recently went to the street tracker night in santa clara and that was really cool they had the TZ750 that Kenny Roberts did his lap at the Indy mile with. I can't wait to get my bike back together I miss the smeel of 2stroke in the morning.

toy4xchris

So I decided after looking at my dirtbike I decided I wanted folding toe pieces for my brake and shifter so looking at cheap steel folding shifters for a crf50 I figured i will get them and cut the folding part down to weld onto my set-up

toy4xchris

peg mounted in it

toy4xchris

So I have 2 pitbikes in my garage that just happen to be broken so I decided to steal the shifters off them to make my brake and shifter for my RD. Let me know what you guys think? I will admit following some of your guys builds on this site is really hard but you all seem to have some great ideas I might have stolen...