Ok, time to line out the plan for the rest of this bike. As noted already, the emphasis is on handling and drivability, so there will be suspension and engine mods.
Suspension changes are fairly subtle. Rds are light and were among the best handling bikes you could buy in their day. They are still fantastic to drive today, but can use a little help. That help is limited if keeping the period factory “look” is intended so an USD fork swap or monoshock swingarm won’t do. Rds can also be a twinge nervous at high speed, so I want to address that as well. So I decided on some slight geometry changes accomplished by building a 19” wheel for the front. This alone picks up the front slightly increasing the rake and trail a bit, so slightly longer rear shocks will be fitted to bring the rake back to stock. The net effect is that the trail is slightly increased (the goal) with the secondary desired benefits of increased ground clearance and nearly perfect speedometer accuracy. Using the factory clocks is a requirement on this bike.
Damping will be provided by Race-Tech. Springs and cartridge emulators in the front and custom series shocks and springs in the back. Pivots will be tapered rollers in the steering neck and bronze bushings in the back shimmed to zero lash. And a piston style steering damper to replace the factory Yamaha rotary unit. Wheels will be “H” section polished alloy rims with stainless spokes and slightly altered hubs, 2.15 x 18 rear and 1.85 x 19 in the front. Widths are one size larger than stock front and rear.
Engine work is pretty conservative from a tuning standpoint. Stock carbs with stock inlet manifold with a single large K& N filter. YZ 125 reed petals on stock cages, with 9 mm spacers between the cages and cylinders. Yamaha Banshee stock intake boots with crossover tube. Cylinders are nearly stock with very minor transfer port work and stock exhaust timing, really just a careful cleanup of the stock casting. The tops will be milled flat to use RD400 gaskets or o-rings on the heads. Heads will be remachined for squish clearance and area and chamber volumes for pump gas. Exhaust is from Moto Carrera.
Crankshaft will be a hybrid Banshee/Rd construction with stronger connecting rods, RG500 big end bearings and stronger main bearings. The left side flywheel will be a Banshee component which makes it possible to mount the Banshee permanent magnet dynamo and vastly superior CDI ignition. This basically eliminates all of the RD charging system, ignition system, and battery saving a TON of weight and vastly improving reliability.
The rest of this build will be all cosmetic. It will get a RD400 tank because it is a bit longer than the 350, offering a bit more road racy look, and I will build a café style solo seat to match it. The rest will be mostly stock parts either smoothed out and minimized or dolled up as needed.