'77 Yamaha RD400 "Lost and Found"

[NSNickName]

I assume from the screen name you moved to NS. What part? My sister lives in Kentville and I love riding down to visit her when I can, Usually it's the whole family and a camper but sometimes I get to 2 wheel it. there are some great coastal roads in NS and NB, I find the NS ones tend to be better maintained though.

Yeah I'm in the valley as well, about 30 min from Kentville. If your headed down on the bike sometime or fancy a home brew let me know and we can link up (COVID Pending). Not sure if you've been to the area at all in the last year, but a lot of the local roads have just been re finished including a large section of the shore road along the Fundy, also the 8 and 10 down towards the south shore as well.

 

[Maritime]

been about 1.5 since last visit, fall before the Vid but there was a lot of fresh asphalt on the 236 and other spots that looked good. My sister is a Pharmasist at the Hospital so until we are all vaccinated she won't let us visit just in case.

 

[NSNickName]

been about 1.5 since last visit, fall before the Vid but there was a lot of fresh asphalt on the 236 and other spots that looked good. My sister is a Pharmasist at the Hospital so until we are all vaccinated she won't let us visit just in case.

Well there's always next year, "My sister is a Pharmasist at the Hospital so until we are all vaccinated she won't let us visit just in case" It's good to know there are still responsible people out there.

 

[Maritime]

Hoping maybe by fall it will calm down etc. we'll see.

 

[NSNickName]

Here are some more pictures of the tear down. I don't necessarily have a picture of every component that I stripped cleaned and polished\painted, but there really wasn't a piece untouched. I think the best part about this process was just watching how nice everything came up after the years of barn dust, road dirt, salt and debris were removed. I really wasn't in a rush at all and knowing it was finally going to be done right was only more motivation to go slow and take my time. Enjoy, there are more pictures of components being revived to come.

 

[NSNickName]

There was a long period of time where the bike was torn apart in this stage while I awaited on ordered parts. I didn't want to move onto anything else and end up biting off too much at once. Once parts started arriving I enlisted the help of my young lads to further strip the frame for paint. As the weather was still cold I made a make shift heated paint booth along the side of my garage, a small space heater at the bottom and a vent at the top allowed the paint to cure nicely. I still have every intent to strip the bike again to have the frame powder coated, the local-ish shop that will do it will give me a break if I do multiple frames, so I have started a collection for winter 2021!

 

[Maritime]

Nice improvised booth. I wish I could do that, but my garage is in the basement and fumes travel no matter what I try into the rest of the house. So rule is no smelly work in the shop/garage. I need to build a small shed I can heat for that kind of work I guess.

 

[NSNickName]

Nice improvised booth. I wish I could do that, but my garage is in the basement and fumes travel no matter what I try into the rest of the house. So rule is no smelly work in the shop/garage. I need to build a small shed I can heat for that kind of work I guess.

It worked better then I thought it would, the ultimate goal is to have it powder coated next winter along with some other projects I've amassed. Including the recent stupid STUPID!! purchase of a 98 YZ250 that I have no business riding.

 

[Maritime]

Ha. Yep I've done powder for a build for my boss and it was the same price for 1 wheel or both wheels plus other bits as long as it was black. The local place put that stuff in with large commercial jobs so it was gravy for them to prep it all at the same time. They were also bike guys and knew how to mask all the spots you didn't want powder getting into.

 

[pidjones]

Did the roller bearing fit Ok in the top of the stem? I had read that they are too tall, so I used roller on the bottom where the weight is borne and the ball bearing again on the top.

 

[NSNickName]

Did the roller bearing fit Ok in the top of the stem? I had read that they are too tall, so I used roller on the bottom where the weight is borne and the ball bearing again on the top.

I'll have to go back through my photos again, but I'm fairly certain there is a roller bearing on both the top and the bottom. I definitely remember using a roller on the top.

 

[NSNickName]

Yeay I have time again today. This is a small update with high effort. So if you go back to the original image I posted of the bike you will see the old girl sporting some beautiful factory aluminum rims. I had been considering spokes for a while but thought to myself how much I really do appreciate the Daytona style wheels. I didn't like them in all black as it looked to quickly done and lazy for me, so I grabbed some scotch bright and started scrubbing. I was delighted to see how nice they came up. After getting the outside rings polished I scuffed, taped and repainted the wheels with gloss black and was very happy with the results. Thoughts?

 

[Maritime]

look great, I like those mags and that is my favorite way to have them done. the black with polished lips looks the best.

 

[Jimbonaut]

Damn they look great - what took me a month you knocked out in a day!

 

[NSNickName]

Damn they look great - what took me a month you knocked out in a day!

Oh no, this took me SEVERAL days. The work done on these wheels was done back in March or April 2020.

 

[Jimbonaut]

Thank god. I feel better about myself again

 

[pidjones]

Not certain, but I think that the RD400c in '76 was the first production bike with cast aluminum wheels. Not tubeless. When I bought mine, the dealer said it was to get people used to the look, because they would soon all have to switch to tubeless.

 

[Maritime]

My 79 comstars are tube type, the 1980 front is tubless. I can't tell the difference but I run a tube in the 79 and not in the 80 LOL

 

[NSNickName]

I missed posting an update yesterday and almost missed today, I want you all to know I feel great shame. Anyways back at er'. I'm going to do a post on just the gauge and headlamp mounting because it was something I had been thinking about for a while. The RD gauges mount to a bracket that also houses the ignition and HUD. The bracket in secured in place with two studs that are welded to the bracket and run down through the triple tree. For whatever reason the studs had been cut off the bracket... I was left with no way of securing the gauges and HUD. *Gasp* *OH NO* for some reason the problem perplexed me for some time, days even... while I stood staring at the bike I just couldn't come up with a solution that would look nice and yet satisfy my over complicating brain. Finally I decided that I would drill the welds and run perfect sized bolts from the bottom and use some fancy acorn nuts at the top to keep it looking sharp. It seems like a silly thing, but now that they are mounted its something that sticks out to my eye right away, more little details that make her mine. Here are the pics. Enjoy

 

[ridesolo]

Nicely done! Isn't it funny how we sometimes fixate on things until that "duh!" moment comes along and smacks us?