MotoFiaccone RD400 Chopper/Cafe build--for real this time.

C

chrisf

Over 1,000 Posts
Hi gents:

I kinda dribbled out parts of this build over the past six months. Well, now it’s time for a full-on build thread.

For a little background, I always wanted a two-stroke—who knows why. So I bought this Yamaha RD400 with the intent of building a beater bike, something I didn’t worry about if I scraped her up. I also wanted it to have a two-up seat so I can carry passengers. For a backlog of what I did, check out my website.

http://www.motofiaccone.com/moto/43-rd400-cafe-racer

Well unfortunately, I ended up being unable to half-ass this build. Things that were supposed to be painted ended up getting powdercoated. In fact, I have my frame and a bunch of other little bits getting PCed as we speak. So this thread will document all the little stuff I’m doing whilst I wait for the PC job to finish. It will then carry on to the final build up. I have to finish this bike quickly so I can move on to the resto-mod MG Midget I’m building for my wife.

Anyway, Enjoy.
 
First up. I want to use the oil injection system on the bike—meaning side covers have to stay. Due to that, I might as well run a regular sized battery. The problem is, the stock battery box mashed the top of the battery up against the seat. So I cut the bottom off and welded in a 1” piece of steel. Here she is

1.jpg


Speaking of that, the stock oil tank uses a filler tube inside the frame rails, meaning the seat had to be lifted each time the tank needed to be filled. My seat bolts down, and though honestly, the tank doesn’t need to be filled THAT often, I didn’t want to unbolt the seat.

Here is the stock filler inlet.

2.jpg


I chopped about an inch off it.

3.jpg


And welded on a fender washer. Pretty nasty looking welds, but no one will ever see it.

4.jpg
 
Since I welded over the original filler neck, I needed some way to fill it with oil. Enter the weld in bung with the aluminum cap. However, before I could weld it in, I sanded off the original paint (we mustn’t weld through paint and oil now).

5.jpg


Marked where I wanted the bung to go.

6.jpg


And drilled a hole. I didn’t have a hole saw big enough, so I drilled out a 1” hole and used a pneumatic sander with a ¾” abrasive wheel to finish it out. So now it sits nice and flush.

8.jpg


And alas: fully welded in. If you look closely, you can see a part where I fucked up the welded, which kinda pisses me off. This bike will be the anti bondo—though obviously some will be required to smooth out the tins. But no bondo will be packed into the welded. It is what it is.

9.jpg
 
I received my engine bolt kit. For those of you building these things, I found it is cheaper just to buy a bolt kit. The one I got was amazing. It used the Swedish stainless bolts and have a high polish. Oh, and you can see I painted the engine with PJ1 engine case paint. I’m going for the blacked-out look here.

10.jpg


And for those of you familiar with the RD400s, the front controls have a loop in them to make room for the stock exhaust. Since I’m running chambers, the loops look ridiculous. So I chopped them up and welded them straight. Why no rearsets? It’s because I want the passenger to have room for her feet. Rear controls would make this difficult. Plus, I’ve done rearsets twice and I wanted to go with a stock location on this bike.

11.jpg



Thanks for reading along. Things should go pretty quickly from here on out, so stay tuned.

--Chris
 
Glad to see some progress Chris! I've been long awaiting some updatres on this project. Can't wait to see the final project.
 
dentedvw said:
Where did you get your swedish bolts from? Bork bork bork!
Click to expand...

i got them on eBay. For reference, there are multiple different types of metric bolts. The Euros make the better ones. Of the bigger indicators are the grip lines on the bolt head or lack thereof. There are also polished differences, as well as thread cut differences.

--Chris
 
Thanks gents. I always wanted to learn how to weld too, but always thought it was outside the bounds of my capability. eventually, I said eff it and jumped in. If you do enough research and practice, anyone can get it. It really is fun stuff.

Attention to detail...I never really thought of it like that, but thanks. As I learned on this project: I really only know one way to build; the right way. If you look closely at my builds, they are much more engineering-oriented than aesthetics oriented. I was explaining this to my buddy Mysta2 over some beers one night, and he summed it up nicely: "Yeah; truth in materials." Well said sir. That's me.

--Chris
 
As always great work. Looking forward to doing some fab/weld work on my two up ride in the future. It is hard to half ass it, but I'm gonna try and get away with light fab and mostly paint. No engine rebuild on the this one. Again real nice work. Has Mysta done anything new lately?
 
Been waiting to see this one Chris! Really looking forward to the build.

Yeah welding…. I too have taken it up on my new project, did a ton of research, watched a shit load of videos, more research, and then practiced for hours laying beads on scrap metal. And you’re right, it really is fun. But I’m not sure if just anyone can get it. Mine sure as hell aren’t even close to being as well done as what you’ve got going on! Great work dude! I’m guessing I need a lottttttt more practice!
 
2 stroke chopper... cool! I look forward to cruising around with you turning some heads with that thing.

IMOALE said:
...Has Mysta done anything new lately?
Click to expand...

Ohh! that hurts. I've been buried under all the crap that a truck motor can collect when it's left on the bottom of a lake for who knows how long... and I've got the mess in my garage to prove it.
 
Oh dude didnt mean to kick ya. Just I really admire your builds, I'm alway looking at your Loudbike build I even picked up the Horse,( I always pick it up) but I actually went back or it when I found out you were in it. And I really want to see the other projects you started in that thread, really thinking of splitting a tank like you did to clean it up. And I know you and Chris are buds so ud be here.
 
I did a bunch of stuff over the past couple days. Whilst waiting for my powdercoat job to run, I reassembled my headlight. I’m pretty happy with the results. Both the inner and outer bezel, as well as the headlight bucket itself was PCed in the last batch.

1.jpg


I then moved on to replacing the bolts on the other side of the engine. Of course, the all promptly stripped, and I determined I fucking hate all Japanese fasteners. As my English friends say, “They are as useful as a chocolate teapot.” So last night, I ended up drilling them all out and removing the sidecover. Of course, the gearbox was not all the way drained and oil went everywhere. Sadly, the bolt nubs just wound out with my finders. Anyway, this pic just shows a couple of the bolts drilled out.

2.jpg


Finally, I stripped all he stickers off the hand controls and painted them black. I considered throwing them in the powdercoat batch, but they see so fragile. Plus, I didn’t want to take the guts out.

3.jpg
 
I meant to post the above yesterday, but was locked in my 9AM meeting until 3PM!

So yesterday, I picked up my second batch of PC. I am shocked and honestly a bit disappointed with myself for spending so much money on two PC batches. Such is life I suppose. However, I do always like picking up PC because it’s like Christmas; ya never know what you’re getting. This time, I found my swing arm pivot on the frame was not taped off, so now I have to hone out the PC. The also PCed a bearing surface on the neck. This is weird because they usually don’t do stupid stuff like that. But my favorite is they PCed the actual swing arm bushings! Idiots.

So last night, my wife helped me put the engine in the frame. I didn’t look closely, but I’m pretty sure nothing got scratched. I’m feeling [cough, cough] sick today, so after I pick up some stainless bolts from the specialty metric fastener store, I’m going home. Just a hunch, but I bet things move pretty quickly from here on out :)

--Chris
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

DTT Light or Dark

  • DTT Light

    • Spread the Love

    Back
    Top Bottom