RD400 - Back from the Dead

[Maritime]

Too long and they can get damaged from the acid in the juice but I suspect that would be if you left them overnight. I used regular pinesol on the Virago carbs and just put a sander on the container and let it run an hour, rinsed em, blew compressed air through all the openings and they were clean as a whistle. I put all the brass in a little container with carb cleaner and ductaped that to the sander shook that for an hour and again came out clean as a whistle. The little container was glass and I could see the dirt coming out of the jets etc. was pretty neat. I did the same on 2 other small engine carbs for a tiller and mower and worked great as well.

 

[DannyMotor]

Great build diary, will keep an eye on this.

What's the process with boiling gunked up carbs in lemon juice, are there any don'ts when doing this? Time/temperature etc?


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50/50 lemon juice and water. Get it boiling. Dunk in the carb for about 20 mins. Remove and soak in soapy water (dawn dish soap).

Blow it out with compressed air. Any remaining gunk can be cleaned out with carb cleaner.

 

[Bubba1982]

50/50 lemon juice and water. Get it boiling. Dunk in the carb for about 20 mins. Remove and soak in soapy water (dawn dish soap).

Blow it out with compressed air. Any remaining gunk can be cleaned out with carb cleaner.

Great thanks, will give this a try!! Got a really caked up carb off my SR250 that needs a deep clean.


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[DannyMotor]

The ProX pistons came in! Quickly unwrapped and began the process of de-tanging. Came out alright... really have to clean my files now... lol.

All boxed up ready for the machine shop... hope they can get the gap to .0014-.0016"...

 

[CarbsAndCylinders]

Too long and they can get damaged from the acid in the juice but I suspect that would be if you left them overnight. I used regular pinesol on the Virago carbs and just put a sander on the container and let it run an hour, rinsed em, blew compressed air through all the openings and they were clean as a whistle. I put all the brass in a little container with carb cleaner and ductaped that to the sander shook that for an hour and again came out clean as a whistle. The little container was glass and I could see the dirt coming out of the jets etc. was pretty neat. I did the same on 2 other small engine carbs for a tiller and mower and worked great as well.

I'm going to try that sander trick!

 

[DannyMotor]

I'm going to try that sander trick!

Sounds like Ichiban Moto foolery to me... lol.

 

[farmer92]

Those pistons look real good there man,
And +1 for the pine sol bath, just not in the house unless you like the scent haha



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[DannyMotor]

Was able to cut and file the new YZ85 reeds to fit the cages. Metal ones were slightly bent and probably original.. The fiber should last longer and if they fail sbouldnt grenade the new top end. Also, de-carboned the heads and gave them a polish. Nothing fancy, just enough to hinder carbon buildup for a while

 

[jpmobius]

Be sure to flatten out the sealing surface. Sheet of #400 or #600 wet or dry sandpaper (wet) on a piece of glass works great. Mark with machinists blue or a sharpie, and lightly grind with a figure 8 motion until the marks disappear. I glue my head gaskets with copper coat. Don't over torque, and re-torque after the first two heat cycles!!

 

[DannyMotor]

Do you use the copper coat with or in place of the actual gasket?

 

[jpmobius]

With the factory copper gaskets. I give them a medium cote and let them dry or mostly dry, and then a light spray just before I assemble the heads.

 

[Maritime]

Those pistons look real good there man,
And +1 for the pine sol bath, just not in the house unless you like the scent haha



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LOL I spilled it in the basement and had pinesol smell for a week.

 

[clem]

I was given the recommendation to anneal the head gaskets on my 350. I do have it setup to run RD400 gaskets to correct squish so I don't know if it'll work the same. I rechecked after a few miles and the torque was still good. Levi put the o ring mod on his so that can be an option also.

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[jpmobius]

O ring is definitely the hot ticket, but the 400 gaskets work fine. The 350 gaskets are hard to seal. Definitely anneal them if not brand new. Any copper gasket can be reused indefinitely by annealing. It is simple to do. Clean the gasket first and then holding it with a pair of pliers, heat it up with a propane torch. The gasket will turn blue as it gets hot enough. Heat around the surface until tho whole thing sees the color change and then quench it in water. It should be nice and soft after that.

 

[TurdFurguson]

O ring is definitely the hot ticket, but the 400 gaskets work fine. The 350 gaskets are hard to seal. Definitely anneal them if not brand new. Any copper gasket can be reused indefinitely by annealing. It is simple to do. Clean the gasket first and then holding it with a pair of pliers, heat it up with a propane torch. The gasket will turn blue as it gets hot enough. Heat around the surface until tho whole thing sees the color change and then quench it in water. It should be nice and soft after that.

I had never heard that, I just used the copper coat on my 350. sprayed the gaskets and the seats on the head/jugs, when really tacky put them together. Basically works like spray adhesive except for copper. If I pull the heads again I might look into going o-ring. Havent had issues with the stockers yet though

 

[DannyMotor]

Dropped off the jugs and pistons this afternoon. Have a good feeling on this guy. Should be done for Friday.

I got the chance to glass bead everything before we went... came out ok. Ports are all clean at least. Ready for paint once they come back.

Still going to deck the heads on some 800g and glass... will wait until after paint.

 

[TurdFurguson]

I did glass bead on the heads, then painted them with ceramic paint. The paint flaked off, didn't have good enough surface to stick. With glass it puts a sort of polish to the metal. I had to sand blast the rest of the paint off and after the sand it stuck like a champ. Not sure if that was the issue for sure, but just thought I would put it out there.

 

[DannyMotor]

Thanks! These have a definite etch, itll shred a papertowel rubbed on the flat.

 

[jpmobius]

Glass beading is usually great for paint. You have to do a very thorough job of cleaning your parts after though as it leaves a pretty tenacious dust film especially if the beads are worn. Another thing I see often enough is not thoroughly cleaning and de-greasing the parts first. While blasting with any media will clean off dirt and grease, it also just moves a lot of it around and really makes removing the contaminates later much harder. Much like sanding to prep for paint, you absolutely have to super clean the surface first or you end up grinding into the sanding scratches the contaminates that would have been easy to remove first. I clean everything with a very strong degreaser and then again with detergent and hot water. Blast with air to dry and they are ready to glass bead. This is great for not contaminating the beads, and there is no chance of grinding any grease or silicone into the part which will repel paint. Unfortunately they need another cleaning in detergent after to remove the glass beading debris. If it is engine parts, you want to really clean them regardless as the glass beads are pretty unfriendly to engine innards. I have a kitchen dishwasher for the final pass - the super hot water does a very thorough job - though if you don't have one in the shop I reckon most lads will have a bit of trouble getting permission from the boss! Even if you sandblast, you ought to thoroughly clean the parts with detergent before paint.

 

[DannyMotor]

The heads and jugs were soaked in degreaser, brushed, soaked and scrubbed in detergent, then glass beaded, and then hit with a compressor to remove 90% of the debris...

Once the jugs are back from the shop and I have the chance to deck the heads, i will repeat the degreaser/detergent cleanings... then hit everything with hi-temp primer and bake the parts at 350 for 20 minutes.

Then paint black with epoxy.