RD350 project

C

Craigore

TT Racer
Sold my '79 Sportster this week which was basically a basket case that I didn't have the time,energy, or desire to rebuild. No less than 24 hours later, I picked up a 1974 RD350 2 stroke off craigslist with 5k miles. I was pretty skeptical as it hadn't been ridden in 10 to 15 years but for $400 I figured it to be a good deal. The guy that I got it from was elderly and said it had belonged to his son at one point in time and that he stopped riding it when it ceased to run well and figured it to need a carb rebuild, new points, and a new condenser. Excuse the bad photo:
fa56e846.jpg

A friend of mine is really into 2 strokes and has an R5 parts bike laying around so I stripped it of it's tank rather than cleaning mine as it was super rusty inside. Cleaned the points and battery contacts, changed a fuse, and cleaned the plugs. To my surprise, I have power AND spark. Swapped out the stock bars for clubmans, and removed the sissy and crash bar. This is what she looks like in her current state:
527fb4a6.jpg

I really hate the camera on my iPhone. Anyway, I am going to remove and clean the carbs tomorrow and replace the fuel lines in hopes that it won't take much more than that in addition to fuel and oil to get her running. These 2 strokes are fun as shit, I fell in love last summer after riding an said friends other R5. Have been scowering CL for a while now but hadn't found anything worth buying until the other night. I'll keep posting updates if you folks are interested, this isn't as much of a project as I had anticipated but it is FUN! :headbang2:
 
mark66

mark66

TT Racer
Nice find......you should get a hot little cafe bike out of that. I think I may be jealous.:)
 
C

Craigore

TT Racer
it's cleaning up really well. I wish that I had the photos of the bike that were posted on CL. looked so bad that I almost didn't go check it out. There's barely any rust on this beast, just 10 years worth of dirt from sitting in a shop.

Thing that sucks about this project is that I'm now looking at new expansion chambers, rearsets, and a cafe seat which all cost a pretty penny. Not exceeding anything Triumph related, but still.
 
koifarm

koifarm

Hooligan
Great Bike for sure, it's not often you get the chance to spend twice the original retail price on a rebuild project !
It should look great though....those two strokes are some nice old machines...
 
FoothillRyder

FoothillRyder

Two Stroke
Very cool - keep us posted!

My best riding pal back in the 70's rode an RD, and we swapped bikes a few times (I had a CB550-4). The RD makes such a cool cafe racer, so light and nifty. And power is a very easy thing to add.

Looking foward to seeing this one, and congrats!
 
dschief

dschief

750cc
DG's huh, got a set in the shed. Used 'em for about 1 year. I also have a set of Denco's, J&R's, Bahnke's, and and set of Torque chambers (aka the gatlin guns).
Spec 2 pipes are the ones to have now-a-days, too much for my blood though. HVC Cycle is also making chambers, but they are high too.
 
ssjones

ssjones

750cc
Wow, I'd love to have an old RD. My buddy in HS had one, I rode it every chance he gave me. A real wheelie-machine.
 
C

Craigore

TT Racer
Ugh, I'm becoming obsessed with this bike. going to pull and clean the carbs tonight and polish her up a bit. the bike in the few posts above looks AWESOME. Thinking of how I could afford to do something like that. At least I'm down to having only 2 bikes now.
 
dschief

dschief

750cc
No, I was working that weekend and didn't make it to the show. I think Daytona Mike, or Bonneville Mike as he goes by now, was the only one from the eastern shore that made it over.
 
C

Craigore

TT Racer
Realize now why the bike wasn't "running well"... whoever pulled the carbs last re-assembled the floats incorrectly. also, one of them was missing a main jet. WTF!? one thing that I've learned working on bikes is that you DO NOT do it while intoxicated.
 
dschief

dschief

750cc
Make sure the carb slides are in the correct way too. They have pins in the throats that mate to the grooves in the slides, but they can be switched left to right and go in backwards. The cresent cutout at the bottom should be towards the rear. It does make a difference.
BTW, got home just before dark, so I haven't had a chance to go through the pipe storage. They are there, just got to lay hands on them.
 
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