"Yamaha RD350 LC - Elsie... pleasure, pain and blue smoke" thread in "Motorbike Chat"
As you may know I've got a 1982 RD350LC. Like all LC's, she's called Elsie. When I met Elsie about 10 years ago she was ...

As you may know I've got a 1982 RD350LC. Like all LC's, she's called Elsie.

When I met Elsie about 10 years ago she was a sorry sight. A bloke in Romford who fancied himself as a bit of a customiser and painter had made a right dog's dinner of trying to tart her up in aerosol red and yellow. I didn't mind too much as I was looking for a bike to restore.

Turns out I'd picked the wrong bike to restore. Elsie was a 250, bodged up as a 350, with a cracked (250) frame, crankcases (250) that had been levered apart with a big screwdriver, and just about every part of the engine was shagged. I was living in Derbyshire at the time, about 1/4 mile down the road from one of the country's biggest LC breakers, the sadly now late Jim Matthews. I reckon I must have kept him going singlehandedly for 6 months, picking out the best bits from the piles of broken bikes he had there, proudly emerging with a 350 frame and cases with matching numbers. I checked the little-known parts that differ between 250 and 350 and made sure all those were right too. I stripped every last nut and bolt, plated, powder coated and polished everything as good as new. I took all the bodywork to a painter in Aylesbury with pictures of the original black LC (the Mars bar colour scheme I always loved) and the cunt painted her white. After some quite ungentlemanly words from me he put right his cock-up but didn't rub down the paint, just sprayed over it. Not the right way but I was so fed up by then I took it anyway.

Elsie took gleaming to the road in 2000, having cost about double what she was worth to resell. I got used to getting envious looks from younger men than the ones who used to ogle my Norton, and got used to a powerband that was like your trousers exploding, handling sharper than a City Boy's suit and the smell of synthetic oil smoke. Lovely.

We had our first lover's tiff in Autumn 2000, coming back from work on a favourite twisty road as Elsie's engine briefly tightened then developed a nasty vibration. I coasted to a halt little realising it would be nealy 8 years before she would run again.

Jim Matthews supplied most of the spares I needed quite quickly. One big end had gone, possibly the result of a loose metering pin in the oil pump. I got a recon crank, changed all the oil seals, all the gearbox bearings (she'd been making some bearingy noises) and then winter came and I forgot about Elsie, languishing in the shed.

This year I decided it was time for Elsie to shake off the dust and get going again. I'd met up with BDK Race Engineering near Snetterton, who said they could get pistons to replace the ones that had got scored up in the blow-up. This was lucky as the bores were already 1.75mm oversize and the official Yamaha max oversize is 1mm! Stinkwheels supplied some odd parts and a shiny new set of black Allspeeds to replace the standard pipes, which were rather shabby, and we were set to build.

Late March Elsie finally crackled back into life, sounding incedibly horny from the stubby pipes and promising serious hot action on the back roads. Naturally there were teething troubles but the lads from the RD-LC forum were very helpful, one chap even sending me parts that were no longer available from Yamaha and refusing payment.

She sailed though her MoT thanks to a sympathetic tester ("You had the standard pipes on when I saw it, right?" ) and I finally took Elsie out on the road again.

If you've never ridden a peaky 2-stroke you don't know what you're missing. From the menacing crackle as you ride through town, the way the exhausts chime in as the engine comes on load, going from 4-stroking to proper hungry 2-stroking, the hint of a powerband (as much as you dare running in new pistons) and light flickable unfaired handling. It's like a hot date in bed with an athlete .

But then, Elsie's female side showed again. I'd forgotten something that mattered to her and she decided to make me pay. A quick squirt past a slow van and coughcoughspluttergaspfuckfuckfuck she's misfiring terribly. Doesn't seem to be vibrating or rattling but clearly not happy so I nurse her home. Once she's cooled, she doesn't want to restart and has hardly any compression.

My guess is the Allspeeds were less restrictive than the standard pipes and as soon as I gave it any she just ran so lean she instantly detonated the pistons away. So it's off to BDK tomorrow to check the damage and see what she needs to repair her. Those guys are pretty good with tuned strokers so they should be able to do what's needed and set her up with the new pipes. She'll need to be spot on because I've entered her in a classic race at the Salzburgring in July www.igfc.at - hell, it seemed like a good idea at the time

Elsie will be back.

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Never break more than one law at a time, and never carry more grass than you are willing to eat.

Shouldn't need to rejet for Allspeeds, they actually make it run slightly richer and I'd hardly describe a standard 350LC as peaky, try an aircooled YZ125 if you want peaky.

Today's instalment, BDK say compression is OK but the bike had eaten a reed valve, and the crank is badly twisted.

So that'll be engine out and apart yet again to straighten the crank and work out why it might have twisted, given that it seemed to spin up fine and vibration free when it started last time.

I never had this trouble on the Brit bikes

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Never break more than one law at a time, and never carry more grass than you are willing to eat.

Argh, the fun of owner and stink wheel....

I have no chance of buying the rotting, original RG500 I once hoped to get, they guy has died and there's no way I can get my grubby hands on it.

:-(

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MC024 - Mandlebars are in!


Boris for Prime Minister!

Definitely! I get such a buzz from the TDR it's unreal - okay, so it barely does 90mph in real life and the suspension could do with a bit o' looking at, but yesterday at the Memorial Meet with the massed ranks of Ducatis, Aprilias and other exotica the only one I fancied actually riding was the bike I ridden up there - the TDR.

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UXB - Welcome To The Dark Side

[quote=Tomcat;184114]Today's instalment, BDK say compression is OK but the bike had eaten a reed valve, and the crank is badly twisted.QUOTE]

Just out of interest, what type reeds were you using?
Ta.

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http://markhamracing.bravehost.com/

Stop press!

The Harpowa reed hadn't actually been eaten but it had broken and was hanging on by a corner. BDK recomend Boyesen so I'll be getting a set of those.

With the engine apart it's obvious that the crank is spectacularly twisted, could this be the first ever 90-degree engined LC??

Nice to see the pistons and bores look OK, crank's off to BDK now and the next rebuild awaits.

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Never break more than one law at a time, and never carry more grass than you are willing to eat.

I remember my first RD when I was a yoof, loved it to bits but it got thrashed relentlessly and endured various ham-fisted bodges.

Yours sounds like the original Irish pickaxe...been passed down through generations and only has had to have 4 handles and 5 heads

great post TC, I managed to relentlessly thrash an LC in the mid 80's that a mate had previously proddie raced, I must have got lucky, it never let me down once.

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GP

Top post tomcat made me smile

A rebuild is never simple, is it? BDK renewed the centre pin and of course the two inner flywheels had worn as well, and the T/S main bearing was the wrong type with an offset anti-rotation pin. Ah, the joys of "reconditioned" cranks and the necessity of finding someone you can actually trust!

A couple of evenings skinned knuckles later the final bits were being bolted in place, kick it over to make sure it's OK and the kickstart just goes down without turning the engine. Lean the bike over to save draining the new gearbox oil and pop the cover off to have a look. You know what's next, don't you?

Lean bike further and spend 15 minutes with paper towels....

The friction clip on the kickstart pawl has broken (NLA from Yamaha of course). At least Stinkwheels (AKA Gibson Exhausts) have a used kickstart pawl assy for a tenner (for a 10p clip ).

And joy of joys she's back, crackle crackle ring ding Off to annoy some motorists, oh joy we're 17 again bwahahaha. Bit rich on carburation, drop the needles back to the standard 3rd groove and resolve to get some more miles in to loosen her up before heading back to BDK in a few weeks for a dyno run and set up the carburation properly.

Watch for the blue smoke

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Never break more than one law at a time, and never carry more grass than you are willing to eat.