Bye Bye Bye RD350

All you have not noticed any updates on this page, the most regrettable loss that I had in the recent past is to sell my RD350.

Yes, the bike I have been building with full my heart is not with me now and it is in Trivandrum the original registered location of the fast and furious bike.

Prior to sell the bike, it had under gone the following changes

1. Sleeved standard size cinders have been installed
2. Cylinders have been ported to High Torque specifications
3. Cylinder head has been converted from Low Torque to High Torque by shaving the surface by trained professionals in tuners work shop
4. New Jets and Pilot have been changed in the Mikuni carburetor (Main Jet 140 and Air Screw pilot 30)
5. Brand new HT Silencers have been installed

Hence the bike has been converted completely to HT specs. After the complete change, I drove the bike to Trivandrum by road (approximately 1000kms from Chennai)

on the way to the destination the bike had issue in the carburetor due to excessive fuel being supplied to the cylinders by slow speed jets. The same has been later replaced in Coimbatore en-route to Trivandrum. It was performed by Sundar Rajan the RD350 mechanic in Coimbatore.
After that the bike was flying like anything and gave 26kmpl fuel economy constantly. I was amazed by the final drive that my Savager extended to me and I wish all the best to the Savager and its new owner.

Adieu Yamaha RD350.

:::from now on this blog will be closed permanently:::

Yamaha NOS Standard pistons arrived

Wanted to see how my bike rides with a Standard size piston kit, quickly got a freshly sleeved barrels and original ART piston kit from Japan.
Are RD350 LC and RD350 AC pistons are same ? What you see above is a RD350 Liquid Cooled cylinder's piston

I have got a set of Original NOS Yamaha ART pistons shipped from overseas with the part number reading 4L0-11631-00.

I'm now confused as the part number search from google resulted that this Piston is a LC piston. Anyone got an idea if the same piston could be used in Air Cooled RD350 ? I'm only looking at the compatibility of LC and AC pistons.

Since both the bikes are 350CC and I guess the pison or the cylinder inner dia should match right ? Even if it matches is there any issue in the material used ? too many questions right, thats where my mind is working now. Soon I will get the answer and proceed with the plan.

I hope to do this experiment in the near future to drive the bike in standard sleeved barrels with original yamaha pistons.

Rajdoot RD350 - Mechanical improvements

As my recent visit to the mechanic garaged proved that my rear swing arm bushes and front wheel bearings were worn out, I decided to change them for better stability and ride quality of my bike.

Luckily this time the parts required are easily available ones, hence purchase became just easy.
Along with today's purchase of the above items I myself found glad suddenly as to grab a pair of Rajdoot RD350 timing case License Yamaha plate. Yaaahooo one more body detailing will be corrected on my Savager.

Yamaha RD350 back to home

Its been 2 months since I left the bike at my old mechanic Pattabi's workshop. I'm not sure, if my evaluation is correct about Pattabi as he was the one who restored my bike to perfect condition. By I always had second thoughts about his trouble shooting and performance tuning knowledge.

This has been proved in the recent incident as my bike had issues with the newly installed CDI kit and pattabi couldn't fix it for about 2 months. He kept saying that the kit had some problems and needs replacement. Hence another tuner helped me fixing the CDI kit which had actually no issues and only the configuration problem.

Now the bike is back to its feet and along with that now the Bike runs with a brand new NGK performance spark plugs and brand new battery.
Ok, guys listen very soon my bike is going to wear the Yamaha RD350 fairing, I got a person who can replicate the original like fairing for me.
Just looked at his previous work and amazed. So my order for the similar fairing has been already on queue.

Rajdoot RD350B - Performance tuning kits

I'm going to really learn and tune my bike to better performance. After all RD350 is a famous performance bike for the world. Before I get into any tuning work, I'm going to build my own tuning kit collection. The first and for most thing are set of wrench, spheres, screw drivers, pliers and measurement tools.

When talking about measurement tools I need to have minimum of compression testing meter, Dial gauge, feeler gauge and a multimeter to test the electrical components. I have already got a multimeter and recently purchased a cylinder compression tester.
The usage of various instruments in here will be explained in various stages of my performance tuning phases.

Rajdoot RD350 - fresh from the factory

Fresh the word always sounds exciting, let it be edible item or something for the RD 350. I managed to grab the every wanted "Front Mudguard", YAAAAaaaaaaaaahooooooooooooooo it is factory fresh. The picture below shows the new mudguard and the old Rajdoot 175CC bike's modified mudguard which I was using in my RD350. The Bike is getting ready for the final make up of the engine. Oh yeah the bike revs good but I still wanted to smell the std. size cylinders performance.I also got few more items for the bike including a set of old electrical consoles on the handle bar. They looks sturdy but the switches seems to be gone for a task. I will still restore them and use it in my bike.Another achievement that makes my radar proud is that the original RD350 seat with beading. I remember buying a replica seat and last minute finding prevented me fitting the same on my Savager. But now having the OE fresh stock, makes my next attempt to restore the bike in high ramp.
At the end of this service, I will be requiring only the silencers in better condition than of what is installed on my bike now. What next? hmm the mudguard tail light and number plate holder setup, here it is:

Finding OE Spare parts - Rajdoot RD350

It's been tough job to find the OE parts for my bike during the restoration, hence I have decided to collect whatever parts comes on my way. Here are few items I recently found from someone and grabbed it for myself.

Now the person who had them all have no spares as all are in my custody. ;-)

Fork Cone and Front fork oil seals

Seat lock
Engine oil seal kit and Full Gasket kit for RD350