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Post by dusty350 on May 22, 2020 18:16:51 GMT 1
Cheers Mark Had a nice result today. Picked up a seat for the 400e. They are another part that's really hard to find, especially in good condition due to the metal base that rots out. When you do find them for sale that are silly money. But a member on the aircooled forum came up with a mint German seat that has been newly recovered; 20200522_111526 by dusty miller, on Flickr 20200522_111545 by dusty miller, on Flickr The dilemma I now have is I want a cut down seat - I think the standard seat looks too big next to the tank, so I had imagined cutting the foam down and losing some of the bulkiness, but this seat is almost too good to chop. May have to find a pattern foam ! He also supplied the missing side panel, and a good tail cowl; 20200522_111445 by dusty miller, on Flickr Just need to get the seat side strips, and then I'll have all the bodywork, at last. Dusty
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Post by dusty350 on Jun 5, 2020 19:45:06 GMT 1
Got a nice pair of new, stainless side strips from guy on the aircooled forum, via ebay, so I now have all the parts for paint. Sensible price too - some clown has a used pair on ebay for £99 !! I'm definitely going with proper bars and not clip ons, but don't want to use standard footrests, so was thinking about rearsets. When I had the rearset backplates made for the Café Racer bike, the engineering guys had a problem with their Plasma cutter, and it cut the first pair badly - the Plasma cutter prefers cutting steel to ali anyway, but it cut the edges with a chamfer, and made a mess of them, so they had to do it all again. I kept the first pair for a rainy day; 20200605_111532 by dusty miller, on Flickr 20200605_111514 by dusty miller, on Flickr Looking at them today, I thought I could salvage them and save me going through the process, and cost all over again. So a combination of files, angle grinder and a Dremel got the first one acceptable; 20200605_124037 by dusty miller, on Flickr 20200605_124200 by dusty miller, on Flickr And then the other one; 20200605_145721 by dusty miller, on Flickr Just need some time on the polishing wheel now, but that's a job for another day. I will buy some pegs and levers from ebay as before. Dusty
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Post by donkeychomp on Jun 5, 2020 21:45:17 GMT 1
One hell of a save there mate.
Alex
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Post by oldbritguy on Jun 5, 2020 23:57:40 GMT 1
Nice bit of fettling there Dusty
I made a set of similar plates a few years back to mount a set of Hyde rearsets on a Triumph T120. I started with some 10mm alloy plate and cut out the shape then like yourself, files, flapwheel disc on the grinder, dremel and finally elbow grease. Finished satin with Scotchbrite.
Fine if you have lots of machines to remove metal but when doing it all by hand, it is quite an effort. Worth it in the end though especially when you reflect of how much it would cost an engineer to make you a bespoke set of hanger plates.
All you need now is to find someone with a milling machine and mill some nice fins or ribs on the plates for that "factory custom look"
Top job so far
John
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Post by dusty350 on Jun 6, 2020 12:11:26 GMT 1
Saving those rearset plates is a drop in the ocean to be honest ! I sat down and made a list of parts needed for this build. It's frightening ! Another reminder to start off with as complete a bike as possible if you want a project !! It's my advice to people all the time - wish I'd listened to myself ! Here goes; Metmachex Swingarm Decent piggyback shocks Front brake calipers x 2 Front brake lines x 2 Rear caliper (Brembo) Rear caliper carrier (Tyga) Rear brake line Rear set controls/pegs Rear brake master cylinder Left switchgear Right switchgear Throttle tube Throttle cable Speedo cable Tacho cable Grips Loom Headlight Tail light Cdi Tyres x 2 Side panel rubbers Oil tank rubbers Petrol tank rubbers Wheel bearings Sprocket hub bearing Rgv sprocket hub Sprocket hub damper rubbers Chain Rear sprocket Petrol cap Fuel lines Seat lock Allspeed pipes Foam pod filters x 2 Horn Rear disc Plus powdercoat frame and wheels, paint all bodywork, and maybe a bespoke bracket here or there ! Oh, and get that mint seat trimmed down, and re upholstered to suit ! It doesn't get any easier, does it ! Dusty
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Post by dusty350 on Jun 7, 2020 8:38:01 GMT 1
Thinking about the seat mod at the moment. The standard seat is a big blocky design - comfortable for sure but not as good looking in profile as an Lc shaped seat, imo. I want this bike to keep the look of an Rd400 in general, but feel the seat needs reshaping for what I want. I built a 400 about 10 years ago, and had that seat reshaped by a local fella that did an ok job, but I always felt he left too much foam on the pillion part; DSC00040 by dusty miller, on Flickr There was a Café racer build 400 in Motorcycle Mechanics mag some years back with a scalloped seat, and this is nearer what I am after; 20200606_153937 by dusty miller, on Flickr Maybe not quite so low at the front, but I definitely like the pillion part. I will also cut the tail cowl so I can recess the standard 400 rear light. Again, it's a huge light, and very recognisable as aircooled Rd, but looks good recessed I think; 400 seat decals 003 (1) by dusty miller, on Flickr I had a bespoke bracket made for that and I still have the CAD template, so could replicate it again - it bolted to the underside of the seat utilising the cowl mounting points so made for a really clean and simple modification. Dusty
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Post by Yogi on Jun 7, 2020 8:47:06 GMT 1
Saving those rearset plates is a drop in the ocean to be honest ! I sat down and made a list of parts needed for this build. It's frightening ! Another reminder to start off with as complete a bike as possible if you want a project !! It's my advice to people all the time - wish I'd listened to myself ! Here goes; Metmachex Swingarm Decent piggyback shocks Front brake calipers x 2 Front brake lines x 2 Rear caliper (Brembo) Rear caliper carrier (Tyga) Rear brake line Rear set controls/pegs Rear brake master cylinder Left switchgear Right switchgear Throttle tube Throttle cable Speedo cable Tacho cable Grips Loom Headlight Tail light Cdi Tyres x 2 Side panel rubbers Oil tank rubbers Petrol tank rubbers Wheel bearings Sprocket hub bearing Rgv sprocket hub Sprocket hub damper rubbers Chain Rear sprocket Petrol cap Fuel lines Seat lock Allspeed pipes Foam pod filters x 2 Horn Rear disc Plus powdercoat frame and wheels, paint all bodywork, and maybe a bespoke bracket here or there ! Oh, and get that mint seat trimmed down, and re upholstered to suit ! It doesn't get any easier, does it ! Dusty I totally agree that your best off starting as complete as possible 👍 When you need to source so many parts it’s takes a lot of fun out of the build and turns into a bit of a ball ache 🥴
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Post by dusty350 on Jun 7, 2020 9:39:50 GMT 1
Yea, proper ball ache ! As I've said before, finding certain parts for the aircooled is hard, and some parts are ridiculously expensive for what they are. I got really lucky with the seat, side panel and tail piece - cost me £60 for the lot basically, so I don't mind spending a bit on the seat to get it how I want it. I'm looking forward to getting stuck into the rolling chassis, but it will be the last aircooled I build ! I like to just get on with building rather than scanning ebay every day hoping and waiting for an elusive part to turn up, maybe !! I'm too long in the tooth to enjoy hunting down rare parts That list is an expensive one, and I'm preparing to sell a bike to fund it - nothing unusual there for me !! Dusty
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motty
L plate rider.
Posts: 41
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Post by motty on Jun 7, 2020 10:34:04 GMT 1
The rear light looks great when it is recessed into the tail unit.
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Post by dusty350 on Jun 12, 2020 18:34:59 GMT 1
I now have a mint pair of Nissin calipers thanks to my lovely mate "Mouse" Thanks again mate; 20200607_152048 by dusty miller, on Flickr The swingarm has now been ordered from Metmachex. It will be the same as the arm that is in my Café racer, except it wont have the top suspension loop. Metmachex will supply the twin shock mounting plates loose. Ideally they would have had the frame and rear wheel to mock up accurately, but due to Covid and other things, I am gonna struggle to get up to Derby at the mo. The frame pivot width is the same as an Lc at 200mm, length of the arm is the same, and this arm will be for the Vj22 wheel, so will have the brake caliper carrier pin fitted as opposed to the torque arm set up I had on the Café bike. Once the arm is fitted I can do the mock up here, and once happy I can get my local guys to weld in the shock mounts. I also met with Frank, the upholsterer today. He is a good friend of Yamark's, and I took my seat over to discuss losing some of the bulkiness and giving it some shape. We settled on a new shape after he drew different options on the side of the seat cover. The plan is for a new plain cover on a seat with more of a gentle curve - very much like the profile of an Lc seat which we offered up next to it. I have given him free reign to do what he thinks is best, so looking forward to the results ! Hopefully I'm not too many weeks away from a rolling chassis Dusty
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Post by dusty350 on Jun 19, 2020 14:54:11 GMT 1
So, my "mint" german seat was left with Frank, the upholsterer, for reshaping and new cover. Photos arrived today off the stripped down seat. The underside of the seat - the side you see when the seat is off the bike, looks perfect - no rot, nice coat of paint etc. Frank removed the foam to reveal; IMG-20200619-WA0002 by dusty miller, on Flickr IMG-20200619-WA0001 by dusty miller, on Flickr That was a surprise ! Obviously had a lot of repair work in the past ! You can understand why Yamaha went with plastic seat bases on the Lc onwards - not just as a weight saving measure !! Still, at least it's been done, and the rough welds have obviously been dressed back on the "seen" side. The foam looked pretty manky too; IMG-20200619-WA0000 by dusty miller, on Flickr Thankfully it's only the top surface. I suppose not too bad considering it could be up to 42 years old ! Frank has cut the top layer of foam off anyway; IMG-20200619-WA0003 by dusty miller, on Flickr Dusty
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Post by donkeychomp on Jun 19, 2020 21:52:46 GMT 1
Bloody hell that's had some welding done, and by the Stevie Wonder school by the looks of it! At least it's all intact. Looking forward to seeing the finished product.
Alex
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Post by dusty350 on Jun 19, 2020 22:05:40 GMT 1
Hi Alex Yea, I was pretty surprised when I saw that pic ! Especially when this is the other side; 20200522_111545 by dusty miller, on Flickr No wonder good seats are hard to find, and expensive ! Hope you are well mate Dusty
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Post by oldbritguy on Jun 19, 2020 22:53:22 GMT 1
That is amazing. Just shows that even our European buddies are having to do loads of repair work too, to keep their old bikes on the road.
I really like the new shape of the seat foam. Looks well tidy, almost LC ish.
Looking forward to seeing it covered
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Post by cbm on Jun 20, 2020 5:25:48 GMT 1
TFFT Dusty, having seen the "before" seat in the flesh so to speak it looked way way to good to Murder sorry, modify, I'm sure there's plenty of 400E/F owners out there that would been in tears. But like a lot of things in life, once the clothes come off ...................anyway having seen Frank's photos I'm happy to reduce the charge to Seatslaughter 😋.
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Post by dusty350 on Jun 20, 2020 8:15:08 GMT 1
Hi John I think the seat looks much better now too. It looked really bulky as standard. We placed one of Mark's standard Lc seats next to my 400 seat to get a line that mimicked the Lc shape. Couldn't go too low at the front due to the tank cut out that clears the top of the airbox on a standard bike, plus wanted to keep enough foam to keep it comfortable. Back in the day there were a few ac's riding about with Lc seat conversions, and that was my next idea if the ac seat hadn't turned up when it did. Hi Chris Yea, I'm sure a few ac guys would spill their Horlicks if they saw the seat at the start ! It did look too good to butcher, and even with the repairs it still looks a mint seat on the bits that you actually see. But, the rarity of the seats means you have to work with what you've got, and I didn't feel precious about getting Frank to do the cut down. Once he had the shape right, he covered the old foam with a very thin new foam; IMG-20200619-WA0004 by dusty miller, on Flickr Dusty
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Post by Yogi on Jun 20, 2020 9:04:53 GMT 1
You’ve gotta love that seat base, the amount of work done to make it look like nowt as been done 🤔 The finished shape looks a lot better now
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Post by dusty350 on Jun 20, 2020 9:11:19 GMT 1
Cheers Yogi Yea, someone spent a lot of time on that. Another example of the weight saving mission Yamaha were on with the Lc. The ac seat weighs a ton compared to an Lc seat. And no rot to worry about with the Lc either !! Dusty
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Post by dusty350 on Jun 24, 2020 19:15:25 GMT 1
Frank, the upholsterer, has done a great job finishing the seat; IMG-20200619-WA0008 by dusty miller, on Flickr 20200623_194722 by dusty miller, on Flickr 20200623_194701 by dusty miller, on Flickr Much more of a curve to it - very much like an Lc seat from the side profile. He had some repair work to do to the sides of the seat frame too - he's done a great job, I'm really pleased Parts collecting carries on in earnest. Anyone thinking of starting a project build with only a frame - DONT DO IT !! The amount of parts you have to source, and the cost of even simple second hand parts is just mad It's easy to forget just how many components make up a bike, until you have to buy them one by one !! I know Yambits parts get bad press, but I have got some parts from them this week - nothing structural or likely to wreck the bike; 20200623_194555 by dusty miller, on Flickr The rear light is made by Hi Level, so that should be decent quality. I also bought a new, pattern right switchgear off ebay; 20200620_135723 by dusty miller, on Flickr New genuine Yam throttle cable; 20200620_135803 by dusty miller, on Flickr I also swapped some parts over from my 430e. I had some decent spares I could use on that bike, so I now have a front master cylinder and billet fluid pot, a nice billet clutch perch, Titax levers and a new ish clutch cable all going on this build; 20200623_195100 by dusty miller, on Flickr I'm hoping the swingarm build will be underway soon - I am keen to get a rolling chassis together asap Dusty
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Post by flames on Jun 24, 2020 20:28:28 GMT 1
Amazing, as always.
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Post by cbm on Jun 25, 2020 5:17:08 GMT 1
For around a mere £700 delivered you could of saved Frank a job Dusty and just bought this bit of nostalgia instead
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Post by dusty350 on Jun 25, 2020 6:57:08 GMT 1
Ouch ! £700 for a Gully seat There was one on ebay Uk recently - started at £100. Not really keen on the hump part at the back - you lose the cowl and have to mount the rear light separately too. Guiliari definitely did a better job with the Lc designed seat !! Dusty
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Post by oldbritguy on Jun 25, 2020 7:23:06 GMT 1
Top job on that seat Dusty. Looks really good and much slimmer than the standard one, which before you took it apart, also looked good as well.
Totally agree with you on rebuilding from parts. Start with as complete a bike as you can get. Sourcing all those little difficult to find parts becomes a serious case of open wallet surgery. Don't look at the final bill when it comes
I hope the kids appreciate the effort you are putting into their inheritance lol
John
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Post by sidney81 on Jun 26, 2020 16:49:45 GMT 1
Hi dusty just caught up on this looking lovley 👍🙂
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Post by dusty350 on Jun 26, 2020 20:59:54 GMT 1
Hi Chris Cheers mate Rolling chassis is my next goal, hopefully before the next lockdown ! Engine should be finished this weekend too Dusty
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Post by dusty350 on Jun 26, 2020 21:17:39 GMT 1
Hi John The kids couldn't care less about the bikes !! I said, with grand pomp and ceremony the other day, to my lad (22) that he would inherit the Café Racer bike when I croak. To say he was underwhelmed was an understatement ! Seemed a big deal to me Dusty
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Post by chud786 on Jun 26, 2020 22:55:36 GMT 1
Just read the full thread. Amazing work,can't wait for more.
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Post by donkeychomp on Jun 27, 2020 22:27:55 GMT 1
Is it too late for me to get adopted?
Alex
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Post by dusty350 on Jul 4, 2020 20:37:23 GMT 1
The parts collecting continues ! Bought a left side switchgear this week - a new, pattern item to match the right side, so another major component ticked off the list; 20200704_114415 by dusty miller, on Flickr The engine is finished, barring getting 2 pump to carb oil pipes. I made a new rubber flap/cover to fit the generator side case, from some rubber mat that I had; 20200704_125322 by dusty miller, on Flickr I also fitted new Yamaha fuel hose, and a new Yam oil tank to pump hose. I had a gel style tank logo sticker hanging about, and it fits the oil pump casing perfectly; 20200704_170257 by dusty miller, on Flickr And topped up the gearbox oil to the correct 1500ml with fresh light gear oil. A change of plan with the swingarm though. Originally I asked Metmachex to supply the shock mounts loose with the arm and I would get them welded on locally, but my engineering guys are seldom open at the moment as they have no work until the studios open up again in Shepperton. So I emailed Tamsyn this week, and the plan now is when the swingarm has been made, I will travel up to Derbyshire and get Garry to weld the brackets on - I will take my frame and shocks with me. I can then bring it all back same day. I will strip the frame down in the meantime so it's ready to go. Some more of the parts I've collected so far; 20200704_130126 by dusty miller, on Flickr I've decided to sell my 430e too. I don't ride it, and the funds will help progress this build, plus it means there will be room in the garage to build this bike in there. It will gain momentum over the winter months I expect and building down in the shed is harder that in the garage. Dusty
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Post by donkeychomp on Jul 4, 2020 22:05:59 GMT 1
Another one sold. Bugger. But I know this is what you love to do Dusty, create something then sell it to fund the next project. I wonder what that will be?
Alex
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