RD/RGV

[longun]

Hi everyone.

I'm a newbie and wanted to share my project.

I've been looking for an RD350LC for a couple of years now and finally dropped on one thats been parked in a damp garage for 7 years. When I went to look at the bike I couldn't see all of it due to the crap piled on top of it but I could tell it was complete with a set of chrome allspeed.

After a bit of haggle I got it for £500.

When I went back to pick it up I dug it out of the garage to find it wasn't in bad nick at all and the Allspeeds are very tidy. Plus I got the added bonus of finding a double braced JMC polished swing arm holding the back end together.

The bike is on a 4L1 frame but everything else is 350 so as I've always wanted to have one with the RGV running gear that's whats happening.

I've swapped the JMC swing arm for a complete upside down front and banana rear complete with wheels, discs and calipers etc. The swing arm is at NK so hopefully i'll have it back in a couple of weeks.

Only bad thing so far has been the tank was wrotten when I eventually got in to it and had more filler than Jordan has. It had already had a tank seal put in that was now hanging off the inside of the tank so I had to find another. The engine is going back together with new seals and gaskets, no problems found except for a bit of were on the clutch drum fingers so I've had the file out.

Anyway with a lot of luck I should get it built to ride before the crap weather comes and then carry on doing a little bit over time to get it 100%

Any conversion advise would be appreciated, I'm looking for a YPVS rear master cylinder if anyone can help.

Thanks

Mark

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[nikfubar]

You lucky ba**ard ;D
What conversion advice do you need, plenty been done on here.

[longun]

Cheers ;D
First one I've done so if anything I was looking for "don't do it this way cos I did and it was a t**t" kind of advise.

Just waiting for the frame to come back from blasting then I will alter the lock stops to marry up with the RGV bits.

As said before looking for a YPVS rear master cylinder to go with the NK bracket but I wondered if an early R1 cylinder could be mounted?

Also someone told me the foot rest hangers need to be spaced off the frame to accomodate the swing arm is that correct?

[brains]

I'm doing the same project at the minute, £500 you got a bargain! Nice to start a project that way . I would say do everything properly the first time round. Do it right do it once. Its much more hastle to do it later or discover that something is wrong and you have to strip it all down again. For example i spent a lot of time cleaning and painting the front rgv calipers now they look all nice, but i have to take them off again as the seals are knackered, i didn't know this at the time now i have to take them off and strip them and put new seals in. same with fork seals one is weaping and I'm hoping its not the pitting that's causing it. the front end mod is easy there's plenty of info on the forums for it. The rear should be good as Ive heard nothing but good thinks about NK racing. I made my own brackets there with the welders at the minute and I made a sleeve from hydraulic tubing to the original swing arm bolt works with the RGV swing arm bearings ( which i also need to replace ).

I had previously rebuild another engine and had some of the casings shot blasted. And I would never again get anything that involves the engine shot blasted. i had to spend hours cleaning the tiny bits of blast out of the smallest of places. I should have known better.

So Do it right do it once.
Info here is great

Hardest think Ive encountered so far is deciding on the colours/paint scheme.
I'm told all the Yellow ones are slow..........

On the plus side A RD/RGV Hybrid has just sold on ebay for 4.8K
Good luck with it

[Grumpy Pete]

I had to use spacers for my foot peg hangers. Mine has zx6r rear sets on it but when i offered my original hangers the clearance was tight.
Also my lomas/stephens pipes needed the footpegs hangers moved over to stop it clouting the rgv swing arm + the chain run was scraping because of the offset sprocket.
The easiest solution for the pipes was to get pipes with collars and springs rather then welded at the collars to allow side ways movement.

Hope that helps?

Ps i have a ypvs slave cylinder if you need it, it needs a good clean tho

[longun]

Brains

I watched the one on ebay, it was very very nice though.

I'm intending to do everything like bearings and seals etc as I go, I have use of a blast cabinet but I held off for the very reason you said. In the end I got out the trusty Dremmil and cleaned them up with the little wire brush.

I would love an absolute minter but tbh I'm happy to build it to a good standard then ride it as soon as I can. The bikes a keeper for me to so plenty of winters to strip and rebuild.

The only down side is I'm short on garage space so one toy is going to have to go to make space

Pete

Thanks for the advise. I'll take you up on the YPVS master cylinder if it can be saved. P.M me your details and how much you want.

I'm very excitted about this bike and can't wait to fire it up. Only time and money are against me.....

[leaky]

"Only time and money are against me..... "

Now there's a saying that may well come back a couple of times to haunt you!
Great find there mate, I love it when I find a bargain and then find there's even a bonus to go with it - shame it doesn't happen too many times though. Enjoy the rebuild and as brains says, do it once... properly.

[bubba]

hello longun and welcome! what a bloody bargain you have found there! £500
i am going to be doing the same rgv conversion so will watch this thread with great intrest! as i am first timer in doing one as well
what do you do if you want to keep the orginal speedo? does the speedocable fit the rgv vj22 speedodrive?
also are both the wheels off the vj22 17 inch? as i am having trouble finding some.

[kennyroberts]

good to see you on here longun and welcome to the forum, im new on this one myself, doing a rebuild from scratch much like yourself..........(350 f2 full nut and bolt rebuild),
and possibly doing a hybrid....not sure yet, i will watch with interest ....happy building !

[longun]

Thanks to all for the welcome.

Bubba both wheels are 17" and I've been told by a local bike shop that all speedo cables are the same size fitting where they go into the clocks so in theory the RGV cable should go on.

Just got the frame back from blasting, don't know whether to go for powder or paint?

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[jessy03]

Hello and welcome,
you will need some spacers for the footrest hangers NK will supply these, I would go will collars on the pipe which allow a small amount of movement, I presume you will be fitting the LC engine if so you will need an offest front sprocket 10mm again NK will supply these and 5mm spacer for the front end and off you go, just bolt it together. then the fun starts rebuilding the engine and setting it up.
If you still need a rear master cylinder I have an R1 Brembo one VGC which would fit, let me know.
Best of luck Jessy

[longun]

Cheers Jessy.

The Allspeeds have collers so I should have the movement I need. I think I'm sorted with a m/c curtessy of Grumpy Pete. I've got a spacer that came with the forks but it needs turning down a bit as it's 8mm deep. N/K have the other bits there ready to pick up with the swing arm.

Must admit I'm hoping that I'm very lucky and the bike run's sweet, if not I need a 2 stroker to sort it for me. Do you know of any in Yorkshire area?

Any suggestions for a front m/c? I assume the rd unit won't be up to the job.

Cheers

Mark

[greengoatchoker]

www.2moto.co.uk/

this lot are very helpful and there work is first class

[midlifecrisisrd]

Jun 29, 2010 20:29:36 GMT 1 bubba said:

hello longun and welcome! what a bloody bargain you have found there! £500
i am going to be doing the same rgv conversion so will watch this thread with great intrest! as i am first timer in doing one as well
what do you do if you want to keep the orginal speedo? does the speedocable fit the rgv vj22 speedodrive?
also are both the wheels off the vj22 17 inch? as i am having trouble finding some.

As for the wheels was looking at this too. Front is the same as some 400/600 bandit (don't know if the bearings are different but easily sorted) and easy to find, was tempted to buy one to see. For the rear the Gs500 and GSXF600 both use the same 4 bolt pattern disc and can be picked up for as little as a tenner. One was local to me for £15 so was going to buy it to see but the bloke p*ssed me off so I told him where to stick it and used my 18" wheel.

Some one must know/be able to try it.
Rgv speedo cable fits rd speedo or if too short I used a 600 bandit one, you just need to cut the slot at the bottom of the cable deeper.

Steve.

[bubba]

Great thread this one loads of useful tips!
cheers longun & midlifecrisisrd never thought about the other suzuki wheel choices
nice first edtion r1 sitting in the background there;)

[longun]

Not sure where I got to before the post pixies snatch all the old posts but......... I'm waiting on some bits from Norbo (only just ordered them with him) I need to drop the forks and swing arm for polishing, the painter need to finish the paint and I need to sort the top yolk.

Happy days.

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[bubba]

thats come on loads since the last pics taking shape nicely

[greengoatchoker]

Jun 30, 2010 9:58:05 GMT 1 jessy03 said:

Hello and welcome,
you will need some spacers for the footrest hangers NK will supply these, I would go will collars on the pipe which allow a small amount of movement, I presume you will be fitting the LC engine if so you will need an offest front sprocket 10mm again NK will supply these and 5mm spacer for the front end and off you go, just bolt it together. then the fun starts rebuilding the engine and setting it up.
If you still need a rear master cylinder I have an R1 Brembo one VGC which would fit, let me know.
Best of luck Jessy

don't waste your money buying offset sprockets until you have lined them up . i was told i would need a 4mm offset and bought one and didn't need it at all . neither did a freind of mine .

[longun]

Bought the off set sprocket when I took the swing arm for mod. Found last night that the original is wider so the nut locks off on the shaft before locking onto the sprocket
Needs a washer to space it or may not need the sprocket if it's like yours.

Found the nissin 4 pots need new pistons when I stripped them so I bought some tokico 6 pots for 70 quid.

[longun]

Swing arm and forks back on Monday

So close but yet so far......

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[longun]

just picked up the paint work, what do you think?

I'm chuffed with it. Got a few late nights on the horizon me thinks. ;D

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[lcowner]

well nice m8,different ..........

[longun]

shiney bling.

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[mellow]

NICE!!!!!!!!!!!

[richardroberts]

mint choice luv the red blocks on white. cant wait to c it done

[scott]

as said m8 the paint job is well nice

[bubba]

looking good

[longun]

Can you give me your opinions on which tyres/sizes you'd run please? If I remember right the front was 110 and the rear 150 do you run the standard sizes or do you go 120 front 160 rear?

I've not run on smaller tyres for a long while, I use rentecs or super corsa's on the R1.

The L.C's not gonna be ridden hard but I'd still like sticky tyres that I know are capable if I get a little carried away.

Project has come to a bit of a halt at the moment and I want to get some tyres fit so I feel like I'm still going forward with it

[nikfubar]

I use Bridgestone Battlax BT090 on mine 110 front 150 rear, brilliant tyres for these, not cheap though

If you try and run a 160 on the back you may have issues with the chain rubbing against the tyre, I did

[2942matt]

Cracking paint work, shaping up nicely, keep the pics coming!