BARN YARD 500

[Vonzipper]

Pulled the head off the lower cylinders and inspected them. The bore measured stock-with little or no wear or ridge at top of cylinder. I can still see some cross hatch pattern on # 2 cylinder. I think this is not the original motor since the serial numbers don't match the frame # ?

[silverstrom]

Do you plan on opening the bottom end? You should. Ignoring the bottom end is just going to end in tears. It's not just seals you need to be concerned with, but also bearings. Keep in mind that as a 2 stroke there will always be exhaust ports opened when the bike is in storage. That means cold damp air finds it's way through the pipes and airbox and into the motor where corrosion forms. That corrosion will most certainly take place in the bearings. As soon as you fire the engine up that corrosion starts eating the bearings with predictable results. It will all go to hell in a hurry. You don't want to be anywhere near that thing when crank and rod bearings fail.

[Vonzipper]

Ordered crankshaft seal kit and gaskets to rebuild the motor, already got head and base gaskets plus power valve seals all OEM from my local Yamaha Dealer. Today I pulled the motor to start the rebuild, will strip the frame and send it for powder coating. Here's some pics of the progress.

[Vonzipper]

Been busy working on my restoration for the last 3 months, here's an update on the progress I made to date. The motor was overhauled
using only genuine Yamaha parts from my local dealer who had in stock piston/rings, base and head gaskets. The other parts had to be ordered and would take a week. I know that a lot of parts for this bike is NLA from Yamaha but fortunate for me I got all the parts needed for my motor rebuild from my local dealer. The motor was on stock bore and the crankshaft also, the seals were shot also the piston rings. Being an 84 motor I did the balancer Mod while I was in there. Here's some pictures of the rebuild.



















This was the easy part, the chassis and suspension with its old seized and rusted components presented a bigger challenge, I will update that on my next post.

[rd84]

Great to see those photo's - I'm at that stage right now - I just need to get on and finish the engine off - I think you've just given me some incentive to put some more work in and ignore those pesky DIY jobs that keep getting in the way !

Cheers
Paul

[solo 2]

Looking good, another Alberta 500 being brought back to life, little money pits aren't they.

[Vonzipper]

Getting a rolling chassis remains the hardest task in this restoration, for all the moving parts like swing arm, wheel bearings/seals, brakes, forks, speedo drive were all either seized, rusted up or defective. Pictures tell the story.






[URL=http://s1093.photobucket.com/user/vonzi ... 9.jpg.html]







Black fork legs are my signature trademark on all my RZ's































Next is overhaul the brake system.

[silverstrom]

Looking very good Geoff.

As many of us have learned the hard way, anything can be fixed if you throw enough money at it. Money pit is an understatement in most cases, but the end result makes the pain go away.

Why black on the fork lowers and wheels? Just like the look?

[Vonzipper]

Black fork legs is like my signature trade mark, all my bikes have them. Black wheels is a matter of personal preference. I am by no means a rich man and I did not throw a ton of money into this bike, and for some reason I found all the parts I needed to rebuild this bike. I've got a lot of time invested in it for sure and at the end of the build I will debunk the myth of the RZ500 parts hard to find at a reasonable price and availability. Don't get me wrong, I know that a lot of parts are NLA from Yamaha but not the parts I needed except a few like fork seals and crank seals (RG500.com). As you all can see I built the bike using only genuine Yamaha parts all available from my local dealer. The part numbers are on the plastic bags and you can check the prices, it does add up but not to the extent every one is crying about. This bike was in the worse possible condition you can find, but luckily for me the major components in the motor was still good so the overhaul was not too costly. Besides I do every thing myself and save a lot of money that way. My parts RZ350 yielded a few bits also, like a new ignition switch that only needed the harness lengthen, speedo drive gears and some brake parts. The frame I was going to get powder coated, it would have cost me several hundred bucks and 3 weeks turn around time. I paid $50. to DIY sand blast it and spray painted it myself professionally. I've been building bikes for over 30 years and know every DIY cost cutting measure there is while building it to manufacturer's specs or better.

More on this later.

[solo 2]

I guess it all depends on what your definition of cheap is, a lot of people on here do rest-mods or 100% original concours which can cost some money. I did everything myself except cranks and boring, not my first time at the dance either and I searched the world, literally, for parts at a decent price. If anything is still available Canada is probably the easiest place to get them, including discount bikes. I don't think anyone,s crying about cost, but most who have been building bikes for a long time to a high level generally warn newbies of the cost potential of these bikes, especially if you're not familiar with undertaking a project like this.

You did a nice job as cheap as possible, good on ya.

[Vonzipper]

What a great site we have, today I remembered I read a post on here about 520 chain sprocket conversion using an R1 front and an RZ350 rear sprocket. Ok I've got an RZ350 rear sprocket 40T in my 350 inventory also a new 520 chain, must have spare chain when supporting 2 RZ's check. What about front sprocket?? don't have one in stock, never had an R1, oh it also said a CBR900RR front can also work. Wait a minute I've got a lot of those from my racing days on the 900, lets see. Bingo a 520 conversion from my spares and it didn't cost me a thing today. don't know if I will take this route tho.

[Dukeman]

Great build.
Will be watching for the final result.

I like you like to do it all myself where possible, great satisfaction.

[Vonzipper]

Got the motor in the frame and all hooked up, it started on the third kick after nearly 20 years not working. It really surprised me, now I got to tune and sync the carbs here's the video of the first start. http://youtu.be/AUC1NH3dP0k" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[rd84]

Really nice work Geoff - thanks for sharing it - it can be inspirational to see what others achieve since I'm only an amateur at this.

Can I ask how you got the engine into the frame please. I've only ever done this once - I had to have the engine very stripped down with the minimum of components attached and I then placed the frame over the engine - I found the engine just too difficult to manoeuvre accurately on my own.

Cheers
Paul

[Vonzipper]

Its a two man job to muscle the motor into the frame from the right side. Its not too heavy with two persons lifting it, takes less than a minute.