Galloway's 84 RZ350 restoration

[galloway840]

I don't have the "before" photo, just a bunch of "in progress" photos.

I purchased the bike used in 1987 for about $1,700 and it had about 1800 miles on it. Of course the original owner had laid it down on the right side so the front brake lever, bar end, rear brake lever, foot peg, oil pump cover and clutch cover all had road rash, but other than that everything was perfect. I was struggling to decide b/w a Honda 500cc Interceptor and the Yamaha RZ350. A five minute test ride on the RZ and the decision was made.

I was 17 when I got it in Augusta Georgia, and lord knows how I survived. And Lord knows how I talked my folks into buying it, but I did. I test rode it in September '86 and bought it in January '87 after daily haranging of my parents. Amazingly enough I never put it down.

I took it off to college where it suffered badly. I rode it all the time, but didn't have much time for maintenance. Sitting under a rain cover I think it rusted more than if I didn't cover it. Some jackass put a lit cigarette on the seat once, and more than once it got tipped over by drunk frat brothers I suppose.

After graduation I did some extensive restoration and got back to riding it regularly in the North Georgia Mountains. In 1995 it was stolen, but apparently the thief was unable to start it so the cops found it on its side in an alley a few blocks away.

Over the years I've replaced the pistons, rings, honed the cylinders, painted the Toomey's, rebuilt the carbs, replaced the CDI and lot's of minor things.

I bought tapered roller bearings 15 years ago, but didn't have the shop space to install them.

Now, 2009, the bike is 25 years old. I figure it's time to start the restoration process again. Some parts of it have never been touched. That's about to change.

Starting with those oh-so-bad steering head bearings...

First we put the bike on the centerstand. Then we ask dad to build a quick auxilliary support for the front end. I love it when the parents visit. I told him what I had in mind and when I returned from work the bike was on it.







How do you say "original 1984 solid bearing grease"?





Those pits made for some pretty notchy steering. No need for a steering damper though :(







Note the condensation on the steering tube from freezing it. Worked well, the bearings went on really easily...







Wow, it feels great. Wish I'd gotten around to this many moons ago. Nothing too tough, but quite a bit of disassembly to get to them.

Phase 1 complete.

Richard

[smurph]

Nice stand! Your dad is good with his hands.

So tell me, how does one get from N. Georgia to Ontario? I hope you didn't make that trip on the RZ. That would be a ride!

Steve

[aaronmvrider]

how do you know he is good with his hands

just joking.........

looks like a great starting piece and it comes with a history of being your bike i wish i still had my first bike !!!!!

well done for holding on to it for this long..... if you know what i mean

[galloway840]

Indeed, my dad is good with his hands. He is an oral surgeon - so he'd better be.

He's a home hobby mechanic, with all the woodworking and metal working toys a person could ever want. Lathe, mill-drill, oxy-acetylene, MIG, ARC welders, table saws, wood lathes, planers, band-saws, etc. I've got lots of woodworking stuff myself, but not much metal working.

Army brat, so we've lived everywhere. Augusta Georgia is Fort Gordon, so that was our assignment from 1985 to 1988. I went on to Georgia Tech in 1988-1993 and stayed in Atlanta to 2000. After that work took me and my family to Michigan then over to Ontario. We're flexible and up for adventure. Michigan and Ontario aren't really adventureous, but we like to meet different people.

I've thought of selling the bike many times, but I can never bring myself to do it. Thought it better to fix it up and be the proud owner instead of reading of someone else fixing it up and posting all the work here. That would be tough to watch.

Richard

[galloway840]

Next, the front forks.

I'm not sure what the pressurizing the forks is needed for if you're going to remove the damper rod bolt and pull them apart. I pressurized one to push the seal out, but didn't on the other one. They both came apart about as easy.

As you can see, the seal retaining clips on both forks were completely rusted, took a while to get those out and cleaned up.



The basic rust and pitting on the upper legs was embarrassing, but thankfully cleaned up fully without hassle.



Kind of a before and after in this shot...



No immediate shots of the internals, but they're completely apart and the new parts have arrived (seals, bushings and even the plastic bushings (why not?))... I haven't ordered the emulators, but I suppose I ought to. After reading the thread about straight rate versus progressive springs it seems I may have even more parts to order. Cary at RZs Unlimited recommends straight rate. Klaus at YSS recommends progressive. What's a novice to do?

[T.RexRacing]

The advantage of straight wound springs is ease of set up.Preload/sag is far easier with straight wound springs.You reach a point with progressives where it's either too much preload/not enough sag or vice versa.Can't get it right because of the progression.Won't happen to everyone depending on weight/spring rates chosen.I prefer straight wound for that reason.Then again my RZ has progressives in it right now.That's going to change soon.

[galloway840]

Unfortunately for the photo lovers, I failed to take any photos of the rear suspension rebuild.

Every joint was packed with virtually solid 25 year old grease, which works surprisingly well as a rust inhibitor. Took a while to clean it all up and buff out the rust spots, but there was no need to replace anything. Put it all back together without too much incident.

I'm really on the fence about what to do about the rear shock. I don't like the idea of hacking the frame and plastic mud guard to make room for the R6 shock, but of course I'd like the performance of it. I'm most inclined to get a YSS shock for $439.

Here are the few photos I took...

[smurph]

I second the straight rate springs, especially if you are going with the emulators. Progressives springs are a band-aid compromise for a damping rod fork. There is a certain amount of progression built into the fork. As the air compresses, the forks firm up automagically. And you don't need more.

Steve

[galloway840]

Hmm,

I got all the new parts I ordered (new dust seal, circlip, oil seal, inner tube bushing, outer tube bushing, and even the damper rod plastic bushing)





But when I look closely at the inner tube there is still a little plastic bushing inside (above a metal bushing with a hole drilled in it) that I don't see in the parts diagram. I didn't order a replacement, not do I know if it's needed or how you would order it.







What do you guys think? Slap it back together an don't worry about it? Why aren't these two pieces included in the manual or parts fiches?

Thanks,

Richard

[galloway840]

Took a month off to properly import my '02 Aprilia RSV-R into Canada, which was a huge task. Got it done, then promptly took it to North Carolina to do some riding for a week - great fun (no tickets, no crashes, no mechanicals)...

The RZ is sitting waiting for some attention. I ordered the RaceTech Emulators and fork springs. Turns out the fork springs have been on back order at Eibach for 3-4 months already not including the 1 month I've waited. Not sure what is up with that, but I hope it won't be too much longer. I'll probably slap the front back together with the current spring then add the Eibach's when they arrive. Not that I need any springs at the moment :(

Ordered the YSS shock. It came in, it's beautiful, but it doesn't begin to fit. Had to send it back and they're working out some solutions. 1) too long, 2) bottom eyelet wont accommodate the stock bushing or bolt.



I'm confident they can come up with a fix, but a little surprised that what I thought would be a direct plug-n-play didn't turn out as such.

Richard

[galloway840]

Well, even if I don't have the all the fork components, I have a nice shiny box full of fork pieces



I've got a bit more work to do on removing old stickers and varnish then I have to decide whether I'm buying an air compressor and paint gun to do them myself, or send them to someone else.

I was searching the Yellow Pages and found a shop called "Reflections Motorcycle Restoration" here in Windsor Ontario. I thought I'd hit the jackpot. Went in for a visit and have to say I haven't met any business people less interested in business than these guys. They didn't really look up when I came in, they didn't say hello, and when I started the conversation they didn't really sound that interested in the job. I don't know if it was my "metric" bike that caused the problem because they did have some Triumphs and other things in there. I just can't believe in their business and in this economy that they'd act so indifferent. Sort of made me suspect what business they might really be in.

Anyway, they quoted me $250-$300 to get my fork legs varnished. I don't think so.

Richard

[galloway840]

Dissassembled the brake calipers and it's very straight forward up until you try to split a corroded caliper. It took an hour of WD-40, a wooden block to pound and a few scraped knuckles...

Mostly things looked good.











But certainly not everything looked good...



It mostly cleans up pretty well though...



Need a few more photos of the cleaned up parts - they don't look too bad.

I need to paint the calipers and may do it with a rattle can, but not sure at this point.

Richard

[TROY-4L0]

Nice detailed write up..keep at it

[galloway840]

Time to bring this one back to the top :)

I've been too busy in '09 and '10 - first, work, and second, I started doing trackdays on my '02 Aprilia Mille. Now most of my maintenance and setup time is spent working on it.

Fortunately, lately I've been able to spend a bit of time on the RZED - painting the calipers and installing new seals, polishing the forks and painting with rattle can clear coat. A perfectionist wouldn't be happy, but a home shop bike restorer wouldn't consider them too bad.





Home-made bushing and seal installer - $1.25 or so.

[JonW]

Great to hear youre back on this. How did you go getting the Eibachs and the rear shock in the end?

Everytime Ive ordered Eibach parts for cars Ive had to wait, I just think they make things in small batches and then you have to wait for the next time that part is in construction as per its phase, by then everyone who wants one is on an order form and they sell out instantly, and the process starts over again... Sway bars for Mk2 Golf GTIs was the worst of the lot... they were selling for double or more BNIB is you wanted to sell them on... eeek.