....barrelling along.

Well nothing much has been done to the RD for a couple of weeks. But that usually means that I've been up to my neck in jobs for the park. This week it was the turn of one of our OXOBikes to give me grief. ​

After buying them last year to hire out in the park, we've had a constant stream of niggling faults with them due to the lack of maitenance from their previous owner. A lot of it was just loose bolts and things falling of because they didn't have correct nuts and washers or safety pins. Over the last year we have sorted out most problems including rebuilding one engine from one that had hit a tree and fitting it to another that had eaten it's crankshaft big end from infrequent oil changes.​ This was the one causing trouble now.

​After the engine refit it went like a rocket. It had obviously done little work before it lunched it's engine as it also handle the best as well. We decided this would be the best one to sell to help recoup some of the cost in rebuilding the others. We plan on importing more next year so we sold this one with 3 month warranty on the engine to maintain our reputation and to show we have faith that they aren't cheap junk like so many others that are coming in from China.

This meant I needed to give it a once over and service. Not a problem until I noticed a slight weep of green coolant coming from the rear head stud. Closer inspection revealed a crack in the cylinders water jacket. Bugger! It was meant to be leaving to go to it's new home the next day.

I had never removed the head or cylinder from these engines while still in the buggy and its a serious job to get the engine out. First time for everything then. First job was to pull the seats to get access to the engine. After removing the cam box I managed, after much wriggling, to get the camshaft out without removing it's sprocket. Next to undo the head studs and remove it. First problem. Rear head studs won't pass the chassis tube. With a bit of careful manuovring the head was off and cylinder as well. We reused the barrel and piston in the last rebuild as it didn't show much wear. After a quick hone we fitted new rings rebuilt it with new gaskets. This time I would be using a new cylinder we had on hand as well as new piston and rings. ​

....working on the hire bikes.

These last couple of weeks hasn't seen much progress on the RD. Between working on my house, lending a hand at the Dowerin Machinery Field Days and working on the park bikes I haven't had much time for anything else.

These pictures are of a rear axle housing for a Yamaha YFM80 quad. It's had a slight leak for a while which filled the brakes with gear oil until they stopped working. Then it dumped the rest on the shop floor overnight. Lovely. Time to​ find out what's happened inside.

After a bit of head scratching I managed to get the rear axle out from the swingarm​. With a bit more effort the finaldrive housing came away from the axle housing revealing the cause of the oil leak. It seems that when it was assembled in the factory the seal caught on the shoulder of the axle letting the oil leak from the final drive into the axle housing. The seal at the brake drum was only designed to keep dirt out not to keep oil in, and eventually gave up dumping all the oil on the floor. Seemed a simple fix. I took both seals into Northam Bearings hoping they would have them in stock but things are never that easy. The outer seal is common and in stock but the inner wasn't one they sold a lot of so a bit more waiting for the postman. So hopefully it will be back on the track soon. Then I can fix the wheel on the other quad, but that's another job for another day.

​

...been waiting for the postman.

It's arrived. A big bag of parts from Yambits has arrived with everything I needed. I hope it's all I need. It's definetly not all I wanted but I had to draw a line somewhere. 

First job was to remove the back wheel again and replace the lumps of coal that used to be the cush drive rubbers. Simple enough even though I had tensioned the chain, not expecting the parts to arrive so quick. Or maybe thinking I was going to get more done than I did.​

Before refitting the carbs I took the opportunity to soda blast the top of the crankcase​, barrels and heads. I was hoping the header pipes would clean up a bit better than they did. They may need re-plating in the future.

Next up was to refit both carbs with the new  airbox 'Y'. They went on without a hitch. I will cut some new drain hoses later. The quality of the reproduction airbox ​'Y' was excellent and it even came with clamps. I decided to reuse the old clamps as there wasn't anything wrong with them and I wasn't happy with the design of the large clamp. Definatley not up to the standard of the rest. After much wiggling and pushing it fitted perfectly. 

Next, the battery and its box. ​Getting close now.

...Anticipation.

in

I'm steadily moving closer to what I think is the best part in any bikes life. Hearing it come to life the first time, whether​ it's a full resto or just a service after a winter lay up, feels like such a momentous occasion. In the scheme of things it isn't really a big deal and I should be looking forward to riding it more than I am to just kicking it over for the first time.

First job is to get it back on it's wheels so I can roll it out to give the engine a blast and degrease. The front tyre ​was the first job. A Pirelli City Demon, hardly very sticky but well up to the job. Nothing much more to say about it other than it's done. I will pull both wheels later to balance them.  I blasted the brake back plate, cleaned and drained the front forks and re-installed the front wheel. The forks need new seals and dust caps but they will be fine for now. I've also cleaned and painted the top yoke, polished the bars and lubed all the cables.

​The carbs were next on the list. They both got a blast with the soda gun and a liberal soak of carb cleaner just to get them apart. The right carb came apart easily but it was a fair bit grottier than the left. After a clean with a blast of air it went back together without any dramas. The left was a different story. After removing the main jet I had a struggle to get the emulsion tube out and as a result nearly stuffed the thread in it. A bit of careful working the jet in and out has sorted it but I'm not really happy with it. I think that I'll get a rebuild kit to put on the shelf for the next clean in case the thread strips. My tip for life with a two stroke - always plan for the next rebuild.

I'm waiting on a few parts to arrive from Yambits.co.uk  before I can go much further. I've haven't used them before so I'll let you know how I go. I needed a new carb to airbox 'Y', oil tank filler tube, rear cush drive rubbers and fork dust seals. I also ordered a fuel tap kit, a fuel tank cap seal kit and front sprocket lock washers just to put on the shelf. As I said before, always planning for the inevitable.

...some more RD

Things have been fairly busy lately so progress is slow on the RD. ​As you can see from the pics it's a bit rough around the edges, but I know that it's mechanically sound. I'm only tidying things up so it can pass a license inspection and get it back on the road. I'll decide on whether I should give it a full strip and rebuild later, maybe next winter.

Probably the most crucial job, as with any two stroke that's been laid up for a while, was to remove both carbs and give them a thorough​ clean and soda blast. I've destroyed pistons of other bikes in the past from lean fuel mixtures caused by dirt in the float bowls. When I first put the RD on the lift both carb slides were stuck with a gooey mess that looked like treacle. I sprayed them with carb cleaner and left them while I work on the rear wheel. By the time I got to them they were free enough to get the tops off and after some gentle persuasion they came off fairly easy. The rubbers on the reed blocks look ok but I may need to replace the 'Y' boot that joins them to the airbox. Once out they revealed just how grotty the engine is. I'm going to soda blast the top and bottom crankcase,and the head and barrels to make it look more presentable. This will have to wait until the wheels are sorted and back in the frame so it can be rolled out of the shed so as not to cover everything in dust. As you can see the rear wheel is back in the swing arm with a shiny rim and new tyre, so I have made some progress. Next job is clean up the front wheel and fit a new tyre, I think it still has it's original tyre fitted, and blast the carbs while I'm at it. Until then...