Two stroke winter project

I've been hankering for a project for a while now, I wasn't looking for a vintage bike, just something 30+ years old that I would enjoy riding as much as restoring. I wanted a bike that would be relatively straight forward to restore and wouldn't have me searching the corners of the globe for obsolete parts.

So, with this in mind and having kept an eye out for the last couple of months I eventually put in a successful offer on a 1981 Yamaha RD 250lc 4L1.

I'm going to collect it tomorrow so I've yet to discover the extent of the work ahead. This much I do know..

The good bits.
It has matching numbers
The forks have no pitting
It's 95% complete
It has good compression
The frame is in lovely condition
It has YPVS pipes on it (See bad bits)

The bad bits.
It's a non runner
The seat has an awful cover on it
It has a few missing parts
It has horrible white powder coated wheels.
It has YPVS pipes on it.

I will upload some photo's after I've picked it up tomorrow.

So then brethren, I'm willing to bet that many of you lucky buggars have one of these at some time of your lives so any hints or tips would be appreciated!

Lets see the pictures then

Let the Allspeed v Micron debate commence...

So .....

I went and picked 'Elsie' up today. In all honesty the bike was exactly as I expected and exactly as described. The guy I bought it from had an RD400 in his living room with 40 miles on the clock, it was utterly like new!

Anyhow, onto the trailer she went and home we came

IMG_1433 by tunneruk, on Flickr

I got her back home and had a cup of tea whilst walking around taking stock, Where to start???


IMG_1434 by tunneruk, on Flickr

IMG_1437 by tunneruk, on Flickr

IMG_1439 by tunneruk, on Flickr

IMG_1441 by tunneruk, on Flickr

IMG_1443 by tunneruk, on Flickr

IMG_1445 by tunneruk, on Flickr

IMG_1447 by tunneruk, on Flickr

IMG_1449 by tunneruk, on Flickr

IMG_1451 by tunneruk, on Flickr

As I mentioned earlier I bought the bike as a non runner, the previous owner hadn't even tried to start it in the 8 years he'd owned it, it was just one of those projects that he never got around to doing. He'd never had the key to the petrol filler cap and had never even tried to put petrol in it.
I decided that before I did anything I wanted to hear it run, even for just a couple of minutes. I wanted to get an idea of what shape the engine was in.
Job No. 1 was to drill the lock out on the petrol cap and find out what horrors lied therein
I was however surprised to find a very decent tank inside all that flaked paint, I popped a pint of petrol in, pulled the pipe off the tap and hey presto, clean fuel
I'm now gagging to hear it run so after the rudimentary spark checking (and a bolt of current up my arm later) this is the result........

<iframe width="853" height="480" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/j2lNJCVbnhg?hd=1" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

The engine sounds very decent, there is a rattly vibration which I don't think is the engine but more like something resonating under the tank.
The 8 years standing idle however hasn't been kind to the Head gasket which blew after about 2 minutes of running spewing black water out of the L/H exhaust pipe. I'm absolutely not concerned as I plan to plan to strip it and refresh where necessary. It's got no knocks or rattles and runs just fine, especially for a quick 5 minutes with dirty carbs and cruddy plugs etc.
It select all it's gears, the clutch is smooth and it has decent compression. Happy days!
I've now drained the coolant out of it ready to start the work in ernest!

I've made a shopping list, time to do some shopping ...................

Well, that certainly is a project, looks quite doable and will look great when it's done

Maybe you could post a few pictures as thing progress

Good luck!

ebbo said:

Well, that certainly is a project, looks quite doable and will look great when it's done

Maybe you could post a few pictures as thing progress

Good luck!

Click to expand...

Anything's 'do'able mate, there's a very decent bike under all the scabby cosmetics.

The wheels are going to take some work though!!!

I'll be keeping the thread updated.

In the mean time.......... Where's all the 250LC photos?????

Brilliant bike and a true classic worthy of restoration.
The bike that almost single handedly brought in the 125cc limit for learners. It was mental.

I had an RD250 and I 'may' have run around on an RD400 for a while with the reg and side panels from my 250 on it......allegedly.

Always wanted an LC.

AberdeenAngus said:

The bike that almost single handedly brought in the 125cc limit for learners. It was mental.

Click to expand...

Suzuki X7....... a very dangerous bike had paved the way, and the 250LC sealed the coffin lid shut!!!!

I hated both bikes, they scared me.....

Timpo.

brilliant

i could almost smell that 2 stroke lol castrol r sir mmmmmmmmmm . look like a great project fella . i always wanted an elsie but never got shot of my 400

That YouTube video smells great!

Oh YES!! Nice one mate, I am totally envious and will pay good money for a ride on that come the spring.

Where to start?

Classic Motorcycle Mechanics is my current porn of choice, and their projects always seem to start by stripping, then putting everything that needs painting in one pile, the powder coating in another, the chroming in another and then looking at what the motor needs. The logic is that those jobs are often outsourced and can take some time... so get them underway and at the same time it makes some space for you to get around the bits you'll be doing yourself.

I agree with the previous post, that's the first time I've ever smelled 2-stroke oil on youtube. Glorious crackle from those pipes....!

Paul

The Other PaulG said:

Oh YES!! Nice one mate, I am totally envious and will pay good money for a ride on that come the spring.

Where to start?

Classic Motorcycle Mechanics is my current porn of choice, and their projects always seem to start by stripping, then putting everything that needs painting in one pile, the powder coating in another, the chroming in another and then looking at what the motor needs. The logic is that those jobs are often outsourced and can take some time... so get them underway and at the same time it makes some space for you to get around the bits you'll be doing yourself.

I agree with the previous post, that's the first time I've ever smelled 2-stroke oil on youtube. Glorious crackle from those pipes....!
Paul

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Hi Paul,
I was going to drop you an email, looks like we could be on for that 'camping trip on completely inappropriate bikes' after all!

My plan is this......
The first thing I'm going to do is prep the bodywork for paint, I'm going to get them painted elsewhere (after I've made some repairs) so they can be away in the painting queue while I get on with other things.
I'll take the engine out and leave it on the bench while I strip te rest of the chassis, there are several parts I want to get powder coated so they can go off while I work on the rest of the mechanicals and electrics.
By far the most labour intensive job is going to be the wheels, bizarrely I'm looking forward to doing them the most!
The rest will come as it comes.
I've missed having a project!

Tunneruk said:

'camping trip on completely inappropriate bikes'

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Excellent!

Bikes for camping trips are like beer, there's no such thing as a bad one, it's just that some are better than others!

Tunneruk said:

In the mean time.......... Where's all the 250LC photos?????

Click to expand...

Here you go, 1990, I'd blown up my ZXR750 and entered the final meeting of the year on my road bike
I'm the one still on his arse!

<a href="http://s428.photobucket.com/albums/qq5/mort017/?action=view&current=imginst016.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i428.photobucket.com/albums/qq5/mort017/imginst016.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

Love these bike, I have one of each, I also bought one off this site a few months ago, unfortunately it was all in boxes, slowly started putting it together the last few months, but have now found the bottom case is broken , will get a rolling chassis finished and fit a spare engine I have in, but it needs the matching one if possible.

You need to start shopping here first, he's a good guy and has virtually everything in stock, don't pay over the odds on fleabay, as a lot of stuff is still available, how far are you going with the resto, original or just a nice rideable bike?? dont forget to join the LC site if you're not a member already??

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/ultimatelccrazy/html/for sale link page.html

forum http://rdlccrazy.proboards.com/index.cgi

I"ve just bought a Rd 250 B 1975 ,cant wait to get a run out in the good weather

GS_BOTT said:

Love these bike, I have one of each, I also bought one off this site a few months ago, unfortunately it was all in boxes, slowly started putting it together the last few months, but have now found the bottom case is broken , will get a rolling chassis finished and fit a spare engine I have in, but it needs the matching one if possible.

You need to start shopping here first, he's a good guy and has virtually everything in stock, don't pay over the odds on fleabay, as a lot of stuff is still available, how far are you going with the resto, original or just a nice rideable bike?? dont forget to join the LC site if you're not a member already??

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/ultimatelccrazy/html/for sale link page.html

forum http://rdlccrazy.proboards.com/index.cgi

Click to expand...

My intention is to restore it to a respectable standard. I want it to look pretty much like a factory bike. I'll do a very nice job of it but I'm sure a purist will pull it apart as it may not have the correct bolts here and there or not having a genuine Yamaha seat cover or using the correct tyres of the period.

I'm going for lovely, not concourse. And it will be lovely ...........

My one dilemma is whether to keep the YPVS pipes or go back to standard black pipes. I'm told that the pipes on it are worth more than the the standard black jobbies and there are in very very good order, not a single dent or scrape. I'll probably leave them as is and decide after i've done the rest of the work. I'll see how I feel.

That guy certainly has got a little treasure trove of parts, I will be putting some business his way that's for sure. His spelling is great!

I just joined the LC Forum ......... UKGSER it isn't

better with standard pipes

Leave the 'spannies on deffo...!


Great find - lucky git ...

I miss my old R5 - would get another if a reasonable resto job came up again, I missed one early last year that was complete but scruffy that went for £425 - I bottled at £375.. what was I thinking?? Even partial ones are going for £1200 plus these days

Last year i looked at a 250 E , the guy wanted £250 for it and i wouldn"t go over £230 .I think i need a kick in the balls .how daft was i