RZ350 is Home! Restoration Begins

Well the Ohlins shock showed up today! Nothing fancy, just rebound adjustable, but it's valved and sprung for my weight. It even came with a nice adjusting tool. This is not an item Ohlins typically stocks anymore, but over on the RZ/RD 350 forum, which I belong to, someone convinced a vendor to start a group buy so now 15 lucky people own a shock like this one :)

attachment.php
 
I have an 84 RZ also. I see you mentioned that you had a problem with your front master cylinder. What I did was picked up a radial master off of a 600 GSXR Suzuki. I think I used an 08’s. You will need a remote reservoir such as the rizoma. Along with the Galfer brake pads, it all works fantastic! Also, I don’t know if you already did the FZ swingarm mod, but I highly recommend the JMC’s. If you order one, make sure you don’t get the eccentric chain adjusting one. I like the normal straight pull type much better.
Here are the pads.
Galfer Pads
Front: Kevlar Brake Pads #FD056G1532
Rear: #FD057G1054
 
Thanks for the info, but I got the master cylinder cleaned up and it should be fine. I also already picked up some EBC HH pads. Not sure if you saw one of my previous post in this thread, but I got a Metmachex swingarm after I missed out on an FZ600 swingarm that was already modified. However, I'm happy with the Metmachex...it's different ;)
 
Well a little more progress today. Bearings and Galfer rotors installed on front wheel. Using ss rotor bolts so they should look good for a long time. Had to retap one of the rotor mounting holes as the threads were damaged...easy enough to fix.

attachment.php


attachment.php
 
Hellgate said:
Looking great Tony. The rear end of the bike is much better with Ohlins and the swing.

What are you doing with the fork?
Click to expand...

Pete the forks I'm just rebuilding with new metal slides, seals, heavier 15W oil and Progressive springs. Oh and a period correct Telefix fork brace :D Should be better than stock w/o breaking the bank.
 
It's not a bad set up. That's the same set up I raced years ago. However I added 4 quarters (yes .25 pieces) of preload over what Progressive recommended, I weighted 145 at the time, 175 now. You may want to go with Race Tech springs instead. On the XV I found the Progressive springs to be better than stock, but still too mushy. With Race Tech they were spot on. I also really like the emulators, night and day from stock damping, well worth the money. The fork brace is a nice piece. I don't recall and head shake on that bike so I don't think you'll need a steering damper.
 
Hellgate said:
It's not a bad set up. That's the same set up I raced years ago. However I added 4 quarters (yes .25 pieces) of preload over what Progressive recommended, I weighted 145 at the time, 175 now. You may want to go with Race Tech springs instead. On the XV I found the Progressive springs to be better than stock, but still too mushy. With Race Tech they were spot on. I also really like the emulators, night and day from stock damping, well worth the money. The fork brace is a nice piece. I don't recall and head shake on that bike so I don't think you'll need a steering damper.
Click to expand...

Well I already have the Progressive springs so I'm staying with them for now. Haven't read the instructions to see how much preload they recommend, but that's easy enough to play with. This bike will just be a toy and honestly I don't think I'll ever push it hard enough to need anything else.

Well I'm putting in tapered roller bearings so that will help with any head shake from what I read on the RZ/RD forum. I do have the steering damper brackets, but no steering damper so if I come across one at a reasonable price I'll probably get it.
 
CorrectionsK9 said:
Well this is retro with a little two stroke flair I was reading about it in the Practical Sportbike facebook page.... its sweet!!!

17991_10152719231690697_1528439907_n.jpg
Click to expand...

Thanks...I'm into the whole resto-mod look. Restoring something back to OEM standards doesn't do it for me. I always have to modify it in some way :D

And by the way Practical Sportbikes has become my favorite magazine. I even subscribed to it so I don't miss any issues. And Classic Motorcycle Mechanic is not bad either. Those British mags are so much better than what's published here in the US.
 
Well not much progress recently. Haven't had time to work on the bike and was waiting for some other parts to arrive. I've decided to not go ahead with the whole polished aluminum look. Will instead powder coat some items in "chrome". I want the bike to be as maintenance free as possible so I don't want to worry about having to polish the aluminum all the time. Plus it looks really good. Stay tuned for the results ;)

Well a little progress...chrome valve stem and yellow stripe on the back wheel :D

attachment.php
 
NJFZ1 said:
Well not much progress recently. Haven't had time to work on the bike and was waiting for some other parts to arrive. I've decided to not go ahead with the whole polished aluminum look. Will instead powder coat some items in "chrome". I want the bike to be as maintenance free as possible so I don't want to worry about having to polish the aluminum all the time. Plus it looks really good. Stay tuned for the results ;)

Well a little progress...chrome valve stem and yellow stripe on the back wheel :D

attachment.php
Click to expand...

I agree about the low maintenance and I agree it looks great the way it is.
 
Well nothing much to report. I did get the rest of the parts back from the powder coater (swingarm, foot pegs, fork lowers, etc.). They turned out good. Today the new swingarm bearings came in so hopefully I make some progress this weekend coming up. I'll see if I can get the forks and swing arm on the bike ;)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top