From an auction in Japan.....
... it took a ship with a container full of friends....
..landing at Moto2 Imports in DC...
....and then by van to Nashville,TN.
a lot of plumbing. Needs a good clean too.
This needs to be replace by a 22D30
Cleverly crafted or simply....bent?
And so it begins….
I think this was the last mid life crisis purchase. Moto2 Imports helped me win a Japanese auction and then I spent months watching the ship travel from Japan to Washington DC. Believe it or not that was back in July 2021and I’ve literally done nothing to it since then.
As it sat in the garage while I wrestled with restos of my ‘84 RZ350 and ‘88 NSR250 MC-18, it had it’s own plans. For example, one day I walked into the garage and smelt gas. I tracked it down to the RGV. The tank, containing some old fuel, had clearly sucked in some H2O, allowed it to sit at the very bottom of the tank and eat it’s way thru the thin Japanese steel in the form of tiny pinholes. If that wasn’t enough, the seals in the classy looking brake calipers let go and leaked hydraulic fluid over the front wheel meaning that at some point I’ll be going to see my favorite powder coaters within the year.
Only a plug chop confirming that it’s not running too lean stands between me and the NSR MC18 being finished so I some trepidation I rolled the RGV up onto the lift. It’s going to take a lot to get this going properly and after doing some cursory research I realized that what I have is a fully authentic JDM (Japanese Domestic Market) model. The educated of you will know what that means: the power is restricted to 40 bhp. There’s no way I’m going to let that stand.
Taking MotoGP mechanic's approach to this one: Completely strip it down for the primary reason of inspection and cleaning. Not sure if I'll go as far as replating the fasteners but need to do things like make sure the shock mount is in good shape, repaint the wheels, redo the brakes & probably forks, strip the motor to check all the internals like the power valves OR send it to Sean Hadley. https://www.thetuningworks.co.uk/...(however shipping from Nashville's probably going to be prohibitively expensive)...incidentally I asked Sean if I needed to update the solenoids if I was to throw on 34mm carbs and he said "34 carbs do need the solenoids to work properly, I can supply solenoids but your harness would need the plugs. To be honest the 32mm carbs are fine, main thing is pipes and electronics." Which is good and bad news because I really like the OEM pipes.
Workshop cleared....
...and ready for the RGV
The tank is away getting fixed and lined at https://www.gastankrenu.com/ who came in at a very competitive $311...haven't seen it back yet tho'
Beautiful OEM pipes....are they restricted though....and if so....how?
Getting a bit ahead of myself, but these are few and far between...
It's the bottom link we need to be worried about.
can't see it here really but the finish has been wrinkled by leaking hydraulic fluid from the calipers...which means...powercoating here we come..
was struggling getting the rear 'side panels' off and was taking apart every fastener until I learnt that all you need to do is...
...undo these.....
...and these....
...and then undo this 10mm reached from under the fender/mudguard...
...make sure these old school torpedoes are pulled out from their rubber ring home...
...and then pull the panels over the oil and coolant reservoirs....
Actually it's Magneto Cover Bolts x 4 not 3
19mm Sump plug with gunk.....
and without.....
