The RD400 drag bike

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sirch345
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Re: The RD400 drag bike

Post by sirch345 »

AMCQ46 wrote: Sat Jan 28, 2023 6:39 pm Thanks Neil, that gives me some real deadlines :D
So the good news is it starts and runs ….. I can safely say I will piss off my neighbours when I try and test ride it up the lane 8O , it CRACKLES, rips and snarls like a demented beast!

I cant be arsed trying to put a video on here, but I can WhatsApp it to anyone who is interested

But then the throttle cable broke inside the twistgrip :(

So spent the afternoon making a new cable end with solder.
I drilled a 6mm hole in a piece of wood, cut a slot for the cable go in so its cleaned and frayed end is In the middle of the hole, put a 6mm drill tail back in the wood from below to set the required width of the cable end and then filled it with solder….. worked a treat :D
Well done it getting the bike running Al, no better incentive to continue with the rest of the work once it's alive :thumbup: :clap:

I don't suppose you have any photo's of the drilled piece of wood, it's sounds interesting :D At least the wood didn't take away any of the heat :thumbup:

Chris.
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fabiostar
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Re: The RD400 drag bike

Post by fabiostar »

Brilliant news the beasty is running. even better you binned the Femsa, they are a complete pain in the hole and a complete hole in the pistons aswell :D 8O 8O
the older i get,the faster i was :lol:
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Re: The RD400 drag bike

Post by AMCQ46 »

I have been trying to track down the original engine tuner (Harry Barlow) since I collected the bike, just so I know what’s been done and what to watch out for when put it on the dyno..

Even though he did this RD engine and pipes in the mid to late 80’s, I was able to see that he had gone to America for a few years and worked there tuning RD s and LC race bikes before combing back to the uk and working more in the scooter tuning and race world.
But Despite the power of the internet, every lead on RD and scooter forums and googling his name only came up with landlines that are no longer in use, but last night someone gave me a mobile number that they had used 2 yrs ago to talk with Harry.

So I called the number and it just rang out, no voice mail etc :( , but before I gave up on that as another dead end, I send a text message describing who I was and why I was after him….. 10 hrs later I get a reply :D

Turns out he is in Thailand at the moment sourcing new suppliers & tuning parts and combining it with a long holiday, and he still has his old RD400 drag bike which he still intends to return to the track to reclaim his class record with some serious upgrades like billet cranks etc.

So as you can imagine, he can’t remember what specification was state of the art thinking back when he did this engine, so after a 30min conversation at midnight his time, he made me realise this is a serious motor that will need careful setting up, and he needs to know the baseline he is starting from. So he set me a lengthy list of measurements that he needed from the internals of the engine and once he has got them we will talk again :thumbup:

So where my previous plan was to get some dyno time and then race, I have now gone 1 big step back and stripped the top end off to get a baseline.
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Re: The RD400 drag bike

Post by AMCQ46 »

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Duffy1964
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Re: The RD400 drag bike

Post by Duffy1964 »

That is gonna be a serious badass screamer


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lloydie
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Re: The RD400 drag bike

Post by lloydie »

Well done with tracking him down and even better he’s willing to assist you . :thumbup: :thumbup:
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sirch345
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Re: The RD400 drag bike

Post by sirch345 »

I see you have been rather busy getting together all the engine spec's :clap: :clap:

A very nice little story building for this bike 8)

As Lloydie says, well done Al in tracking down the engine builder, it just goes to show perseverance paid off.
It reminded me of a time I emailed Roger D only to find out he was on holiday abroad, even so he still got back to me :D

Chris.
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Kev L
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Re: The RD400 drag bike

Post by Kev L »

Duffy1964 wrote: Fri Feb 03, 2023 6:27 pm That is gonna be a serious badass screamer Image

Funnily enough that’s Al’s grinder tag!!!!!!😉

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Re: The RD400 drag bike

Post by AMCQ46 »

Kev L wrote: Fri Feb 03, 2023 9:10 pm
Duffy1964 wrote: Fri Feb 03, 2023 6:27 pm That is gonna be a serious badass screamer Image

Funnily enough that’s Al’s grinder tag!!!!!!😉

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I wondered who the old blue rinse leather clad pensioner was that was stalking me on grinder …. Makes sense now :wave: :lol:
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Re: The RD400 drag bike

Post by Kev L »

😉😂
Carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero
F3, 954 USD front, K Tech springs, Braced swinger, Penske shock, Six spoke Mockesini wheels, Harris rearsets, QaT, Flywheel diet!, A&L stacks, stick coils, K&N, FP Ti jets, lashings of Ti & CF
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Re: The RD400 drag bike

Post by fabiostar »

looks like a serious motor, love the pre exhaust port drilling, we used to do that to the 200 race bikes :thumbup: .. looking at the list its strange to see the plugs? 5es? you would think it would be running at least 8S?
the older i get,the faster i was :lol:
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Re: The RD400 drag bike

Post by AMCQ46 »

Yes the tunner said the should be 9s for the race but 8s to warm
It up


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Re: The RD400 drag bike

Post by fabiostar »

AMCQ46 wrote: Mon Feb 13, 2023 7:19 pm Yes the tunner said the should be 9s for the race but 8s to warm
It up


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that solves that :thumbup: :thumbup:
the older i get,the faster i was :lol:
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Re: The RD400 drag bike

Post by AMCQ46 »

A photo from 1988 when I was catching up with the Scottish bike nutters at the SuperBike Magazine, Ultimate Streetbike, “Run what you brung” drag racing at Long Marsten.

The bike we are all looking at is a supercharged methanol running GSX1100 EFE that was home made by the bloke sitting on it (John McKeen). Back then it was OK to race with a leather jacket and jeans as Long as you had a helmet on.

the owner of the RD400 is standing in the middle in the black shirt, I don’t think he had qualified for the final so his bike would be back at the van.
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sirch345
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Re: The RD400 drag bike

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What a cracking photo Al, they say a picture paints a thousand words :wink: good find 8)

Chris.
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