'87 Radian project

Sorry off topic, I noticed the paypal label was Pitney bowes. How do you find the customer service? I bought some stuff from bicwarehouse and they were terrible! :evil:

 

Those carbs were dirty. Some peoples idea of carb cleaning is just pouring carb cleaner into the tank (see, that's all the mechanic does huh huh huh).

 

I have no idea! I've had those parts for a while now (there's a Brembo caliper and custom bracket to mount it to an XS650 in the box, too) and they didn't all come from the same place. I have no idea what was in that box originally...I'm just using it for storage.

 

No worries, but just be aware if you consider buying anything from bicwarehouse, they take forever to contact you and forever to refund if it's not delivered

I know the twin-disc bikes had a 5/8" (just over 15mm) master but not sure on the single disc models. As long as it's matched to the brembo caliper it'll be fine though & that'd be a sweet mod to have IMO

 

No doubt!! My wife gives me the deer in headlights look if I just start talking sbout carbs. I'd be afraid her head would explode if I gave her one to take apart!

 

nice find!

 

It's amazing what a difference some Super Bike bars make. I was thinking about installing a smaller master cylinder, but this one just disappears with these bars. And it's brand new and genuine Yamaha, too!

 

Yanked off the exhaust today. Removed the mufflers in preparation for some shorty reverse-cones. Scrubbed the chrome with 0000 steel wool and Windex, then chrome polish. Treated the underside of the collector with rust converter (it's solid, just preventing possible future issues).



Taped it up for a little detailing...



...which included this finned alternator cover from an FZ600.



And that little cover may have been a blessing in disguise. The rotor was FILTHY. The brushes look brand new, but the rotor face showed little to no evidence of contact. I checked it and couldn't even get an ohm reading.
Cleaned the rotor surface with 600 grit steel wool and electrical contact cleaner (sprayed on a shop cloth) and rechecked and it ohm'ed out OK.
Think it's possible that a charging problem could have contributed to the cutting-out issue? The battery was dry as a bone, the rotor was filthy...it could have been struggling to stay charged, causing the TCI and other electronics to starve for voltage.

 

Cleaned up pretty good. I got one run I'm not happy about, but I'll fix that later.

 

Give me your tail light opinions.

Option 1: Stock tail light (I'll fab up a license plate mount)


Option 2: Stock light but "frenched in".


Option 3: Aftermarket. Dual round lights. License plate lights and holder are already there. I'll probably black out the background.

 

Here are the turn signals I'll be using:



The headlight and ears came in today. Mock up on those will begin soon, as well as modification of the rear inner fender.

 

Is possible it was running "off the top" of the battery until it quit & then restarting once the battery "recovered" a little I suppose, as the battery was dry I'd do a charging system check to make sure it doesn't go over 15v when the revs rise too as a faulty reg-rec/loose wire could cause the battery to boil dry/blow bulbs/damage electronics...

I like the original rear light frenched look, better than stock & definitely better than those nasty (IMHO) universal "custom" jobbies

 

I will be doing a full charging system check, for sure. I'm hoping to use the battery that came with it to at least start it and hear it run, but I expect I'll have to replace it.

 

Broke out the cut off wheel and side grinder today. I won't be running the grab rail, so I made these spacers to mount the rear fender properly and to take up the space where the seat is cut out to clear the grab rail. I'll paint them later.

 

I also cut off the wire routing loop from the headlight mount...



..So I could mount this new headlight. Totally different bike with a round headlight, don't ya think?

 

The headlight I bought has this kind of plug (sorry for the crappy pics)...





And the stock wiring harness has the traditional style plug.



It looks like the wiring on the speedo would plug in to the new headlight, and I can figure out the wiring, but I don't want to mess up a perfectly good speedometer, even if I won't be using it.
Can I get the plug to match the headlight at an auto parts store? That plug doesn't mean anything special that I should know about the headlight, does it?

 

I also cleaned and rebuilt the petcock.

 

Anybody recognize these parts? I'm pretty sure that I didn't remove them. I think they were in the box of spares I got from the P.O.
What are they and where do they go?

 

Well, the key fit the ignition and seat, but I couldn't get the gas cap open. Took it back to the locksmith and he said the mechanism was broken.
He had to get medieval on it...



The mechanism was broken, rusted and had evidence that whoever lined the tank got liner in the gas cap/lock area.



While hammering on it, we managed to put yet another dent in the tank....grrr!

 

And if that wasn't bad enough, I found out that the liner is coming out.




If Radian tanks weren't as rare as hen's teeth, I'd just look for another one. Luckily, the dents that are in the tank are all shallow and not creased. My body guy can handle these with ease. I'm going to have him take the tank to a radiator shop he uses and have it boiled out and just start from scratch.