Yamaha RZ350 restoration- part 10- the motor

The motor is back in the frame… it ran fantastic and was well set up when I got the bike. It only had a couple of thousand miles since it had been rebuilt although that was a few years ago. But after looking in the exhaust ports and seeing how clean they were with a [...]

Yamaha RZ350 restoration- part 8- rolling frame

The front end is back on and progress is being made on the hundreds of small items that will need to be refinished if the bike is going to have a “restored” look versus just a “repainted” look. While I’m not replacing every nut and bolt, I am cleaning and polishing them so it retains [...]

Yamaha RZ350 restoration- part 7

Both wheels are now painted and clear coated. The brake rotors are bead blasted and I think I’ll leave them like that instead of painting the centers gold or black. The rear shock is actually in very good condition and cleaned up nicely. I did paint the spring by hand since it was looking a [...]

Yamaha RZ350 restoration- part 6

The frame and swingarm are done- clearcoat on the frame and a medium sparkle silver on the swingarm. I will say, you better be on your game when you are clearing a frame as complicated as this with lots of tubes, tabs, cross members, and 360 degrees of coverage needed. Here are a couple before [...]

Yamaha RZ350 restoration- part 5

The frame has been epoxy primed and base coated. A few people have asked why I just didn’t get the frame powder coated. Several reasons- 1st, they can’t match it to the paint I am going to use on the panels and I want it to match. 2nd, The bike still has the original VIN [...]

Yamaha RZ350 Restoration- part 4

The previous owner had welded some lugs to the frame by the steering head to mount a modern style Yamaha R1 steering dampener. Not a nice clean job and they were rusting, etc. The bike really doesn’t need a steering dampener and I want it basically stock looking, so I had to cut and grind [...]

Yamaha RZ350 restoration- part 3

Not much to see- except a bare frame. The motor is pulled and sitting in the parts washer. The swingarm is apart and the nice thing is that all of the linkages and pivot bearings are nice and tight. So it is mostly a matter of cleaning and painting. I still haven’t decided on a [...]

Yamaha RZ350 restoration- part 2

Well, the bike is almost all in pieces. The wiring harness is a mess since the bike was raced and some of the wires were cut. I’m sourcing some original stuff and will have to make some. After the engine is out, the frame will be painted back in the original red, and the engine [...]

Forged Marchesini Wheels

These are some forged aluminum Marchesini that are going on a customers GSXR1000. The stock black was too plain for him and he liked the gold we painted the wheels on his Ducati 916, so that’s the color we went with.  You don’t realize how dull powdercoating looks until you see it next to something [...]

Yamaha RZ350 restoration

So, the front end is apart and we are making good progress. Front wheel is painted gold… the rotors are cleaned up and centers painted, forks are painted, all the handlebar switch gear is painted, master cylinder is painted, upper clamp is painted and the upper stay will be bead blasted and painted tomorrow. The [...]

1985 Yamaha RZ350 project

Well, I’ve always wanted one of these so when a friend (the guy who owns the RZ500 and the Hejira) told me he knew someone selling one I pounced on it. This bike is a Canadian model that has a race history so the engine has lots of upgrades. It runs really well. I was [...]

Yamaha DT360 update

Here are the finished tank and rear fender. We cut off about 3 inches and relocated where the new taillight will mount. Great colors- antique gold and dark teal. The gas cap was is terrible condition so I stripped all the corroded chrome off of it and painted it in wrinkle flat black to hide [...]

Yamaha DT 360 pictures

After getting all the bodywork finished, the next step is to put the base coats on. In this case, we are using an antique gold and dark teal. We put the gold on first so that it can be masked off easily to put the teal on. Taping off the tear-drop panel is not a [...]

1973 Yamaha DT 360

This was a fun small job that I did for the guy who bought my Triumph Street Triple R (which I now regret selling!). He is doing a cafe style semi-restoration on the 360 and so we needed to paint the bodywork. We picked a good classic/retro color scheme of dark teal and gold for [...]

Hejira Update- 7

Well, the paint is all finished on the cafe style bodywork. It really looks great. I’m looking forward to seeing them on the bike. We still have a set of full race fairings to paint that will be used with the same tank and tail. So, they will also be red with some white and [...]