1981 Yamaha RD350LC rebuild.

roughlad

roughlad

roughlad

Associate
Joined
14 Sep 2003
Posts
685
Location
Arbroath
First of all, a bit of background on the bike.
Back in the 80's when hair was long, my dad was 20 and really into cars and bikes.
He went to the local bike shop and bought a brand new shiny, white and blue rd350lc for a whopping £1100.
He loved the bike and used it until he met my mum, they fell in love and had me. At this time, the bike was off the road and dismantled for "maintenance". Fast forward 14 years and my dad had rebuilt it and rode it for a summer, until once again, it came off the road for "maintenance" ...... 16 years later, my dad passed away before he could have another bash at restoring the LC to all of its glory.
The job has fallen to me to rebuild it from the ground up as a tribute to my late dad and his love of bikes.

This is how the bike currently sits.

https://image.ibb.co/gK2QjJ/20180713_200252.jpg
https://image.ibb.co/izad4J/IMG_20180713_204346_681.jpg
https://image.ibb.co/ngZGry/20180715_203032.jpg
https://image.ibb.co/d4pSyd/20180716_211228.jpg
https://image.ibb.co/joty4J/20180719_203420.jpg
https://image.ibb.co/d64hWy/20180716_211240.jpg

I have started the strip down to see what I have to work with. After all these years I'm going to rebuild the engine and repaint/chrome and replace anything that's needed.

Hope you guys n gals enjoy this thread and I will keep it up to date with pictures ect as I go along.

P.s. If anyone has any tips they would be greatly appreciated.
 
roughlad said:
Hope you guys n gals enjoy this thread and I will keep it up to date with pictures ect as I go along.

P.s. If anyone has any tips they would be greatly appreciated.
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Awesome project and personal too, really touching.

I've owned 5 LC's in various guises over the years. It's a bike I hold dear to my biking heart and cut my teeth on in my youth. If you have any questions or need advice I'd be glad to help.
 
unKle said:
Awesome project and personal too, really touching.

I've owned 5 LC's in various guises over the years. It's a bike I hold dear to my biking heart and cut my teeth on in my youth. If you have any questions or need advice I'd be glad to help.
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Thanks unKle. I'm sure I'm going to have lots of questions when it comes to the rebuild haha.
 
Swinging arm came apart easily enough? The main pin/shaft used to seize on those. I restored an RD250LC and had to buy a modified (non Yamaha) swinging arm shaft that had grease guides through it, why they never did that in the first place. I'm going back to 1990 when I did this mind!

Frame looks in decent enough condition though. Brake discs are modified going by the photos, standard ones were solid. Looks like it'll be a fairly straight forward resto for you fingers crossed. :)
 
unKle said:
Swinging arm came apart easily enough? The main pin/shaft used to seize on those. I restored an RD250LC and had to buy a modified (non Yamaha) swinging arm shaft that had grease guides through it, why they never did that in the first place. I'm going back to 1990 when I did this mind!
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The shaft had a grease nipple at one end and was greased to the max so It just slid out.
Everything had come off pritty easily so far. Going to have a pop at the engine this week and get a new gasket kit ordered for it on payday.
 
I had an LC when I was 17. What a bike that was. 50bhp in a chassis capable of coping with 15bhp. And the brakes, oh the brakes! I used to enjoy watching the forks walk around the headstock under heavy braking.
Good on you for tackling the rebuild. These are worth serious money now. I'd love to have a ride on one again.
 
Haha , this brings back memorys , i have owned , raced and killed dozens of Lc's.

A few of my old tips :-

Expansion pipes such as microns, allspeeds ect ruin the midrange and just move the power up the range.

Check the water pump shaft for wear, its a bit of a weak spot.

Check the reed blocks and petals for fractures , back in the day i always used the oem yam ones, every time i fitted fiber reeds it ended up ruining the top end power.

Later RD 350 ypvs exhausts are a straight bolt on and improve the power throughout the range.

Don't be tempted to modify the induction setup , many of my friends used to ditch the airbox and fit K&n's then wonder why i would leave them in the smoke.

Front brakes are crap, however there are many bolt on caliper upgrades that still keep the stock look.

And the most important part

Never ever sell it, you'll live in eternal regret.
 
Mines nearly (lol) ready. Great to see another plus you seem to have all the bits that got chopped in the 80s. Number plate holder. Rear mudguard. All like hens teeth now.

Do you know rd lc crazy? Norbo has devoted his life to selling LC and YPVS spares and he knows them inside out.

I've upgraded my swing arms bearings to needle bearings and steering head bearings to tapered. All sold by norbo.

Keep us updated please :cool:


yDKPbPcl.jpg
 
flea.rider said:
wow you guy's do know what these are going for atm ?
my boss has 3 in his garage as well as about 6 others from the 70's 80's ..
good condition ..12k very good and all original 15-20k
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10k is very top really. 15k is rd500lc not the 350. I've just insured mine on an agreed classic policy for 10k.

There's lots of conjecture about the value of a mint original vs a modernised. The original is good buy it has many floors. Mine for example is using modern r1 blue dot calipers. The original single piston calipers were rubbish.

Then there's the chaps that paint the kick start in the original olive green and argue over the stickers that told you the fuel type and tyre pressure that everyone removed before they left the forecourt :p
 
Nowhere near 10k more like 5 -6 at the moment RG500 & RD500 are different animals altogether.

None standard will not cut the mustard for most who are willing to pay top dollar.
 
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