[Mr.Boss]

Red Candy restoration

I'm still confused, from when and where should I start this thread

Background:
That's a long story, I'm trying to keep it simple.
This gamble started long back when we ended up buying a piece of scrap for a friend who wanted an RX (to be specific, RX100) Time passed, his priorities changed (got himself an RX135 in decent condition and living with it) and I got stuck with so many other commitments and the plan of restoration was put aside and we decided to use it as a donor bike.

About the bike:
I lost one of my hard drive and I'm trying to get those old snaps from any other backups.

Model : 1994 Yamaha RX100
Ownership : 2nd on paper
Condition : As good as a piece of junk, left unattended for over 5 years
Documents : RC in 2 pieces , pollution certificate in 4 pieces, few old (expired) insurance documents in many pieces

Condition of bike when we purchased:
Should I call it a bike?

Usable / worthy parts:
decent frame, complete engine (including magnet and coil assembly)

Useless piece of junk:
Dented and rusty tank, half of front plastic mudguard, set of rusty wheels, fork and shock absorbers (already jammed), seat base plate (only that was left out), broken air filter, broken brake and clutch levers (along with yoke), all cables and messed up wiring harness, worn out sprockets and brakes, both stands, bend brake pedal and foot rest

Missing parts:
Carburetor, meter assembly, headlamp and tail lamp, pillion holder, chain, oil pump, gear shift rod and link, kicker

[Mr.Boss]

Phase-1 build:

This was started in 2nd half of 2016 when I was clearing my excess stock of RX spares (mostly used ones) and I felt I had sufficient spares to build a complete bike and why don't I build the RX100 rather than letting the spares to someone else?

Engine was opened and with no surprise it needed a complete rebuild. We decided to get the bottom end done properly and leave the rebore job for time being (G1 bore was running with 2OS piston and looked to be in decent condition without any seizure)
- Replaced all bearings
- Crank calibrated
- Clutch bell rubber kit replaced
- Gearbox was little abused, luckily I had a spare gearbox in good condition.

I wish I should have tinkered and painted the frame, which we skipped for so many reasons and failed proposals. Only modification done was welded a bracket to fix fork center lock. Started assembling the bike with left out spared from the previous restoration. Earlier for one of the restoration we used the engine side cases from this bike (the one on the original bike had a minor crack on the clutch side and leaking oil) and now I'm living with a not so good engine covers.

Part mix-match:

Actuals, belonging to this bike:
- Engine, frame, T-Stem and swing arm

From here
- Gas Tank (the spare black one)
- Front mud guard
- Rear wheel assembly (including tire, removed after I switched to 16" wheel assembly))
- Wiring harness
- Brake pedal
- Handle bar and switch

From here
- Lever and yoke
- Kicker
- Foot rest and stand
- RX100 sprockets

From here
- Meter assembly
- All lamps
- Center lock
- Crash bar
- Clutch and magnet cases
- Chain guard

From many other donor bikes and spares collected
- Mikuni carb
- Old RX100 silencer (excellent beat) and oil pump
- Galdiator front forks and disk brake
- Discover SNS rear shocks
- All cables
- RX135 Coil plate (to match the wiring harness)
- Pillion holder and seat
- Plastic rear mudguard
- Side shields

those 'few' donor bikes along with my trust worthy mechanic. All these were happening at my residence on weekends

About the bikes in above snap,
- RXZ 1997 model, 4 speed, fully restored belong to my friend. He has another 2000 model RX135 4 speed in pristine condition.
- RX135 5s is mine
- Other 2 RX135 in snap were donor bikes. Few spares were used on the subject bike, rest were removed and stored for future use. Made 1 bike out of 2 (along with other spares that we had) and sold it.
- SS125 was purchased for alloy wheels and disk brake (used here) and carb & few engine spares were used on my friend's 2007 Gladiator, rest is lying.



Tried so many combinations


Gladiator disk brake along with forks


Started assembling the available parts



Engine bottom end is ready with new (used) gearbox, new bearings and calibrated crank assembly


Other bits and pieces


G1 series bore.
Notice the RX135 manifold, it was plugged with some rubber at the bottom, then M-Seal and a plastic cap over it.




Clutch basket with new rubber kit


And this was the final outcome


With this condition I managed to get the documents in order (through agent) and using it in same condition for past 6 months.

[Mr.Boss]

Current condition:
After riding 2k km, below are the observations
- Needs rebore and a fresh piston (excess noise from engine)
- New clutch plates
- Oil leakage from engine (as expected, from the clutch side case and drain plug)
- Fork bend



G-1 series bore




Leaking Mikuni carb




Silencer from initial batch of RX100


Leaking engine case






Disk brake from Gladiator, with Escorts forks


Rusty frame






Oil tank with level indicator

[Mr.Boss]

Driving experience:
Below content is purely based on the subject bike and I'm not writing anything generic to RX since this isn't my only RX and most of the contents were already covered in my other ownership and restoration threads.

Build Quality
As usual, it's a trust worthy Japanese work horse. If it was papered well by the previous owner(s) this should have not suffered such a damage. OE parts / spares were of good quality but the market these days are flooded with so many fake parts in OE packing.

Ride:
Gladiator forks were rebuild (fork oil and oil seal) before fixing them on the bike and the SNS suspension on the rear was lifted from another RX and both of them do a pretty good job. Ride is decent for solo driving and the rear turns were soft when driven with a pillion. I wish to retain the same shock absorbers for time being as I hardly entertain a pillion rider.

Handling:
Useless front tire along with the fork bend spoils the game. Both these will be addressed during Ph-2 rebuild. Since I got used to the driving dynamics of RX, I don't have anything much to complain about the behaviour at corners.

Looks:
3 decade old deign, still it looks charming even with the parts that were mix-matched from so many other restoration projects.

Brakes:
Gladiator disk on the front does it's job pretty well, with sufficient plate thickness and almost new brake pads. Rear needs a new set of brake shoes.

Electricals:
After Ph-1 rebuild, everything was working fine. Later when the battery is completely dead, one by one many electrical items failed. First the horn failed, them the indicator flasher and all indicator bulbs, then the tail lamp and meter lamp. Right now except the head lamp, neutral and high beam indicator nothing works. TVS XL super headlamp is functionally perfect, spoiling the looks of RX.

Engine Performance:
RX in any worst condition never failed to give you a smile. Even with a not so good clutch and block it's performing well. Reaches 60 kmph in no time and without any stress. Since my driving is limited to 80 kmph range I never felt this bike is lacking any performance. Saying this I wish the bike had an additional gear (over drive)

Exhaust Note:
In a single word, it's Awesome.
I ended up buying couple of used and one brand new silencer before I got this one in hand. Silencers that came with initial batch of RX were completely different than the recent ones. The kind of exhaust note that produces in no match to rest of the crew.

NVH:
Noise, obviously is there since I rebuilt this bike with all used parts. There is no vibration is idle or at speeds around 80 kmph and beyond that I don't have guts to check with this condition.

Fuel Economy:
The best and worst I got were poles apart. With sedate driving I manged to get 44 kmpl and insane hard revving gave me close to half of it (25 kmpl) Both calculated by reserve to reserve method and on open highway.

Likes and Dislikes:
When it comes to RX, I love each and every inch of it and even the trouble it gives. The only dislike portion is the scarcity of spares and too many fake spares in market now. I wish the situation to change in future.

[Mr.Boss]

Phase-2 rebuild / restoration plan:

Idea is to concentrate more on the mechanical side and touch the aesthetic parts in near future. This bike will be shipped to my hometown as I will be travelling more frequently for another couple of years at least and the current options available are either to use my dad's Yamaha Ray or the Baleno. Though I have few other beater bikes in Chennai, I'm not interested to take them to hometown.

Below is the plan for Phase-2
- Aluminium welding on clutch case (minor crack) and center case around the drain plug area
- Engine rebore
- Repair the carb
- New Oil pump hose (failed recently and running on premix for last 200 km)
- Proper treatment and painting the frame, engine case (current tank and shield will be retained or I have another 2 spare tanks, one will be repainted to stock Red color if required)
- Change all cables
- New front tire
- Rear brake shoe
- New / rebuild the seat
- Redo the electrical system

Initial plan was to keep the aesthetic upgrade for Phase-3, but as usual the mad monkey inside wanted to get it done now itself.

[Mr.Boss]

Progress:

Day 1: 24th Mar
As I'm running on tight schedule these days I couldn't spend much time with this bike. I left to office leaving the bike with mechanic and before I reach the garage in the evening, below were done.

- Block sent for rebore job
- Frame sent for tinkering work
- Other items (tank, new shields, fork, front hub, rear hub (spare), etc) sent for painting

Rest were packed / parked


Center case and side cover will be taken for aluminium welding by this weekend (hopefully)


Awaiting decarb


Rear wheel and current tank & shields will be retained as a spare

[Mr.Boss]

Day 2: 25th Mar

Block rebored with 3 OS Goetze piston


Clutch case welding and grinding done, dropped it at paint shed.


Day 3: 26th Mar

Dropped the parts for plating.
Never got early on a Sundays. To escape from the hot sun started by 6:00 am from home and reached the place (near red hills) by 7:30, dropped the items and came back. No other work done today.

Items given for plating:
- 2 set spokes
- Silencer
- Brake pedal
- Brake cams
- Chain adjuster
- Few other bits and pieces

Other items were rusted beyond the treatable limit and will be replaced with brand new ones.

[Mr.Boss]

Day 7 : 30th Mar

Mechanic collected the plated items. I was little busy with other commitments and I couldn't visit in person to check the quality of plating before delivery. Started this habit of quality check after a worst experience with "Quality Metal Works" during my very 1st restoration. This time my mechanic took the responsibility of quality check and assured it.

Good old silencer is back with glory. I wish the beat shouldn't change after the decarb.


Other bits and pieces (Wheel axles, 2 set of spokes, brake cam lever, chain adjusters, few external fasteners, etc)


Day 8 : 31st Mar

Update on painting:
- Frame parts (all black items) are ready for delivery
- Engine cases, fork legs were done with primer and ready for base & final coat
- Tank & shields are yet to be touched

Others:
- Luckily the painter found a crack on the rear hub bearing seating area (the spare one, lying unused for about couple of years) and scrapped it.
- the one removed from the bike was given for painting (searched for a brand new one as it was close to 500 INR, but no stock at all of the known sources)

[Mr.Boss]

Day 9 : 1st Apr

When I reached the painter's place, pending parts were baking after the clear coat. I was eager to see the final outcome, but couldn't spend much time with him. Left the place with little disappointment.

Day 10 : 2nd Apr

Sunday holiday?
"Yes" for the job, "No" for hobby.
Neither to me, nor to my mechanic. We were very active on Sundays than the other 6 days. We could concentrate on our own job with little (or no) disturbance.

Managed to collect the painted parts by late evening. Couldn't take much snaps as I was in a hurry to attend a party.

Spare tank painted in Red (Black one removed from bike is kept as spare)

[Mr.Boss]

Day 11 : 3rd Apr

Monday being a hectic day with tight schedules we couldn't spend much time on RX. So, "Monday Holiday"

Day 12 : 4th Apr

Parts procured:
- Clutch Plates (OE)
- Packing & Oil seal kit (OE & HTA)
- Race bearing kit (OE)
- Swing arm bush
- Wheel Bearings (SKF)
- Kicker (OE)
- Pillion holder (OE)
- Head Light basket & Ring (OE)
- Reflector (Hella)
- Indicators (Minda)
- HL stay (OE)
- Front brake pads (Rane)
- Rear Brake shoe (OE)
- Clutch lever (OE)
- Carb repair kit (Natco)
- Battery (Exide)
- Speedo worm gear (OE)

List of work done:
- Wheels truing
- Swing arm bush press fitting
- Race bearing fixed and T-Stem mounted to the frame

[Mr.Boss]

Day 13 : 5th Apr

Before I reach garage in the evening, it's almost done
In the morning I told him let's start assembling the bike by evening or late evening after I come back from work. But what to expect from a over enthusiastic mechanic.

This was the condition when I reached the garage


Again with center lock (from RXZ)


Engine bottom end fixed on the frame


Caliper painted in Gold color. I asked for black, but this time it's painter's choice. Fixed with new pads


Few fasteners were plated instead of zinc dip


Including the clutch cable adjuster, though the same will be hidden inside the rubber boot


About to start the wiring work


Notice another frame in the background? That's going to be the next project. 2006 Pulsar restoration


And when we are about to wind up

[Mr.Boss]

Day 14 & 15 : 6th & 7th Apr

No major work for couple of days. We both were busy with other commitments. Managed to collect the seat and few more spares. Engine was fired on Friday evening and intermittent idle run-in done for over couple of hours.

Day 16 : 8th Apr

A well spent weekend I must say. Completed the assembly by noon and took for a short drive. I don't have words to express the initial feel. This isn't the first restoration, but still every individual restoration never failed to put the smile on face. Simply an awesome feel

Some dust and grease gathered within few hours, so gave her a brief wash and polishing.







List of pending work:
- Crank case circular ring painting
- Reg number stickering
- Mirrors
- Front brake lamp switch
- HL swap (OE to H4 reflector)
- Indicator glass swap (Current one is too much orangish)
- Frame reflectors
- Front brake hose
- Rear shocks (awaiting stock)
- Seat swap from my other bike (RX100 seat)
- Tank cover
- Accelerator grip (the one purchased was with some defect)
- Rear reg plate swap (to smaller, single line plate)

Optional:
- 16" swap from my other RX
- Rear carrier (awaiting stock)
- Dual horn
- (so called) RD replica handle bar
- Bigger headlamp

[Mr.Boss]

End Result

And finally the satisfied outcome, The Red Candy











With this I complete the restoration progress and short term ownership review will be updated on this thread after covering 1k km at least. Bike will be shipped to my hometown after completing the run-in.

Thanks for your time and patience for a little longer post.

[Aditya]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the Motorbikes Section. Thanks for sharing!

[R2D2]

Originally Posted by Mr.Boss

End Result And finally the satisfied outcome, The Red Candy

Just beautiful! Thanks for sharing.

This brings back fond memories of my 1986 RX100 (and the 30.5 BHP RD350 from '83), yes purchased 31 years ago! It was one of those 'first lot' machines i.e. mainly made in Japan parts and I kept it in immaculate condition till 1998 when I sold it off for a Suzuki Shogun. The Shogun though more powerful on paper (14 BHP IIRC) didn't have the charm of the RX 100. As for the RD350, well, it was in a different league so I won't talk of it here.