[Mr.Boss]

I don't mean I lost count of Yamaha RX restorations I had done so far, but every time I start counting I end up with a number n+1



This thread is about the most recent purchase, 1997 Yamaha RXG that I got a couple of years ago. Thanks to my tight schedule in 2019 and the unfortunate pandemic in 2020-2021 that kept me away from this bike for a while. I hardly remember doing anything more than 200km till date

[Mr.Boss]

Purchase

As usual, I was casually browsing the classifieds sites and came across this bike in Olx listed very close to my hometown.









What caught my attention?
- Reasonably priced
- Looked very decent
- Clear titles
- Fancy number

Why do I need this bike?
I had 2 RX (135 & 100) completely restored and Apache RTR 160 doing the beater job. I don't find any necessity for another RX. But we all know what will be the final decision, did all the math and study to justify or convince myself (and the family) to go ahead and get it.

Messaged the owner through Olx, collected the contact details, spoke to him to collect further details. All this happened in less than 2 hours.

How?
By this time I was in Chennai and the bike is near my Hometown, 500km away. Most of my school or childhood friends are either settled away from home or not petrol heads. When I say 'not petrol heads', to them a 2 wheeler is something
- that takes them from A to B
- Easy means of transport
- Fill, shut, ride
- Preventive maintenance - what it is?
- When the bike starts visiting the garage 2nd time for the same problem, it's end of life and change the bike

Finally a fellow member from xBhp, biker by heart who has experience with 2 strokes agreed to helm me out. I passed him all the information and he visited in person, checked the bike and gave a Green signal after verifying the documents. He negotiated and bought the price further down and VFM factor grew up.

Quickly transferred the token advance and the next day settled the balance and got the bike to his mechanic's place. It remained there for over 3 months until I personally visited and collected it.


This is after water wash and change the silencer to a back-up one since the OE silencer had excess leak at every joint and the muffler (core) mounting thread was damaged.

[Mr.Boss]

About the bike

Make - Yamaha
Model - RXG
Year - 1997
Color - Black
No. of owners - 2
Document validity - Expired 4 months ago (1 month, when we purchased it)

Initial observation

Aesthetics
- Tank & Shield changed to RX135 theme (same as my previous RXG, it is hard to find a RXG in original paint & sticker theme these days)
- Frame, frame fittings, engine and other silver colored items painted recently without dismantling.
- Frame started rusting under the seat and below battery
- Chrome parts are dull and started rusting at few places
- Seat foam was hard and base plate is fully rusted
- Speedo meter was not working
- Broken tool box

Electrical
- All electrical fittings are available, but nothing worked except the head lamp, that too only high beam
- HL was 12V60/55W
- Missing battery & RR unit

Mechanical
- Cylinder. engine cases & carburetor were all stock
- Oil leak observed near the drain bolt, later found a crack in the case as well
- Engine was free revving with noise all over
- Clutch was weak
- Brakes were adequate
- Front tire was almost brand new 2.5x18 Rib pattern, rear had nothing left out
- Auto lube pump existed, but unsure about the working. Bike was running on pre-mix
- Gear shift lever had excess play, mounting stud dislodged from the case

Performance & Dynamics
- With a weak clutch and worn out internals it was an 'Ok-ish' experience with no surprises
- Both the wheels wobbled indicating the worn out wheel bearings
- Fortunately the bike never pulled to any side either during acceleration, steady speed ride or braking

[Mr.Boss]

Initial Repair

Bike remained at hometown for close to 1 year. Every time I visit there I used to start and run for few km and park it aside (along with the Red candy - RX100) Early 2020 I shipped it to Chennai. Before starting the full restoration I wanted to keep it running with minimal and mandatory repairs.

Took it my regular mechanic




List of repairs / upgrades done
- Front disc brake added (Purchased this used kit from Pulsar classic long ago) with new rim & spokes, fork oil, oil seal and brake pad
- Both tires changed (less used tires from a different project, removed 3 months ago)
- Wheel bearing changed
- New speedo worm gear, cable and used Speedometer from a previous project
- New seat assembly (except the chrome strip, couldn't find a new one)
- New lock set and tool box
- Handle grips, ORVM
- Wiring and electrical issues sorted out, gone with capacitor instead of battery
- Complete set of bulbs
- New clutch plates from Makino
- Changed engine oil
- Engine case welding (gear shift lever stud)

Opened the head and bore to understand how bad the damage was
- Running on 6th OS piston
- Minor seizure
- Worn out rings
- Connecting rod had play in every possible direction

This is how it looked after the repairs and upgrades


Next day cleaned the carburetor, changed the air filter and spark plug due to time constraint the previous evening



Noticed the air filter assembly was damaged and repaired with M-seal by previous owner / mechanic (Not shown in this snap though)


This is lifted from Yamaha Gladiator (again left out from one of the previous project) Notice how bad the clutch cable is


Couple of snaps before the Covid 1st wave and lockdown.
Added tank cover

[Mr.Boss]

Lock-down

Then comes the the unfortunate times, the first wave of covid spread and lockdown. Until mid of May'20 I stayed in Chennai and my daily routine was start one of the vehicle and drive around the basement parking a few rounds. Then I moved to hometown and both the bikes were left idle

This is how the bikes looked when I visited in October'20. Cleaned them, fired the blue one and drove a couple of km. Couldn't start the black one (this subject bike) and since I had to return back the very next day I left it as it is.


Next visit during mid of Mar'21


Ritz in background was taken care by neighbor, start twice in a week and drive around the basement.


Drained and flushed the fuel tank, cleaned the carburetor and managed to fire the engine. Then comes the other issues, brake caliper was jammed and couldn't move the bike freely. Addressed the issue and took her for water wash. After the wash, bike struggled to start. Used compressed air to clean the plug, plug holder, anything and everything that came in mind. After 15 minutes managed to fire the engine and went straight to my mechanic garage (with no plans on 'what next')

[Mr.Boss]

What next?

By the time I reached the mechanic's place, out mutual friend was already there. Meeting them after a year, we were discussing general stuffs and I casually started about the restoration of this bike. Both of them were little reluctant since finding genuine spares were a herculean task these days and painter was already flooded with his backlogs and most importantly I relocated 20km away and couldn't visit him everyday. As it happens always, finally it was a Green signal.

Choices we had:
- Restore it back to stick RXG (Both my friend & mechanic were not so interested)
- Convert to RX135 4S (We had every required spare)
- Convert to RX135 5S (I was not very keen)
- Convert to RX100 5S (almost everyone agreed)

There is a reason for another RX100, let me explain later or in the Red candy thread.

So this was the plan,
- Strip down painting & plating
- Convert to RX100
- Keep it stock as much as possible except the 5s gearbox, front disc brake and upgraded head lamp

[Mr.Boss]

Restoration

Shortly after leaving the bike with mechanic and started hunting for the spares (especially the 5s gearbox) 2nd wave of Covid started hitting us. I had to move back to hometown leaving everything in the hands of mechanic. I don't have the complete set of snaps as I'm away from the bike. Mechanic took his effort in clicking as much as possible snaps with the help of his other customers as the camera clarity on his mobile phone is not so good.

- Bike was already dismantled and parts were sent to tinker and painter.
- Mechanic procured the used parts for RX100 conversion

Used primary gear and clutch basket


Crank calibrated


MACO connecting rod


Used bore, running on 2nd OS piston and needs a re-bore


Used head


Bore sand blasted, taking care of the ports




Re-bored to 3rd OS


Engine sub assembly done, with original 4S gearbox as we couldn't find a good 5s gearbox in market. All that we came across were either exorbitantly priced or abused


New air filter assembly, unfortunately we couldn't get a OE part


The plastic mud guard


Before the 2nd lock-down painter delivered the frame and other parts (except tank and shield)


Partly assembled


Attention to detail. This crazy fellow (mechanic) drove 140km to-and-fro to get the fuel filter bracket. C


At this stage Govt imposed the 2nd lock-down restrictions. Tank and shield are still with painter.

[Mr.Boss]

Current Condition

Engine fired and after completing the bench level run-in, mechanic made a trial run and shared the videos (unfortunately both of us cleared the chat history)

The one in foreground is another RX100 getting restored. It belongs to one of our fellow member. The one is background is mine, parked safely for about 2 months now


Everything is ready, except the tank and shield


Pulsar disc assembly replaced with the Gladiator one (from the Red candy)


This morning mechanic called me since the restrictions were relaxed and he is opening his garage from today but unsure about the painter.

That's all for now, I will keep you all posted once I get any update from painter / mechanic.

[Aditya]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[aargee]

Originally Posted by Mr.Boss

Finally a fellow member from xBhp, biker by heart who has experience with 2 strokes agreed to helm me out. I passed him all the information and he visited in person, checked the bike and gave a Green signal after verifying the documents. He negotiated and bought the price further down and VFM factor grew up

I.N.T.E.resting & wondering who that might be, that too from Chennai, biker by heart & 2 stroke experienced. Is it another mad guy like us who has a certain red wine Rx by any chance

[Mr.Boss]

Originally Posted by aargee

I.N.T.E.resting & wondering who that might be, that too from Chennai, biker by heart & 2 stroke experienced. Is it another mad guy like us who has a certain red wine Rx by any chance

I got whom you are referring to, but not him.

Karthik from Tirupur https://www.xbhp.com/talkies/member/31625-karthiktup

[Mr.Boss]

Guys,

Need a quick help to find the color code for Peacock blue

Details I found so far is

1. MAXI MAROON with Golden Striping : Colour Code - 00U8

2. BLACK GOLD with Golden Striping :- Colour Code - 00H9

3. ADRIATIC CANDY BLUE with Silver Striping :- Colour Code - 009V

4. SILVER with Blue Striping :- Colour Code - 0035

5. VIVID RED COCKTAIL 7 with No Striping : Colour Code - 0580

6. WHITE with No Striping : Colour Code - 0360

[somspaple]

Wow! Congratulations on a neat find and all the best for rest of the restoration.

At least now I should take a look at my bike. I haven't even started it in months. But I'm confident that it'll start just fine after some gentle persuasion of the kicker.

[Mr.Boss]

Originally Posted by somspaple

Wow! Congratulations on a neat find and all the best for rest of the restoration.

Thank you

Originally Posted by somspaple

At least now I should take a look at my bike. I haven't even started it in months. But I'm confident that it'll start just fine after some gentle persuasion of the kicker.

Nothing more than a fresh fuel & carburetor cleaning required to bring these machines back to life, even if they were left idle for months.

[Asif 6959]

Always a treat to the eyes to see a 2-stroke been taken care of and kept running.
Seeing the last pictures noticed that you are missing the infamous "Power Box" on the bike. Any reason why, as this came as a standard on the 135's.