Kawi2strokes.com Forum

Here is my progress this weekend.

Head light upgrade to halogen. I removed the brackets on the OEM seal beam unit and JB'd them to the upgraded unit. I'm still not to going ride after dark if I can help it.



I removed the spokes to derust them, relaced the rim, and trued the wheel to within about .025 run out both vertically and side to side. The shop manual says to be within .070! This was the first time I've done this, do you think the .025 is good enough?

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1973 RD350, 1979 RD400F, 1984 RZ350, 2014 Suzuki Vstrom 1000
CHRIS AND JEFF ARE THE MEN

I would assume so john, but I have never laced one. I think I read somewhere that the stock headlight is about all the charging system can handle... Enlighten me

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I Love the Smell of Blue Marble in the Morning!!!
Tim Steele in Front Royal, VA
Home of the Phoenix Project
Stay in it when it comes on the pipe, no need to be scared...

^Tim, The charging system is maxed out on both the RD350 and RD400. The H4 upgrades come with a 60/55 watt lamp. You must replace the 55 watt lamp with a 35 watt H4 or.the battery will be discharged as you ride. Once the battery voltage gets low the engine will die when the rpm's gets too low. During my tear down I also found an electrical gizmo behind the steering head. I wondered what the heck is this? I found it is a thermal relay that flashes the stop light indicator on the instrument panel if the brake lamp burns out. If you try to run a LED tail lamp the relay will flash the indicator because of the reduced current.

By the way the spoke lacing requires you to have the correct attitude. It reminded me of working on a cross word puzzle. You would not want to pay me per hour to lace you rim! I'm afraid the spokes will just re-rust so maybe stainless spokes will be in its future.

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1973 RD350, 1979 RD400F, 1984 RZ350, 2014 Suzuki Vstrom 1000
CHRIS AND JEFF ARE THE MEN

Cool, thanks for the info. I am almost ready to go to Rock Hill to hear mine run and bring it home for Gap prep. Work and other crap keeps impeding my progress. I will be working on them all the day before I leave as ususal...

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I Love the Smell of Blue Marble in the Morning!!!
Tim Steele in Front Royal, VA
Home of the Phoenix Project
Stay in it when it comes on the pipe, no need to be scared...

Polishing spokes just removes the protective zink coating, so it's rust city......

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Twist the throttle, tilt the horizon, and have a great time. What triples are all about...........

Now I know why it does this on my H2c! Thanks for the enlightening.

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"Only cheat the cheaters, boy - you can't cheat an honest man!" Mordecai Jones - The Flim Flam Man.

I think the existing rust had eaten the zink already anyway It was good pratice so when I have the cash to buy SS spokes I'll know what I'm in for.

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1973 RD350, 1979 RD400F, 1984 RZ350, 2014 Suzuki Vstrom 1000
CHRIS AND JEFF ARE THE MEN

Does what battery won't keep up, stop light indicator flashes, or the spokes rust

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1973 RD350, 1979 RD400F, 1984 RZ350, 2014 Suzuki Vstrom 1000
CHRIS AND JEFF ARE THE MEN

um.. you can run a 55 watt halogen on a stock system no problem. heck, i ran a stock system w/ a halogen, electric waterpump, and an allison ignition on the 'wagon. stock rotor/stator. no issues.
that being said.. you can use an led for the tailight, and led's for the gauge lights.. you just saved about 30-35 watts of draw on the system.
just sayin.

Mark, I believe the RD350 uses a 8 watt tail lamp and (4) 3 watt gauge lamps for a total savings of only 20 watts if you unplug them. If you run on the 60 watt high beam along with it's high beam indicator like I have done before by accident-the battery will drain-at least it did on my 400. I've often wondered how in the world you got by running the water pump? Do you know what the stock charging system capacity is?

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1973 RD350, 1979 RD400F, 1984 RZ350, 2014 Suzuki Vstrom 1000
CHRIS AND JEFF ARE THE MEN