My custom RT3 wiring diagram

Yamaha '73 RT3 ignition for sale

photoshop mockup - tail

Trying to figure out some lines. I'm leaning more towards silver than black paint at this point.

Spent the day hanging with Mujo, working on the tank:

He's used to welding large diameter high pressure gas and steam pipe and other commercial and industrial piping. I think I tested his skills a little putting him on a 20ga sheet metal project!

We got the left side done only.

Looks pretty good from the side. From the top, it's kinda ugly! Oh well. I knew the tank would have a polarizing effect on people. I think they'll either love it or hate it. It's not really about what others think, though. It's about my creative process, my vision for the bike, experimentation and the labor of love. It's definitely unique.

I still think the headlight is a little too high...

VX - choke reloc

I did away with the nice stock controls that had the integrated choke pull assembly. Man was that slick. I had already bought a new left hand controls when I realized I should have bought a replacement from an SV or something with stock choke control at the handlebar. Well, I wanted this bike to be different... :)

Spent a few hours on Sunday making this cable up from a choke pull off a Honda model I can't remember.

And it's new location? Close to the radiator cap, tucked in and barely sticking out.
Front view:

I realized why I was having such difficult with my wiring, electronics, coils etc:

Jeez, maybe because I'm trying to slam a bikes worth of crap into a space 2.5 inches tall! From the bottom of the top frame tube to about an inch above the top of the top frame tube is where lives all the crap you don't want to see. I tried damn hard to make this clean and tidy but there are just too many things in too small a place for that. Good thing it's all hidden.

Here's an action shot of my new computer and indicator lights. I turned on as many as I could for the shot.

Finished up my clutch linkage and footpegs:
Now all that's left is welding the tank and rear tail section. I've got to deal with brake lights, signals and plate mount, but I'm not too concerned with this. Should take a day or so. It's the tank that's holding me back right now. It's 85% done and I'm working of fitment of the new side panels.
-S

RT-3 Stuff

Spent the entire day working on bikes and my Jeep. Not a bad sunday. Here's some progress pics and for sale pics. I want some of this old Yammy stuff out of my garage.

I'm liking this bike more and more every day.


Rear brake installed.

5'x3' K&N filter
Engine Guard FOR SALE:
IRC Trials GP-1 4.10x18 and 3.00x21 FOR SALE:


2 Preston Petty front fenders FOR SALE. One is new in original wrapping.

Stock '73 RT-3 airbox FOR SALE:

RT-3 headlight brackets

Made some new headlight brackets to change the mount and look of the stock ears. 20ga 316 stainless using only basic hand tools. I started looking online for mounts, then decided they were well within my reach. Simple pinch type fork clamp. Made the ID about 1.5mm smaller than the 34mm tubes so they get serious clamping action. To make them less visible on the fork tube, I buffed them out to a decent shine. Minimal impact here.

You can see my finished tank here as well. Rough yet finished. Old yet new.

Yamaha RT-3 pics

I've decided to step it up a bit in the blog department and inject my love of photography into my love of motorcycles.

Progress on the 1973 RT 360. Lot's and lots of work has been taking place.

Final coat on black and white custom 360 lettering for the tank -


Stripped, sanded, polished, clear-coated for protection (Permalac) -
Painted and handmade seal for gas cap -

Rebuilt and painted front rim and hub sporting stainless spokes and an Avon Roadrider 90/90/18 -

Rebuilt and painted rear rim, brake, hub sporting stainless spokes and Avon Roadrider 110/90/18 -
Stripped, blasted, rebuilt carb and new Boyesen dual stage reeds and 5' x 3' K&N filter -

RT-3 tank painting

Been working on the RT.

Snaps:

New dash / electrical stuff

I made this dash / gauge holder out of 5052 aluminum, polished it and then anodized it black. I reproduced the same indicator lights as the original but out of 3mm LEDs mounted in stainless steel bezels. I used the stock mount points and rubber cushions and bolts. Oil temp and water temp are on the left, yellow and red lights, neutral is green, hi - blue and signal is white. All distinctive colors. No labels though.

I got all my LEDs resistors and bezels from Oznium.com. Good place, quick delivery.
http://www.oznium.com/led
http://www.oznium.com/led-holder

Here's the bezels:

Mine didn't mount down in there like that because I put them in through the top so they couldn't pull through. This required heat-shrinking each wire tediously, as well as soldering resistors and making a custom wiring harness for the whole gauge assembly. I also filed down the LED so that the light was more dispersed and less focused.

I borrowed a 3-wire diode from elsewhere on the bike, brought left and right turn-signal positives to it and then jumped on the ground wire that was used for the high beam. This combined with a LED turnsignal flasher gizmo from CusomLED. See link below:
http://www.customled.com/products/flasher_relay/flasher_relay.htm
This is a slick flasher that is a direct replacement for the stock old style relay. Pretty much plug and play for 2 or 3 wire systems. Mounts real easy and is fully sealed.

As for headlights, I had Eastern Beaver build me a custom hi/low H4 relay and lighting harness that fit my bike just right. Well mostly just right. James built it just like I asked, I just didn't think of one thing. No big deal, it's all hidden under the seat. I got the sealed ceramic connector. No more power through the switch.

The new dash is holding the Veypor VR2, which I'm pretty excited about using once I get it running.
http://www.veypor.com/vr2.html

The Veypor has data logging functionality but doesn't input temperatures etc. I really wanted the MyChron3 karting gauge but it was just too expensive for me. I got the Veypor for around $220 and it does a lot of really neat calculations that the MyChron doesn't. Plus the Veypor is way minimal and that's what this bike is all about, minimalization.

I got over my gas tank intimidation issues today, after reading an encouraging email from Alan in Canada. I have just a few final touches to make on the shaping and I'll start forming the new sides. I took a cheap hammer and dolly set from Harbor Freight and filed them down into custom shapes to get in all the hard to reach places and get my curves just right. I started feeling really comfortable and confident shaping metal today, for the first time. I was able to perfectly hammer out the seat indentations at the rear of the tank! Woo hoo!

I'll get a metal shaping and tank progress post up soon.
Cheers for now.
-Stephen

Wheel Works - Hayward, CA

I've made a couple of trips to Wheel Works in Hayward to see Mr. Chris Quinn about new spokes on my Yamaha RT3. What a place! I brought my camera and took a few snaps. I could hang out at this shop all day rooting around.


Here's Chris going lookin' for something.


I spent about 30 minutes up in the loft going through these tanks:more tanks...
I'm really salivating over some of these tanks. Waiting until I bring the bike down, then I'll test fit a bunch for looks and fitment before making an impulse buy.

Battery Box

I finished my new battery box and modified tank rest bracket. Took a massive amount of work for looking so clean. Getting everything to fit was a challenge.

Oh. And I successfully made my first custom control cable. I re-used the stock conduit, cutting it down, installing a new ferrule, new wire and new ends. Shortening it up for my new handlebar location:
New spark plug wires have been ordered and are on their way from Magnecor. I went with the 7mm wires. Can't really see a reason for 8.5mm wires. New coils, wires and plugs should provide plenty of spark.
-Stephen