Getting the RD350 to run right
First of all i have to apologize, it has been a while since my last post . Two very busy month have gone by. on august the 3rd of this year my wife gave birth to a pair of twins. Im so lucky to be a father of three, but having two newborn twins is a battle on its own. So now i'm getting a little bit more sleep than in the beginning I van resume and tell the story.
When i purchased this bike, i ran only on the choke on WOT (wide open throttle). Off the choke it could not handle any throttle an ran poorly. on the choke ik could get it up to 160Kph, but every now and then is would just starve, running very lean and loosing all power. Time to investigate.
First i checked all the basics:
- is the ignition timing correct (which could deviate since it ran on points)
- was the engine ear-leak tight
- check & re(jet) furbish the carburetors
Up next was checking for leaks, this is as simple as plugging the in- & exhaust, and filling the cylinders with over-pressure (air) and looking to see how fast the pressure drops. Which was all with in spec, dropping just a 0.1bar's per 10min.
So out came the note pad, helmet, screwdriver and spark-plug wrench. And it did a lot of plug-chops.
Confirming my feeling, it was so lean the plugs isolators started to shine!
Doing a deep-dive on the internet i found the "original" jetting specs. which deviated form what was mounted. Also i managed to source an extra set of 28mm carbs!
I decided to rejet this set, but first it need to be clean. Every part was disassembled and ultrasonic cleaned. up on doing so the black paint dissolved. So i blasted the out side with baking soda. They looked brand spanking new!
So straight from the first test drive it ran o.k. with the factory jetting! and rest float height. But after 5min WOT it would surge so bad, i remember i wanted to try and overtake a cargo-truck. I down shifted, turned WOT got just beside the trailer and it surged Bad it killed the engine. This was scary! and i managed to find a save haven behind the truck in it's slipstream. Whilst nursing the bike back to power with the choke-lever.
If i was ever to survive this surging should be fixed. During the same drive i opened the fuel cap just to check if it was venting o.k.. This resolved the surging quicker! Hooray i found a direction to look into.
When i got home, and opened the fuel tap just to check what was pooring out and how fast. It runs o.k. on 2-lines then just on the right one. Then nothing. I was getting to the root of this evil trickery!
So i disassembled the fuel cap and tap. In order to do so, i drained the tank and removed it from the bike. I was happy that the balance line did not drip on any part of my bike.
It was clear why the fuel cap wasn't venting it was full off TANKCURE. One of the previous owners tried to save it from rusting to a crisp. And in doing so killing all power. the tank cure cleaned easily with a Stanley-blade and a drill. Making the fuel cap vent again.
The fuel tap seemed to be in a good state, and i reassembled the lot. Just wen i wanted to mount the tank i remembered the tank balance line not spilling fuel, an my fear came true, the balance line hose spigots were blocked with tank cure!
So i just had to run the bike with a full-tank. and it worked, when ever it started to run bad, the tank was half empty and i needed to shake the fuel to its left side (fuel tap side) and i would run great. 
I finished just in time to get side tracked and sucked in to the distinguished gentleman ride! Such a nice opportunity to show of my RD and bring in some money for a good cause.
Let's see on which subject to continue next, i think 'll discuss all the modifications i made in a random order.