Well guys n gals I'm Gaza 55 UK, been rather ill for a few years, almost lost the battle a couple of months ago but not so fast. Building a RM465 from the frame up for my daughter and soon to be 3 grand children. Got a rolling frame, tank, seat, broken airbox and after a 5 year search, purchased the engine with compression just last week. It's a miracle just like me 😇. Help with parts would be fantastic and don't worry about the shipping. Searching for a genuine, clean airbox, an original front sprocket guard, rear swing arm chain guide, original throttle and maybe another tank, this has a slight doming or lump below the filler cap. If you can help me out it would be highly appreciated. I get paid monthly so it may be a few weeks before I can pay you. That's all I can think of for now.
Have a great day gang, stay safe. G.
Glad you are back! Post photos!
Fresh from the breakers yard. Acquiring more parts before the rebuild.
The tank and seat were just resting on the frame there. All in plastic storage boxes now. I'm having the seat professionally restored. I've seen a custom aluminium tank for this at a cost of £500 so I may get one and restore this. The frame us to be shot blasted but not sure about powder coating or enamel. Engine will go away and be totally rebuilt and painted. If anyone has an original side kick stand I'm all ears.
More pics as the parts start to arrive and work begins.
Cheers Gaz
The Shop
Put a couple of pics up, let me know if you see them please pal.
Cheers Gaz
Gear pedal before
After
Came up quite nice with a wire wheel and paper. I will paint it in satin black enamel along with my shot blasted foot pegs.
Parts update. I've located a new rear alloy chain guide so that's a load off. 👍
Got new side plates for my chain guide. Got them from Motoduro UK. They even sell all 3 of the replica plastic inserts. Managed to purchase some of the correct nuts on the cheap, I wasn't paying €4 for a 6mm nut or €2.5 for a single rivet. The bolt set would've come to over €60 yet I managed to get them for just under £8 with a bit of research. See enclosed picture of the new chain guide.
Cheers Gaz.
I purchased a new rivet gun and a number of hard to find NOS parts. Managed to bag a large lot of 465 parts from the USA for about £220, some I needed like the front CDI unit and most of the electrical system. New head, mag cover, magneto, a seat, kick start mechanism and numerous other parts. I've also found a workshop manual on Ebay from New Zealand which is on its way. I'll be building up the chain guide next week and stripping/painting the handlebars. The front forks are being removed along with the triple clamps which I'll be painting and buying new bearings and bolts for.
OK thats all for today, stay safe.
Just got a few more NOS parts. Rear engine mount bolt, rear engine spacer, chain roller, CDI strap and a rear shock strap. Removed the handlebars so I can sand them down and paint them before I build them up.
As you may well know, NOS parts for a bike over 40 years old aren't cheap. The engine spacer alone was £24 including delivery, the mount bolt was £13 and even the workshop manual was $53 US from New Zealand. I'll add a picture of the job-lot of parts I've aquired from the USA. Should be here in a couple of weeks. I've also got a NOS front sprocket on the way
Pit Row
Thankfully I owned/rode nothing but junk in the 70’s and 80’s. So I have little connection to those years. I added that since I can appreciate easily your challenges in completing this beast. I have ridden a couple of these way back in the day. Like any big bore 2 stroke just gobs of power.
You are doing an outstanding job of sourcing parts. Maybe if I only had one bike to restore the hunt for parts like yours wouldn’t be so bad. Not dismissing your considerable efforts at all.
It’s good for a fellow restorer to view a thread like yours. Makes me further appreciate how much easier it is with these later productions Hondas I am doing. Great job on your efforts.
Hello and thank you for your reply and kind words of support. As you may well know researching, searching and eventually finding rare NOS and used parts can be a long and tedious journey. It's taken me 4 and a half years to find a complete engine to go into this frame and even after all that it's the wrong engine. My frame is a 1981 and my engine a 1982. To many it isnt a problem but to me and others like me its the difference between black and white. Its a Zebras head on a horse lol. Luckily the bike was only produced for 2 years so I'll probably end up with 2 bikes rather than just the one. Even now I've managed to aquire enough spare parts to make a start. As I replace or aquire old parts I can mount them on another frame, rather than them getting lost in boxes or on shelves to time. All i can see as the prices for these rare machines continue to increase, breaking them won't be an option in a few years, restoring the old parts you're lucky to own will be all there is.
Kind regards.
Gaz.
I've just hand sanded the handlebars which have come up quite well considering. Next step is primer followed by a top coat.
As you can see there seems to be flat areas where I've sanded it but it's only the light reflecting between the thin strips of paint remaining
First good coat of primer. I'll let dry for a day or so before wet n dry and second coat. They've come up quite well.
And this "Luckily the bike was only produced for 2 years so I'll probably end up with 2 bikes rather than just the one" is how I ended up with 68 bikes. I did course correct and I am down to 25 though.
Good luck. It should be a great build.
Thanks for the support although I don't think I've got the room for 68 bikes let alone the time it would take to accumulate so many lol. I can see how it would be possible to let it get out of control, so many out there for sale for basically a fraction of what they're worth, especially if they're parted out. A couple of parts could be worth what you paid for the complete bike. Over here in the UK and Europe these RM's are rather rare and bring quite a lot of money. I've noticed the Hondas are selling for far more than the Suzukis are.
As for the restoration I've managed to aquire all the parts needed for the handlebars, including the kill switch and pad. Should have the painting finished and them built up by weekend. Both levers and rubber boots or covers are from CMS. Waffle grips, pad and a black Domino throttle from Ebay. I purchased a polishing kit from Amazon for when I start on the tank and need a few other hits bringing back to life. So I've got plenty of traffic at my door for the next few days. Triple clamps are next. Oh and a question. The nuts and bolts, what do you plate them with, nickel, zinc?
Regards Gaz
Well today I basically soaked the whole bike frame and metal parts in rust eater, also making sure all the threaded holes were treated. I then soaked the whole bike in WD-40 before the cover went back on due to the look of possible rain, which it did. Bars will be painted and lacquered tomorrow, weather permitting and I'll build them up over the weekend. Triple clamps are coming off and I'll start painting those in the next few days. Next week I'll make a start removing the swing arm and shock, freeing up the frame for blasting and paint. I'll send off the spring and a few other parts to the paint shop at the same time as the frame. The shock I'll have a go at restoring it cosmetically. A bit of elbow grease and polish kit should work wonders.
Today I purchased a torque bar for £56 inc postage from a 1982 RM125(Same part number) so that was an awesome result, a C spanner for the shock, a pair of 75mm front springs for the exhaust and a pair of FULL FLOATER decals for the swing arm.
Cheers Gaz
More pics of the handlebars shortly.
Gaz
Zinc is what you would replate in. Nickel is indeed harder if I remember. I would be concerned with adding too much coating going that route. Nickel would basically look similar to chrome but slightly darker. More gold appearing.
Just know the better you prep the metal before coating the better the finished product.
Cheers. I'm going to re-plate all my original nuts and bolts and other bits. I'll send them away for that. I'll put them on the wire wheel and clean them off prior to sending.
I have built a few of the 81 Suzuki's. I was a long haul but worth it. Great bikes to race in VMX.
Do not USE a DG silencer on the 465
it ruins the mid- top power
use the longest silencer you can source that matches the stock length
I had to fab my own for the 250
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