Ok, so this might end up a bit long but bear with me. I recently had a 1966 Yamaha YL-1 100cc twin given to me by my grandfather after sitting in a barn for decades it even ran; kinda. Lucky me right!? my first vintage bike. 1 cylinder was noticeably hotter than the other after running and had excessive unburnt fuel coming from that exhaust pipe (more on that later). Paint and chrome was not holding up so well, the tires were beyond gone, bike needed a whole once over etc. so I decided to strip it apart and take it to be sand/media blasted at work as I used to work at an industrial paint shop, then I blew some primer on it to keep it from rotting and now I'm feeling rather overwhelmed that its time to start considering really painting it and putting it together. This is a bit different than my ZX6R track bike...
Ripped into the motor looking for the problem causing the overheating etc. FOUND IT! A piston ring on one of the pistons had somehow lost a 2-3 mm chunk missing from 1 end. if my tech skills allow there will be a pic somewhere. Some discoloration on the piston but no serious gouges etc. on either piston or cylinder that I can see. any chance of me finding a replacement ring? also if I cant get this thing back together after a few tries (look at all those freakin gears :s ) any recommendations on who to take it to?
The plan is to put it back on the road mostly original but a bit of a custom/café racer thing not try to make a vintage racer out of it (at least at this point) but I was hoping this might be a good place to look for help.
after looking around online I've found a fair bit of info on the bikes, apparently people even raced the little things. I came across some old Yamaha racing documentation specific to the YL1 including dimensions for expansion chambers and all sorts of tech goodies as well as a bunch of diagrams that have proved helpful at points but I'm still lost so I guess to summarize I'm looking for:
- any possible recommendations for sourcing parts (piston rings, tank, who knows)
- recommendations for a fabrication shop to possibly do a tank since the inside of this one seems beyond repair, exhaust , small bits.
- engine builder familiar with small displacement 2-strokes if I cant get it back together
- maybe a painter in south eastern Ontario familiar with vintage bikes as I might not be comfortable doing it with what I have available
- Any and all advice/recommendations/comments/help anyone is willing to offer to someone with limited experience and a limited budget
Thanks and sorry for the giant post.
