LT Marries RZ - The RZ & Not Enough Money

A few years ago a friend of mine who had just started duning asked me a question while we were sitting around the campfire at the Pismo Dunes. He asked "If you had my LT500 and wanted to put in the coolest/baddest 2 stroke engine you could - what would it be?"

Without hesitation I responded with "The RZ500!"

After I told him what it was, how rare it was and how much it would cost I thought I would never touch that topic again.

In case you don't know what it is - it is a Yamaha motorcycle with a 500cc V-4 2 stroke engine. Two of the cylinders are case reed design and two of them are cylinder reed design. It has two cranks, a counter balancer, electric exhaust port control valves (YPVS - power valves) and the sound of a real road racing 2 stroke motor. Maximum rpm is about 10000. Stock horsepower is about 90.

Anyway, the next day he called me to tell me he had located a compete RZ500 street bike. He wanted to know if I would put the engine in the LT500 frame if he bought it. I would...

He bought the bike and we brought it home. Before taking anything apart I wanted to take it for a ride since there are so few of these models in existance. I hopped aboard headed toward the freeway and let her rip. Since the gearing was patterned after a grand prix road race motorcycle, I had to slip the clutch in first gear all the way to about 50 mph - talk about a tall first gear. From there on up the gears were spaced more evenly - with the changes from 3rd to 4th to 5th to 6th seeming like a perfect fit and match for the power. By the time I had found the red line in 6th gear the speedometer was reading 165 mph.

I found out since then that that indication was highly optomistic and the speed was probably only about 140. Either way it was the fastest I had ever been on a two stroke.

After my ride I removed the engine from the frame and completely disassembled it for a rebuild. This included ordering parts for the engine from Canada since there was no official Yamaha parts book for it in the USA. The motor got new bores with 1st over pistons and all new seals and gaskets. This was going to be a stock rebuild - not a ported modified one.

To make this story shorter - I'll cut to the chase. The bike is an LT500 frame with a completely rebuilt RZ500 engine in it. It has 4 custom made, chromed pipes with aluminum silencers attached to each. The YPVS is fully functional and features the stock tachometer above the handlebars. It has a +10 over Lonestar Racing swingarm and Marvin Shaw shocks all around. The tires are 10 paddle Haulers in the rear and Razorbacks up front. It has a custom aluminun fuel tank feeding the stock carbs. The electrical system is stock.

This is a most awesome looking quad. When riding it you notice two carburetors sticking out in front of each leg when you look down. From behind you see 4 exhausts. One attached to the outside of each footpeg and two neatly tucked in under the seat. The sound this motor produces is unreal. It is simply music to the ears. It turns heads where ever it starts up.

The sad thing about this is that my friend put too much money into this thing - somewhere in the neighborhood of $10000 - not including the cost of the LT500. Right now he and his wife have a new baby so that makes this quad for sale - some of you know what I mean. Projects like this are never really finished because they are the passion of those who need to make them possible. If you think a quad like this is what you want and you are willing to become part of this dream, email me.

Rick

By the way, the RZ frame and everything else was sold immediately after the engine was removed to recover some of the costs of the project.

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