Both bikes are nice!When I was in college, I owned 2ea 2 stroke motorcycles for transportation. Various modified RD350's, one of which I water cooled, and my trusty IT490 dirt bike with street legal kit. I mixed BelRay MC1 with Castrol 2 stroke oil. By that time, I had already been involved in 2 stroke engine testing and oil testing. My logic was to achieve a combination of properties, not the least of which was cost reduction.
The bottom line was that it worked very well. I modified the engines with race spec porting and was pushing the limits with regard to exhaust port size and the ability of the rings to bridge the gap. This results in high rates of ring wear above the exhaust port. The oil mixture really did seem to provide adequate protection, while allowing me to run 32 to 1 without fouling or other difficulties.
My bike was a white version of this one. I made my own fat expansion chambers and ran 202º of exhaust port timing! I eventually water-cooled the bike for more powa! Both of these bikes were a lot of fun, that's for sure. And yes, the 60HP IT490 was faster than the 350.
Conbining 2 stroke oils in ope...
- Thread starter lilspenny
- Start date
Thanks! The IT490 was stolen one night. That was a sad day. I welded on larger cooling fins which made the cylinder a full 12 inches across! And made other distinctive modifications. I never came across any of my unique parts from that bike, some crazy headlight and tail light mods for extra power and so on, even a custom expansion chamber and chambered muffler. Not even a picture posted on the net has been found.
The race 350's continued on for decades, with my final 350 being a well prepped RZ350, kept the stock look but had gobs of mods and my handmade chambers. Also running 32 to 1. But by that time, it was Mobil 1 Mx2t.
Beautiful! I was born in 57 so I consider myself lucky to have been an owner of a 1980 Yamaha 175 dual sport and a 1972 Suzuki 250 dual sport. Those Yamaha twin cylinder bikes were very nice, and I always wanted one. The assault on 2 strokes is continuing with California leading the charge.