Gone through a lot of sticker bikes in the past few years for my street stuff (Suzuki TS250 excluded), but finally, finally have a street (and dirt of course), badge bike!! Stoked!! Thank you to Court, who is a member of the "old" yamahaenduro forum, and didn't make the transition here. Many of you probably know him. He gave me a great deal, the complete '71 (but was apart) and a parts bike '73 DT3. SUPER deal!!




DINNER PLATE!! I'm going to make this sprocket a shot glass holder on an old hub I have. Rotate for shots!

Got out the SuperClean and the power washer. Looks a bit better.



On to the next usual steps. Spark, verified. Fuel tap removed, and found to be surprisingly clean and the rubber parts were solid. Unheard of!


Carb was also clean, light debris in the bowl, pilot jet was not plugged. So, proceeded to flush & clear, main jet 160, pilot 35. Dumped fuel in the tank, and no leaks yet. Flipped the lever to reserve, and, no leaks yet. fuel flowing into carb...no leaks yet. Choke on, time to kick it! And I kicked...and kicked...only a very occasional burble. Kicked it 60+ times. Choke on, off, no difference. Can hear the slide clunk against the idle stop so it's not seized raised. Spark, air, fuel...timing? Points found to be opening at about the right time, kind of rules out the key being sheared. Kicked it some more, and, nothing. Last resort is ether, and that produced nothing either, just an occasional burble.

Air leak? Pulled the flywheel and stator, and other than the left crank seal looking old original and rubber hard as a rock, it was in place. That will be replaced, but it's OK for a "will it start" test. Reassembled, and decide to set up the pressure test rig. Did that, applied pressure, but couldn't get any. None. By this time it's 10PM, I'm kinda over it for the night, and knew I had a long day the next day (today), so cracked a beer and sat with the wife outside, really nice night in Norcal.

But, I'm still thinking...so got up, walked over and looked at the insulator block. There was what looked like ragged old duct tape on the underside at the cylinder head side. You know, where the grid or screen of the tape is now visible because the coating has aged and fallen off? Pulled off the insulator block, to find this:

Looks like they stored it really well, I'm guessing that was to impede any little critters or moisture getting inside?

Popcorn and soda ready....following this thread. Will be good.

Plugging the intake is a good idea for storage, it would save a lot of engines getting filled with water.

Apex, be sure to drink your Ovaltine, sorry. I meant to say, be sure to check the exhaust.

Actually yes I think the bike was stored well, but it was clearly parked outside based on the paint fade. Gas tank is shiny inside too! I've never encountered the intake (or exhaust) taped off for storage, but I can see it being a good idea, if you're parking stuff outside.

It was late when I found the tape, and went out of town for a couple of days, so today was start time. After ALL THAT KICKING I did Wednesday night, of course, it started first kick. Now...time for a cold one!

Hey Evan, if you need anything... I got toys for it.

It starts up. Fine, but I'm not pre-mixing this thing. The oil pump looks to be in remarkable condition, but the sight glass was pushed into the oil tank. Although in better condition than the parts bike oil tank, that also happened to be for a '71 (but on a '73 DT3?), the parts bike oil tank had the window. Therefore, swap it. The parts bike ol tank was filled with 3/4 water, and the rest was a mucky blue/green oil...nasty.



Nice that the bike came with a set of KDI cables! Oil pump cable installed.


And, ran the clutch & brake cables.

On to the wiring harness. My intent right now is NO restoration, just assemble the bike, worry about the prettying up later. Most of the harness that came with the bike was missing tape, so after cleaning up I just re-taped it & installed on the bike.

Typical birds nest in the headlight bucket. Tested the headlight bulb and it's dead. Anyway, headlight put on for decoration purposes only. Done for now, until new sprocket and chain arrives.