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Egli Yamaha TZ250 - 350

6K views 8 replies 8 participants last post by  jaguar 
#1 ·
My better half was out of town last week on a "girls only vacation". Whilst she was away, I had been given the task of finding a new place for us to rent. I took a look on craigslist and quickly got bored of looking at rental houses so I thought I would check out the motorcycles section instead. The following morning I unexpectedly came home with this New Old Stock Egli Yamaha tz250/350 kit... We haven't found a house and I spent the security deposit money on half an old motorcycle.

Along with certificates of authenticity signed by Fritz Egli it came with basic assembly instructions and an original price list from 1975. Finding other owners or photo's of a complete bike is proving difficult outside of the black and white photocopy images I have in the assembly instructions. Being a race kit, I imagine any that are out there probably differ in spec, however I can see this is a fairly complete kit.

It's missing the following:
- rear brake master cylinder
- front fender / mudguard (the bikes in the Egli documentation are photographed without mudguard and the only other two images I've been able to find are also without the mudguard).

From the additional accessories kit it's missing
- fairing screen
- L & R rear fairing brackets
- front upper fairing bracket
- exhaust system and fixations
- rear wheel sprocket
- rev counter
- water temp meter

Engines were not provided with the kits, you had to fit you own engine which requires some modification to the engine casings (instructions provided).

It's going to be a slow, long term project that will mainly be me searching for whatever required parts I still need and making those I cant find.
I'm not sure if it will be a restoration, at this stage I think I just want to get it complete and running before restoring anything.
I will have to get the magnesium wheels crack tested and then I can hopefully fit some rubber so its easy to move around.

I would like to eventually find a tz250/350 engine for it though may consider an rd/rz 350 engine as a short term solution.

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#3 ·
RD crankcases are almost the same as TZ and can be machined to take front engine rubber mounts and bearing retaining rings. The later the better because there are some changes in side cover bolts.

RD350LC radiators are also a close cousin to a TZ. The bottom hose fitting requires a small change and unfortunately the filler cap is at a slightly different angle to a TZ, but that's what most of us fitted. Fit an RD400 left side cover and after that things start to get expensive. Ignitions are easy. Motoplat, Hitcahi, FEMSA, PVL, all are available as are modern ignitions. 34mm carbs are easy to get. Transmissions and side covers are available but are a touch pricey.

No reason to not use an RD400 trans and clutch though.
 
#6 ·
What makes you think the wheels need to be crack tested if they are unused? Can't hurt, but not sure it's money well spent. If they concern you, you could always put the wheels on eBay and see if some Egli Vincent owner wants them badly and help finance the rest of the project
Very nice score BTW.
 
#7 ·
if you plan to race it some sanctioning bodies will ask you if you have had them tested if they are original. Cracks don't just happen from stress, they can happen from temperature cycles as well if improperly stored.
 
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