TerraRoot

XTDR250, appetites back!

zipping around on the runner 180 and has brought back my mojo, must get bigger faster harder two-stroke!

First rescue rear axle from seans stalled rd400, after i had gotten it out it looked a little similar to a tzr axle, since we only have one xt350 axle that would be handy if they were the same

Slot axle into second xt350

And haul out, looks a little low in the seat area for my idea of a hard core off road tdr, aww well, it’ll still be fun though.

this yamaha cruiser thing (bloody cruisers!) came up with a dead battery, got it started and everything seemed ok… then it seized repeatedly, an engine that won’t turn seems a lot like a flat battery. bloody cruisers.

Right frame on the table and with the help of the rolling bike i got it level.

Was gonna use the other bike but it looks like some sort of wierd acid rain left blotchs of rust on the whole arse of the bike

By comparision, just have to fix this and she’ll be right! (well appart from the welded on right footpeg, will have to work around that)

Had to have a sit on one to see what their like, it’s just like my old xl250r paris-dakar ‘cept a bit lower, that xl was brilliant on bumpy back roads.

Right on to real work chopped off the the xt’s down tube and chopped in half the farmers tzr subframe. Now i can slide the engine back in up and down all i want

Will have to pull the top of the brake pedal out a bit to get the engine further back.

Done for the day, little too much procrastination going on but at least i got something done.

The sprocket is 2cm further forward then then on the xt350 engine, probably can shorten that to 1cm when i mod the brake pedal, other then that it’s not too bad width wise, the kicker probably won’t work and the gear change is gonna need a linkage, just hope a set of tdr pipes will fit without melting the seat or clouting the tank.

Gilera Runner 180 clutch springs

But first

Loncin 125 into a vintage 60’s honda 50.

Goes quite well actually, it’s made for the honda 50 ring of kerry challenge, more time would have seen a bigger carb installed for more speed but as it is now it’ll fly up the hills and pull wheelies everywhere.

Right to business, change the clutch springs for faster getaway from the lights.

side case popped off at a click of my fingers I’m so used to doing it, next I have to get the clutch off the rear assembly, no 45mm spanners or sockets to hand so I put it in a vice and used a strap wrench to open it, turned it the other way up and gently opened it the rest of the way because the contra spring will unload the clutch in your face if you aren’t paying attention.

That’s a long contra spring!

My choices from weakest to toughest, left to right, according to the little leaflet. Choose the green ones because they were impossibly tough compared to the original spring. Wrong choice, we shall explain later.

Ninja death star clutch?

With one spring finally on it looks as if the extra diameter of the spring is getting in the way, also it’s nearly impossible to get on.

As shown here, not shown is the other three hands holding the clutch the hammer and the camera (New phone btw nokia e52 recently made foss software, hoping for a half decent UI soon)

And the test drive showed: bugger all difference! well maybe I should have gone for a pre test spin to get a feel for what the old springs were like, which from memory were runner 125 springs.

okay heres the theory of why stiffer clutch spring don’t work:

the springs are meant to hold the clutch shoes in until a high speed is reached, but these bigger diameter springs actually (check the third pic up) rub off the side of the shoe and push the next clutch shoe out a little which in turn lightens the work of the next spring over, slightly dodgey theory I know, but just look as the leverage those shoes have over the springs, it’d break solid metal at a high rpm, stiffer springs will actually wear the shoes spring mount eye holes, there applying useless pressure, bit like american engneering cheap heavy and all the forces in the wrong place. A bandage masking the real problem, the shoes are too heavy!

So, my plan is to fit the standard springs again, then buy a analogue kitchen weighting scales, and take off weight from the shoes, no need for heavy springs, less wear, less forces going into the pegs holding the clutch shoes. Cons I’ll either have to do heavy maths to find the right weight to take off or I’ll have to take the clutch off many many many times and take a little off each time. If it all goes tits up a new racing clutch is quite cheap actually.

Spin tomorrow, I’ll see how she goes.

Stuff done again, surprisingly.

Niki took back his vl125 and the kawa’s getting a paint job

With Sean’s help got the tca’s out of the escorts legs, pleasantly surprised that there actually quite light the weight seems to be all in the legs/hubs, I can replace the hubs with alloy ones to get even less unsprung weight. Going with all steel suspension, no rubber!

Found this jago:

http://s660.photobucket.com/albums/uu329/northsouthpaul/JKR/?action=view&current=DSCF0265.jpg

http://s660.photobucket.com/albums/uu329/northsouthpaul/JKR/?action=view&current=DSCF0269.jpg

It’s uncanny!

http://s11.photobucket.com/albums/a151/TerraRoot/Starlet/?action=view&current=Image019.jpg

http://s11.photobucket.com/albums/a151/TerraRoot/Starlet/?action=view&current=Image033.jpg

http://s11.photobucket.com/albums/a151/TerraRoot/Starlet/?action=view&current=Image021.jpg

jago/escort front suspension

Feeling quite slow today, not getting good sleep, swmbo has a chest infection.

got most of the front suspension apart, the crossmember is toast, one side the hole for the tca is oblong from someone not tightening up the bolt and the other side I’ve practically destroyed trying to get the tce bolt out (it’s still stuck there). Steering rack is good as is the ball joints, it’s a 4.5 turn rack, should be okay. Now I’m trying to figure out what to do with the front end, all steel or standard rubber bushs? all steel means I can extend the wheelbase by 3.5″ but then everything has to be changed, dampers, coilover kit, top mounts, compression struts, spherical joint tca’s, and there would be no anti-rollbar so the spring poundage would have to go up making a hard metal ride even harsher. Rubber means keeping the anti-rollbar which limits the heelbase to 78″, I don’t like vague suspension and I said I’d not be too stingy with this car so probably steel, I’ll see how I feel when I figure out how much and when my head clears abit.

Seriously low jago

Sorted the steel for the tuk tuk and the jago, stored it under the starlet, it’s a piece of steel so i didn’t take a pic. 😛

Now you see it!

Now you don’t! oh wait no it’s in the corner, damn.

Super low, should have done a pic with me in it wear a silly hat or something.

harsh sun slowed me down, but you can make out the slit i cut in the stuck leftovers of the rollcage (rollcage my ass!) so that waste is off now.

Slipped on the shortened roll bar and sat in, seems a bit tight will have to sort the seating position first before welding in the cage.

I wish.

Loads to do with the front end, are those legs really long or what?

think this has been in the back of the garage for about 5 years, apart from the crap power coating coming off the frame it’s looking quite presentable.

vn1500 trike

Sarges has all ways wanted one, and here it is!

It uses a ford english axle, i like how it’s mounted and it turns out that i know the guy who owns it, might just get him to make up the bits for sarge.

nikis ex/gpz 500 is comeing together, found tanks rubbers off the other kawasaki’s at sarges. The rear number plate light is off of something else so no number plate light. Just needs a rear shock and the side panels fixed and maybe bleed the front brakes.

Nobodys around today to help move the welder and the needed sheet steel to sort the bajaj, tomorrow hopefully

bastarding cruisers

got nothing done, niki came up to do a simple service, brake oil filter, sump plug stripped, much cursing, the cheap magnet one we bought from wemoto had a fecked up thread, cheap crap, so we found the old sump plug and i welded the magnet plug to it and beacuse the old sump plug had a longer thread, it fitted and there was rejoicing. the time is well past to sell that 125 and get a better bike.

Sarges sidestand snapped off and sent his bike through the front window, so that got welded back on too.

I got the handlebars on the cbr.

bajaj re 2s

Well, i bought this, worth it for the log book alone, but it will go back on the road pretty much as is since it only has 114km on the clock we’ll use it till it pops. it’s powered by a vespa px150 so that’ll be easy to pick up and throw away, stage two will see a tzr250 engine slotted in, but first the stage one plan. Weld up the holes, fit  better brake lines (the originals depend on the steel pipes bending with the suspension) new tyres and we’ll see where that gets us.

The space tyre is nice eh? only 13 years old, take 50 psi too, its probably a trailer tyre. Maybe some atv wheels might fit..

.

The big hole, think we’ll re route the cables outside the channel to help with welding and repairs. Will be replacing the hole with at least 1mm thick sheet, maybe 1.2 gotta measure things up

Probably could replace this end with a vespa aftermarket disc braked front. the drums are fine but not the cable operated ones.

long bar there is for the starter handle, wanna keep that, works quite well and is a unique feature (also it would break sarge wailing on the handle with a 250cc engine :)  )

tub really does look like a mini jeep don’t it? if i could find a quad… Also reckon i’ll paint “to scared to drive it” under the sign and leave it as is

Can’t quite tell but the engine may bolt off the diff/box which would be great for stage two, could keep reverse with the tzr250 engine. Diff needs welding up.

plan is to weld a large Y section from this head stock back to the rail in front of the engine, it will stiffen up the chassis and provide a good place to sit.

smoke! it lives! phew somebody put two stroke in the petrol.

Most important thing about this is that it is insurable on a bike policy, which is hugely useful for sarge and even me, no separate policy’s and our no claims bonus stands.

Also got back my cbr6, so the rebuild of that starts in earnest tomorow, once iv’e gotten the jago onto four wheels thinks I’ll start on the bajaj then, xtdr350 will have to wait a bit more.

useless extra wheels

Raggin around on that quad today, i mostly had it on two wheels all the time, it didn’t worry me like i thought it would, very smooth transition from 4 to 3 to 2 wheels. Actually it was quite enjoyable.

So that got me thinking again about trike design’s. I’ve always thought that the converted bike types were way to high and would just tip over at the wrong moment, but now?

These are too tall, but i think that the transition on to 2 wheels (lifting the inner) wouldn’t be so bad, might actually be fun, and if i fit super narrow tyres their won’t be enough side grip to lift the wheel also the other problem is the weight is too far forward, CoG needs to be between the rear wheels if i wanna go around a corner at more then 5mph so although moving the engine is lots of work i could move my self way back over the rear axle along with the tank and battery. It sounds like a compromise but i don’t think it’s so bad and i now have a spare cbr to play with 😀 If i design the rear wheel to lift in corners i can do away with a diff and keep the rear axle simple by making it (like a quad) non tilting. Might bash me about a bit on really bumpy roads so I’ll make the foot boards really low so i can stand up easily and move with the bumps.

Fabric roof and a pillar less windscreen, won’t need the jago then, that’ll sell quite well cos of the escort parts, still gonna finish the jago first.

Reverse trikes, awesome looks, awesomely scary when the rear tyre rolls to it edge causing massive oversteer. awesome brown and black streaks.

whole lotta red frame

went dull over the weekend in the shed, to much moisture in the air i reckon, heated it in the sun and gave it a second coat.

then put it in my homebuilt oven, get lots of warm sun in there 🙂

And today, check that redness, triflow gate paint ftw!

Started on the main frame too, it’s in the car now to will take it out on friday/thurs give it the second coat and shove it back in the car to set, might thin a layer of paint to make sure the see able bits are the best. or not.