Important new addition to the family
A brand spanking new 5m x 3m steel shed, ok it’s not here yet, but it’s on the way. then the winter slowdown can go feck it’s self after i get a nice warm insulated dry shed.
Christmas pressies for us 🙂 which is mine?
Another pressie, this time a very cheap AM2 motherboard, why is it cheap? because it’s a mBTX and a toshiba, mBTX not very popular anymore (it’s still pretty good tho) and toshiba of a certain vintage won’t play nice with certain types of RAM, last stick in the bottom of the scrap pile was good!
Thumbs up for this one.
Thumbs down for all these
Fix mBTX to a ATX case? epoxy, meccano and some out of the box thinking (geddit? 😀 ) I’ve fitted 2x500gb sky+ harddrives, they’ll be a LVM data backup as the arcade setup wont’ take much space, (i’m not some wack rom hoarder) the LVM setup will get a 750GB added later. gotta fix up a spot to mount it. Also bought a 4200+ cpu from CEX, it’s runs right now at 2.2ghz i think.
so the older thingy has been dedicated to upto 16bit consoles only, nintendo is well supported, but i’m have loads of fun with the sega megadrive emulators.
Also built a couch, tided a corner and stuck the tv in there. yes i built it, with a chainsaw.
found a souncard and pad in the attic, no idea if it works, but i found something even better up there as well..
Yeap, an N64, sweet as fuck,
the sticks are worn out, but fixable.
just booted right up, even had the save files….
Things done in the garage, nothing actually, this is mostly teds stuff.
very worn out k3 xl250 cam tensioners blades. probably not going to put that bike back together.
however it has helped bringing this much nicer k0 xl250 back to life.
Very lumpy cam super secret cam for the racing 90, got that months ago, still not fitted.
so long time away from the blog, not much has really happened mostly due to a really wet winter and the medication really slowing me down, going to get the arcade built for the shed, so we can finally have out house/baby/shed warming party 🙂
large and late update
first up the runner:
the seats great isn’t it? yes the rest of it is falling appart but who needs it? ebay front brake calliper is in terrible state
took it on the two stroke only run to the kilumney bike show:
It was the tzr125 that broke down, I totally got away with it!
cub 90 racer has successfully survived the paddy dakar, wish we could change our race number to 21 and go to mondello like this.
gotta strip the engine down for the compression increase, can’t leave the mud on it for that.
stop leaking ya bastard
Spent a little time playing hunt the petrol leak, pulled apart the vacuum tap and found a little bit of corrosion built up on the tapered seat, cleaned that up, poured a litre in and left it sit for a while.
Looked fine when i came back, no leaks! but when i picked it up to toss back on the bike the lip of the fuel pump had a little lake built up in the there. pump to tank seal is not right, probably shouldn’t have disturbed it in the first place and i wouldn’t have this problem.
Cleaned the face’s (lots of pitting and corrosion) sighed at the ruined paint and applied a thing smear of gasket goo.
Came back after helping with a R6 engine, no leaks, cautious optimism, shake the tank a bit, suck on the vacuum pipe, tiny weep from correct fuel outlet (after i stopped sucking) Success! ( in my book anyway)
Threw it together and went an spent 4 hours at the local kart track racing ourselves, there’s a little more to be gotten out of the engine, more compression and the cam needs dialling in, but it held out against the other two bike and their 125’s. I definitely won the not crashing contest. Colin however ran away with all the other prizes. worst brakes, best engine, most damage to the track by hitting it with his head…
After all the fun, no leaks under the yzf! score!
decided not to try to replace the cbr yet, i’ve no dry place to put the YZF as is and i think i’ll try to keep this one clean. well clean for me anyway.
no zoom today anyway, their all broke.
So, with all the top end on and offing, it look like some thing ended up in the case of the ypvs racer. barrel and crank survived, new piston on the way.
Jolly Moto pipe for runner 180 turned up, it’s pretty. Might get some time next week to dimension the pipe.
Attempting to goto watergrasshill go-kart track today weather permitting. race bikes are ready, I’ll have to buy new head bearings for the 90, completely shot.
racing fiftys and restoring 7fiftys
So nifty fifty 2015 race report, it’s not good people, first i got a camping stove so that i wouldn’t smoke out brahams van. then brahams van died, so i stayed in a B&B with stephen.
morning of the race..
race was a complete fail. the transponder was flaky, the tyres had 30psi in them from the new years day run, i fell off, braham fell off, i was 7 seconds off, dropped tyre pressure to 24psi instead of 20 thinking the tyre was hot, not quite enough but better, at the end of the day i took the last 15 minutes of the race and got down to a 1.32, still two seconds off but lessons learned for next year.
Next important thing is the fix up the yzf750, gotta do some trackdays, yzf is perfect.
Decided to change the front wheel, i knew it was cracked and had been welded very well, but it leaked and anywho i had a better wheel. Also reason to change from badly painted orange wheel to yellow, mismatched lurid wheels are so 90’s right?
no contest in the end there was only one yellow at halfords and i can’t be arsed to go any further, on with the white primer and soon on with the fiat bloom yellow.
More bits lost, fucking clueless as to where everything is. they have to be in a bucket somewhere!
this upper bar is supposed to be horizontal as far as i can tell from yamaha brochures. i’ll weld it up when it’s back on its wheels and the body work is going on
Future bajacorsa tube bumper?
more race bike prep
Older by another year! least the cake was awesome.
More cub prep, fitted the upper bushings for the shocks, no more floating about the place. Stuck on the race numbers, cunningly modifying the bracket to hide our Öhlins TTX shocks.
Should i wash it for the race? note in the shade to the left there an ominous rubber ring hanging off the side cover…
Feck. wanted honda p50 head lamp lens, 100 bloody euro on ebay.
Sarge: race ya? Me: hells ya.
Cork Toy Run 2014 & and some nifty fifty tweaks
I would pay €1000 for patina like that! as long as i got the gsxr1100 attached.
Cork toy run 2014, really nice fireblade here, but only got two good photos, aprillia swingarm, fiull spec ohlins forks
Urals?
Other ninetys on the run
Really nicely engineered trike, check out the rear camber adjuster and the front wheel, not sure what’s happing there.
Back home dirty. think i’ll clean it before the race.
One job done the day after, gotta tuck that rear brake lever in.
Was raining by the time i finished, also drilled the pedal, for lightness 🙂
Ought to make up at least one position per lap now at dunlop 😀
cub racer
Only one pic today, the sony sp is still in the shop they can’t fix it so i’m getting it back broken. I’m an idiot for buying a sony.
things done today, two patchs for the land rover, a dolomite 1500 turned up as a spares car for the Sprint, An SRAD 600 is dumping the coolant into the sump so we got some trouble shooting done on the oil pump and the oil cooler.
Best thing done today, got the racer 90 ready for road, made a bracket for some random coil and chucked it on.
Bit of petrol and away she went! took off race plates and stickers next, on the road that stuff will just get attention. Not sure if super shocks will get through scrutineering so i’ll try to find something less conspicuous.
Raise the compression, jet up a little, go win some races!
Race Report, nifty fifty 2014 mondello
After an 8am start getting scrutineering and paper work done, we had a 30 min practice session. I went out just enough to figure out which way the track went (not been on the national circuit) and that it was make of soap, and broke the wee bike! poor alex braham and stephen never had a go, which is quite bad since they have never ridden a honda 90.
So we had to fix it, race was starting asap, bikes fucked, cutting out under load back firing, struggling to rev. Checked plug gap, wd 40 all over the HT lead, nope, dawning despair “are we gonna get out at all!?” We missed the le mans start. Tried to get out after cleaning the carb from a pit start starting 1 lap down, made it to the gravel turn the rally cars use, turned around and spluttered around the back and into the pits. We need a second hand coil, steve tobin knew a man, top job. Replaced coil bike started right up first prod SWEET! jam helmet on, we are down about 20mins 10laps 48th place, out i go, track is drying, Don’t end up on your arse tim, other people need to get a spin, dry track made it easier to get around i could just leave it in top and keep the corner speed up, get my head over the front of the bars, elbows up, everything running sweet, passing loads of people in the lower class’s. and team Manly (66) came by, the one with guy martin on the team. Get them. and so i did, another lap and team BikeWorld (3) also joined the battle, didn’t know at the time but they were in my class, at about this time i posted a 1:30.684 lap 7th fastest lap of the whole race. on my 24th lap. Taking it sensibly in the corners because i’d never hear the end of it if i broke the bike and nobody else got a go i got stuck behind some back markers and 66 and 3 pissed off. End of session came up and i had moved us up to 37th!
Alex went out next, two quite long full course cautions in his session, but he moved us up to 30th, had a great race with another team (haven’t got their number)
Braham got us up to 25, more full course cautions, everyone is having trouble with dunlop corner, the off camber entrance combined with trail braking mean the rear brake pedal would drag, dodgey situation. we decide to pull him in a 10 mins early, the timer board says their is about 55 mins left in the race.
Stephen goes out. Crashes on the fourth corner. Of his first lap. Luckily near the back pit entrance so he is back into the pit garage before even a lap is up. I’m up at the pit wall, turn away thinking “it’s his first lap be ages before he comes aro.. WTF!” zip over a scrutineer is doing his job well and spots a bent rear shock, i fix it with my mighty right arm, the mud is scrapped off and he’s out again. not too much time lostÂÂ
We look to be getting a top 20 finish, 4th in class, not bad, practically slapping each other on the backs at that point. They extend the race finish time, we worry have we enough fuel, people are pitting, stephen hasn’t a clue whats happening we’ve no pit board. we keep waving him onwards. don’t run out of fuel don’t run out of fuel. After extra half hour of racing we got 14th place and 3rd in class, I’m in awe of our selves, We did the fucking business
My pre race night bbq, best steak sandwich ever, van got a bit smokey tho…
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Morning of the race, it’s a bit wet…
Alex and Stephen
Guy Martin and Stephen, poor guy 🙂
Next years targets
At this point i though we’d gotten 4th in class. but yellow flag infringements and penalty’s pushed us up!
Best fucking day ever, totally hooked, all ready booked for next year, will even finish putting the engine back together properly now. Gonna enter in the watergrasshill superpole if i can make it
