Finished at last!

Well here is the finished project!

This was taken at Cadwell Park Circuit on the Friday afternoon, for race reports/results and more photos plkease visit my other blog, (which can be accessed form this page).

On my way

Well Im on my way to Cadwell park for the first 2 rounds of the British Supermono Championship will post some photos and comments on my return

New blog

I am starting a new blog which will follow the antics of Ash Norrington #23 who will be contesting the 2009 British Supermono Cup aboard my Ymatax 640, I will post the build up to a race weekend and race results and comments, along with photos and videos. drbracing23.blogspot.com

Well the bike is almost complete and ready for her first race, its been a long and arduous project which just started out as a general clean up! this changed when I was asked if I would consider letting someone race it for me. Being the person I am I wanted the bike to be in a condition that I would be happy with, and that meant a lot of upgrades:

Replaced original forks with Yamaha R6 04

Upgraded FZR400 wheels to light weight TZ ally

Upgraded front brake to 320mm PFM disc and AP Racing 6 pot caliper

Fitted Brembo radial front master cylinder

New Vortex clip ons

Dennis Trollope rear sets

Upgraded rear shock to a Suzuki GSR600 K6

Upgraded rear caliper by using a Scooter front Brembo caliper

Fitted Yamaha TZ 250E Droopy seat

Powder coated frame,sub frame and swing arm

Fairing, seat, tank and hugger sprayed two pak

Engine was stripped, repaired and rebuilt by Steve Ruth

Aprox 100 hours of garage time by me

And the cost? Aprox £3k but had a lot of deals down the line so impossible to put an accurate figure.

Almost there

Just a few photos of the bike as it stands now. Just a few small things to sort out, ie rear caliper bracket and suspension set up then off to the dyno. Ash will be picking the bike up thia weekend to have the bracket professionally made. More photos to follow when all the decals are on it.

Engine is in!

I had a couple of hours before I went to my first job so I thought I would prepare the frame to accept the engine. But one thing lead to another and ended up getting the engine in! To my surprise in only took 30 minutes so was able to get a lot done.

The motor with Del Orto carb

Just a couple of photos of the engine and carb before it goes back into the frame.

Rear master cylinder bracket

When I was at Steve's last night with the engine a friend of his, Richard, was kind enough to give me a small piece of ally plate so I could fabricate the rear master cylinder bracket. Its a Brembo master cylinder and I would have liked to show the name off but it just wouldn't fit. It didn't have to be too elaborate and it only took the best part of an hour. As a short cut and to make it look "Pretty" I used some thick black vinyl to cover it.

Steve started on the engine at 17:30 last night, first thing he found was the clutch thrust washer behind the clutch was lifting the basket too high so the clutch lock tab had no spline to grip to, after sifting through a multitude of shims he managed to sort it. Next thing was the oil pump cog was impeding on the drive cog, again a small shim sorted that out. On the bottom of the left hand side casing is a threaded hole that you screw in a crankshaft stopper, Steve had been using this all night to hold the crank but when he put the capping bolt in it stripped the thread! Steve had to drill, tap and put a helicoil in, all this AND stopping all the swarf going into the engine. After about 40 minutes he managed to suceed.

The engine has landed!

That was the left hand side, (the clutch on the Rotax), done, next was the top end! This actually went on quite well but when he came to fit the cam pulley he noticed it was touching the casing behind, he read the manual and it said there should be a shim behind the pulley. Steve is very maticulous when it comes to engines and said there was not one there, so again a shim was found to sit behind the pulley, then when fitting the new timing belt he found it was a touch too long, with the tensioning adjuster at maximum the free play, (when the belt is pushed away from the guide), was over 10mm when it should a maximum of 6mm, Steve put the original belt back on. Steve then set up the tappet gaps and valve timing, which is way, way over my head! Steve tried to explain but my head was hurting....DOH. When Steve was bolting down the rocker covers one of the threads stripped, so yet again he had to drill, tap and insert a helicoil, however this was a blind hole so no worries about swarf. I asked Steve to fit one of the better flywheels, pick up and generator windings as the original was looking very second hand! And then at around 22:30 Steve said the words, "Thats it, its done!!"

I will be spending all my spare time in the garage now just to get this project finished, I have almost all the parts I need now so nothing can hold me back!!

Things are looking up!

I recieved an email from Natalee Wilds who I purchased the cases from a few months back, she knew what plate I was on about and apolgised for omitting it, said she would put it the post today so it should be with me Tuesday so I contacted Steve to tell him. An hour or so later I recieved a text from Steve saying he had found the plate we needed in another box, this is not the missing one but one that was in the boxes of spares I got from Dave Habel. I have arranged with Steve to go to his workshop on Tuesday evening with the bearing he needs and the timing belt, we intend to get the engine built if all goes to plan!
If we dont hit anymore snags Im looking to have the engine back in the frame on Weds night, Thursday evening I will get the exhausts, carb, cables and electrics all connected with the possibility of starting the bike on Friday afternoon. Should be able to get the bike to the dyno one afternoon the follwing week before travelling up to Cadwell Park next Friday for the first race.

Not looking good!

I received a call from Steve tonight with some bad news, the crank cases from my spare engine had to be machined out to accommodate the larger barrel, then Steve realised the cases did not have a breather. So the cases went back to his engineers who carried out the job there and then. But when Steve started putting the engine together he found a bearing retainer plate was missing! The original cases were slightly different and therefore could not be used. I have contacted the Company I got the cases from to see if they still have the part, but as its the bank Holiday weekend I doubt if I will get a reply before Tuesday! What with the extra expense of having the cases machined I have exceeded this months budget already and I have serious doubts to whether the bike will actually be ready for the first race in 2 weeks time, especially if we come across further snags.

Oh well chin up, catch you soon