Well I didn't get it started, but everything else is done.
I had to drill the new rotary disks as the screw/rivet holes were too small, but apart from that all went to plan. I will start it on Tuesday and then all should be ready for next weekend.
Sunday, 29 March 2015
Almost finished
Friday, 27 March 2015
Colour preview
It's starting to come together now, even managed to fit the rear cowling! Just waiting now for my new valve covers and rotary disks to arrive.
Wednesday, 25 March 2015
Frustration....
A difficult weekend. I had already helicoiled the remaing M6 bolt hole in the front left cylinder as I knew it was dodgy, and it was the last one to do, but..... I had put an M5 thread into the hole instead of an M6 - I mean honestly how do I still make these mistakes at my age...
Anyway I didn't notice that until I was ready to fit the head, so off with the head, and Nr 1. cylinder, refit an M6 thread insert (lucky I didn't go bigger when I made the error!!), then spend about 30 mins trying to get the cylinder back on over the piston.... phew....finally managed and then noticed I had damaged the base gasket......I am going to cry! Removed both front cylinders to renew the gasket, although my base gaskets adjust the amount of squish clearance I get at the top, so I had to use a 0.25 and 0.75 gasket together to make the right squish - lucky I had them!
That was the regression that was this last weekend. Tuesday evening, I had everything together except that number 5 nut/stud on the rear cylinder head pulled through - wouldn't even take 20n/m of torque. So removed head, removed cylinder helicoiled the stud hole - they are very short - not surprising then that they get tired! I refitted the stud, and put it all back together, end of Tuesday evening the engine is now closed - just waiting for my new rotary valves and covers.
I picked up my fairings which look OK, all white with a deep blue belly pan - will post some pictures when I receive and add the decals to them.
The Sunday Ride Classic is coming up fast and I still have a list of stuff to do.
Anyway I didn't notice that until I was ready to fit the head, so off with the head, and Nr 1. cylinder, refit an M6 thread insert (lucky I didn't go bigger when I made the error!!), then spend about 30 mins trying to get the cylinder back on over the piston.... phew....finally managed and then noticed I had damaged the base gasket......I am going to cry! Removed both front cylinders to renew the gasket, although my base gaskets adjust the amount of squish clearance I get at the top, so I had to use a 0.25 and 0.75 gasket together to make the right squish - lucky I had them!
That was the regression that was this last weekend. Tuesday evening, I had everything together except that number 5 nut/stud on the rear cylinder head pulled through - wouldn't even take 20n/m of torque. So removed head, removed cylinder helicoiled the stud hole - they are very short - not surprising then that they get tired! I refitted the stud, and put it all back together, end of Tuesday evening the engine is now closed - just waiting for my new rotary valves and covers.
I picked up my fairings which look OK, all white with a deep blue belly pan - will post some pictures when I receive and add the decals to them.
The Sunday Ride Classic is coming up fast and I still have a list of stuff to do.
Thursday, 19 March 2015
Waiting for stuff to arrive....
I have stripped down and cleaned the crankshaft bearings on the RG500, I am now waiting for the new rotary valve covers to come from Maranello's so I can finish the engine.
I have also ordered new fork seals for the RG, and I found some for the 350, so that will be a job to do in the coming weeks as well.
I also took the plunge and gave all my fairings to the local body shop - it's going to be all white (Renault) with a dark blue belly pan, to which I will add standard RG500 decals which I have bought off the web here. So should be all spick and span for the "Sunday Ride Classic" at Castellet.
I fixed the rev counter on the 350, some crap had got stuck to the revolving magnet which was stopping it reacting, so that's OK, the temperature gauge still seems a bit dodgy, but I'll wait and see on that one.
The last (but not least) thing to do in the workshop is get the "new" FZR back together again, I am awaiting a couple of hours spare time to do the valve clearances with the hope that they are in tolerance otherwise it will off with the camshafts! The Daytona has the shims under buckets, and they have been incredibly reliable - i.e. I have never had to alter one, so hoping the Yamaha will be the same.
Will be travelling down with the family and other sundry bikers to Paul Ricard for Easter weekend. So be square or see you there!
I have also ordered new fork seals for the RG, and I found some for the 350, so that will be a job to do in the coming weeks as well.
I also took the plunge and gave all my fairings to the local body shop - it's going to be all white (Renault) with a dark blue belly pan, to which I will add standard RG500 decals which I have bought off the web here. So should be all spick and span for the "Sunday Ride Classic" at Castellet.
I fixed the rev counter on the 350, some crap had got stuck to the revolving magnet which was stopping it reacting, so that's OK, the temperature gauge still seems a bit dodgy, but I'll wait and see on that one.
The last (but not least) thing to do in the workshop is get the "new" FZR back together again, I am awaiting a couple of hours spare time to do the valve clearances with the hope that they are in tolerance otherwise it will off with the camshafts! The Daytona has the shims under buckets, and they have been incredibly reliable - i.e. I have never had to alter one, so hoping the Yamaha will be the same.
Will be travelling down with the family and other sundry bikers to Paul Ricard for Easter weekend. So be square or see you there!
Wednesday, 11 March 2015
Ledenon Weekend
Well the weather was great this weekend although quite cold at night - I think it almost froze Saturday night, so didn't get much sleep in the van!
We arrived just before Saturday lunch to get everything setup and buy sessions for the afternoon, the 2 main objectives of the weekend were to run in the 350, (rebuilt cranks and rebore, pistons etc..) and shakedown the 500, which had also been rebuilt.
First out was the 350, which was pulling really well, although the rev. counter was on the blink so couldn't really control revs. Potential disaster struck after 4 laps, I got black flagged for smoking too much - luckily as it turns out! One of the coolant drain plugs had made an escape, and the water was evaporating on the engine and exhaust (causing the "smoke"), luckily it was not dry, and I thank my lucky stars that they didn't let me carry on, as I would have seized for sure.
I found a new screw and refilled with water, to test later in the day.
The second session was the 500's turn. It started very well, but I wasn't confident because it occassionaly was farting on Nr.3. It was pulling like a train, going really well - always worrying with a 2 stroke when things are going well! Well it lasted 3-4 laps (I was just getting into it!), when it went onto 2 cylinders then died. Second bike, second trip in the circuit lorry!
I checked out the bike and to my disappointment the 2 rotary disks on the right hand side (2 & 4) were not rotating anymore - more later!
The third and last session on Saturday, with the 350, went well, and I was able to concentrate on catching some of the bigger bikes, with the agile handling and my circuit knowledge (I'm an old hand now!). The 350 is very sensitive to the triple left hander at the end of the straight and I always get some chatter which I used to fix by lowering the front tyre pressure, however since I upgraded the fork with gold valves and stuff, I haven't managed to dial this out! Anyway at last I finished a session without any mishaps!
Sunday morning I did 3 sessions of the 350, which was running really well, until the last session when it stopped in the warmup lap! As soon as it stopped I was able to see that the generator wires had separated from the rectifie, so the battery was probably flat, I tried reconnecting them but effectively the battery was too far gone to get it running, Anyway, I should have taped the connectors after the rebuild - you live and learn.
So all in all, 2 broken bikes, but then that is what these early season sessions are all about, as long as it doesn't happen again at Paul Riccard next month!
The reason for the 500 stopping was that the screws holding the hubs together had unscrewed and eventually worn through the outer disk cover, causing catastrophic damage to the carbon disks, hubs, and covers! That will teach me to not loctite the screws in - a more expensive lesson I fear!
Franco had told me to loctite the screws in, but honestly I thought that due to the high number of screws and the stiffness of the setup (no movement or play) that just screwing would suffice. I checked the disks on the left hand cylinders, and they were nearly unscrewed as well, so a few more laps and I would have had the left side go as well - so I was lucky (yes really!). Anyway no fault of the equipment, but a hand slap for the mechanic!
We arrived just before Saturday lunch to get everything setup and buy sessions for the afternoon, the 2 main objectives of the weekend were to run in the 350, (rebuilt cranks and rebore, pistons etc..) and shakedown the 500, which had also been rebuilt.
First out was the 350, which was pulling really well, although the rev. counter was on the blink so couldn't really control revs. Potential disaster struck after 4 laps, I got black flagged for smoking too much - luckily as it turns out! One of the coolant drain plugs had made an escape, and the water was evaporating on the engine and exhaust (causing the "smoke"), luckily it was not dry, and I thank my lucky stars that they didn't let me carry on, as I would have seized for sure.
I found a new screw and refilled with water, to test later in the day.
The second session was the 500's turn. It started very well, but I wasn't confident because it occassionaly was farting on Nr.3. It was pulling like a train, going really well - always worrying with a 2 stroke when things are going well! Well it lasted 3-4 laps (I was just getting into it!), when it went onto 2 cylinders then died. Second bike, second trip in the circuit lorry!
I checked out the bike and to my disappointment the 2 rotary disks on the right hand side (2 & 4) were not rotating anymore - more later!
The third and last session on Saturday, with the 350, went well, and I was able to concentrate on catching some of the bigger bikes, with the agile handling and my circuit knowledge (I'm an old hand now!). The 350 is very sensitive to the triple left hander at the end of the straight and I always get some chatter which I used to fix by lowering the front tyre pressure, however since I upgraded the fork with gold valves and stuff, I haven't managed to dial this out! Anyway at last I finished a session without any mishaps!
Sunday morning I did 3 sessions of the 350, which was running really well, until the last session when it stopped in the warmup lap! As soon as it stopped I was able to see that the generator wires had separated from the rectifie, so the battery was probably flat, I tried reconnecting them but effectively the battery was too far gone to get it running, Anyway, I should have taped the connectors after the rebuild - you live and learn.
So all in all, 2 broken bikes, but then that is what these early season sessions are all about, as long as it doesn't happen again at Paul Riccard next month!
The reason for the 500 stopping was that the screws holding the hubs together had unscrewed and eventually worn through the outer disk cover, causing catastrophic damage to the carbon disks, hubs, and covers! That will teach me to not loctite the screws in - a more expensive lesson I fear!
Franco had told me to loctite the screws in, but honestly I thought that due to the high number of screws and the stiffness of the setup (no movement or play) that just screwing would suffice. I checked the disks on the left hand cylinders, and they were nearly unscrewed as well, so a few more laps and I would have had the left side go as well - so I was lucky (yes really!). Anyway no fault of the equipment, but a hand slap for the mechanic!
Tuesday, 3 March 2015
another one.....
Well just couldn't resist, I bought this wreck for 300 Euros. It has a decent fork, and front brakes (what was missing off the other one), and a 47K kms engine, and it has a different swinging arm which takes a larger rear wheel, should enable me to make 2 reasonable bikes!!
Monday, 2 March 2015
Fairing 95% finished
Well, I have spent loads of time trying to get this fairing to fit! I had to buy longer Dzus quarter turn fittings for the bottom and fabricate most of the brackets to get it to fit. I still have one bracket to make as I still have one more issue.
Looks like the weather will be good next weekend, so I have planned to go down to ledenon for a test day/weekend. The 350 needs a bit of a run in and I need to test all the changes that have been made to the 500 since the rebuild.
It will all depend on whether the snow melts in the drive in order to load the lorry!
Plus I will need to finish the forks on the FZR as it is currently blocking the door. Before Friday!
Pheww....
Looks like the weather will be good next weekend, so I have planned to go down to ledenon for a test day/weekend. The 350 needs a bit of a run in and I need to test all the changes that have been made to the 500 since the rebuild.
It will all depend on whether the snow melts in the drive in order to load the lorry!
Plus I will need to finish the forks on the FZR as it is currently blocking the door. Before Friday!
Pheww....
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