So, I received the barrels, and new Wiseco pistons, with rings, small end barings, gudgeon pins and circlips. With wiseco pistons you have two rings that are identical, the instructions for fitting are complete. You have to measure clearance between the power valve and the cylinder, plus measure the end gap on the rings by insrting them in the cylinders and measuring with a feeler gauge. Everything seemed within limits, and so the barrels, pistons, and head were rebuilt this morning, with no problems. New gaskets all around!!
After having decided on the full strip down and rebore, I obviously needed to remove the head, barrels, and pistons etc.. This proved pretty easy (as I remembered from previous lives), I still managed to round off a couple of screws – one holding the two power valves together in between the cylinders – particularly difficult to get a drill to, and the second was holding the power valve pulley in place, this one slightly easier to drill out. Anyway only standard for a Jap bike of this age (even new for that matter!). After having seen the number on the tops of the pistons +25 I assumed that I had some rebores to go before renewing the sleeves, however I assumed wrongly as the +25 turned out to be +75 (really badly etched) after measuring. I was really lucky the guy in the rebore workshop measured this before ordering the pistons, otherwise I would be selling perfectly good pistons on Ebay! Interesting to note that Yam pistons only go up to +50, and yet Wiseco’s go up at least to +150. I am using +100's, I only hope the longevity of the sleeve is not effected by the extra amount taken from it.
Hopefully I will get time to order my seat unit from Poly26 this week, so I can get them all painted together. Which will be the next task.
Well I took the bike to Yam’s for them to check what I had done to the pump, effectively the guy left the engine running for at least 5 minutes, the time for the pump to fill the oil tubes, and reach the carbs – I of course had not left it long enough and hence starved the engine of oil! The puffs of smoke I had seen must have been oil already in the engine, having settled to the bottom! Although the bike was OK, I decided to take off the exhausts to get a look at the state of the pistons, and effectively the left hand piston was quite heavily marked, a full top end overhaul is required!
It was getting near the first race, and I had never used the bike OR been on a circuit for a number of years. Time to find a track day! The nearest circuit to Grenoble is in fact “le Circuit du Laquis” , however they do not allow motorcycles and therefore I needed to look further a field. The circuit de Ledenon, is situated about 11 kms north of Nimes, about 2.5 hours from my house, and so on a blustery March morning the family (yes my kids and wife) accompanied me to Ledenon. The circuit organizes training days which are relatively inexpensive (16 Euros per 20 minutes), organized by sessions depending on your level (beginner or experienced).
When we arrived in the pits car park, to say it was windy would be an understatement, people who had camped had their tents blown horizontally! People were arriving, and leaving just as quickly! I queued up to book my sessions, a total of 4 as a start! We unloaded the bike, my son, Oliver removed the centre stand whilst I tried to get into my leathers (after a heavy Christmas – this was difficult!). We had difficulties starting the bike, which was strange, as I had charged the battery well the evening before, and I got busy checking that we hadn’t pulled anything loose when we tied the bike down! Eventually we managed to push start the bike, and I made it to the pit lane for the start of my first session. You have to imagine the scene a little, with me on my 24 year bike, with brand new leathers, amongst a crazed band of youngsters on everything from race prepared Yamaha R1’s to Ducati 999’s etc… you get the picture. After a very quick look at me and the bike the starter allowed us through in small groups, and suddenly we were OFF, I was quite happy staying towards the back especially as the wind was blowing me off line (what line?) at every corner, well at least 2 corners……
Coming up to a heavy left hander the bike suddenly started making a funny noise…. Clutch where’s the clutch….. sssszzzzz. Shit I think it’s seized! The nearest marshal comes running up flapping his yellow flag. I try to start the bike again (mistake) and it starts so I make my way gingerly around the track road. It stalls again, and I get picked up by the track van, and taken back to the pits, where I sit waiting for my pit crew to come back. Obviously with no centre stand I can not `park` the bike, and with the wind I don’t trust leaning it up against the car!! I am really pissed off this is not how I imagined it!
After some checking, I of course (clues are above) discover that there is no oil getting to the carbs…. BOLLOCKS…. I can not understand what the pump is doing but it is not pumping that’s for sure! OK what to do next. Having some sense for money I send off my pit girls (Carly and Lib) to sell me 3 other sessions, whilst I sink into depression….. I then had a brilliant idea! What if we take some oil out of the oil tank and mix it with the petrol in the petrol tank and see if I can start it? Not having bought any scientific measuring containers, we siphon “enough” oil, out of the tank to add it to the petrol, yes but how much petrol is in the tank, and what mixture should it be? Theses are all very sensible questions, to which I had no answer. The team made the decision to add enough oil, ---- until it smokes!!
Funnily enough, we kept adding oil, and it never really smoked at all…. But we got well past 3% (at least I think).
I had already missed the next session, and so we had lunch whilst contemplating the team strategy! Déjà vu… I ‘ve been here before, surrounded by huge bikes, with tyres a lot stickier than mine… here goes. FULL THROTTLE! The two afternoon sessions were conclusive. First conclusion – there are a lot of people out there quicker than I. Second conclusion – The &*^^%$# wind is too strong. Every bend against the wind was fine as it would push you into the circuit, the other side however was a matter of hanging on for dear life as you were pushed nearer and nearer the gravel traps – no fun at all! Well OK, I did have fun, but I really hope that not all circuits are on top of small hills in the direct force of the Mistral wind blowing it’s hardest.
In the mean time I had to be equipped with leathers (bought at Dianese – on sale!), boots (bought from M&P on the web), and gloves (a nice pair of YAMAHA R1 gloves that were also on sale – end of season). I decided to use my road helmet, as it was sufficiently new to meet the regulations, although I have an uncomfortable neck when I am in a racing crouch.
In France, you need to have Federation Francaise de Moto racing license category NAT A. In order to obtain this you need first to be a holder of a CASM (Certificat d’aptitude de Sport Mechanique). The CASM tests you on basic bike skills, plus the rules and regulations around a circuit – including flags. In order to apply to the CASM you need to get a local address of your regional representative, which for me was in the Dauphine. I phone this guy and he registered me for a CASM test, which I eventually took in a center in the nearby DROME area. Due to the fact that I had a current motorcycle road license I did not have to take the practical test, however it’s useful to know that if your kids want to take up racing of any sort they can go via this route.
In order to get the FFM license you need to be a member of a French Association affiliated with the FFM. The PROCLASSIC association is part of the FFM, and therefore they sent me all the necessary forms to fill in and the list of documents to provide. Basically you need to have, proof of identity, a CASM, proof of address, plus a document from your National Motorcycle racing association proving that you are allowed to hold a French license. To supply this, I needed to contact the ACU in the UK, and they faxed me the correct document basically stating that I had never been banned from having a racing license in the UK. I sent this lot off with the appropriate amount of cheques (!!), and I received my license a couple of weeks on.
I really wanted to go for a “classic” look, this to me means single seat, ducati 900ss half fairing and clipons. I sourced a racing fairing at POLY26, a relatively local fibre glass company, that makes everything plastic for thousands of different bikes. The guy who owns the place is really passionate about his business, and can talk for hours on the subject, I recommend it to anyone. That was the easy part, the difficult part was making a support for the fairing. I had to design and make fairing brackets, which were eventually achieved by using some local company welding skills, and my ingenuity with aluminium plating. The fairing comes in a rough grey colour “ready” for spraying, but this means that all the holes have to drilled not only in the fairing, but also in the visor – not for the feint hearted – one slip and you are doomed!!
