Classic TT Build - Dyno Graphs

Some dyno graphs from Friday's dyno setup...

Red line is final setup. Slightly down on power because the throttle off at 9900rpm. Look at that 10bhp gain from 6500 to 7500 :-)

 

 Interesting speed run with the peak at 111.5bhp.

 

Shouldn't be too difficult to keep her between 6500 and 10k

Classic TT Build - Just About Breaking Me

From Friday before last, till last Friday... between work and sleep, I have spent every minute on the build. Every night till 11 or midnight... just getting stuff right. Lots of little things that take time, time, time. I'm well into the '20' of the 80/20 principle... and it's almost breaking me.

With only 1 pair of hands, getting the final fitment of the bodywork has been a royal pain n the ass...

 

I normally use vinyl for the number boards, but with a few curvy bits on the tail and those air intakes on the nose, I decided to go for paint... after consulting loads of WSBK pics to find the shape I felt looked best while still keeping it period looking, I masked the seat and nose up and sanded them down. Took me ages to get the embossed 'desmoquattro' out of the seat unit.

 

My 2-pac spay friend has just moved workshops and hasn't setup his spray-booth yet. So it would be a rattle-can job. Couldn't find matt or satin white in normal auto pain so went for an enamel. It turned out ivory/cream. Not what I wanted... so out with the gloss white...

 

... and flat it with 800 wet-paper. Not quite the finish I want, and hope it's going to be tough enough to put up with the hail of stones it's gonna go through on the Isle. We'll see. It'll look fine at 100mph.

 

The tank pivot I made to fit Steve B's rears ubframe wasn't quite right. Was struggling to get the riv-not to grip the pivot properly... and had taken away too much ally for my liking trying to get it right. Popped down to my mate Steve Mann for a solution. He was super-busy, so gave me a 3 minute crash course in using his lathe and milling machine. I'd never used either before. 45 minutes later and I had turned out my a neat little gizmo in stainless. It works an absolute treat... and is only 35 grams heavier than the ally it replaces :-)

 

Here's the beauty fitted. With my new carbon-neutral shocker just underneath. All of the suspension was sent off to Maxton for a service, spring check and setup. They were fantastic and turned it around in a day. Rear spring was way too hard, replaced with a softer one and new seals mean no more leaks :-)

 

Sexy suspenders! Front fork seals were 50 quid a pop. Ouch! Not sure about the purple spring though. Might get a yellow Ohlins one in the winter...

 

Belly-pan is an issue. They didn't exist in 1991... but mandatory now. So I found an 996 piece that I'd used on my old Aprilia for years. It was hacked up and a bit rough... but would do the job. A lot of guesswork and imagination was used because RedMax Steve was getting the side fairings liveried...

 

 A bit of cut-n-shut. I like fibre-glassing... man, it smells goooooood!

 

 

All cleaned up, half respectable and ready for a guess fitment.

 

 

I'd broken the back of it... and with the great news from the dyno-room on Friday, I took the weekend off for a more important engagement and a little rest. I'll be back at it tonight and the next few nights finishing her off. Still got to test a few things and sort those brake bleed nipples. Midday on Friday we head up to Liverpool... I cant wait!



 

Classic TT Build - Dyno Day

So, on Friday the old girl was down at the dyno with RedMax Steve to get setup for the engine rebuild and her new cam timing.

Steve did a base run with her on the P7 ECU and standard chip. 107bhp.
:)

She was fuelling quite lean through the revs too... not great for reliability. Steve then popped the P8 ECU in with the FIM chip (I asked about the 916 chip, Steve just laughed). It only took a few runs to get her spot-on.

111.5bhp

 

Steve also filled in a mid-range hole with 10bhp and the 'curve' climbs fast to 8k and is then pretty flat from 8 till 10. I'm super-happy :) Built for reliability... and now she's got some extra mambo too!

Chris at DoubleTake Motorcycles (the dyno operator) was really surprised that she sat at 70 degrees the whole time... taking a dyno hammering in her stride. She's gonna absolutely love the Isle of Man!
I'll get some dyno printouts up here soon...

Here is a vid Steve shot of Chris giving her a dyno workout. The sound is awesome!

Classic TT Build - Braking Story

Here is a story of braking woe...

When I bought the Ducati 851 SP3 back in April - it had crap brakes. I think it had been standing a while and don't think the callipers had been cleaned in a few thousand miles. Brembo's are awesome callipers, but they get brake-dusted-up easily and need a bit of maintenance.

So I gave the callipers a clean and changed the fluid. We had brakes again :-)

 

I changed the pads to sintered race jobs. The braking was absolutely fearsome! Sintered pads on iron discs = mega friction. I was more than happy with the performance, but I wasn't comfortable with the setup. A few folk advised against sintered on iron and my mate ending his race career from a shattered iron disc at Brands was in the back of my mind. The rotor carriers were also a bit worn. Racing is a confidence game. Especially on the IOM - you HAVE to have complete faith in your equipment.

Stick with what you know. I dug up a set of good Brembo discs that were on an Aprilia set of 'wet' wheels. Popped them on and shazam! Great brakes again. Not fearsome... but great.

When prepping for the next test ride, I was torqueing the calliper bolts. It hit 20Nm on the dial and I felt that sickening sudden slacking off on the wrench. The carrier had split and the calliper bolt stripped. Fan-bloody-tastic!

Fear not! A mate supplied me with a set of slightly later 40mm gold Brembo callipers. Problem was... they had been on a shelf a few years and were minging!

One of the great things about living a few miles from Silverstone are the cool 'race shops' and performance focussed businesses around. I dropped the callipers off at Mode Performance (Brembo importers). Two days and 60 quid later I had a fully serviced set of callipers with two corroded and seized pistons replaced and new pins and clips supplied. Great value!

 

I didn't like the split brake-line standard conglomeration bolted to the lower yolk. Wanted a Race setup... so got some Goodrich lines online.

I pop them on... only, by then I had fitted the trick Oronero carbon air runner and needed longer brake lines for clearance around it. Doh! Down to Goodrich at Silverstone. They seemed not too keen on making up some lines but said they would... but it would take 2 weeks. At that stage I had a few months to go to the Manx so could afford the time to wait.

Two weeks later and they hadn't done a thing. Don't support Goodrich. Good product - awful service. Chatted to the bloke at Mode performance... he said try Earl's Performance... in the next building. They were worth a try... just for the name.

So the friendly bloke at Earl's take's order. I ask: "Can I settle up now... and how long will it take.". "Have you got 10 minutes?"
"Sure."
I expect him to come back with an invoice. He hands me some just-made, beautif brake lines. Packaged and everything. He then hand's me an invoice: 36 quid. Awesome service and value! Use Earl's Performance! (even if it's just for the name...)

 

Okay... new callipers, new lines. Fill 'em up and bleed. Hmmmm... not getting the feel I want. A few test rides and bleeds later and they're better. But not great. The stop a-ok... but the non-adjustable lever just feels a bit soft and comes too far back to the bar to allow comfortable two-finger braking. 4 finger braking is great... but not how I use brakes. I guess the master cylinder just isn't up to the job of the new callipers. Not happy.

 

Was looking at radial master cylinders. But the budget is already blown on the is project. I sit in the garage and scratch my head. Ah! "Cannibalism." My older Aprilia race bike is slowly getting robbed of parts. Battery, levers, clip-ons, a footpeg... and now a master cylinder. Parts donated to other race bikes... its for good cause. She's very understanding.

So... just pilfered and fitted the radial master cylinder. And... it has clearance, Earl's brake-lines were completely reusable and is pukka! Haven't road tested it yet... but sitting on the bike in the garage, making "Drrrrrrrrrrrr" sounds - it feels the business!

But. The saga continues... my nipples weep. Need to sort that. Maybe the wrong nipples. But at least the feel is there... and the bike will stop.

Holy crap! This sure is a long story! I'll let you know if there is a happy ending soon :-)

Update: 13.08.2013 - 14h00
Just got these puppies from Mode Perfromance - as used in World Superbikes... they're 'quick bleed' nipples. We'll see if they end my woes...

Classic TT Build - In Bits Again

More pics from the weekend past...

 

She's in bits again... on house-bricks and a trestle to get the suspension out...

Rear shocker. Fithy Ohlins, leaking and an 11.5 weight spring. During test rides the front was good... but the back was kicking. Should be a 9.5 or something like that... will get it changed.

Finally got to the rear downpipe (been annoying me since I got the bike). Scabby heat-shield job just had to go...

Replaced by two of my favourite race bike things: exhaust wrap and lockwire.

 

 

Head bearing felt okay... but looked worse. Replaced as a matter of course anyway.

Shiny and new! Don't forget the grease!

Link pipes melting my boot...

...aaaahh... better...

...secure...

... and now fray-proof.

Loads of other little bits done. Also done loads of stuff that didn't work out - like dry-break fuel lines. Always good to have on a race bike. Been using black plastic ones on a carb bike for years now without a problem. Was wary of fuel pressure but was worth a try. They didn't work... leaked fuel everywhere. Pukka ally ones are over 100 quid each. Will just have to do it the manual way with a 7mm socket drive. Can't win 'em all!

Classic TT Build - Forging Ahead

With the engine rebuilt, it still needs to be setup on the dyno. Earliest dyno slot we could get was this Friday. So I got the SP3 back from RedMax Steve on Thursday evening and got cracking on all the other things needed to be done... like test riding :-)

Those lovely carbon air-runners from Oronero. Made specially extra strong for the rigours of the TT mountain course.

These intakes are gonna suck up babies, prams and grannies from the sidewalk!

Exquisite carbon dash fitted.

Seat pad - couldn't source a big enough piece of the super-lightweight stuff... so made do with 2. Not the best looking, but saves 150g over the standard stuff. Incremental gains.

Ditched the old lead-acid battery for a modern Li-PO. Battery choice is free and non-liquid carrying ones are preferred by MMCC. Safety first! Oh... and a few kg weight saving :-)

Splashed some paint over the air-area.

RedMax Steve has many, many years racing experience with these machines. At sustained high revs, the standard clutch slave cylinders pack up. Oberon billet slave will do the job :-)

Gotta keep that heat away from the fuel - there's a few bhp to be had... more gains.

Stompgrips. Not quite period, but are understated and I wouldn't go racing without them. Before they were around, I used to tape strips of plastic ridges to my tanks for a similar effect.

Second oil analysis sample. Interesting to see what it tells us after the rebuild.

Also hardwired the regulator in.

I put about 100 miles on her on local roads without the side fairings (Steve's getting them measured up). Not great timing with World Superbikes this weekend in the area... had to be wary of the cops about. But managed to give her a good shake-down and run the engine in without any problem.

Despite the ignition not being setup for the new cam timing, she still felt good. Rubbish below 3k, but great from there and then at 7k it's like a liitle turbo kicks in. Whooosh! She's quick :-)

Yam XS400 by Volure Cycles

Pretty.

Thanks to Café Racer Culture for the pics.

Where Do Old Race Bikes Go To Die?

An interesting article... shame that so many are destroyed...

 

Where Do Old Race Bikes Go To Die?