Tuesday 7 December 2010
Dzus quarter turn fittings
Have bought myself some Dzus quarter turn fittings for the RG, should make fairing removal a bit quicker. They come in different sizes and at first sight these seem very big to the job. The cheapest place I found was a source on Ebay in the USA, www.desmoporsche.com it took about 10 days for my package to arrive from the USA.
I am not sure how I am going to fit them, but I will have to enlarge the current holes in the fairing and remove the female metal parts - that will be extremely dodgy as they are molded into the fibre glass, I will start drilling with a drill one size bigger than the current threaded parts, as I don't want them to rip out of the fibre glass, otherwise I could be looking at extensive fibre glass repairs....
Thursday 25 November 2010
Technical Update
As the RD 350 battery has just about had it, I set about investigating it's replacement. The custom made race batteries are made out of Lithium MH or Cadmium, and the newest technology are the LiFe cells, however these were far too expensive for the 350, so I started looking at ways I could buy the individual cells and make one up.
I found a site in France that sells the cells, but for only a couple of Euros more will solder them together to make higher voltage units. So I ended up buying one of these.
The site is Maximusracing and he specialises in providing high quality battery cells for scale models or for race bikes!
I calculated that I am pulling about 1.5 amps with the electronic ignition, with peaks a little higher when the valves need turning. So I went for a 4 cell unit which generated 2.3 Amp/hours of energy, easily enough to do more than 1.5 hours racing without charging the system.
I am trying to find ways in which I can now remove the alternator all together, but until I can replace the ignition pickup with something else, I have to keep the rotor, but I could remove completely the stator plate, loosing a kg in the process, not counting the back EMF, from the generation (non) of charging current.
For the moment I will simply replace the lead/acid battery with the LiFe one, letting the bikes charging system look after the LiFe charging. This could last as long as a lead/acid battery, however with multiple cells you have to be careful to balance the charge in each of the 4 cells, otherwise there will always be one or other cells that are discharged first or fully charged first, and this apparently is not good for the lifetime of the battery, so once in a while I will use a balanced battery charger (39 Euros straight from sunny China) to rejuvenate the LiFe cells.
The standard lead/acid battery weighs in at a porky 2.3 kgs, whilst the LiFe cells are just over 300 gms - a saving of 2 kgs. This will either allow me to drink more beer at Xmas or go faster if my weight remains the same! Of course I should mention that the price is inversly proportional to the weight - a good lead/acid replacement would cost around 25-30 Euros, and the LiFe cells cost 89 Euros.
Monday 15 November 2010
Update
Bad news on the health front may keep me off the track for the first part of next year - nothing really serious, but I am on medication until at least February that will not allow me to get my license renewed, hopefully I will stop the meds in Feb. and if all goes well, I should be able to compete - but will the races all be full by then.... we will see!
In the mean time, I took the Ducati out at the weekend, we were five bikes - Triumph Thunderbird (1995), Ducati 600SS, Kawasaki Z650, Ducati Monster 1000. We had a a great ride up into the Vercors mountains, and back - 3 hours in all, the Ducati started well, ran well, and braked well - a real pleasure although the cramped riding position is awful for my legs, they are really bent - it's worse than my Daytona! It still doesn't idle, and this time I tried the air screw turned in to the recommended 1.5 turns, which didn't make any difference. The clutch definitely slips in the powerband, but not all the time, from the manual it appears there is an adjuster on the clutch basket, which I will investigate at a later date. Before going out, I had to adjust the chain, and I thought I would check the oil level, the chain was done in about 5 minutes, but of course I overfilled the oil, and had to syringe some back out - poxy level gauge - still it hadn't used much if any since the oil change - so I suppose that's good news. When we stopped for a break, I did see one drip under the engine - but nothing serious.
In the mean time, I took the Ducati out at the weekend, we were five bikes - Triumph Thunderbird (1995), Ducati 600SS, Kawasaki Z650, Ducati Monster 1000. We had a a great ride up into the Vercors mountains, and back - 3 hours in all, the Ducati started well, ran well, and braked well - a real pleasure although the cramped riding position is awful for my legs, they are really bent - it's worse than my Daytona! It still doesn't idle, and this time I tried the air screw turned in to the recommended 1.5 turns, which didn't make any difference. The clutch definitely slips in the powerband, but not all the time, from the manual it appears there is an adjuster on the clutch basket, which I will investigate at a later date. Before going out, I had to adjust the chain, and I thought I would check the oil level, the chain was done in about 5 minutes, but of course I overfilled the oil, and had to syringe some back out - poxy level gauge - still it hadn't used much if any since the oil change - so I suppose that's good news. When we stopped for a break, I did see one drip under the engine - but nothing serious.
Wednesday 3 November 2010
Friday 29 October 2010
Ducati is legal
Well, as I have been off sick from work, I took the opportunity to queue for 2 hours at the French prefecture in Grenoble to get the Ducati paperwork sorted, and guess what it is now fully legal in France, and registered as a Collectors bike, this allows me to insure for an additional 9 Euros per year!! Obviously it is not covered for theft for this price. So it now has a French number plate, and I only hope the weather stays nice so I can take it out before the winter arrives.
I had to helicoil one of the front brake caliper holding bolt holes, which gave me the opportunity to try out a new set of helicoil tools that I bought. The helicoil process allows you to replace the often to soft aluminium thread with a much stronger stainless steel thread insert, which looks much like a spring. You have to drill out the old thread with a specific size drill, then tap the thread that takes the insert. You use a special tool to "screw" the helicoil in, and once it is in position you break off the special tab (which is what the insertion tool uses) with another special tool, and there you have a bright and shiny new steel thread in the place of the old one. It was a pretty straight forward operation, although I made a mistake in pushing to hard on the insertion tool, which made the initial insert (remember spring like) stretch and jump a thread. I had to remove it and use another one, by just turning the tool, no pushing, and it worked perfectly!
Sunday 24 October 2010
Rear Carb done
It's strange why the rear carb is cleaner and in better nick than the front one (internally). The accelerator pump definitely works, nothing of note inside, although I couldn't get the float out as the axle was too stiff, and I didn't want to damage it.
Change a few gaskets, and a couple of o rings. I noted the size of the jets as below :-
Emulsion tube AB265
Mains 152
Pilot 60
Accelerator pump jet 50
The front mixture screw was 2.5 turns out and the rear was 2.25 turns out. I need to check if my vacuum guages will fit the inlet stubs, so I can now set about adjusting the carbs and hopefully getting some resemblance of an idle.
Chris had bought the original workshop manuals which have some really good diagrams of the carbs showing all the different fuel and air circuits pretty good!
Will change the pads on the 350 this afternoon, as expected it's pissing down outside - still avoids working in the garden!
Change a few gaskets, and a couple of o rings. I noted the size of the jets as below :-
Emulsion tube AB265
Mains 152
Pilot 60
Accelerator pump jet 50
The front mixture screw was 2.5 turns out and the rear was 2.25 turns out. I need to check if my vacuum guages will fit the inlet stubs, so I can now set about adjusting the carbs and hopefully getting some resemblance of an idle.
Chris had bought the original workshop manuals which have some really good diagrams of the carbs showing all the different fuel and air circuits pretty good!
Will change the pads on the 350 this afternoon, as expected it's pissing down outside - still avoids working in the garden!
Saturday 23 October 2010
New disks....
Put the new disks on, and cleaned up the front wheel, took a couple of hours, but it was worth it - I wonder how long it will stay this shiny! I couldn't put the new pads and the new disks in together, as it would really have binded, so I have put the old pads in for the moment, until the disks are bedded in a bit, then I will put the new EBC pads in as well. I will do the rear carb tomorrow, as the forecast is rain, and hopefully I can try it during the week!
Friday 22 October 2010
Ducati Disks & Carbs
Had a chance to do the front carb. on the Ducati, and received the rotors. Replaced a few gaskets from the kit I had bought although I didn't touch the accelerator pump as it works, I don't know if it needed bleeding or not, but it definately works, so I left alone. There was some nice sludge in the emulsion tube, so I was glad that I made the effort.
The new disks are sexy, I will put them on tomorrow.
Thursday 21 October 2010
Stuff to do over winter....
I went out to try a Daytona 675 today at the local Triumph shop. The 3 things that come to mind straight away are - lovely engine, fantastic brakes, but very bum in the air - the thing revs to 15K, and makes a lovely noise with a road legal arrow silencer. The mirrors were absolutely useless worse I've seen, and my boots rubbed on the swinging arm, as the heel protectors seem to be badly positioned for me. Don't think I'll get one - my 955i Daytona is still a lovely bike!
Anyway, the point of this post is really to start my list for the winter or what I would like to do :-
1/. Put dzeus quarter turn fittings on the RG fairing (difficult)
2/. Change the RG clutch plates to Kevlar ones to stop the binding (easy)
3/. Drop mains to 220's on the RG (easy)
4/. Drop mains to 350's on the RD (easy)
5/. Change a couple of pistons on the RG (medium)
6/. Change pistons on the RD (medium)
7/. Buy a van and prepare it for racing (I'm looking at a Renautl Traffic L2/H1 any opinions....)
8/. Service Libby's bike (CB 500)
9/. Do the disks and carbs on the Ducati.
Voila, that's it - for the moment!
Anyway, the point of this post is really to start my list for the winter or what I would like to do :-
1/. Put dzeus quarter turn fittings on the RG fairing (difficult)
2/. Change the RG clutch plates to Kevlar ones to stop the binding (easy)
3/. Drop mains to 220's on the RG (easy)
4/. Drop mains to 350's on the RD (easy)
5/. Change a couple of pistons on the RG (medium)
6/. Change pistons on the RD (medium)
7/. Buy a van and prepare it for racing (I'm looking at a Renautl Traffic L2/H1 any opinions....)
8/. Service Libby's bike (CB 500)
9/. Do the disks and carbs on the Ducati.
Voila, that's it - for the moment!
Tuesday 12 October 2010
Monday 11 October 2010
Ledenon - Race report
Well, we are back from Ledenon, after a weekend's racing. For those that aren't too familiar with French geography Ledenon is in the South of France near Nimes, so one would expect there to be lots of sun for the last race weekend of the year, well the weather forecasters got it right for once, and although Friday and Saturday were sunny, the Sunday was a disaster, with rain starting early morning and getting heavier and heavier as time went on. Finally around 16:00 they cancelled our second race because they were so far behind schedule that we would have needed lights to race!
Anyway back to Friday. We arrived early to reserve space for the fan club (this being my home circuit), and setup the tent etc... the only practice was at 15:30. The RD 350 had leaked a little oil from the clutch cover during the trip, so I was really hoping the RG500 was going to be track worthy.
As I mentioned previously, I had upped main jets to 250's for the cooler weather, however when I went out it was a sunny 25 degrees, so I was way too rich. The bike had difficulty making it's way to 8K and then it would fly off at 9K to around 10.5K, really difficult to ride, anyway the engine ran for 20 minutes, and everything seemed OK.
During scrutineering, the bike wouldn't make more than 6k sitting on the stand because it was too rich. I had the 350 go through scrutineering as well just in case.
Friday evening, I went down to 230's again, plus I lowered the needles to the second to highest clip position, plus I removed the carb trunks, which I reckon is probably worth another 15 points.
With these modifications completed we had a drink and went to bed. You can imagine I didn't sleep well, thinking I had gone too far in my leaning off the carbs.
In the morning I decided that a plug chop was absolutely necessary, before racing, so I decided to do only a couple of laps of timed practice on the RG, and this would give me the opportunity to qualify the 350 as well. SO having decided this, I "fixed" my oil leak on the 350 again, and moved it closer to the pits so that I could make a quick change.
Well, the 500 was working much better, much more mid range with an acceptable kick at around 7.5K as the exhaust valves close - as planned I pulled in after 3 laps trying to give a final full throttle going into the pit lane, and coasting to a stop next to the 350. I completed the session on the 350 although they didn't catch any of my lap times after swapping bikes, so I qualified at the back of the grid.
Back at camp, I pulled off the tank and checked out the plugs on 3 and 4, and they were both a dark chocolate brown - yea hey - we are getting somewhere. Still a little rich in my opinion, but working much better!
The village fan club arrived Saturday afternoon, so it was disappointing to wake up Sunday morning to the rain! The first race was at 10:50, and as I sat on the pre-grid we watched the rain really start to fall, a number of my colleagues abandoned at that point, and as we went out onto the track, it was clear that this was not going to be fun. The warm up lap, was liquid cooled, and my tyres were probably as cold as they could get, I got a reasonalbe start and overtook, about 6 guys into the first triple left hander. The water was sitting on the track in the flat bits, and was creating streams across the track in the sloped sections. Everywhere was really slippy! I had a couple of really big moments opening the throttle and after that I decided the main objective was to stay upright!
I finished the race in a lowly position, having been overtaken by numerous bikes, and honestly I didn't have the means to go any faster, the front end was slipping as I leant over, and the back was spinning each time I opened her up. There were two sections where the tyres were gripping so I could give it the beans there, but altogether a poor performance, and totally disagreable - but the positive side was that the bike was working!
Throughout lunch and early afternoon, it was clear that the weather was worsening, and as happens it these cases there had to be a big accident before the race organisers decided to take action. The final of the Promosport 600, and someone fell at the first bend and was run over by a few bikes, the race was red flagged, and the debris and ambulances took about an hour to clear. The guy was in pretty bad shape, last we heard he had 2 broken legs and crushed chest - I hope he makes it!
Anyway after much discussion the rest of the afternoon was canceled, so we packed up in the rain, with at least the knowledge that both my bikes are now working well....
Photos and video later.
Anyway back to Friday. We arrived early to reserve space for the fan club (this being my home circuit), and setup the tent etc... the only practice was at 15:30. The RD 350 had leaked a little oil from the clutch cover during the trip, so I was really hoping the RG500 was going to be track worthy.
As I mentioned previously, I had upped main jets to 250's for the cooler weather, however when I went out it was a sunny 25 degrees, so I was way too rich. The bike had difficulty making it's way to 8K and then it would fly off at 9K to around 10.5K, really difficult to ride, anyway the engine ran for 20 minutes, and everything seemed OK.
During scrutineering, the bike wouldn't make more than 6k sitting on the stand because it was too rich. I had the 350 go through scrutineering as well just in case.
Friday evening, I went down to 230's again, plus I lowered the needles to the second to highest clip position, plus I removed the carb trunks, which I reckon is probably worth another 15 points.
With these modifications completed we had a drink and went to bed. You can imagine I didn't sleep well, thinking I had gone too far in my leaning off the carbs.
In the morning I decided that a plug chop was absolutely necessary, before racing, so I decided to do only a couple of laps of timed practice on the RG, and this would give me the opportunity to qualify the 350 as well. SO having decided this, I "fixed" my oil leak on the 350 again, and moved it closer to the pits so that I could make a quick change.
Well, the 500 was working much better, much more mid range with an acceptable kick at around 7.5K as the exhaust valves close - as planned I pulled in after 3 laps trying to give a final full throttle going into the pit lane, and coasting to a stop next to the 350. I completed the session on the 350 although they didn't catch any of my lap times after swapping bikes, so I qualified at the back of the grid.
Back at camp, I pulled off the tank and checked out the plugs on 3 and 4, and they were both a dark chocolate brown - yea hey - we are getting somewhere. Still a little rich in my opinion, but working much better!
The village fan club arrived Saturday afternoon, so it was disappointing to wake up Sunday morning to the rain! The first race was at 10:50, and as I sat on the pre-grid we watched the rain really start to fall, a number of my colleagues abandoned at that point, and as we went out onto the track, it was clear that this was not going to be fun. The warm up lap, was liquid cooled, and my tyres were probably as cold as they could get, I got a reasonalbe start and overtook, about 6 guys into the first triple left hander. The water was sitting on the track in the flat bits, and was creating streams across the track in the sloped sections. Everywhere was really slippy! I had a couple of really big moments opening the throttle and after that I decided the main objective was to stay upright!
I finished the race in a lowly position, having been overtaken by numerous bikes, and honestly I didn't have the means to go any faster, the front end was slipping as I leant over, and the back was spinning each time I opened her up. There were two sections where the tyres were gripping so I could give it the beans there, but altogether a poor performance, and totally disagreable - but the positive side was that the bike was working!
Throughout lunch and early afternoon, it was clear that the weather was worsening, and as happens it these cases there had to be a big accident before the race organisers decided to take action. The final of the Promosport 600, and someone fell at the first bend and was run over by a few bikes, the race was red flagged, and the debris and ambulances took about an hour to clear. The guy was in pretty bad shape, last we heard he had 2 broken legs and crushed chest - I hope he makes it!
Anyway after much discussion the rest of the afternoon was canceled, so we packed up in the rain, with at least the knowledge that both my bikes are now working well....
Photos and video later.
Thursday 7 October 2010
Update
Well I started the RG500 today - about 6 kicks were enough to get the petrol through, and generate enough electricity for the capacitor. It wouldn't idle, so I kept the throttle open until she was nice and warm, the cylinders seem to be well balanced, at least all the pipes were heating at the same level.
I let her cool down and then started her up and balanced the carbs, phew all OK, I need to check the oil level before taking her out, but the fairing is now back on and the bikes are both tucked up in the trailer.
Sorry, no video...
I let her cool down and then started her up and balanced the carbs, phew all OK, I need to check the oil level before taking her out, but the fairing is now back on and the bikes are both tucked up in the trailer.
Sorry, no video...
Tuesday 5 October 2010
Technical Update
Well it's Tuesday evening, and the cylinders, heads, exhaust valves, carbs. are all now back on, just leaving the radiater and exhausts for tomorrow, and then I can start her up! No issues, I just hope I haven't forgotten anything. I up jetted the carbs. to 250's, mainly because I want it nice and rich so that everything is well cooled and lubricated, I might even up the oil a bit, just to be sure.
I'll try and video the start up if I have enough hands.
Monday 4 October 2010
Pistons in
So I got my gasket cement/maker on Friday in the post, it is THREEBOND 1104 which is liquid and grey in colour and runny, but most importantly it is resistant to petrol and oil!
Friday evening I got the crankcase upper on, and fitted the pistons, I was hoping I would have 2 new pistons from Mark Dent, however due to a cock up with his supplier, he received the wrong size, hence I have put the old ones back in, (old is a relative term as they don't have many miles on them at all). The gudgeon pins and bearings and circlips are new. interestingly you can really feel, on the old gudgeon pins, a ridge that has worn - either a symptom of the broken bearings or the reason. Anyway, at least the bottom end is now new, and balanced, so even if I swap out pistons at a later date, this isn't much work. I am on a run down to the last race weekend now, so it would be nice to get the RG back out on the track even if I just run in the cranks, and bearings.
I need to get the cylinders on and the rotary valves in place this evening.
The rest of last weekend was spent at Magny-Cours watching the French round of the World Superbikes, both races being very exciting with plenty of suspense up until the last laps. The 1000 superstock was good as well with a French rider winning the race in front of Badovini and his BMW. The only bummer of the weekend was the wind, which broke my tent, "luckily" on the Sunday. We had a good trip up and back, on some small twisties through the massif central. Both BMW and Aprilia had huge stands with all of their models present.
Update tomorrow if I manage to take some photos.
Friday evening I got the crankcase upper on, and fitted the pistons, I was hoping I would have 2 new pistons from Mark Dent, however due to a cock up with his supplier, he received the wrong size, hence I have put the old ones back in, (old is a relative term as they don't have many miles on them at all). The gudgeon pins and bearings and circlips are new. interestingly you can really feel, on the old gudgeon pins, a ridge that has worn - either a symptom of the broken bearings or the reason. Anyway, at least the bottom end is now new, and balanced, so even if I swap out pistons at a later date, this isn't much work. I am on a run down to the last race weekend now, so it would be nice to get the RG back out on the track even if I just run in the cranks, and bearings.
I need to get the cylinders on and the rotary valves in place this evening.
The rest of last weekend was spent at Magny-Cours watching the French round of the World Superbikes, both races being very exciting with plenty of suspense up until the last laps. The 1000 superstock was good as well with a French rider winning the race in front of Badovini and his BMW. The only bummer of the weekend was the wind, which broke my tent, "luckily" on the Sunday. We had a good trip up and back, on some small twisties through the massif central. Both BMW and Aprilia had huge stands with all of their models present.
Update tomorrow if I manage to take some photos.
Tuesday 28 September 2010
Cranks in ?
Well, I tried aligning hte cranks today, and I think it is relatively straight forward, with all the dots and marks lined up both 2 & 4 are at BDC and 1 & 3 are at TDC. Maybe difficult to see on the photos but you align a mark on the rotor with the crankcase bottom half and at the same time align two punch marks on the crank gears.
Unfortunately, I had bought some Permatex Ultra Black to use between the crankcase halves, however after better investigation this product can not be used for long period in petrol, so not suitable. I have had to order some Threebond 1104 (replacement is now 1194) which is good for sealing and is resilient to petrol oil etc... so I will need to wait a few days until that arrives before fitting the upper crankcase and then fitting pistons etc... (which haven't yet arrived).
The 350 is now ready (oil topped up) and just needs a road test to make sure it still starts after my crash at C-en-T. Interestingly I removed the plugs from the 350 which stalled during my crash (just after the long straight), which should have given me a good idea of WOT carburation (main jets) and they were pretty black, so rich - I may need to reduce jets for Ledenon which maybe hotter than C-en-T given that it is down the South. I have also bought a new front tyre which I will have fitted at Ledenon.
Monday 27 September 2010
Crankshaft photos
So I got my cranks back today with new Maranello bearings, and oil seals and Suzuki conrods and big end bearings. I had the work done by Gonin Moteurs in Lyon, who has an excellent reputation - we'll see! He confirmed that I needed to change my conrods and big ends because of the wear on the cylinder Nr.2 conrod, as in the photo - according to him, it was ready to explode! Anyway it will be nice to have a good bottom end to build on, I'll see time permitting if I can fit them tomorrow. Fitting is a question of lining up the dots on the drive gear together whilst lining them both up with a position given on the drive shaft. You have to refit the rotor to the drive shaft temporarily and align all the marks up and then away you go! Things to look out for are ensuring you replace/position a waterway O'ring, plus ensuring the half moon rings are correctly engaged in the slotted bearings, other than that lot it should be a piece of cake! Here are the photos of the old conrods, bearings and seals plus the newly built cranks.
Wednesday 22 September 2010
Technical Update...
A quick update. After crashing at C-en-T I have had to replace a couple of bits on the 350, namely, make a new brake lever, change the right hand grip, and repair the clutch cover. The bike should be ready to run this weekend, if I receive a new throttle tube, and new silencer springs.
For the 500, as you remember the cranks went off for rebuilding. Well, the conrods and big end bearings needed changing, which needed ordering from Suzuki, but it should be ready at the end of the week, so fingers crossed I can get it on Friday (work permitting!). I have spent some time cleaning up the top crankcase cover, and all the gasket surfaces, I should be receiving new small ends and other bits from Performance Fabrications, who are replacing these bits for free, as Mark can not (even) guess why the small ends have all disintegrated. He assures me that these pistons and small ends have been used elsewhere with no issues, so I just have to go with it..... I have asked the crank rebuilder (Gonin Moteurs) to check ovality in the small ends to see if there is a reason there.....
After rebuilding I just have to setup the bike to run at Ledenon on the 9/10th October. This is virtually my home track, so I would like both bikes to be in running order!
For the 500, as you remember the cranks went off for rebuilding. Well, the conrods and big end bearings needed changing, which needed ordering from Suzuki, but it should be ready at the end of the week, so fingers crossed I can get it on Friday (work permitting!). I have spent some time cleaning up the top crankcase cover, and all the gasket surfaces, I should be receiving new small ends and other bits from Performance Fabrications, who are replacing these bits for free, as Mark can not (even) guess why the small ends have all disintegrated. He assures me that these pistons and small ends have been used elsewhere with no issues, so I just have to go with it..... I have asked the crank rebuilder (Gonin Moteurs) to check ovality in the small ends to see if there is a reason there.....
After rebuilding I just have to setup the bike to run at Ledenon on the 9/10th October. This is virtually my home track, so I would like both bikes to be in running order!
Wednesday 15 September 2010
Tuesday 14 September 2010
C-en-Ternois - Race weekend
Travelled up to Croix-en-Ternois at the weekend for both the ProClassic Endurance race this is the second race in the series, and the continuation of my participation in the normal ProClassic race series. As the RG is in a thousand pieces in the garage, I only took the 350!
We arrived at the circuit Friday morning, and quickly set up camp in the pits. I had two free practises on the 350 Friday afternoon, and although it was running a bit hot, everything was OK. I jetted up from 330's to 350's Friday evening, as the plugs looked a little hot, and the weekend was forecast cool, plus we are nearly at sea level, so the air is dense.
The rest of the team turned up Friday afternoon, the fireman (Jean-Luc Robert), chief mechanic (Chris Gough) and 2nd pilot (Christian Dejardin). Libby was in charge of timing and filming of course!
Saturday morning I went out for the timed practise for the endurance (twice) and I was circulating in comfortable 1:04/05's which was good, so the bike was running well. Christian had just finished rebuilding his bike after Carole (holed piston). So after some carb adjustment he was running it in (a bit), and was also circulating well around the same times.
I qualified for the front row of the Unlimited/Classic race with a time of 1:03.9, a personal best which I was very pleased with.
The first race was Saturday afternoon, and I got a pretty good start just getting taken by the big four strokes, but making up most of the places at the first hairpin. I was running 5th for most of the race, but I got back a 1100 Suzuki a couple of laps before the end, to finish 4th (equalled my starting place).
We up jetted again Saturday evening, as I really wanted the bike to last out the 1.5 hours of the endurance race - now running 360's, these are the biggest I've got!
It rained during the night, and the second Classic/Unlimited race took place on a soaked track. I got a good start, and everybody was pretty slow due to the conditions. I was third for most of the race, but Jacques Danzer came past me towards the end, so I finished 4th again, although Jacques is not in my category. Two of the racers who finished in front on race one did not race in the wet conditions which allowed me to finish a creditable 2nd overall in the Unlimited category.
The Endurance started at 14:00 or there abouts, our strategy was simple, each pilot does 45 minute relays, so 3 pit stops. We were using both bikes, which suited me and Christian although we have a 2 lap handicap using both bikes. The other top teams in our category were using one bike, so we would have to get back at least 2 laps before being on even terms.
My first session was good, I managed to get out in front of our category, although of course most of the Superbikes came past, I was running 1:05's which was OK. I lapped a couple of the competition bikes, so I was happy with my session. Christian made good times also, and we were in the lead (almost) when I went out for the second time. I had been practising all weekend using the back brake in some of the heaviest braking zones i.e. the 2 hairpins and the left hander (Nr. 2), however at the begining of my second session, I didn't let my tyres warm sufficiently and I went straight on into the gravel trap at turn 2. It took me a couple of minutes to dig myself out, and restart the bike.
I had a nice fight with one of our direct competitors, overtaking and then getting retaken, and this lead me to take some risks at the end of the second session. I overcooked it going into turn 1 (hairpin) and the bike slid out from underneath me, doing a neat pirouette and coming to a stop just before the gravel. I picked the bike up, but it was leaking oil from the clutch case, I had holed the engine case!
I parked the bike up under the direction of the track marshals and legged it back to the pits with the transponder, it was only a couple of hundred metres, but I was knackered running with full leathers and helmet! I passed the transponder over to Christian and he was off for the remaining 50 minutes - I had crashed about 7 minutes before the end of my relay!
The pressure was on, Christian's bike had been losing a little gearbox oil, and his silencer was not looking that solid, so it was a stressful last relay, but he managed to coax his bike to the finish, and at the same time bring us back to within 32 seconds of the second place team - a well merited third place, and another cup (and cheque) for the mantelpiece!
I now have two broken bikes in the garage which hopefully I can get operational for the last race of the year at Ledenon in 4 weeks time!
Videos and photos to follow. Thanks to all the team, you are all appreciated!
We arrived at the circuit Friday morning, and quickly set up camp in the pits. I had two free practises on the 350 Friday afternoon, and although it was running a bit hot, everything was OK. I jetted up from 330's to 350's Friday evening, as the plugs looked a little hot, and the weekend was forecast cool, plus we are nearly at sea level, so the air is dense.
The rest of the team turned up Friday afternoon, the fireman (Jean-Luc Robert), chief mechanic (Chris Gough) and 2nd pilot (Christian Dejardin). Libby was in charge of timing and filming of course!
Saturday morning I went out for the timed practise for the endurance (twice) and I was circulating in comfortable 1:04/05's which was good, so the bike was running well. Christian had just finished rebuilding his bike after Carole (holed piston). So after some carb adjustment he was running it in (a bit), and was also circulating well around the same times.
I qualified for the front row of the Unlimited/Classic race with a time of 1:03.9, a personal best which I was very pleased with.
The first race was Saturday afternoon, and I got a pretty good start just getting taken by the big four strokes, but making up most of the places at the first hairpin. I was running 5th for most of the race, but I got back a 1100 Suzuki a couple of laps before the end, to finish 4th (equalled my starting place).
We up jetted again Saturday evening, as I really wanted the bike to last out the 1.5 hours of the endurance race - now running 360's, these are the biggest I've got!
It rained during the night, and the second Classic/Unlimited race took place on a soaked track. I got a good start, and everybody was pretty slow due to the conditions. I was third for most of the race, but Jacques Danzer came past me towards the end, so I finished 4th again, although Jacques is not in my category. Two of the racers who finished in front on race one did not race in the wet conditions which allowed me to finish a creditable 2nd overall in the Unlimited category.
The Endurance started at 14:00 or there abouts, our strategy was simple, each pilot does 45 minute relays, so 3 pit stops. We were using both bikes, which suited me and Christian although we have a 2 lap handicap using both bikes. The other top teams in our category were using one bike, so we would have to get back at least 2 laps before being on even terms.
My first session was good, I managed to get out in front of our category, although of course most of the Superbikes came past, I was running 1:05's which was OK. I lapped a couple of the competition bikes, so I was happy with my session. Christian made good times also, and we were in the lead (almost) when I went out for the second time. I had been practising all weekend using the back brake in some of the heaviest braking zones i.e. the 2 hairpins and the left hander (Nr. 2), however at the begining of my second session, I didn't let my tyres warm sufficiently and I went straight on into the gravel trap at turn 2. It took me a couple of minutes to dig myself out, and restart the bike.
I had a nice fight with one of our direct competitors, overtaking and then getting retaken, and this lead me to take some risks at the end of the second session. I overcooked it going into turn 1 (hairpin) and the bike slid out from underneath me, doing a neat pirouette and coming to a stop just before the gravel. I picked the bike up, but it was leaking oil from the clutch case, I had holed the engine case!
I parked the bike up under the direction of the track marshals and legged it back to the pits with the transponder, it was only a couple of hundred metres, but I was knackered running with full leathers and helmet! I passed the transponder over to Christian and he was off for the remaining 50 minutes - I had crashed about 7 minutes before the end of my relay!
The pressure was on, Christian's bike had been losing a little gearbox oil, and his silencer was not looking that solid, so it was a stressful last relay, but he managed to coax his bike to the finish, and at the same time bring us back to within 32 seconds of the second place team - a well merited third place, and another cup (and cheque) for the mantelpiece!
I now have two broken bikes in the garage which hopefully I can get operational for the last race of the year at Ledenon in 4 weeks time!
Videos and photos to follow. Thanks to all the team, you are all appreciated!
Tuesday 7 September 2010
RG Engine
Well, started the 350 up at the weekend and everything was OK, clutch and brakes worked fine. However starting the 500 was a different matter! It started fine, although after a couple of minutes running it was making a louder and louder noise from the engine.... stop everything I can't run it like this!
So my gamble with the broken small end bearing did not pay off, if you remember, I had thought I could get away with just cleaning out the crakcase after the Nr3 cylinder destroyed it's small end bearing, well hey ho, I must have missed some stuff, and it's still bashing around in there somewhere.
I stripped the engine right down, and as you can see from the pictures, when I took the pistons off, ALL of the small end bearings (1, 2 & 4) were in the process of coming a part, plus on Nr. 3 the pieces of metal I had not picked up had made a few marks on my brand new head and piston..... That will teach me!
The cranks are now out, and I have already bought the bearing/seal kit, but all I need now is to find someone to fit the lot, and rebuild the cranks, not easy in France.
So the big question is why are all the small end bearing disintegrating.... ? Discussions are open....
Friday 3 September 2010
Tuesday 31 August 2010
Technical Update
Well, I am back to measuring the float height manually and not using the tool! It just doesn't seem to work, and I don't have the confidence or time to mess about with it further. So all the floats are now set at 18mm with the ball valve just closed.
I've been working on replacing the steering lock adjustment, by using some metal brackets hanging down from the fairing bracket, not sure if it is going to be strong enough but we will see.
Testing both bikes has taken a back seat, as they have gritted the road in front of the house - don't want to swallow any grit! But I must get out there soon, just to make sure that everything works before the endurance and racing on the 11/12 September at Croix-en-Ternois.
I've been working on replacing the steering lock adjustment, by using some metal brackets hanging down from the fairing bracket, not sure if it is going to be strong enough but we will see.
Testing both bikes has taken a back seat, as they have gritted the road in front of the house - don't want to swallow any grit! But I must get out there soon, just to make sure that everything works before the endurance and racing on the 11/12 September at Croix-en-Ternois.
Monday 23 August 2010
Fuel level
Just writing this to try and get my thoughts clear on the fuel height adjustment. I am using the Suzuki tool, which is basically a piece of graduated tube that screws into the drain plug for each (in turn) carburetor. The idea is that you see on the outside of the carb, the fuel height controlled by the float valve. On the RG the Suzuki manual gives the height to be 5.5mms below the line of the gasket i.e. where the float bowl meets the carb body.
Well first things first. The Carbs do not sit horizontally so there is a difference measuring one side of the carb or the other - so you need to keep the measurement to the rear of each carb. Secondly, if your pit stand lifts the bike too high then this will have an affect on this measurement.
Once you have the idea of what is supposed to happen, it should be very logical that as you bend the tab on the float, the level of fuel should move up (or down). The manual states that the bike should be idling for this measurement, but I didn't see any difference whether the bike was idling or stopped or even if the carb was connected to the engine or not - as long as the carb is at the right height and position. So most of my testing was done with the carb barely connected (just the fuel lines, and then after each change I could turn the fuel on, measure the fuel height and then quickly drain the fuel and then remove the carb, and try a different setting.
Well all of the above is great in theory, and seemed to work well on the right hand side carbs, but when I transferred this new skill over to the left hand carbs, I could not get ANY adjustment! Whether I bent the tabs one way or the other, it made very little difference to the fuel level. I also tried this with the bike running, but to know avale - it just doesn't work!
If I think about it, this means that my fuel height is being controlled by something else other than the height of the float OR bending the tab has an almost invisible affect on the level of the fuel. The float valve DOES however shut off the fuel, as nothing ever leaks out of the overflow pipes, so the float MUST control the inlet of fuel! The above two ideas seem contradictory and they are!
So why am I bothering with this adjustment? Why don't I just manually control the float height ~17-19.5mms (with the carb upside down and the float tab just shutting the valve), well because I have BALL VALVES, and these little buggers aren't the same height as the standard needle valves, so the standard float height needs measuring differently.....
Monday 16 August 2010
Stator Cover photos
Well, a bit disappointed really, still I have produced a serviceable item, but just not very pretty. I think too much gel coat initially, and the mold was not perfect - so I couldn't really expect a perfect piece - never mind you live and learn, and it will do to practice on - I will cut a piece out of this one to make way for the new carbs!
Update
Well back from my hols. in Uzbekistan - interesting experience!
Back to the bikes. The RG is now fully built, and it started easily yesterday, I will need to adjust my carbs, in fact I have bought a Suzuki tool, which measures the fuel level in each float chamber, and I was surprised to find there was a big difference between carbs. in the left 2 carbs the fuel was approximately up to the gasket level, and with the right carbs it was way below, about 14 mms. It should be at 5 mms below the gasket so I will need to adjust my float heights to compensate.
The engine runs OK, although once I have balanced the carbs I will need to run in the new piston, and "hope" I didn't miss any bits of small end hiding in the crankcase - I have bought a new bearing kit - just in case!
I have made a fibre glass mold, and yesterday I layed up the carbon and it should be dry this evening, so if I can remove the carbon from the mold, I may have a new rotor cover this evening - I'll take some photos if it looks good!
The RD350, has a new set of Goodridge brake hoses for the front, I needed to change these because the guys in scrutineering didn't like the fact that I had a brake line splitter which was below the lower yoke on the forks, so now I have 2 lines going directly to the calipers, must have saved at least 50 grams...
Jobs left to do before Croix-en-Ternois :-
Find a fireman (any volunteers?)
Redo the steering stops on the RG500
Adjust the carbs on the 500
At this point I am aiming to do the the endurance on the 350 with Christian, and run the 500 in the other races.
Speak to you soon.
Dave
Back to the bikes. The RG is now fully built, and it started easily yesterday, I will need to adjust my carbs, in fact I have bought a Suzuki tool, which measures the fuel level in each float chamber, and I was surprised to find there was a big difference between carbs. in the left 2 carbs the fuel was approximately up to the gasket level, and with the right carbs it was way below, about 14 mms. It should be at 5 mms below the gasket so I will need to adjust my float heights to compensate.
The engine runs OK, although once I have balanced the carbs I will need to run in the new piston, and "hope" I didn't miss any bits of small end hiding in the crankcase - I have bought a new bearing kit - just in case!
I have made a fibre glass mold, and yesterday I layed up the carbon and it should be dry this evening, so if I can remove the carbon from the mold, I may have a new rotor cover this evening - I'll take some photos if it looks good!
The RD350, has a new set of Goodridge brake hoses for the front, I needed to change these because the guys in scrutineering didn't like the fact that I had a brake line splitter which was below the lower yoke on the forks, so now I have 2 lines going directly to the calipers, must have saved at least 50 grams...
Jobs left to do before Croix-en-Ternois :-
Find a fireman (any volunteers?)
Redo the steering stops on the RG500
Adjust the carbs on the 500
At this point I am aiming to do the the endurance on the 350 with Christian, and run the 500 in the other races.
Speak to you soon.
Dave
Thursday 15 July 2010
Technical Update
Just for my information - I was running 15/39 gearing at Pau on the 350, which whilst being a little short was really not bad.
In the meantime I have rebuilt the 350 clutch, which was slipping at Pau, using genuine yamaha clutch friction plates. The wear limit was 2.7 mms, and mine were at 2.8mms (the new size is 3.0mms), but I changed them anyway. The original clutch pushrod adjustment was fine, but it will need to be done again. I am using Motul 10/30W Two stroke gearbox oil.
In the meantime I have rebuilt the 350 clutch, which was slipping at Pau, using genuine yamaha clutch friction plates. The wear limit was 2.7 mms, and mine were at 2.8mms (the new size is 3.0mms), but I changed them anyway. The original clutch pushrod adjustment was fine, but it will need to be done again. I am using Motul 10/30W Two stroke gearbox oil.
Tuesday 13 July 2010
Monday 12 July 2010
Pau - Results
Well, I came back from Pau with (another) trophy! Well it was in the Unlimited series on the RD350, where there was only 5 competitors, but still a second place that was not easy to get.
We arrived at the circuit around 15:00 on Friday, after a never ending drive across France - Pau is in the very South West corner of France. We left Grenoble in a heat wave, and I was surprised as we approached Pau to find at least 10 degrees cooler than Grenoble at around 26 degrees - first "free" practise (20 Euros!!!), and the bike was going well, I can tell when the engine is funning well as it slips the clutch quite badly and this was happening at around 10k rpm.
Pau is a very twisty, circuit with ups and downs, with 3-4 very high speed bends, I enjoy it, although it still holds a few mysteries for me.
Timed practice on Saturdat morning, and once again the bike was running well, although the powervalve cover came lose. I managed a 1:34 which turned out to be my best time of the weekend, and put me on the 5th line of the grid.
Race 1
I got a pretty good start, and it helped to be a bit further forward, so I could put some distance between me and the faster (in a straight line) four strokes behind. I did however got taken at the start by most of the "600's", and I followed them to the end of the race, managing to overtake, and dice with one of them, but never really endangering their positions. I finished 17th stratch and 3rd Unlimited - not bad. The bike was not pulling aswell as the Friday, due largely to the extremly hot temperatures Saturday afternoon.
Race 2
On Sunday we woke up to a heavy cloudy/misty morning - great the bike would get less hot in the race! I started from line 5, and again an OK start, but I did get taken by a number of guys, i fought my way back to roughly where I was in the previous race, although too far back to fight with the 600's, although I did have a bit of a dice with a VFR 750, where we swapped positions a couple of times. Again the bike was not running quite as well as the Friday, so I will have to check it over for the next event at Croix-en-Ternois in September. I finished the 2nd race once again in 17th spot, but this time 2nd Unlimited.
Photos and video to follow.
I will update the blog with my progress on the 500, which I should be able to finish for September, so I am hoping to be able to compete in the Endurance with the 350 and the other short races with the RG500.
Speak to you soon! Happy holidays.
We arrived at the circuit around 15:00 on Friday, after a never ending drive across France - Pau is in the very South West corner of France. We left Grenoble in a heat wave, and I was surprised as we approached Pau to find at least 10 degrees cooler than Grenoble at around 26 degrees - first "free" practise (20 Euros!!!), and the bike was going well, I can tell when the engine is funning well as it slips the clutch quite badly and this was happening at around 10k rpm.
Pau is a very twisty, circuit with ups and downs, with 3-4 very high speed bends, I enjoy it, although it still holds a few mysteries for me.
Timed practice on Saturdat morning, and once again the bike was running well, although the powervalve cover came lose. I managed a 1:34 which turned out to be my best time of the weekend, and put me on the 5th line of the grid.
Race 1
I got a pretty good start, and it helped to be a bit further forward, so I could put some distance between me and the faster (in a straight line) four strokes behind. I did however got taken at the start by most of the "600's", and I followed them to the end of the race, managing to overtake, and dice with one of them, but never really endangering their positions. I finished 17th stratch and 3rd Unlimited - not bad. The bike was not pulling aswell as the Friday, due largely to the extremly hot temperatures Saturday afternoon.
Race 2
On Sunday we woke up to a heavy cloudy/misty morning - great the bike would get less hot in the race! I started from line 5, and again an OK start, but I did get taken by a number of guys, i fought my way back to roughly where I was in the previous race, although too far back to fight with the 600's, although I did have a bit of a dice with a VFR 750, where we swapped positions a couple of times. Again the bike was not running quite as well as the Friday, so I will have to check it over for the next event at Croix-en-Ternois in September. I finished the 2nd race once again in 17th spot, but this time 2nd Unlimited.
Photos and video to follow.
I will update the blog with my progress on the 500, which I should be able to finish for September, so I am hoping to be able to compete in the Endurance with the 350 and the other short races with the RG500.
Speak to you soon! Happy holidays.
Wednesday 7 July 2010
Pau
Well, my bits finally made it to England, although I had some issues with the UK post which means I will not be taking the RG to Pau, but I am motivated because the 350 has been running well, and the circuit is quite tight, and will suit the 350 well.
It will be my first time at Pau on the 350, so gearing etc.. will be trial and error.
For the 500 Performance fab. will be adding some weld to the head in order to bring it back to perfect condition, and honing the barrel, machining the new piston (to fit the thrust washers), and cutting down a new rotary disk, stuff should be ready next week sometime, and then I will have the summer lay off to get it ready for the last couple of weekends of the season.
I have ordered some new goodridge brake hoses for the 350 , which haven't yet arrived. The scrutineers at MagnyCours had a go at my brakes, as the splitter is below the bottom yoke - this is not allowed (goodness knows why!), so I have ordered a 2 brake line system going straight from the master cylinder to the calipers.
I will be having a go at making a new alternator cover in carbon weave in a couple of weeks, I have bought a carbon starter kit(!), so I will need to make a mold of the alternator cover will glass fibre and then use that to make a new cover - the idea behind this is to make a "customer cover" that will allow my bigger carbs to fit on - more news on that later.
It will be my first time at Pau on the 350, so gearing etc.. will be trial and error.
For the 500 Performance fab. will be adding some weld to the head in order to bring it back to perfect condition, and honing the barrel, machining the new piston (to fit the thrust washers), and cutting down a new rotary disk, stuff should be ready next week sometime, and then I will have the summer lay off to get it ready for the last couple of weekends of the season.
I have ordered some new goodridge brake hoses for the 350 , which haven't yet arrived. The scrutineers at MagnyCours had a go at my brakes, as the splitter is below the bottom yoke - this is not allowed (goodness knows why!), so I have ordered a 2 brake line system going straight from the master cylinder to the calipers.
I will be having a go at making a new alternator cover in carbon weave in a couple of weeks, I have bought a carbon starter kit(!), so I will need to make a mold of the alternator cover will glass fibre and then use that to make a new cover - the idea behind this is to make a "customer cover" that will allow my bigger carbs to fit on - more news on that later.
Tuesday 29 June 2010
Magny-Cours Aftermath
Spent yesterday evening stripping the bike down to once again try and find my problem. Troubleshooting was helped by a trail of small pieces of metal, both in the crankcase and in the rotary valve cover..... leading eventually to the culprit, which was a completely destroyed small end bearing! The bearing was sucked around the crankshaft and partly spat out through the rotary valve, damaging the disk, and covers on the way, and also taking a trip up and down with the piston a few thousand times.... Pictures speak louder than words.
So was this the cause or another symptom.... I'll have to spend some time to think about that one.
I have sent the barrel and head back to Performance Fabrications to have a hone, and fix up the head which had been "bead blasted" by loads of little bits.... A new piston and rotary disk are ordered.
Monday 28 June 2010
Mixed fortunes at Magny-Cours
The RG 500 was running badly again, with a miss fire, and low on power at low revs. I changed the CDI which is really the last electrical component I haven't touched, and in timed practise, things started to come together, the bike worked fine at high revs, giving strong power between 8K and 11K. I had received my high volume radiator on the Thursday morning, before leaving and with this fitted the temperature never got above 84 degrees (a good investment!).
In timed practise I managed a 2:09 which put me middle of the grid on the 6th line.
As I lined up for the start of Race 1, I could hear the bike miss firing and blowing back through carb nr. 3, so I knew my problems were not over. I managed a couple of laps, but the problem got worse so I stopped! A brief session with the spanners confirmed that this can not possibly be an electrical issue - The fault was easily reproducible, and with a new plug, and swapping over the high tension leads, I could not get the problem to move - it definately has to be related to the carb or cylinder. Off with the carb, and no visible problems, so it must be an air leak somewhere.... The action plan is to look at the rotary valves (again), and potentially swap rotary disks between cylinders, and then if that doesn't work, I will have to assume leaky crankshaft seals, which will require a complete strip down and rebuild.
Luckily the RD 350 was running OK, although I had difficulty getting to the red line in 6th along the long straight to Adelaide. Everything was blasting past me on the straights, but I managed to have fun fighting with a group of guys, on am mixture or Ducati's, GSXR's, VFR's etc... so I was relatively pleased with the race. Magny-Cours is so fast, there are loads of places where on the 350 I didn't need to brake, and I am sure with more practise I could knock another 5 seconds of my lap time on the 350 - I could only manage 2mins 15secs. Anyway glad to have tried out the 350 with the new rad (swapped for a 4l0 radiator), which controlled the temperature nicely although, was pretty high, maybe unsurprisingly as the air temp was about 35 degrees centigrade.
Photos, and video to follow!
The extra power of the 500 (even running badly) was worth at least 6 secs per lap!
In timed practise I managed a 2:09 which put me middle of the grid on the 6th line.
As I lined up for the start of Race 1, I could hear the bike miss firing and blowing back through carb nr. 3, so I knew my problems were not over. I managed a couple of laps, but the problem got worse so I stopped! A brief session with the spanners confirmed that this can not possibly be an electrical issue - The fault was easily reproducible, and with a new plug, and swapping over the high tension leads, I could not get the problem to move - it definately has to be related to the carb or cylinder. Off with the carb, and no visible problems, so it must be an air leak somewhere.... The action plan is to look at the rotary valves (again), and potentially swap rotary disks between cylinders, and then if that doesn't work, I will have to assume leaky crankshaft seals, which will require a complete strip down and rebuild.
Luckily the RD 350 was running OK, although I had difficulty getting to the red line in 6th along the long straight to Adelaide. Everything was blasting past me on the straights, but I managed to have fun fighting with a group of guys, on am mixture or Ducati's, GSXR's, VFR's etc... so I was relatively pleased with the race. Magny-Cours is so fast, there are loads of places where on the 350 I didn't need to brake, and I am sure with more practise I could knock another 5 seconds of my lap time on the 350 - I could only manage 2mins 15secs. Anyway glad to have tried out the 350 with the new rad (swapped for a 4l0 radiator), which controlled the temperature nicely although, was pretty high, maybe unsurprisingly as the air temp was about 35 degrees centigrade.
Photos, and video to follow!
The extra power of the 500 (even running badly) was worth at least 6 secs per lap!
Wednesday 23 June 2010
Last minute preparations
Well Magny Cours this weekend! The circuit is fast, and I of course expect to be on the RG500. I haven't received my new radiater yet, but hopefully I'll get it before the weekend. Looking at the weather forecast it could be hot and humid or cold and stormy, so we'll have to wait and see what jetting to use.
I have managed to start both bikes and run them up the road over the last few days. The Yamaha doesn't leak and seems to run cooler (with the 4L0 radiater installed). The RG ran OK, moving the needles up has made a significant difference, much richer and I didn't perceive the big hole in the power, so I think I have gone the right way with the jetting. While I was testing the RG (without the fairing on), I lost the right hand side carb trunk, which bounced off into the countryside in a bid for freedom. It was only after mobilising the whole family along the 1.5 kms section of road that we managed to find it hidden in some long grass (thanks Libby!).
So fairings on this evening, and pack the trailer for the trip up on Friday morning.
Speak to you after the weekend (come on England - last pool match this evening!)
I have managed to start both bikes and run them up the road over the last few days. The Yamaha doesn't leak and seems to run cooler (with the 4L0 radiater installed). The RG ran OK, moving the needles up has made a significant difference, much richer and I didn't perceive the big hole in the power, so I think I have gone the right way with the jetting. While I was testing the RG (without the fairing on), I lost the right hand side carb trunk, which bounced off into the countryside in a bid for freedom. It was only after mobilising the whole family along the 1.5 kms section of road that we managed to find it hidden in some long grass (thanks Libby!).
So fairings on this evening, and pack the trailer for the trip up on Friday morning.
Speak to you after the weekend (come on England - last pool match this evening!)
Monday 14 June 2010
Preparation for Magny Cours
So, I took the cylinder off the RG500 at the weekend, to look at the damage from my seize. Not too much damage and nothing above the rings, so a little TLC with some fine emery cloth, on the piston and the cylinder, and she is as good as new (almost). I also took the needles up 2 grooves, so I am running them one above the lowest groove. I am hoping this should improve my carburation hole at around 6K rpm. From reading various articles on carb tuning it would seem that I may be running lean at partial throttle - I will try this out tomorrow (up and down the road!). Apparently lean mid-throttle jetting can be characterized by a lack of power (hole), and a loud induction sound (wouououououou) noise, which fits pretty much what I was perceiving. Hmmm technical stuff.....
Annyway had troubles with one of the needle screws as it was completely solid and the top had been mullered by the previous owner, so I had to get the drill out, and drill down the throttle slide (5 cm hole) into the screw head. I actually managed a pretty straight line hole going out the other end of the throttle slide, to which I added a new thread and found a screw that would fit, so it all ended happily.
Other work at the weekend was fitting a new radiator to the RD 350, I learnt from a guy at Nogaro that the 4l0 (an earlier model 350) has a larger double core rad, so I ordered a second hand one from RDLCCRAZY, and received it during the week. It took me a couple of hours to make some brackets to hold it, and I am realtively pleased with the results. Hopefully the 350 at least will run cooler at Magny Cours. The only issue I had was the original water circuit has a thermostat bypass pipe that allow water back into the top of the original rad. this was not present on the new rad, so I have removed the thermostat allowing full water circulation the whole time, and I have closed up the bypass pipe with a bolt screwed into the rubber pipe (I hope it holds...).
Little left to do now except decide on initial gearing for Magny Cours (I'll go with 15/39 to start with), and await my high capacity radiator for the 500, hopefully it will arrive before race weekend.
Speak to you soon.
Annyway had troubles with one of the needle screws as it was completely solid and the top had been mullered by the previous owner, so I had to get the drill out, and drill down the throttle slide (5 cm hole) into the screw head. I actually managed a pretty straight line hole going out the other end of the throttle slide, to which I added a new thread and found a screw that would fit, so it all ended happily.
Other work at the weekend was fitting a new radiator to the RD 350, I learnt from a guy at Nogaro that the 4l0 (an earlier model 350) has a larger double core rad, so I ordered a second hand one from RDLCCRAZY, and received it during the week. It took me a couple of hours to make some brackets to hold it, and I am realtively pleased with the results. Hopefully the 350 at least will run cooler at Magny Cours. The only issue I had was the original water circuit has a thermostat bypass pipe that allow water back into the top of the original rad. this was not present on the new rad, so I have removed the thermostat allowing full water circulation the whole time, and I have closed up the bypass pipe with a bolt screwed into the rubber pipe (I hope it holds...).
Little left to do now except decide on initial gearing for Magny Cours (I'll go with 15/39 to start with), and await my high capacity radiator for the 500, hopefully it will arrive before race weekend.
Speak to you soon.
Wednesday 9 June 2010
Monday 7 June 2010
Nogaro
Just FYI, the rear tyre was changed on the RD350, the guy didn't balance the wheel.
I raced at Nogaro in the South West of France this weekend. We arrived Friday afternoon as the free practice was scheduled for the end of the afternoon.
The RG started fine, the re-found power band (with the exhaust valve working!), was incredible, but really accentuated by the fact the clutch was slipping freely, so every time the bike hit the power, the clutch would slip, and let the engine run up to 12K. I tried adjusting the clutch on the run, but couldn't get my gloved hands around the cable adjuster - should have come in really. Anyway I kept going but the bike was running dangerously hot - around 94 degrees celsius - too hot!!
As you may remember Nogaro has a long straight along which the clutch was slipping most of the way, at the end of the straight, I have already suffered from a "shut throttle" seize..... well it happened on the RG! On previous laps I had been holding the choke in to give some more fuel as the throttle is shut for braking, well on this particular lap, I was more concerned with other things so I forgot, and well, I got my punishment - leaving a 20 metre darky as the wheel locked, grabbed the clutch and cruised to a halt at the end of the straight - bummer!
Back at the pits, I let the bike cool off, and I could then freely move the engine, removed the plugs - all nice and chocolate coloured, removed the exhausts, and piston nr. 1 was the guilty culprit - unusual I was expecting nr. 3! The piston had touched on the exhaust port side, below the rings, I could see some shiny aluminium on the piston, which actually rubbed off with my finger!
All the other pistons looked OK, and no damage to the cylinders.
On Saturday morning, and after receiving the advice from most of the paddock, I decided to increase my main jets to help (up to 230's with the carb trunks on) with cooling the engine, and raise my idle speed to about 3K to ensure that even with the throttle closed, there would be some fuel going through - plus use the choke every lap!
The Saturday was as hot as the Friday, but the RG ran at the hottest of 84 degrees - hot but not as hot.... I shared the timed practice between the RG and RD as the game plan was to use the RD if the weather was really hot and use the RG if it cooled down. Well in the end we started for the first race Saturday evening at 18:00 and the air temperature was around 35 degrees, so the RD took the punishment. I got a reasonable start, but I was totally under geared for the long straight, which meant the RD was up at around 10K for most of the straight and people came whizzing past. Never mind, I had a few good scraps around the twisties, and finished a somewhat lowly (scratch) 29th place, but a fairly respectable fastest lap of 1:52.
Sunday was forecast rain! We awoke to a misty day, with moisture in the air - a great day for a hot bike! I lined up on the pre-grid (8th line), and slowly the heavens opened up on us! Really big blobs of rain, getting steadily faster. A few of the guys abandoned without even going out, but I was determined to give the RG an outing. The warm up lap was incredibly slow, and when the start was given, I must have got the worst start of my life, Libby said the lap car was nearly pushing me up the backside to get me going! Anyway throughout the deluge, I was opening the bike up only when I was in a straight line and vertical, the Michelin Power Ones, are OK, but they need to be up to temperature!
So the bike goes OK fairly linearly up to 6K, then a huge hole, and then the full beans as the valves open at around 7.5K - lovely to feel the bike really accelerating cleanly to the red line again, although the big hole made things interesting in the wet.
As the race continued, I got past a few guys, for the fun, but I wasn't risking anything, I was having to change lines as the puddles were getting bigger near the rumble strips!
Anyway I finished at 18th (scratch), with a fastest time of 2:23, even the fast guys were well over 2 minutes for a track that at it's best is around 1:35 for the promosport 1000's.
Now I have to find a big radiator, and clean up piston/cylinder nr. 1, before Magny-Cours in 3 weeks. Plus I need to move the needles either up or down - take your pick!
I raced at Nogaro in the South West of France this weekend. We arrived Friday afternoon as the free practice was scheduled for the end of the afternoon.
The RG started fine, the re-found power band (with the exhaust valve working!), was incredible, but really accentuated by the fact the clutch was slipping freely, so every time the bike hit the power, the clutch would slip, and let the engine run up to 12K. I tried adjusting the clutch on the run, but couldn't get my gloved hands around the cable adjuster - should have come in really. Anyway I kept going but the bike was running dangerously hot - around 94 degrees celsius - too hot!!
As you may remember Nogaro has a long straight along which the clutch was slipping most of the way, at the end of the straight, I have already suffered from a "shut throttle" seize..... well it happened on the RG! On previous laps I had been holding the choke in to give some more fuel as the throttle is shut for braking, well on this particular lap, I was more concerned with other things so I forgot, and well, I got my punishment - leaving a 20 metre darky as the wheel locked, grabbed the clutch and cruised to a halt at the end of the straight - bummer!
Back at the pits, I let the bike cool off, and I could then freely move the engine, removed the plugs - all nice and chocolate coloured, removed the exhausts, and piston nr. 1 was the guilty culprit - unusual I was expecting nr. 3! The piston had touched on the exhaust port side, below the rings, I could see some shiny aluminium on the piston, which actually rubbed off with my finger!
All the other pistons looked OK, and no damage to the cylinders.
On Saturday morning, and after receiving the advice from most of the paddock, I decided to increase my main jets to help (up to 230's with the carb trunks on) with cooling the engine, and raise my idle speed to about 3K to ensure that even with the throttle closed, there would be some fuel going through - plus use the choke every lap!
The Saturday was as hot as the Friday, but the RG ran at the hottest of 84 degrees - hot but not as hot.... I shared the timed practice between the RG and RD as the game plan was to use the RD if the weather was really hot and use the RG if it cooled down. Well in the end we started for the first race Saturday evening at 18:00 and the air temperature was around 35 degrees, so the RD took the punishment. I got a reasonable start, but I was totally under geared for the long straight, which meant the RD was up at around 10K for most of the straight and people came whizzing past. Never mind, I had a few good scraps around the twisties, and finished a somewhat lowly (scratch) 29th place, but a fairly respectable fastest lap of 1:52.
Sunday was forecast rain! We awoke to a misty day, with moisture in the air - a great day for a hot bike! I lined up on the pre-grid (8th line), and slowly the heavens opened up on us! Really big blobs of rain, getting steadily faster. A few of the guys abandoned without even going out, but I was determined to give the RG an outing. The warm up lap was incredibly slow, and when the start was given, I must have got the worst start of my life, Libby said the lap car was nearly pushing me up the backside to get me going! Anyway throughout the deluge, I was opening the bike up only when I was in a straight line and vertical, the Michelin Power Ones, are OK, but they need to be up to temperature!
So the bike goes OK fairly linearly up to 6K, then a huge hole, and then the full beans as the valves open at around 7.5K - lovely to feel the bike really accelerating cleanly to the red line again, although the big hole made things interesting in the wet.
As the race continued, I got past a few guys, for the fun, but I wasn't risking anything, I was having to change lines as the puddles were getting bigger near the rumble strips!
Anyway I finished at 18th (scratch), with a fastest time of 2:23, even the fast guys were well over 2 minutes for a track that at it's best is around 1:35 for the promosport 1000's.
Now I have to find a big radiator, and clean up piston/cylinder nr. 1, before Magny-Cours in 3 weeks. Plus I need to move the needles either up or down - take your pick!
Saturday 29 May 2010
technical Update
Well, I have changed lots of parts on the RG. The stator is new, the plug leads, plug caps, the SAEC Motor and controller are new (second hand), and finally I have removed the battery.
And... well the bike seems to be working OK, and the exhaust valve is opening, so will have to wait and see at Nogaro next weekend to give a final result!
I have put back the carb trunks, to ensure I am too rich next weekend, as Nogaro has a long WOT (wide open throttle) straight and I don't want to seize!
As can be see in the photos, the Suzuki coils, are not meant to have the cables changed, so I have had to hold the new cables in with some silicon sealant, this will also help keep the water out.
I have also modified my twist grip to make it more fast action. I simpley cut up a piece of old plumbing plastic tube and stuck it to the twistgrip - this has increased the diameter of the twist and should give a faster action.
In between times, I changed the ignition pickup on the 350, and it has made an incredible difference. The bike flies now....!!! I also adjusted the air screws which ended up at 2 turns out for both, which gives me a nice pickup off idle, and I have re found the power I have had earlier this year. I must work on the clutch to stop it slipping....
I did the air screw adjustment on the Suzuki as well, and left them at 1 turn out each carb.
Hopefully all is now ready for Nogaro next weekend.
Wednesday 19 May 2010
RG 500 update
OK, so the plugs leads did not fix the problem. After an easy start running it up the hill for a kilometer and getting it nice and warm, and the bike gives the sames symptoms, initially it just dies, I can start easily using the choke and then it will pop and fart mainly showing on Nr. 3 but more generally not running right.
So I am now assuming I have a heat related problem. Indeed starting her up again after leaving her for an couple of hours and having done nothing, (i.e. cold) and she does start nicely - so I think I am convinced this is related to something electrical and heat related. Honestly this is starting to sound like the stator (I have some experience with the 350 on these problems...). As I managed to get a cheap one off ebay a couple of months ago, I have one in stock, so on it went!
This time, the problem changed sides clearly making the right hand cylinders pop and fart - I think this is a different problem - I think the stator I bought is not working properly.... Oh well back to the drawing board!
During troubleshooting I also wanted to test my exhaust valves, and this does not appear to be working either. When troubleshooting this, the motor appears to work, but does not turn the valves at all. If you connect 12 V from the battery to the Pink wire, and the negative to the Grey wire, the motor turn clockwise and reversing the polarity makes the motor turn anticlockwise.
The next electrical test involves testing some hall sensors (part of the electrical motor). Connecting the tester to the green and white and turning the pulley by hand, you should find one spot where the circuit is closed (i.e. low resistance). You then do the same test on another pair to get the same result.
This all checked out fine, although the motor still does not turn when commanded by the control box - so it looks like the control box is shafted. I have ordered second hand a motor and control box, so we should be able to fix this.
And I also ordered a new stator from Electrexworld.co.uk, who provide stators and other electrical stuff for bikes. With a bit of luck I am on the right track, and the bike will finally work in 2 weeks time!
So I am now assuming I have a heat related problem. Indeed starting her up again after leaving her for an couple of hours and having done nothing, (i.e. cold) and she does start nicely - so I think I am convinced this is related to something electrical and heat related. Honestly this is starting to sound like the stator (I have some experience with the 350 on these problems...). As I managed to get a cheap one off ebay a couple of months ago, I have one in stock, so on it went!
This time, the problem changed sides clearly making the right hand cylinders pop and fart - I think this is a different problem - I think the stator I bought is not working properly.... Oh well back to the drawing board!
During troubleshooting I also wanted to test my exhaust valves, and this does not appear to be working either. When troubleshooting this, the motor appears to work, but does not turn the valves at all. If you connect 12 V from the battery to the Pink wire, and the negative to the Grey wire, the motor turn clockwise and reversing the polarity makes the motor turn anticlockwise.
The next electrical test involves testing some hall sensors (part of the electrical motor). Connecting the tester to the green and white and turning the pulley by hand, you should find one spot where the circuit is closed (i.e. low resistance). You then do the same test on another pair to get the same result.
This all checked out fine, although the motor still does not turn when commanded by the control box - so it looks like the control box is shafted. I have ordered second hand a motor and control box, so we should be able to fix this.
And I also ordered a new stator from Electrexworld.co.uk, who provide stators and other electrical stuff for bikes. With a bit of luck I am on the right track, and the bike will finally work in 2 weeks time!
Sunday 16 May 2010
Technical Update
Well, I've been quite busy in the garage with a 4 day weekend and grotty weather.
On the 350, I broke the silencer (I think this probably started because of my crash at C-en-T two years ago), and the fairing bracket had broken, so these have been taken off and sent for welding - the exhaust is stainless steel which requires TIG welding so I am using a place I found in the Pagesjaunes (yellow pages). I am trying to find out why the bike doesn't run well at low rpm - just off idle - so as the only thing I changed was electrical (I added an electronic CDI charger which takes power directly off the battery), I am looking at the electrics again.
I have removed the windings on the stator for CDI charging as I no longer use them, this will reduce the electromotive force (EMF) in the stator and should allow the crank to spin up quicker, plus I removed the wiring associated - just to clean up the wiring a bit. Whilst I was at the stator I changed the pickup, to an original Yamaha model, this way I am sure the the stator, and electrics are all good - I just need my silencer back before I can do any testing.
I also, restuck my seat padding, and made a new instrument plexiglass cover as the old one got damaged by the leaking hydraulic fluid. The front brakes were removed and hung up to ensure the highest point was in the calipers, and then bled, this will ensure I lose the spongeness at the lever.
On the RG, the action plan is as follows and in order :-
Change plugs for Iridium
Change plug leads
Change coils
Ignition stator
then ....
Check fuel flow
dirty tank
sticky chokes
and finally if none of that fixes my issue, then it must be the crank oil seal.
I am waiting for my plugs to arrive (www.Sparkplugs.co.uk) so in the meantime I changed all four plug leads with silicon resistive lead, this is not only flexible, but should I change my plug caps again, I will no longer need any resistance. Unfortunately the old leads are held in the coil by some stupid plastic clips which are designed to break, which they did on both coils! So the new leads are held in by tie wraps, to which I will add some mastic sealer when I finish troubleshooting.
I started the RG, and she ran very smoothly in the garage, so maybe I have already found the problem! I will need to run her until hot, to really test to see if the issue disappears. The Gamma listers (email enthusiasts) thing I am getting to the lean end of my main jets so I will need to be careful at Nogaro as there is a really long straight.
I still have a couple of odd jobs to do on the RG, re-torque the cylinder head, check my steering head bearing.
Just to use up my time, my brother has bought his 900SS Ducati down for storage at race HQ, so I changed the oil, filter, and brake fluid, and bled the front and back - his front brakes are pulsing so I hope that will get rid of that!
Speak to you soon, after the RG and RD test later this week.
Dave
On the 350, I broke the silencer (I think this probably started because of my crash at C-en-T two years ago), and the fairing bracket had broken, so these have been taken off and sent for welding - the exhaust is stainless steel which requires TIG welding so I am using a place I found in the Pagesjaunes (yellow pages). I am trying to find out why the bike doesn't run well at low rpm - just off idle - so as the only thing I changed was electrical (I added an electronic CDI charger which takes power directly off the battery), I am looking at the electrics again.
I have removed the windings on the stator for CDI charging as I no longer use them, this will reduce the electromotive force (EMF) in the stator and should allow the crank to spin up quicker, plus I removed the wiring associated - just to clean up the wiring a bit. Whilst I was at the stator I changed the pickup, to an original Yamaha model, this way I am sure the the stator, and electrics are all good - I just need my silencer back before I can do any testing.
I also, restuck my seat padding, and made a new instrument plexiglass cover as the old one got damaged by the leaking hydraulic fluid. The front brakes were removed and hung up to ensure the highest point was in the calipers, and then bled, this will ensure I lose the spongeness at the lever.
On the RG, the action plan is as follows and in order :-
Change plugs for Iridium
Change plug leads
Change coils
Ignition stator
then ....
Check fuel flow
dirty tank
sticky chokes
and finally if none of that fixes my issue, then it must be the crank oil seal.
I am waiting for my plugs to arrive (www.Sparkplugs.co.uk) so in the meantime I changed all four plug leads with silicon resistive lead, this is not only flexible, but should I change my plug caps again, I will no longer need any resistance. Unfortunately the old leads are held in the coil by some stupid plastic clips which are designed to break, which they did on both coils! So the new leads are held in by tie wraps, to which I will add some mastic sealer when I finish troubleshooting.
I started the RG, and she ran very smoothly in the garage, so maybe I have already found the problem! I will need to run her until hot, to really test to see if the issue disappears. The Gamma listers (email enthusiasts) thing I am getting to the lean end of my main jets so I will need to be careful at Nogaro as there is a really long straight.
I still have a couple of odd jobs to do on the RG, re-torque the cylinder head, check my steering head bearing.
Just to use up my time, my brother has bought his 900SS Ducati down for storage at race HQ, so I changed the oil, filter, and brake fluid, and bled the front and back - his front brakes are pulsing so I hope that will get rid of that!
Speak to you soon, after the RG and RD test later this week.
Dave
Wednesday 12 May 2010
Videos from Croix-en-Ternois
Here are the videos of both classic/Unlimited races that I contended in. I was 5th in the first race and 4th in the unlimited category, and 6th in the second race but again 4th in my category!
Enjoy!
Enjoy!
Monday 10 May 2010
Croix-en-Ternois
Our first visit to C-en-T this year, but not the last. We traveled up half way to Troyes accompanied by Chris, who was hitching a lift back to England, on the back of my Dad's bike, from C-en-T. My Dad and Uncle Phil came down (as last year) to watch the racing.
I had been intending to participate in both series of racing this weekend - the Unlimited series with the 350 and the Post Unlimited's with the 500, however first practice on the Friday afternoon with the 500, still showed up the popping farting issue on no. 3, after changing the spark plug the issue seemed to disappear, but kept returning after 10 or so minutes. After much scratching of heads, and troubleshooting(we removed the rear cylinder head, we checked out the rotary disk (twice)) what I now reckon, or hope, is that the bike is running really too rich, and this is causing the plugs fail - why this should only happen in Nr.3 is a mystery, but this issue stopped my racing the 500 this weekend, so luckily the 350 was in good form - or was it!
Chris and I checked over the 350, as the last time it was raced was at the endurance in Carole. I had given it a cursory look over at home, but I didn't spot that the fairing bracket was cracked quite badly. We cut up a couple of pieces of steel plate, and attached it to the fairing bracket to give it some strength - a bit like a splint, this in fact held the whole weekend even though the bracket did give up completely relying on the splint to hold the thing together.
With the 350 I was doing 1:05's (best time 1:05:214) pretty consistently which was enough to give me my first ever front row start (in 4th), which I didn't manage to hold during the race, finishing in a none the less pleasing 5th place. I managed to wheelie off the line which immediately lost me a number of places, so I was pleased to be able to finish in 5th.
The second race on the Sunday I started from the 2nd row in 5th place, and got a slightly better start although my rear tyre was definitely showing signs of wear as the back end stepped out a couple of times and once I nearly lost it at the hairpin (bend 1). I spent most of the race on my own chasing down a Z750, which I managed to catch on the second to last lap. I was however only able to pass him at the hairpin before the long straight, so on the last lap I took the inside line and got through, only to be caught up on the straight before the chequered flag - I took 6th position.
A long drive home, and this time we actually remembered to pick up Libby's car from the car park where we had left it on Thursday evening.
Thanks to Chris and Libby for helping me in multiple technical interventions on the Suzuki, and for Dad and Phil taking the trouble to come down and watch. And believe it or not, but despite a cold weather forecast we didn't see rain all weekend, whilst at home it was raining all the time - photos and video to follow.
I had been intending to participate in both series of racing this weekend - the Unlimited series with the 350 and the Post Unlimited's with the 500, however first practice on the Friday afternoon with the 500, still showed up the popping farting issue on no. 3, after changing the spark plug the issue seemed to disappear, but kept returning after 10 or so minutes. After much scratching of heads, and troubleshooting(we removed the rear cylinder head, we checked out the rotary disk (twice)) what I now reckon, or hope, is that the bike is running really too rich, and this is causing the plugs fail - why this should only happen in Nr.3 is a mystery, but this issue stopped my racing the 500 this weekend, so luckily the 350 was in good form - or was it!
Chris and I checked over the 350, as the last time it was raced was at the endurance in Carole. I had given it a cursory look over at home, but I didn't spot that the fairing bracket was cracked quite badly. We cut up a couple of pieces of steel plate, and attached it to the fairing bracket to give it some strength - a bit like a splint, this in fact held the whole weekend even though the bracket did give up completely relying on the splint to hold the thing together.
With the 350 I was doing 1:05's (best time 1:05:214) pretty consistently which was enough to give me my first ever front row start (in 4th), which I didn't manage to hold during the race, finishing in a none the less pleasing 5th place. I managed to wheelie off the line which immediately lost me a number of places, so I was pleased to be able to finish in 5th.
The second race on the Sunday I started from the 2nd row in 5th place, and got a slightly better start although my rear tyre was definitely showing signs of wear as the back end stepped out a couple of times and once I nearly lost it at the hairpin (bend 1). I spent most of the race on my own chasing down a Z750, which I managed to catch on the second to last lap. I was however only able to pass him at the hairpin before the long straight, so on the last lap I took the inside line and got through, only to be caught up on the straight before the chequered flag - I took 6th position.
A long drive home, and this time we actually remembered to pick up Libby's car from the car park where we had left it on Thursday evening.
Thanks to Chris and Libby for helping me in multiple technical interventions on the Suzuki, and for Dad and Phil taking the trouble to come down and watch. And believe it or not, but despite a cold weather forecast we didn't see rain all weekend, whilst at home it was raining all the time - photos and video to follow.
Wednesday 28 April 2010
Motomag Article
For the francophones, an article appeared in MotoMag - a french magazine on the Endurance at Carole.
http://www.motomag.com/Week-end-AME-a-Carole-Endurance.html
http://www.motomag.com/Week-end-AME-a-Carole-Endurance.html
Tuesday 27 April 2010
Monday 26 April 2010
Endurance at Carole
So this weekend, we finished with a cup (!), but it certainly didn't start off that way.
You may remember that I am racing in the Endurance Classic GP organised by ProClassic, which this year has 2 races, one at Carole and the other later on in the year at Croix-en-Ternois. I am racing with Christian Degardin on a Yamaha RD350 YPVS. Last year we were forced to use one bike as my 350 broke down in practise (stator), and we came second, so this year we decided to try and run one bike (the rules stipulate that if you use two seperate bikes you are penalised by 2/3 laps).
Anyway so at Carole we should have used Christian's bike all weekend. Christian runs a different setup to me, he has the original footrest positions, and handle bar, plus he uses different size tyres which are much thinner, this gives the bike a completely different feel, I had significant issues with this last year, so I was determined to have lots of practise to get used to Christian's bike, this was not to be...
First session, and Christian's bike came in covered in oil, and after inspection it appeared that the gearbox breather was blowing off oil, and this led us to check the gearbox oil, which was a lovely paste, formed by the water that was leaking into the gearbox. This could only come from 3 places, either the oil pump oil seal, the crankcase seals, or the small o ring attaching the pipe through the clutch cover.
Anyway we drained the oil, split the clutch cover off, and inspected the o ring (which was fine) and the the water pump seal, which looked to be the issue - good at least it wasn't the crankshaft seals...
Christian sourced an oil seal, and we put it back together and then filled her up with oil, and then water.... and more water.... and more water.... something wrong...
And yes the gearbox was now once again filled with a messy mixture.
During the evening (Friday) we were sleeping outside the circuit so we had to go, so I left Christian sorting it out. BTW, my bike had run well all day, so I had managed to get some reasonable lap times, and had great fun on the 350 again!
Saturday morning, Christian had found the problem, he had sourced a TZ oil seal which had a much bigger central hole, so it had let through the water. He had managed to source the correct sized seal, and all went back together and this time no problems.
He took his bike out for the first timed practise, and was back in after a couple of laps, one of his exhaust pipes had cracked, and he had been sound tested at 111db, we are supposed to be at 102db, so he was ordered to have the bike restested before lunch (12:00).
Christian removed his pipes and they basically came apart in his hands.... but he borrowed some pipes just to get through the test, which brought him down to 108db.... think again....
By this time we thought his bike was never going to get passed, but at lunch time Christian, managed to get some other pipes brought from his home which looked good.
Even with these pipes we had to add some baffling (a couple of bits of coke can added to the end of the pipes - inside of course), and it eventually passed the test.
Unfortunately I had already started my last qualification session on my bike (still running OK), so Christian took his bike out for the last practise, and announced it "ready to race".
Having seen all the problems with his bike, and the relative reliability of my bike, we had some discussion around whether we should go for a 2 bike strategy or not, the advantage being that we could always finish on one bike if the other one broke, but we ended up agreeing to use a single bike confident in the fact that Christian's bike was fixed.
The Race
I was the "orange" arm band, and so took the track for the start, which I managed very well,lost a couple of places directly, but then quickly regained them in the first couple of bends. There were only 15 teams, with about 5-6 teams in the classic category, and the rest in the Superbike category, with all the Gixxers, RC30, VFR's being the favourite bikes. In the classic category there were 4 teams of RD350's and 1 team using a Kawasaki 1000 for the engine.
Having not ridden Christian's bike in practise it took me some while to get up to regular lap times, however I was getting used to it after about 15 minutes, and it started to be fun. As Christian's footrest are that much lower, and I am much heavier than Christian I was dragging everything in the bends, and at one point my toe slider make a break for freedom, however I was having fun, and the bike was running well. I was just starting to get a bit of cramp in my right hip, when the 45 minutes was up, so I pulled off.
The pitstop and re-fueling went without a hitch (we had practised this!!), and Christian went off.... only to come back in after a couple of laps, with a holed piston (right side) - SHIT!
After much umming and ahhhhing, we asked the race director if we could use the second bike, and they said yes but we wouldn't be counted in the results. So we ran back to the trailer and got my bike out (yes it was packed away), and then we had to push it back to the pits in order to get the key for the petrol cap (yes I know it shouldn't be locked....).
Anyway after a break of about 20 minutes (all things considered), Christian took my bike out, for his first ever go on it! Of course it worked like a dream, but he was totally pissed off when he came back in (after 30 minutes) as of course he was having problems getting used to the way my bike was setup, different tyres position etc....
I went out again for my second session, and had great fun playing at eating VFR's and CBR's in the twisties, until they would give up going past me on the straights... Excellent, I even had the back slide out a couple of times which is a first for me.
Although Christian was less than happy he went out and finished the race for the last 30 minutes, and looked like he was having fun.... at least towards the end of his session.
So, it all ended up OK, and we were packing up the stuff, when they announced over the loudspeaker that we had been classed after all, and that we were at the bottom of the podium - 3rd place - excellent!
I think the fact that there were only 3 teams left in our category had something to do with it!
Never mind, we even turned professional this weeekend, as we walked away with a huge cheque in hand - enough to pay for Crhistian's new piston and (a bit) more!
I will post some video later this week. And of course thanks to all who turned up to help us, we had Jean-Luc as the fireman, plus Jean-Mi, as "stand" man, plus others.. Plus of course Libby, who was there to calm our desperation in times of duress!
Speak to you soon as Croix-en-Ternois on the 500 is in two weeks time!
You may remember that I am racing in the Endurance Classic GP organised by ProClassic, which this year has 2 races, one at Carole and the other later on in the year at Croix-en-Ternois. I am racing with Christian Degardin on a Yamaha RD350 YPVS. Last year we were forced to use one bike as my 350 broke down in practise (stator), and we came second, so this year we decided to try and run one bike (the rules stipulate that if you use two seperate bikes you are penalised by 2/3 laps).
Anyway so at Carole we should have used Christian's bike all weekend. Christian runs a different setup to me, he has the original footrest positions, and handle bar, plus he uses different size tyres which are much thinner, this gives the bike a completely different feel, I had significant issues with this last year, so I was determined to have lots of practise to get used to Christian's bike, this was not to be...
First session, and Christian's bike came in covered in oil, and after inspection it appeared that the gearbox breather was blowing off oil, and this led us to check the gearbox oil, which was a lovely paste, formed by the water that was leaking into the gearbox. This could only come from 3 places, either the oil pump oil seal, the crankcase seals, or the small o ring attaching the pipe through the clutch cover.
Anyway we drained the oil, split the clutch cover off, and inspected the o ring (which was fine) and the the water pump seal, which looked to be the issue - good at least it wasn't the crankshaft seals...
Christian sourced an oil seal, and we put it back together and then filled her up with oil, and then water.... and more water.... and more water.... something wrong...
And yes the gearbox was now once again filled with a messy mixture.
During the evening (Friday) we were sleeping outside the circuit so we had to go, so I left Christian sorting it out. BTW, my bike had run well all day, so I had managed to get some reasonable lap times, and had great fun on the 350 again!
Saturday morning, Christian had found the problem, he had sourced a TZ oil seal which had a much bigger central hole, so it had let through the water. He had managed to source the correct sized seal, and all went back together and this time no problems.
He took his bike out for the first timed practise, and was back in after a couple of laps, one of his exhaust pipes had cracked, and he had been sound tested at 111db, we are supposed to be at 102db, so he was ordered to have the bike restested before lunch (12:00).
Christian removed his pipes and they basically came apart in his hands.... but he borrowed some pipes just to get through the test, which brought him down to 108db.... think again....
By this time we thought his bike was never going to get passed, but at lunch time Christian, managed to get some other pipes brought from his home which looked good.
Even with these pipes we had to add some baffling (a couple of bits of coke can added to the end of the pipes - inside of course), and it eventually passed the test.
Unfortunately I had already started my last qualification session on my bike (still running OK), so Christian took his bike out for the last practise, and announced it "ready to race".
Having seen all the problems with his bike, and the relative reliability of my bike, we had some discussion around whether we should go for a 2 bike strategy or not, the advantage being that we could always finish on one bike if the other one broke, but we ended up agreeing to use a single bike confident in the fact that Christian's bike was fixed.
The Race
I was the "orange" arm band, and so took the track for the start, which I managed very well,lost a couple of places directly, but then quickly regained them in the first couple of bends. There were only 15 teams, with about 5-6 teams in the classic category, and the rest in the Superbike category, with all the Gixxers, RC30, VFR's being the favourite bikes. In the classic category there were 4 teams of RD350's and 1 team using a Kawasaki 1000 for the engine.
Having not ridden Christian's bike in practise it took me some while to get up to regular lap times, however I was getting used to it after about 15 minutes, and it started to be fun. As Christian's footrest are that much lower, and I am much heavier than Christian I was dragging everything in the bends, and at one point my toe slider make a break for freedom, however I was having fun, and the bike was running well. I was just starting to get a bit of cramp in my right hip, when the 45 minutes was up, so I pulled off.
The pitstop and re-fueling went without a hitch (we had practised this!!), and Christian went off.... only to come back in after a couple of laps, with a holed piston (right side) - SHIT!
After much umming and ahhhhing, we asked the race director if we could use the second bike, and they said yes but we wouldn't be counted in the results. So we ran back to the trailer and got my bike out (yes it was packed away), and then we had to push it back to the pits in order to get the key for the petrol cap (yes I know it shouldn't be locked....).
Anyway after a break of about 20 minutes (all things considered), Christian took my bike out, for his first ever go on it! Of course it worked like a dream, but he was totally pissed off when he came back in (after 30 minutes) as of course he was having problems getting used to the way my bike was setup, different tyres position etc....
I went out again for my second session, and had great fun playing at eating VFR's and CBR's in the twisties, until they would give up going past me on the straights... Excellent, I even had the back slide out a couple of times which is a first for me.
Although Christian was less than happy he went out and finished the race for the last 30 minutes, and looked like he was having fun.... at least towards the end of his session.
So, it all ended up OK, and we were packing up the stuff, when they announced over the loudspeaker that we had been classed after all, and that we were at the bottom of the podium - 3rd place - excellent!
I think the fact that there were only 3 teams left in our category had something to do with it!
Never mind, we even turned professional this weeekend, as we walked away with a huge cheque in hand - enough to pay for Crhistian's new piston and (a bit) more!
I will post some video later this week. And of course thanks to all who turned up to help us, we had Jean-Luc as the fireman, plus Jean-Mi, as "stand" man, plus others.. Plus of course Libby, who was there to calm our desperation in times of duress!
Speak to you soon as Croix-en-Ternois on the 500 is in two weeks time!
Thursday 15 April 2010
Technical Update...
So I eventually found two issues :- One plug cap with a higher resistance than normal, so I replaced all plug caps with a 5K ohm NGK plug cap. Secondly I found that I had reassembled a carburetor spacer upside down, this would have caused an air leakage on cylinder nr. 3. I can't say for sure how long it has been like that... but I hope it hasn't damaged the cylinder, as this one will have been running lean, hopefully the overall richness will have protected it to some extent.
So whilst troubleshooting I have collected the following data, which is worthy of note :-
Low Tension coils = 0.6 ohm
High Tension coils = 22K ohms measured cap to cap
Whilst I was taking the carbs apart, I did notice a fair amount of corrosion on the emulsion tubes especially in the carbs 1 & 3, I don't know if this is a result of the bike spending time on it's side stand or what.
So whilst troubleshooting I have collected the following data, which is worthy of note :-
Low Tension coils = 0.6 ohm
High Tension coils = 22K ohms measured cap to cap
Whilst I was taking the carbs apart, I did notice a fair amount of corrosion on the emulsion tubes especially in the carbs 1 & 3, I don't know if this is a result of the bike spending time on it's side stand or what.
Wednesday 31 March 2010
Technical Update
Some photos:-
Well, just some notes while I think about it. Tyre pressures with the Power One's were 1.5 rear and 1.7 front (bar), which worked reasonably well in the wet, and I kept the same pressures for the only dry session - which worked well - no slips.
The carbs were running 240 mains, I was running a 15 front sprocket and a 41 rear, but couldn't really tell if this was good, but I certainly wasn't at the end of 6th along the start finish straight.
I was using Motul 80w90 Gear oil (thick grey stuff) which made the clutch slip, so I went back to Motul 10w30 (or 40??) Two stroke gearbox oil, which didn't slip although the clutch still drags.
At home all plugs were dark (too rich) but nr. 4 was differently coloured than the others - I think my problem is with this cylinder, and more over the plug cap on this pot is reading double the resistance of the others, which are all 10K ohms, nr4. was reading an irregular 20K ohms, so I think my problem is coming from there. I have swapped out the "bad" plug cap and will test this evening. For reference the primary side of the coils were measured at 0.6 ohms on both coils, and secondary measured from plug cap to plug cap measure about 34K ohms.
That's it for now.
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