kickingtyres

Amazing what you can get done when you get up early at the weekend.

Saturday, we made a fair bit of progress on getting Gayle’s workroom sorted, with a new cutting table fitting over the sofabed.  Nice large panel of Spruce plywood should give ample space, and easily be strong enough.  Still have to work out a way of attaching it to the wall in a way that can allow it to be easily removed, but it’s getting there.  Also sorted out some shelves and a bit more hanging space.  I still need to clear out the “office” a bit more, as it’s more like a large cupboard right now, and it should allow storage for far more boxes of fabric and materials than it currently allows, and I might even manage to get a chair in at the desk.

Spent Sunday getting the lathe sorted and generally organising the workshop a bit more.  The lathe wasn’t running, and I couldn’t work out why, but tracked it down to a microswitch that was working opposite to how I was expecting.  Tracking this down wasn’t helped by a multimeter that had a near-flat battery, so when the good connection was sensed, it wasn’t going “beep”.  DOH!  Final task is to drill a hole in the coolant tray and fit the coolant drain pipe, then it’ll be good to go.  Other workshop related tasks were two sets of new strip-lights so I can see what I’m doing, and installing the new TIG welder in it’s home.  Just have to find a decent, local, Argon supplier now.

Modified the exhaust hanger to accept the slightly higher positioning of the can, due to the new exhaust, and the existing, complete bike is good to go again (and sounds awesome).  However, the end-can I’ve got on there sounds a little too loud.  I think it needs repacking.  Just as well I’ve recently added a compressor driven riveter to the tool box.

Shuffled the other bikes around on the drive to give me access to the “spare” bike on which much of the work is going to be done.  Frustratingly I found I had two chains on it, not just the one I knew about, and I can’t find the key for it anywhere.  Not to worry, the chain goes through the backwheel and over the seat, and since one of the first tasks is to remove the subframe, that’s not a big deal.

Got to work on the spare bike to get as much done as possible in the fading light, and removed the subframe, disconnected much of the wiring and coolant system.  Disconnected and removed the footpegs and gear linkage, and started on the engine mountings.  The plan is to get this down to a rolling frame and move it into the workshop where I can get to work on it, rather than relying on a few snatched minutes of fading light on the driveway.  Looks like the carbs are a bit knackered, since there was absolutely no movement on them, but I’m not too worried as I have a spare set on the shelf in good working order, lacking only a small spring that goes between bodies, and I’m intending on changing the carbs in the future anyway.

After the bike let me down at Cadwell in August, I’m more determined and motivated than ever to get it sorted and ready to race in 2010.

I posted a while back about various things, including the plans for the FZR, and progress is being made.

After the skip debacle, the garage was looking much better in terms of working space, and is now looking more like a workshop than just a storeroom.  A new workbench has been installed along with a, larger than expected, pillar drill and bench grinder.  A 100L compressor has also found a home in the corner and a Warco lathe is currently waiting to be lifted onto it’s stand.  Once that’s in place I have two or three tasks for it including headstock spacers and swingarm pivot work for the FZR and some new bushes for the BSA’s front suspension.

Bike-wise, the new headers were fitted to the main bike however the linkpipe wasn’t the right shape unless you wanted to blow the exhaust either up your leg or take out the guy next to you a-la-boudica’s chariot.  The bike’s now at MHP getting the exhaust properly sorted, and thanks go to Simon there for his help.

In the meantime, I’ve sourced the front end from a 2004 R6, which will give me better and adjustable forks as well as the impressive R6 brakes, and the swing-arm from a FZR400 3TJ2 which will permit me to fit the 17″ rear wheel allowing me a greater choice of rubber.  I’ll start stripping down the spare bike with a view to doing the forks and suspension work on that, and rebuilding that engine, so I still have the existing bike working and ready to go.

Other work I intend starting soon is a new subframe, subject to getting a new TIG welder, a racing loom and perhaps looking at using a Veypor digital dash.

Watch this space…

Here’s a Google Calendar containing the dates for MotoGP, BSB, WSB, TT and NW200.  Other series will be added over time.

The iCal link is :Here

It’s been a long time since I did any updates here, so thought it was about time I poked my head above the parapet again and kept things going. It’s a long and rambling post, covering many aspects, but it just serves to keep things up-to-date.

Since June, there’s been various highlights, events and general goings on.

Spent our first weekend sailing Eala Bhan ourselves, and had a fantastic 7knot blast across from Largs, up to the Kyles of Bute. It was somewhat surreal, and a little depressing, to wake up on Sunday morning in the beautiful calm of An Caladh harbour, with the seagulls, sun and rhododendrons to going to bed, back home in Cambs.

At the begining of July, we spent almost 3 weeks in France, with friends in Normandy, then touring about by ourselves and finally a few days with my folks at their place. Despite having holidayed in France as a kid on many occasions, and visited many places, this was the first time that I’d actually traveled about the country by myself. Touring about, seeing the different landscapes and weather, villages and towns and even industry and agriculture only served to reinforce my love of the country. I feel France is, in many ways, how a country should be with a genuine national pride, not misplaced patriotism; common sense and applying the spirit, not letter of the law; respect for themselves and each other which is expected not demanded. I recognise France has, like any country, it’s own flaws, but in general I feel the quality of life, from food and drink to roads and services, is far better than we get in the UK. Something that I know Gayle reconised too.

We were originally planning to do the trip on the FJR, but even although I put her into wheelfit with 3 or 4 weeks to spare to get the work done, it wasn’t until the middle of July that she was finally sorted. While the FJR are known for seizing some of the suspension linkages, I hadn’t realised how bad it was in this case. Rather than the spindle seizing in the bearing, and turning in the shock’s mounting point, it had seized in the bearing and shock, and the bearing was turning in the linkage, wearing the aluminium oval. In the end, in addition to the new shock that was due to be replaced, all the suspension linkages, bearings and bolts ended up being replaced too. However, add that to a new shock, new front mudguard, full engine service, new forkseals and fork oil, and it’s like getting a new bike again. Anyway, we could fit far more wine and cheese in the boot of the Alfa than we could in any top-box.

Since coming back from France, we realised that the annual Ixion@Cadwell was looming, and the FZR hadn’t really been touched for quite some time. Some manic last minute fettling saw the bike prepped as best we could, with a new throttle cable, a patched exhaust, some new rearsets lifted from the Thunderace and modified to fit and a new paintjob, the bike was as ready as it could be in the time we had. I also invested in a 6X3 “party tent”, generator and other bits and pieces to make the time spent in the paddock as comfortable as possible. As it happens, it was just as well, after the headers fractured at the manifold, and the little 400 wasn’t allowed out any more as it was just too loud. She was also suffering intermittent starting and running problems, which is somewhat annoying. Once going, she’s fine and as long as she’s kept on the boil she runs beautifully, but I can’t afford to have it stall or die like that if I ever get on the grid.

The plan is to get the bike properly sorted between now and the start of next season and I’m off to a flying start with some new headers that were collected from MHP on Saturday. They are modified headers from an R6 which should also give a bit more tuning potential, being a little more free-er flowing. I also plan on rebuilding the “spare” engine, blueprinting it, and replacing all bearings and seals to at least get it back up to it’s original power output.
But to be honest, I’m looking at the diary and wondering when the hell I’ll actually have the time to do anything.

Still, there’s a bit more space in the garage now, having passed the Firestorm onto a friend (We will come round and finish that engine rebuild soon!) and installing the “new” shelves that have been lying on the drive for 2 years. That being said, the new space was quickly taken up by moving the M20 in there, as I really was getting upset seeing it out in the rain, even under a cover. I know there’s a lot of rubbish in the garage, and I’ve got my eye on a lathe and milling machine combination too, so I think I’m going to spend a free Saturday having a clearout and see how much space I can actually make.

On the business side, Craftspeed is now pretty much up-and-running, and there we now have rolls of fabric, that are bigger than Gayle, getting in the way, so we’ll need to work out how to store the stock. Plentymore LLP is still progressing, having launched a Bingo site “plentymorebingo”. We’re also in the process of starting development of an iPhone application, but I’ll just ask you to “watch this space” regarding that.

MIST Suzuki Racing · Help Us Get Back On Track.

A quick appeal to all bike racing fans, or anyone with a spare few quid, to help Mist Suzuki get back on the track after a rider-less bike took them out of the first round at Brands Hatch.

It’s expected to cost between £12000 and £15000 to get the bike ready for the next round at Oulton Park.