…and that’s a wrap.

Finally finished with my new street bike project.  1973 Tiger 750 motor in a 1977 frame.

Before:

After:

For now, the race bike tank will sit on here until I get J Ryan(www.jrychops.com) to paint the other one for me.  He painted this one and did a fantastic job.  I need to clean out the one that came with this project and seal it with Caswell’s coating, then he can start working his magic.  Still haven’t settled on what color I want yet.  I’m leaning towards a black theme, but may change that as I start to really consider my options.

Had some issues with the initial start up on this though.  Finished it up last week, started it up with no problems other than jetting being slightly off and a little noise from the motor I couldn’t pin-point.  The jetting ended up being my timing side crank nut backing off and lodging itself against the cover, which actually locked it up Saturday when I was trying to figure out what was up.  The noise was the other side.  The rotor nut backed off as well making a clattering noise from the rotor not being tight on the key.

Ugh.

All of this was my own damn fault and a stupid rookie mistake for sure.  After we did the cam timing(which was 7 months ago), Tom told me to make sure I put blue locktite on those cam nuts and crank nut and tighten them down.  I don’t have an air impact, just an electric one, plus I don’t remember him telling me that.  This is what he was telling me as we were tearing it apart again to find out why it locked up.

Ended up taking the entire top end back off before we figured out it was the crank nut.  I got really lucky…again.  The cover wasn’t too damaged, at least not enough to scrap it.  I got the nuts on and tight, for real this time.  Put the top end back on yesterday and fired it up again last night.  Timing was off a little, had to wait until this morning to reset it since I didn’t have the slide hammer to take the Boyer rotor off the cam taper.  Had to borrow a friend’s.  Got it fired up, timed properly, idle and mixture set, and so far it’s running like the scalded dog.  It has so much torque that it’s almost difficult to hang on past 1/4 throttle.  It’s smooth as silk at idle.  It’s planted to the road and handles like a modern bike.  Chassis feels great.  The gearbox shifts seamlessly almost and the clutch feels about perfect.  I only hope my race bike is as good after I get it all back together.

Some more not so great phone pictures…

Getting lighter, more compressed…

Well, it’s only a few parts right now, but I finally got some new stuff for the race bike for the new build.

Got these in the mail 2 days ago….

Cast aluminum with iron liners.  They come from my friend Pat Brown who runs, Triples Rule.  http://www.triplesrule.com/
He offers the barrels with Nikasil coating as well.  We tested the iron liner prototype in this Trackmaster framed bike 3 years ago and they worked perfectly.  Rings seated within a lap of practice.

Also got these from Hitchcock’s Motorcycles in England.  36mm.  Tried to go up a size to 38, but they said they only had one side and didn’t look like Amal was going to be making the other hand anytime soon.  I ran 36s the last 2 years, so I figure it won’t make a huge difference at this point.  I’ll need more seat time than air/fuel ratio at this point having not raced since October.

Also got a new Excel alloy rim and stainless spoke kit for my new front wheel setup.  Going to a Yamaha hub so I have better(cheaper) options for larger brake rotors.  Don’t have a picture of that yet, not much to look at at this point anyway.

Been waiting on my head for the new street bike to get finished up, it’s getting exhaust spigots installed, so I haven’t much to add to that right now.  Hoping I get it ready soon so I can really get started on the race bike.  I miss the track.

Getting closer…

Between a lot of work(paying work, not playing work), I’ve managed to get a few things finished up and ready for the new TR7 street bike.

Those rough looking primary and gearbox covers cleaned up nicely…

I like to chop the fin at the bottom of the gearbox cover off so that I can get to the oil lines easier.

 

Had a bit of an issue with my inner covers.  I put new bearings in, switched the shift quadrant to a 5 speed(since it previously had a 4), and drilled a small hole in the bottom for draining when the outer cover gets pulled.  It just makes it easier draining more gear oil out when you need to service the transmission.  After all that, I started putting the gears in to go ahead and button up the transmission and the inner cover would not sit on cases flat.  Tried several things and then pulled the race bike cover out to make sure it wasn’t something I did wrong placing the gears in.  Race bike cover went right on.  Set them both next to each other and stared for a minute until I noticed the mainshaft opening is smaller on the new cover.

The new one…

The race bike cover…

So, the first gear on the mainshaft is supposed to sit in that hole and butt up against the inner bearing race.  With the hole on the new cover being 3/16″ smaller, it would not…allowing the cover to not sit flat on the cases.  The fix…take the bearing back out and make larger the hole.  Simple, but a bit annoying having to do the job twice.  Such is the theme of all my bikes, they always have to be weird in some way that wasn’t common for everyone else.

In other news, head is finished, but is getting exhaust spigots custom made for it by Charlie Southgate.

Another beautiful head rebuild by Tom Sharp…

The trick Charlie does for these is bore the exhaust ports out enough to make them true and clean them up, then he makes a piece out of steel to press fit with some green locktite into the port after heating up the head so that when it cools, it’s in there like swimwear.  Then he puts a couple of set screws on top and bottom to double up the resistance to turning inside the head.

The other cool thing about the spigots he makes is that they will butt all the way up against that step you see in the port above so the flow isn’t interrupted.  The knock in adapters that some parts houses sell leave about a 1/8″ gap between the adapter and the step.  Hopefully this helps things out since I’ll be using pipes that are probably too large of a diameter for a single carb head and an engine with a mild state of tune.

Hoping to get a large chunk of this work finished within the next week.  The only things I’m waiting on at this point are the head, my timing cover that Tom is modifying for a breather, a rear fender from Glass From The Past, and I still need to order a muffler from Cone Engineering.  I’ve been sort of flip flopping on whether or not I want to use one of their mufflers because of the possible high level of noise it may have.  I know it’s fairly quiet for a race muffler, but for a  street bike it may be too loud.  I searched on eBay for some modern sport bike slip on cans that may work, but the prices are just too high even for a used one.  I’m going to have to wait until I have the engine completely built and in the frame before I order the rest of the exhaust because I want to see where everything is going to sit before I buy the extra bends and collector I’ll need to get the muffler where I want it.

Winter building and rebuilding…

So previously I mentioned a new project street bike, a ’73 TR7.  I’ve made some headway on that.

I got the frame powdercoated, got a set of NOS Red Wing shocks, new tires for the old race bike wheels…

Then I put together the crankcases with my old race bike cylinders and pistons…pardon the mess on the table.

I got this neat little fiberglass front fender on eBay that bolts right up…

I got a Grimeca caliper for the front brake, just needs new fittings for the braided steel line I have…

I’ve been playing around with exhaust ideas for a while and finally decided to try out these headers I had in the shed.  They were some 1 3/4″ 2 into 1 system my friend had at his shop that he didn’t want, so he gave them to me.  I cut the headers off at the collector and got some adapter/reducer pieces at Advance to see how they fit with this frame.  Think they originally came off a Japanese bike of some sort.

I’ve had to spend quite a lot of time cleaning and resurfacing this rocker box.  Having trouble getting the studs out of the other one so it’s still dirty.

Been sort of on the lookout for a new outer gearbox cover since the one that came with this bike was an early four speed cover.  Didn’t have the inspection hole to fill the gearbox with oil or hook in the clutch cable.  Found one today with a decent primary cover.  Got a lot of work to do to these to clean them up.

I got started on cleaning the timing cover up and sanding it down for polishing.  It’s time consuming.  I still have a long way to go.

So what I have left is getting the head back, which has been rebuilt.  I need to get exhaust spigots put into it for these big headers I have.  I have a 30mm Mikuni carb I was going to run on it, so I need a manifold for it.  I still need a muffler, master cylinder, rear fender, and some other odds and ends.

I have to make a few little pieces.  I’m planning on have a sort of “mid” rearset footrest set up.  They will be mounted where the original footpegs mount.  I’m going to have to make a lever like the race rearsets for the shifter side.  On the brake side, I’ll just modify the brake lever and have a peg coming out where the original mount is.

I’m hoping to have all this mostly together and ready to fire up soon.  I’ve also been helping a friend rebuild the top end on his Triumph TR7.  We should have his ready in a week or so.  That’ll be my good deed for the year I guess.  Unless the bike blows up after put it back together….probably shouldn’t have said that.

End of the season…

The end of the season was less than spectacular.  This whole season has been plagued with bad luck if I’m honest.

Barber was fantastic in terms of turnout.  60,000 people were at the Vintage Fest this year and the amount of riders in the races was the largest I’ve seen since I started for sure.  That event just grows and grows every year.  Unfortunately, I hadn’t raced since Grattan and was severely out of shape physically(need to start doing some kind of workout, I feel like a wuss).  On top of that, I had massive clutch slip problems again.  I was surprised really since I hadn’t messed with the primary since Grattan and it worked fine there.

I pulled my primary apart probably 3 times that weekend.  Eventually changing out the plates, springs, pressure plate, and even adding a stuffer plate in the end.  Finally got it to work and managed to take 4th both days.  Really should’ve had 3rd at least.  Race one, got the start as usual…this has been the one thing I’ve gotten right every race this year…then just kept losing places due to better riders and my own fatigue.  Maria Costello came back over to race on Kenny Cummings’s bike in BEARS and Tim Joyce was on Mark Mitchell’s BMW.  Tim broke down(he was having a much worse weekend than I did) and Stan Miller got around me at some point.  I was holding 3rd most of the race before I just got so tired I slowed way down and Jerrett Martin from Big D Cycle got around me on the last lap.  I should’ve dug a bit deeper I guess.

The next day it was the same sort of drill as the first day.  I got the holeshot and led the first lap.  Miraculously, I was in front of Tim on the BMW which still blows my mind.  He passed me the next lap though, it was inevitable.  He also brought Erik Green with him.  Maria came around at some point in the third lap and I tried so hard to stay with her, but just didn’t have the motor, and now she knew what she was doing at Barber instead of just learning it like last year.  By the end of the race, I had caught back up to Erik, but it was too late.  I was right behind him on the last lap, but not close enough to get 3rd.  The worst part about all this is that I didn’t beat my fastest time at Barber, which I thought for sure I was going to take at least a second off of it.  I didn’t even match it.

Daytona went from decent to awful in a short time.

Sunrise at Daytona.  Camping out inside Nascar turns 3-4 was pretty cool.  Except for the damn bugs.  I got eaten alive inside the van.  Should’ve left the windows closed.

Me, Stan, and his friend Scott Turner shared a garage space next to Kenny and the rest of the New Yorkers plus all the Kiwi fellas that came over from New Zealand to race Barber and Daytona.  So amazing they made it over here.  Fantastic machinery and overall good people.

So practice was going alright.  Took me a minute to get used to being here again.  I haven’t been back to Daytona since my first full year racing.  I still can’t get the hang of the last turn out of the infield onto the west banking.  That kind of bit me in the ass during the race too…well if it wasn’t for another problem.  The bike was running great, I tried a jetting change and it seemed better, went out again and it felt like it needed another but back in the other direction.  I got it running pretty damn well and then waited around for the race.

We were gridded with F750 since only one of us pre-entered to bump up.  We were behind them in the same wave, so it was kind of like running both.  I got another good start and was 4th overall going into one behind Tim, John Ellis, and Kenny.  Of course, they were the F750 riders.  I was right on Kenny’s tail going through the infield when I got to that turn to go onto the banking and I overcooked it and ran way wide.  I collected myself and got humming on the banking when Maria came past me.  I knew that was going to happen, just waiting for when.  If I hadn’t messed up the turn out of the infield, I probably could’ve held her off until at least after the chicane I guess.  She passed me down the back straight and I hung with her for about a lap and a half.  On the 3rd lap, disaster almost ended my Daytona adventure in a painful way.

I was flying down the back straight with Maria still in sight somehow, as I know the bike she’s on has at least 10hp on mine.  I brake way late for the chicane and carry quite a bit more speed into it than I had before.  I lean to the left, then to the right to complete the turn when my bike goes sideways.  It probably didn’t slide as much as it felt like it was, but I swear I went through the entire middle section of that chicane sideways.  It caught grip and slung me up in the air.  I came back down straight onto my seat.  Could not believe I was still on 2 wheels.  I looked down and my oil filter is off the adapter and oil is all over the bike.  I pull in the clutch and go directly off track before the next apex of the turn. I get to the apron and kill the engine.  I was in shock, I was still not sure how I managed to save what would’ve been a massive and fast high side.  When it started to happen, it was like time slowed down and I could remember every detail like it was happening over the course of an hour.  I remember speaking aloud to myself in a normal speaking voice…”oh shit, this is going to hurt, here we go.”

As I’m coasting along the apron, bikes whizzing past me about 20-30 feet up on a 31 degree bank at 100-120mph, I’m just sick.  I know it’s the end of the weekend for me.  10hr drive for 2 and a half laps.  It’s highly likely, I destroyed the crank.  The only positive I could think of was, I just survived a horrible crash…that was actually kind of fun!  It’s crazy to think like that, and I definitely wish that the oil filter hadn’t came off and I was still in the race, but I was still buzzing a bit that I kept my cool when it started to slide and kept it upright.  Now I know what that feels like.

Came home, tore the engine down out at Tom’s.  The thing just looked gorgeous on the inside.  Pistons were clean, rings were perfectly seated, squish band was perfect, cylinders still had crosshatch, plugs were clean, even the damn crank wasn’t bad off!  The rod bearings were a little scored, and the right side showed that was getting hot, but not nearly the amount of damage that happened when the oil line came off while I was test riding it last year and had to rebuild it.  Tom said the journals can’t be turned down anymore, but they should be able to be polished a bit and replace the rod bearings and still be good.  Guess I’ll do one more season and see what it’ll do.

The plan for now…getting an aluminum cylinder from Pat Brown of Triples Rule, bumping up the compression a little, new head, and changing up the exhaust a bit after I see how everything else feels.  I gave back the head and carburetors Tom was letting me borrow so I have to build my head now.  Thinking about going up in carburetor size too.  I only wish I could’ve dyno tested the old engine to see what kind of improvement I’m going to get out of this new one.

As far as other new bits, I got a Yamaha front wheel to replace my old one so I can have a bigger rotor.  Thinking for now I’ll use the stock rotor on it drilled out, but eventually get one of the lightweight semi floating ones that some of the guys are using.  Got to get a new rim and spoke kit for it though, so trying to save a bit since I’ll have the rest of the engine to build.

Oscar wanted to help me take the engine home after the tear down…

 

Now that work is about to slow down, I have a lot to keep me busy over winter.  New street bike project, which is almost ready to be built.  New race bike motor needs to be prepped for rebuild.  And I just picked up a new toy, a ’95 Honda XR250 dirt bike.  Finally have something I can go riding in the woods with again.  Maybe I’ll get that training I’ve been wanting to get without having to actually work out.

 

Projects, races, work.

Been working A LOT lately, but I’ve found a little time to do some motorbike work.

Road America and Grattan could’ve gone a bit better, but I deleted my problem with the front end wobble.  It was the bent front axle I spoke of in the last post.  Unfortunately, straight front end would not garner wins.  Race one at Road America started off well.  I have this good habit of taking the holeshot at the last several races I’ve done in BEARS.  If nothing else, I can take off well.  I led for about 3 or 4 laps and then got caught up behind a slower rider coming onto the 2nd straight at Road A, turn 3.  This messed up my drive a little and the following 2 riders were able to draft past me into the next turn at the end of the straight.  I fought with rapidly disappearing brake pads at this point as well, losing a lot of time on corner entry.  I ended up not being able to keep them in sight and had to settle for 3rd.

I also believe I was starting to lose a bit of power due to a rapidly dying battery since I wasn’t even able to complete a lap in the F750 race right after BEARS.  I made the start kept the fast guys in sight for a few corners and the engine started coughing.  I had a feeling the battery was going to die on these trips, luckily I had a spare this time.  Changed it, and the brake pads which I also had a feeling I would need, and was ready for the next day.

Sunday in BEARS I again took the holeshot and led for the entire race until I came up on some back marker Thruxtons on the 2nd straight having their own battle in the last lap.  I was able to get them into turn 5 at the end of the straight and totally messed up 6 at the top of the hill.  I ran wide…REALLY wide…and ran off the track enough for them to get around me into 7.  This caused 2nd place BEARS guy, Glenn Campbell, to get close enough to get around me and one of the Thruxtons going into 8 and I was stuck there through the Carousel and Chicane before the last straight.  I get onto the back of all three of them down the straight and the Thruxton guys are weaving all over the track trying to get around each other.  I had nowhere to go.  I was able to get around one into Canada Corner, but Glenn was too far ahead by the time I got to the front straight to catch him.  What a bummer.  After the race, he showed me his front brake rotor…it had about a 1 1/2″ crack from trying to gain ground on me on the brakes.  I was pretty amazed I was able to hold him off as long as I did.  He’s way more experienced and that BMW of his is no slouch.

Grattan wasn’t so good.  Had a crash in my first race due to someone else on a Vintage Superbike running off course in the Esses and throwing gravel all over the apex of Turn 7.  I was once again leading at this extremely technical track and made one lap before sliding out.  My next closest rival all weekend, Wes Goodpaster, also was out in the race due to a failed magneto.  He won race 1 at Road America on his very fast Norton.  The next day we had it out and he crashed pushing a little too hard in turn 4 and destroyed his Classic 60s bike since the magneto issue on the 750 was not fixable at the track.  His Dad, Bob, had been racing that bike since the 60s and it had never been crashed.  It was terrifying.  He slid out and was ok, but the bike hit the grass sideways and went flying into the air about 15ft whilst doing acrobatics.  It landed and I had to divide Wes and the bike to avoid hitting either of them.  Red flag.  I won.  Not the way I wanted it, since I was pretty sure I would’ve caught him in that lap.  He got around me the lap before after I missed a shift between turns 3 and 4.

Crash Damage…

The worst part of the crash was the shifter pedal breaking off.  Replaced with a bolt and locknut wrapped in hose thanks to Pat Brown.

I also bent the brake lever, was able to bend it out well enough to use.

The other damage was the rear fairing stay got bent.  But it’s a small diameter steel rod and bent back easily.  Hopefully this doesn’t happen again for awhile, but at least it was slow and easy and I didn’t get hurt.  Helmet got scuffed up though…

It didn’t crack the shell, but I have to get a new helmet for next year since they’re raising the Snell requirement to 2010 spec.  I went ahead and stepped up to a Shoei RF1100.  So far, I like it.  I don’t know if it’s really worth as much more as it is compared to the Scorpion though.  The aerodynamics seem better already even riding around on the 250 and the vents actually work as opposed to not doing anything on every other helmet I’ve worn.  It is lighter weight than the Scorpion, but construction and comfort aren’t any better really.  If anything, I’d say the Scorpion is more comfy.  Basically, if the Shoei fits your head well and you really like the lighter weight(which is nice but not a lot lighter) pay for it.  I really want to look into getting it painted with a design like the pros, but I doubt it’ll be cheap enough since I wouldn’t pay the cost of another helmet to “trick” out this one.

 

Project wise, I’ve been working on a new ’73 750.  This time it’s a TR7.  I’ll add more to that later.  Right now, here’s a preview…it’s rough.

Road to Road America…

A lot of work has gone on since Roebling.  The wobble is still there, but hoping the last suspect that was fixed yesterday, is the main problem.  More on that in a minute.

After Roebling, I prepared for Barber last month to do a WERA round.  Hoping that this would be a good test to see how everything is working after changing up the front end a little.  Although Barber doesn’t have a particularly long straight, I was still getting some wobble at the end of the short shoot from Charlotte’s Web to the Alabama Rollercoaster.  Think I got a little at the end of the front straight as well.  I was having some chatter, but not as much as last time I was there.  Although, I didn’t really go any faster either.  I never broke out of the 1:51 range.  My fastest at Barber last October was 1:50.7.  This isn’t necessarily a bad thing though.  At the AHRMA finale last year, I was pushing to try and beat someone.  This last time I wasn’t really pushing as hard, but still within a second of my fastest time.  Taking positives from negatives, I have a lot more confidence in a few turns that I normally did not.

So I get home and look at other things in the bike to try and figure out where this wobble is coming from.  After being out of town working for a few weeks I get home and take another look at the front end.  Top triple clamp seemed to be ok although the fork tube pinch areas were butting against each other and could’ve possibly been not as tight as they should.  Took that off and found out that my steering bearing top nut was not nearly as tight as it should be.  The front end would flop from side to side if the bike was off the ground.  So after putting some space between the pinch areas of the top clamp, I tightened down the pre load on the steering bearing and got a better feel from side to side.  I also took this opportunity to re-adjust my fork settings after speaking with Matt from Race Tech.  He’s been a great help, and I hope these changes show a big difference.  After telling him of the chatter, I turned the Emulator pre load back a turn and changed the fork oil now that I know their method.  180mm from the top of the tube to the oil level is what they’re going for.  Air space above the oil level.  I still haven’t been able to properly set my race sag since I need extra hands to pump the front end with me on it and measure for me.  Matt gave me a good starting point though.  It can’t be worse than before.  I hope.

So I took the bike out with the old tires and the front end changes to my test area.  Got to the straight and opened it up.  Still wobbling.  I had finally adapted my old fork brace to the new forks and I got a new steering damper off eBay after Roebling for a cool $125.  An Ohlins damper with 20 position clicker.

The new front tire which will probably cause issues as well since it’s a much lower profile than the old one.  My newly adapted fork brace to hopefully add some more stability.

I have the damper at 10 clicks, and at this point, I don’t know what to think.  The wobble was so bad on the run back towards base that I almost lost control and wrecked.  Bad thing.  Especially since I didn’t have full protective gear, just my helmet and boots with thin pants and a t shirt.

I went home, disappointed, and started changing tires.  When I got the front off I started spinning the axle to see how the bearings felt since they had been in there for a while.  They didn’t feel too bad, but I noticed the axle didn’t look quite true on one side.  Hmmmm…could I have a bent axle?  The answer was yes.

Took the wheel out to Tom’s and pulled the axle, with much cussing as the nut was stupidly put in with red Locktite.  Stuck the axle on the lathe and it was totally bent.  Got an old one from the attic that was straight as you like and stuck it in with a new set of bearings.

Hopefully that was problem.  It would make sense as the front wouldn’t start wobbling until just past 6k revs, which I now know for a fact with my new Scitsu tach(more about it in a minute).  It’s as if the wobble wasn’t that bad until the wheel hit a certain resonant frequency within the bike.  I could never get the bike to 7k that day at the testing grounds without a wobble.  It would also stand to reason that this axle was bent in my wreck at Barber at the end of my first season.  But I wasn’t able to manifest the wobble until new forks were put on and I actually wicked up the throttle.  Last year, VIR was the only long straight I went to.  But I was hesitant since it was my first race on this incarnation of my bike, plus I was on the old forks.  After changing to the new ones and gaining confidence back, I go faster and actually open the throttle more, causing wobbles.  At least that’s the hopeful theory and possible solution to this terrifying problem.

My last Honda tach I got off eBay only lasted about one practice session at Barber last month before the needle in it broke too.  So, sick of throwing $40 away at a time, I decided to suck it up and buy one that has a reputation.

Tom hates these, but everyone else I know that has one loves them.  So, sorry Tom, but your bad experience isn’t enough to deter me…yet.  These guys are relatively cheap too considering the other purpose built electronic tachometers.  The Stack Tach is more expensive, and may turn out to be a bit better, and that was my first choice, but wallet overpowered want.  The Pro-Cycle Auto Meters are nice, but I know Tom has had issues with them as well and they don’t seem to offer a 10k version, only 8k.  Not that I ever hope to see 8k as that probably won’t do my motor any good, but it’s good to have a little extra if one day I get a crank that’ll let me rev to 8k.  And this thing is dead steady on the needle.  I can actually read the thing unlike my Honda tachs.  Hopefully I can get the bike up to the 7-7500 range without wobble now.

Enough of this rambling, I have a bike to test out.