New Project(s)

[ogri]

Watch out for the 'speed' wobbles ;0

[Rockburner]

Watch out for the 'speed' wobbles ;0

Funny thing is.. it's not really a 'quick' bike. Max speed will likely be about 70 (flat out, chin on the speedo, engine on the point of melting), it's only about 400cc. The engine is a mish-mash of 500 and 350 bits (I can't remember the combination).

Oh yeah - also need to find a charger for this :


So have contacted a UK supplier of that battery and hope to hear back from them soon.

[Horse]

For period authenticity, perhaps a SpeedMaster wobble?

[Rockburner]

Messing around last night it occurred to me that the cross tube on the Featherbed fairing might be usable as points where my Abba stand could fit.....


Nope. The rear brake lever gets in the way, and the cross tube is too high on the bike, so the Abba doesn't lift it much.

Bugger . Might have another go with a thick sheet of ply under the Abba. It would be useful because there's no centre stand and the paddock stand i have (home made), locates on the rear axle rather than the swingarm.

[Rockburner]

Spent some time this evening tinkering with the JAPton.

I figured the carb probably needed a clean... And i wasn't wrong.


It wasn't terrible, but it needed a clean....

Hopefully this will make a difference when i try running it again!

[Rockburner]

IMG_20230312_173302_347.jpg (1.97 MiB) Viewed 493 times

Gearbox could use some oil.....

Fecking thread in the lower cap hole de-threaded itself too. Gah!

[Rockburner]

Had some time on Saturday for fettling.... (still not sure how I managed that)



Got a 2BA helicoil kit from RGMNorton and fixed the gear-box inspection plate thread. Stuffed a bit of foam in there to catch all the swarf and it did a good job.
I've a nasty feeling the helicoil may have turned itself a bit too far, but I'll keep an eye on it and pull it out if needed and replace the coil (the kit comes with 10 of the little blighters).

Speaking of little blighters....



I figured I'd just check the engine mounting bolts/studs (it's a rod with a thead at each end - I think that's a 'stud' ?) - and one of them wasn't going tight... obviously it's the one right at the bottom at the back... the hardest to reach!

Oddly it was the nut that lost it's thread, not the stud.

Even more odd - the (perfectly fine) nut on the other end (rhs) doesn't fit onto the (lhs) end? Weird. You'd think they were both the same thread? I need to check the threads on that stud again - they should be the same (at least logic would tell me so).

But - since I don't have any Imperial 'spares' to speak of - it gave me the "opportunity" to invest in a grab bag or 3 from 'Nookie's Nuts'. (I say 3 because I need to cover all of Cycle, BSW and BSF when gathering potential spares for this bike). There's metric on it too in random places, but I've got a fair few of them. I expect to lose at least 1 nut or bolt per ride, so I want to have provisions.....

I also cleaned out the oil tank with some petrol (there was a shitload of burnt carbon bits in there - castor oil does tend to do that I understand), and emptied the gearbox.

I also received a new battery, it charges (yay!), and the brake-light and horn (the limit of the electrics) both work fine. I've also wired in a connector to make charging the battery a bit more easy (it's tucked under the seat-hump so that has to come off to reach it otherwise).

So - once I've got my nuts sorted out, it's going to be a case of putting in fluids and seeing if it'll run again.

[mangocrazy]

You're a brave man, RB. As a spotty clueless yoof, one of the things that turned me towards 'Jap crap' as opposed to old Brit iron, was the multiplicity of incomprehensible (to me at the time) thread pitches employed on British bikes. I remember measuring a nut, going to Dad's toolbox and picking up a spanner with the size stamped on it and wondering why it was 2 or 3 sizes larger (or smaller, can't remember) than the nut it was supposed to fit.

That was my introduction to Whitworth...

By comparison, metric was just so simple and logical.

[Rockburner]

You're a brave man, RB. As a spotty clueless yoof, one of the things that turned me towards 'Jap crap' as opposed to old Brit iron, was the multiplicity of incomprehensible (to me at the time) thread pitches employed on British bikes. I remember measuring a nut, going to Dad's toolbox and picking up a spanner with the size stamped on it and wondering why it was 2 or 3 sizes larger (or smaller, can't remember) than the nut it was supposed to fit.

That was my introduction to Whitworth...

By comparison, metric was just so simple and logical.

I'm perfectly happy doing work on the bike, like you say though, the threads make the mind boggle!

Look up the BA standard one day... it's actually a 'metric' thread but works by taking a starting point (BA0) and reducing (or increasing for larger stuff) each subsequent size by 0.9. wtaf???

[mangocrazy]

That's just bonkers...

A while back on a recommendation from a friend I bought the Zeus booklet. That opened up a whole new world of thread fuckery... But at least I stand a fighting chance of identifying random nuts/bolts now. I finally let Imperial threads into my life when I restored a Startrite Mercury pillar drill - that was quite a learning curve!

[Rockburner]

That's just bonkers...

A while back on a recommendation from a friend I bought the Zeus booklet. That opened up a whole new world of thread fuckery... But at least I stand a fighting chance of identifying random nuts/bolts now. I finally let Imperial threads into my life when I restored a Startrite Mercury pillar drill - that was quite a learning curve!

I think I've got a Zeus book somewhere..... Need to dig that out.

[Skub]

I still have a Zeus book from my apprentice days! Very handy for tapping/clearance drill sizes among many other things. When I worked in the Areospace industry,they happily ran imperial and metric together. I grew up with all the BA,BSF UNC UNF threads as well as the M sizes. I still think in 'thous' rather than 100ths of a mil.

[mangocrazy]

When measuring stuff I happily switch between metric and imperial and tend to use whichever is closest (when I'm working in wood). With metal it's metric all the way, except for those rare occasions when I need a hole that's bigger than 6 mm and less than 6.5mm and I play hunt the quarter inch drill bit...

Still think in miles when travelling though, and do the 5/8ths calculations when travelling in France and see the kms counting down...

[Rockburner]

Quick update:

Last friday I got into the shed for the evening, finally, with a bag of nuts (I bought 3 'grab bags' from Nookies Nuts, Cycle, BSW and BSF.), a Die Nut, and some new threadlock (blue), and tidied up the threads on the loose engine mounting stud, found a suitable nut, and got that little job sorted out.

The new battery I bought a week ago is in, and works fine, also helped me find out that the horn wiring was shorting at full right lock (GAH!). I think that wire will need replacing, but in the meantime I just moved it away from the innocent frame rail it was electrocuting.

Figured I'd start getting other things back together, so the primary chain cover when back on, I adjusted the side-stand a bit (and put some (metric ) locking nuts on the fitting just in case). Tank went back on, seat went back on.... well - sort of, only got 1 nut for it, there's 2 studs at the front which locate into holes in the frame rail, and I tried all 4 thread system I have... nothing fits them. Not metric, not Cycle, not BSW, BSF or any of the random shite I have here. I'm thinking I'll just drill a hole in each stud and use R-clips....

Anyway - moved on from that little clusterfuck and filled the bike with gearbox oil (EP8W90 I had lying around), Engine oil (Miller R30), and Petrol (Esso E5 supreme99) and tried to bleed up the carb... petrol EVERYWHERE!

WTAF?

After some mild panic I figured out that the float didn't seem to be stopping the flow, so I took the bowl end off (with a jug under it) (the Monobloc doesn't have a float bowl 'cover', the outer end IS the 'cover'), and discovered that the float was fine.... but the friggin needle was missing!

.... oh fuck ... says I. I stripped and did the carb over a week ago, and there's been all sorts of crap on the bench in the meantime... I even emptied out my old toolchest full of random crap one evening and redistributed it all... mostly into the bin.....

Looked at the carb diagram to see what the needle looks like.... and fuck me.... I remembered picking the bloody thing up off the work bench while I was going through all the stuff in that toolbox!! I also remembered not being able to think what the hell it was... and throwing it in the bin!

When I had done the toolbox, I also took the bag out of the bin and chucked it into the wheeliebin for friday morning.

Fuckers.

At that point I was pissed off, so I went in and told my better half. Who instantly revealed her gloriousness by saying "But, didn't they do the recycling this morning? That bag might still be there."





Jumped up and checked the bin - yup - the workshop bin bag was still there!

Took it back into the workshop and did my Silent Witness bit... picking through the detritus of a couple of months of rubbish (luckily no food or anything similar in there), looking for a bit of plastic 3mm wide by 6mm long..... and ....









...












....






I ONLY FUCKING FOUND IT!!



Was so chuffed with myself that I carried on and fitted it into the carb, bled it up and it Fired up Second Kick! Running a LOT better than before too, it actually ticks over! (a little haphazardly I'll admit)!


Only small fly in the ointment is that the main-jet fitting is now weeping. My own stupid fault, I should have replaced the fibre-washer, so ordered up a repair kit from AMAL (none of the cheap fibre washers I had in fitted), along with a new needle clip (the old one is tired).

So - just need a bit more carb-fettling and the bike should be back on the road!

[Screwdriver]

Frames do have holes drilled in them. With a captive nut inserted and a bolt into that i doubt your losing any structural integrity.

Indeed but people would be surprised by just how flexible these apparently rigid "spaceframe" designs are. Fatigue is the issue really because when a frame member flexes, it does it most where the design is weakest. Pop a hole casually into a frame spar and all those careful calculations go right out of the window and you rely on the inherent safety factor built into the design.

Race machines are notorious for cutting those margins slim. I bet my bottom dollar you could pop a 3-4mm hole into any part of say an F1 car chassis and it would fail at exactly that point...

[Mr. Dazzle]

I've seen similar done before,but,it's certainly not ideal.

This wouldn't actually worry me at all! I've designed loads and loads and loads of structural bits and bobs for various fast vehicles, up to and including F1. That ^ hole is pretty benign.

Without seeing exactly where the hole is RB I couldn't say, but it doesn't immediately scream death to me When you see some of these "stretched chewing gum" 3D printed designs you realise just how much redundant material many parts have. Even F1 is limited by such boring practical limitations as "actually being able to make it"!

[Rockburner]

When you see some of these "stretched chewing gum" 3D printed designs you realise just how much redundant material many parts have. Even F1 is limited by such boring practical limitations as "actually being able to make it"!

Can it have all those holes because it's structurally designed, or is it just a case of remove as much material as you want?
I suspect the former.

I was told that if you remove material then it's fine as long as you put it back, the obvious example is drilling holes into structural steel, then tapping it and putting a bolt in. Dunno if that's actually true.

I'd imagine that depends on whether the drilled hole is in something in tension (probably bad), or compression (probably ok if filled in). Add in torsional stresses which are less obvious to the eye and .... ???

[Mr. Dazzle]

Can it have all those holes because it's structurally designed, or is it just a case of remove as much material as you want?
I suspect the former.

I was told that if you remove material then it's fine as long as you put it back, the obvious example is drilling holes into structural steel, then tapping it and putting a bolt in. Dunno if that's actually true.

Second part is definitely not true, most of the time.

The first part - that particular calliper is genitively designed with the aid of a computer. Up until now, virtually all parts like that have been "start with a block of material and keep removing stuff until a) I run out of money or b) it breaks". Pretty much

The other way around is "I want to connect points A and B to transmit load C, add stuff until that works". That's what that calliper is done with. It's what 3D printing really opens up for you.

Goes without saying, that's abridging it quite a lot!

[mangocrazy]

The main things to avoid are stress raisers, sharp corners, grooves, notches or acute changes of section that cause stress concentrations under normal loadings. A circular hole would be lower down the list of potential stress raisers than those mentioned above. And as the hole would be threaded and 'filled' with a bolt, it should be of less concern. On bodyword, if a crack develops, its considered good practice to drill a hole at the farthest point of the crack so it cannot propagate further before filling in or plastic welding the crack.

[Mr. Dazzle]

On bodyword, if a crack develops, its considered good practice to drill a hole at the farthest point of the crack so it cannot propagate further before filling in or plastic welding the crack.

Forgot bodywork, they do that on airplane wings