Unfinished Business

I have a spare primary belt drive kit, the same as that on the bike, which meant I could take its back plate and the stand offs to Geoff the welder to roll me the 1.5mm stainless plate to match the curve of the pulleys. That done he also welded up the bike stand as I was tired of propping the bike up on blocks of wood, and folded me a strip of more 1.5mm stainless that I could make into a chain guard. I need to use 1.5mm stainless as that's the minimum allowed in the ACU technical manual.

Back home the HEL brake lines had been delivered, so they could be fitted too, just need to work out how to mount the rear reservoir.

The sun was out today, so I had another go at starting the engine, but didn't get far. Still having the same problem, the starter pinion isn't engaging with the ring gear. I've taken it apart several times, checked the clearances, all seems ok. Still doesn't work. I may have to rethink the wiring, and fit a separate conventional starter button and relay. Its possible the manual button built into the starter itself isn't moving the pinion far enough out to engage correctly. Don't think its likely, but I'm running out of ideas.

Couldn't do much more, so I took a pretty picture of it instead..

Not had much time to work on the bike last week. The starting problem is still a problem but I have a possible solution in mind. The engine has decompressors in the heads which need to be pushed in manually before starting. These decompressors allow some of the pressure in the cylinders to escape in the first few rotations of the crank, giving the starter an easier time turning over the engine. When the engine fires up, the decompressors shut automatically.

The starter (which is a hi power one) will now turn the engine over no problem, when the spark plugs are removed, that is with no compression. With the plugs back it, the starter doesn't seem to have the power to crank over the engine even with the decompressers to help. I have a similar set up on my road bike which starts its engine ok, and that bike have a higher compression engine in it.

I think the issue is that the engine is new and tight and once its got some hours running it'll be ok. Therefore I'm going to wire in a completely separate additional circuit just for the starter for an external car battery which can be plugged in just to start the bike. I don't want to run it through the existing wiring as I don't want to risk damaging the Lithium battery. I used the same set up on my last race bike. You can see the power connector in this photo of the old bike. The starter is rated at 1.5kw so it'll draw around 125 amps, since Current (amps) = Power (watts) divided by Voltage (volts).

While I wait for the power connector to arrive, its called an Anderson connector btw, I've done a few small jobs on the bike. First made a simple bracket to hold the choke cable, still needs polishing but it'll do. Next the gear change handle needed changing, as it was too short and didn't give me enough leverage, while the little plastic knob on the end kept coming lose no matter what clue I used.

I found a length of alloy bar in the scrap bin which had a M8 tread drilled in one end, no idea what it came off. By cutting it in half and rounding one end, I had my new gear change handle. The next task was to cut a M8 thread in the stainless part of the handle (a bolt that had its head cut off) so the handle could be screwed securely into place. That's easy enough using a die, except when using stainless steel, as its so hard, its a real pita to work with. Took my time, only turning the die a little each time before backing off, till I had enough thread cut.

Not much progress last few weeks, been busy with other projects, but we're almost at the end of the build, which for me has been quite a quick project, at less than a year. No doubt they'll be a few problems once its on the dyno and used on the track, which is to be expected, followed by further work to make it lighter and more powerful.

I've fitted a catch tank I got online, only cost £24 from Germany, its mounts were made to fit in an engine bay, so had to make a stainless strap and a lower mount to fit it to the frame. The lower mount is a little short, I'll make a Mark 2 in stainless soon

Next I replaced the old tired clear 6mm tubing for the air shifter with new black tubing, as it looked better and it allowed me to move its components compared to how it was fitted on my old drag bike. I pressure tested the lines by pumping in 130 psi, it lost 5psi in an hour which is ok, as it'll be re-pressurised before every run on the track.

One last job still to do is to wire in the switch which interrupts the ignition when the air shifter button is pressed at full throttle, which unloads the transmission and helps the air ram push in the next gear.

Other outstanding jobs are to finish the chain guard make a pair of number boards, then I need to wait for my mate to find time to run it on his dyno, which is a problem as this time of year its super busy.

Great build.
I think you were looking for "Jet Nuts" for those studs.

The rockstar grips are my favorite what time is it?