Time for another update!
Rear Sprocket Spacing issue CONTINUES:
The spacer for my rear sprocket showed up and I installed it onto the bike only to find that it was TOO THICK!! Will it ever end?! This sprocket issue just won't go away. I have been on the horn with Lance from Sprocket Specialists and he has been more than helpful! Really great customer service over there. After chatting for a bit he decided on 2 solutions; One is that he is going to send me a spacer that will make up the difference of the stock 530 sprocket thickness and the 520 sprocket thickness. I personally measured my stock 530 sprocket with a micrometer and got an approximate 8.7mm. The 520 Sprocket they sent me is approx 6.2mm, which makes a difference of 2.5mm. He told me that according to the information in his system, I was 0.6mm off and that the difference was 1.9mm. So this is what they are sending me and I will test it out.
The other solution is that they are going to send me a whole new sprocket and this time, instead of machining the entire surface to the width of the 520 sprocket, they're only going to mill out the area where the teeth lie and leave the face on the inside of the sprocket to the stock thickness of the 530 sprocket with the grooves in it for the t-shaped drive pins to sit in. I was worried about the drive pins with the spacer they sent me because it did not include the grooves for the drive pins. The teeth on this sprocket will be aligned perfectly with the drive sprocket since that is forced to the outside of the bike due to the bracket that holds it into place. This has all been a bit of a blessing in disguise due to the fact that the sprocket I originally ordered from them has 38 teeth. Stock is 36 on the CB350. For those that are unfamiliar with gearing ratios, going up in the rear will help with acceleration but hurt your top end speed. I honestly don't know what I was thinking when I ordered a 38 tooth sprocket. My engine will be pretty high reving to begin with and has significantly more power than a stock 350 engine. A 38 tooth sprocket is going to cause my engine to rev even higher and hurt my top end speed, which is like.. what's the point then?! That being said, going up 2 teeth isn't going to do anything drastic, but still. I think my train of thought was that I wanted a little easier acceleration when driving in the city due to the fact my engine will be a bit clunky at low speeds/rpms. Either way, I think a 34 tooth rear sprocket will be a good fit for my engine and riding style. I plan on getting this beast on a dyno at some point so hopefully I can do a quick sprocket swap and compare the values. That would be interesting! I would also like to do that with an X ring chain vs a heavy duty... but that's for another post altogether.
BTW you can look up gear ratios online but I found a pretty easy way to think about it. Divide your rear sprocket tooth number by your front and you will get a value that tells you exactly how many rotations the front sprocket needs to take in order to rotate the rear sprocket/wheel once. So my stock ratio is 36/16=2.25 rotations. 38/16=2.34. With this ratio my engine has to rotate more in order to turn my rear wheel 1 time. More rotations = higher revs per minute. Easier to get off the line but will hurt overall speed. 34/16=2.13. So now my engine has to rotate less for one complete rotation. Anyway these values are not very drastic but will definitely make a small difference. Will I notice?! Maybe.. Am I racing?! haha who knows. Either way I'm learning and that's ok with me. Just thought I'd share because that's what this is all about.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTaG4vBEWns
Tank De-Rust & Dent Removal Process:
I started out with blowing the heck out of the inside with compressed air with all holes open. I fit in the old petcock, connected a cross flow tube and filled it with plain white vinegar with a few table spoons of table salt. It sat sealed for 7 days with me shaking it 2 or 3 times daily. 7 days is good, or it'll start eating through the tank at some point. I dumped the vinegar and filled with hot water and a few table spoons of baking soda to neutralize the acid.. Shake shake shake! Shake yo booty! Shake yo booty! I dumped and repeated the water filling for probably 30 or 45 minutes! The water coming out was so brown and pieces of rust were just blasting out.. it felt like it wouldn't end! I would fill with a few liters at a time and shook like an absolute mad man!! I really wish I had filmed this process because it would've been hilarious. After awhile the water became more and more clear. I blew it out with compressed air, re-sealed and put in some methal hydrate and let it sit there for about 30 mins or so. This stuff absorbs water and that is important in a gas tank. After another blow dry I was still not satisfied and decided to go with some Metal Rescue. After 36 hrs or so the tank came out sparkling!! It literally looks brand new. Whoever invented that stuff is a dang genius! It is safe to handle, re-usable, environmentally safe and works amazing! No flash rust either. Gold. I'm almost sure they're is some fountain of youth where they get it from.. I am almost tempted to drink it and see if my hair grows back. (I am seriously NOT suggesting you drink Metal Rescue to regain your loss youth). I also used a small dent repair kit from bondo to repair some dents in the tank and it worked out very well! A little elbow grease but it was well worth it. Tank's ready for paint! I just need to commit to a design but I am really taking time to consider it.
Battery Box Process:
I am fitting quite a few items in my battery box so I started out by measuring all of them. I also measured the space in the frame and started planning on paper, then on the computer to scale. The battery box design was more complicated that I imagined and I can't believe that we hap-hazardly slapped something together when I got my rear seat hoop welded on. In my particular case, it really needed a lot of consideration. I played around with a lot of designs, then started fitting the components inside the box in different configurations until I came up with a good solution. As you can see form the process I came up with a shelf design and mocked it up using cardboard from cereal boxes and the like. I'm really happy I did this because I found that the wheel was making contact with the end of the box and had to hit the drawing board one more time. I also fit in all my components into the cardboard version to see if everything fit and it did, perfectly. Proper planning is so essential with stuff like this. The plans are all off getting welded up from a local shop here in Toronto called Back Alley Moto. I can't wait to see it! Once it's finished I'm going to need to get it powder coated so that will be a few weeks still. I'm patiently waiting for all this stuff so I can get going on the electrical!
Getting really close guys! Hopefully I can get in a few million rides this summer... I think I've earned it.