CAFE CREME - BOARD.....TRACKER

Could have been made for a blower !!!!

It's actually fitted back to front [ the only way it would balance ], however the plan is to take the drive from the alternator up to a countershaft in the Vee above the crankcases and then via a short belt to the blower where the drive will be on the other side to that pictured. The SU will fit to the elbow intake shown.

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I needed to drop the seat off the roller today to check out what sort of squitter I have to lose / package.

The XR750 seat JUST HAPPENED to be sitting on the bench next to it ..................... I think I probably shouldn't be left unsupervised !
 
After an hour of fiddling around we got the VF400 fired up and running sweet. Just hope the one I'm collecting at the end of the month runs as good and I now have an engine [ s ] for the Boardtracker.
 
Blimey...I can't keep up :)

The Boardtracker is an age old project that had to be shelved due to ill health and life getting in the way. I have already collected all the big bits - wheels, fork, tanks, saddle. Now health and life have settled down - time to get it finished ..... before it's too late !

The powerplant was last piece of the jigsaw - having bought and then sold a couple of likely candidates. I had originally intended to supercharge the KZ750 Cafe Racer, but complex machining / fabrication - which I have to farm out - put paid to that. A Vee engine is relatively straightforward to blow. Especially as I have room to mount the blower above the Vee and forms a simple plenum for the Eaton.
 
I finally got the Bantam base fork set up and the Honda XL 125 front wheel married up.

Simples in the end, just needed to ease out the Bantam spindle mount out a gnat's and it will require a couple of straightforward spacers and the Honda spindle shortened by 30mm and re-threaded for 20mm.

Even the brake plate anchor will be straightforward.

Next job is to offer it all up and make brackets etc. for the one off RAM shock and the front hoop, which will give stability and strength to the Bantam forks.

I've made space in my garage to assemble a build board for the frame / engine mock up.

The plan is to use the VF400 bottom frame cradle and steering head tubes and create the Boardtrack frame back from there. That simplifies the engine mounting and will keep it all aligned [ ? ] while the new frame is being knitted.
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Finally able to mock up the POC fork set up. All looking good -as it did in my head !

All the measurements are now done and I can get the spindle cut to length and re-threaded, spacers made and get the front hoop cut to length and get the weld bungs attached for the clevis ends.

Once all that's done I just need to swap the top yoke for the previously modified item and then the mounting bracket for the bottom shock mount can be made and welded to the hoop.
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Good to see some progress. I have been watching this space.. interested to see more
 
QUOTE="Luugo86, post: 944886, member: 64798"]
Good to see some progress. I have been watching this space.. interested to see more
[/QUOTE]

Thanx for your interest. Ill health and life events got in the way of progress for a while - but back on it [ and the KZ750 ] now.

Now the POC is completed on the forks, we can progress to mocking up the powerplant / wheels and join the dots to knit a frame up.

I freely admit I lack skills in welding and machining - even if I had the facilities. After my experiences with the KZ and being let down on many occasions [ DTT'ers of this parish excepted ] - welding, machining etc., I have decided to do as much as I can myself, so instead of making a frame from scratch I'm going to use the VF engine cradle tubing and some of the other elements and make my frame from that base. Of course - it HAS to look correct, but that's what the build board is for. It will be a 3D montage of parts and I will have a large sheet of drafting paper on the back vertical board to play around with ideas. I already have a good Bantam headstock that can be integrated into the new frame.

The addition of the Eaton blower has complicated the frame layout as I need clearance above the Vee of the engine between the top of the blower and the frame. I'm contemplating using a large section rectangular ERW tube for the top rail to double up as a fuel cell ! Shades of my old Triumph Sprinter.

The bonus of working on the 2 projects is that while I am inevitably waiting for parts for one, I can hopefully be working on the other.
 
Everything slowed to a stop temporarily as my machine shop guy is having to quarantine himself as he was pinged in a Track and Trace contact. He's fine [ ATM ], but can't go to his workplace for another 3 days. Then of course he has a shitload of back orders to wade through.
 
stupid Covid messes everything up.

yep I'm hearing you MT .......... had to take a test myself the other week - negative fortunately.

Anyway back in the shed ....... the headlamp shroud on the Bantam forks resisted ALL efforts to remove it ! It was securely rusted down the whole length to the fork tube and top yoke. Over a week of spraying with GT89 and gently tapping. Normally I would have just cut the shroud off - but they are fetching £40 -£50 from restorers !!

I wanted to fit the modified top yoke for a final POC mock up. I WAS tempted at one point to just cut the shroud off, but it eventually came free.

Then I was able to fit the modified parts and check alignment .... all spot on. I just need to finalise the length of the hoop legs before the weld lugs are welded in place, and then finalise the top hoop to shock attachment.
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I got the build board cut to size together with the base and fitted them to my old bench in the garage. I just need to get the 2" x 2" ERW box pillar drilled [ mine's packed up ] then after that's been levelled up and fitted to the bench I can start work on mocking up the rolling chassis.
 
I like the front fork

Many thanx for the kind words. I wanted to get the image of the 1920's , but something that actually worked !

The current pix are P.O.C. only and brackets, fixings etc., will be made properly for the final fit.
 
I finally got my RAL paint swatches and now have them specifically for powder coating and for paint.

That should enable me to pick colours that I can apply in both PC and matching paint on those surfaces that can't be PC'd
 
ISN'T IT STRANGE, loads of spare time but major disruptions still due to Covid. My machine shop guy is finally going back 3 days a week at the end of the month ..... needless to say he has a shit load of back jobs to catch up on.

And finally, I am able to get the second donor bike collected from Oldham which is less than 2 hours away. Should be here early part of next week.

In the meantime my pal has bought a decent pillar drill and has drilled all the major holes ready for jig tubes to be added. This was a job my machine shop guy was going to do .... last year !

The KZ750 has also awoken from a year's slumber and we're back on the underseat exhaust connections.
 

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Yes, good to see you back TJ.....interested to see how this works out!
Its not as if I haven't got plenty to do already but keep thinking about building something similar except with a considerably less powerful engine.... a Honda GX generator motor!
 
That spare bike looks pretty good from here. Clean it up, regular maintenance and ride it on sunny days.
 
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