Track Stories 08

[lecroy]

Ok, she's been sand blasted down to metal, sanded, wiped and primed. Jim's frames are works of art.

I also finished up the starter cover for its motor. No plans to paint this one.

 

[rosco15]

Your not messing around. At least you have a good base to work with. The Frame.
What is that in the center of the starter cover?

PS. I like your engine cover.

 

[lecroy]

Hey Ryan, did you get dug out yet?

The frame is top notch. It's very similar to Greg's but wider and longer with a little more rake. A lot different than the Flag bike's conversion.

The front rim was swapped out. It had been painted with green chameleon. Then it was painted black over that. A little aircraft stripper cured 99% of that. Front rim is a little dinged but not too bad. I think I can clean it up. The back looks new. Both are the older RC style.

Thanks for the compliment. The cover is the same as the last one except I did not do any fancy engraving on it and polished it rather than paint.

That center cap is nice to have. Remove six screws and there is the nut. The cover has an O-ring to seal it.

 

[rosco15]

It was the worst storm I can recall. We have a ton of snow to melt. Today it was 54. The next 7 days look to be mostly in the 40's.

At least I got out in the garage and put my carbs back together. Can't find the ball bearings for the choke rod. I guess I needed to lose something or it wouldn't really be a project. I'm dying to get the trailer out of storage. No way with all this snow. That thing is buried.

 

[lecroy]

Its a nice warm day today.

Made a little progress since last post. Pressure tested the frame, ordered parts and put a set of cases into it for fit. Most of the engine mounts will need to be built from scratch. The ones that were with it are shot. Like the motor had never been tightened and so the bolt holes are longated. Talked with Koenig and they will sell a blank offset for it. It will have the nose type sprocket. This will be a lot better than what it had.

The new body parts made it in today and I laid them across the chassis to get an idea of what its going to look like. Not real bad, but not sure what I can do with the paint to make it all come together.

 

[rapidray]

What bodywork did you get Mark? Which manufacturer & what style? Ray.

 

[lecroy]

Parts are from Beasley. These are the ones I bought.

No more fender in fender. This is the body that came with it.

It may be a confederate flag or a torn flag, or a 'we will not forget', MIA POW, 9/11 theme. I will use silicone this time!!!!!!

 

[RacingJake]

You can tell it's a new year again cause I sucked big time at the track. Year after year I go through the same thing.......... no traction due to a green track and I'm chasing my tail again.

I was running better times without the wheelie bar like a 6.48 two weeks ago but tonight with the bar on, best was 6.63. Even hit the nos and all that did was make my shift light stay on through all the gear changes and boy did they come fast......

Maybe April will be better

 

[rapidray]

I think the Busa Pro Mod fairing will look good with the RF900 body! I got lucky & got that Airtech 94 GSXR Pro Stock body that was just on Ebay for $150.00. It has never been mounted or cut. It will go on the Kosman car tire chassis. Know anyone that needs any 1100 or 1150 heads? Nice bodywork Mark! Ray.

 

[lecroy]

Jake, your alive!! I figured you broke some new record and was snobbing us, or you didn't want to rub in the warm weather. LOL. That or you were letting me get ahead in postings? I know what your saying about the track. We have that problem on race days with Martin being close to the water table. As soon as the sun sets, the dew sets in and the track gives way. Spring and Fall are the worst. Summer will be here soon and you will be back into the 5's in no time. Maybe the 5.5's?

I was thinking to get another full fairing to match it but I am still tweaking and this would be a lot easier to work on. Plus its lighter. Just no sure its going to grow on me as a look.

$150 is a good price. Seems like that would have sold being a common size. I'll ask my around and see if anyone I know is interested.

I pulled the motor out of the Shark. The bike has not ran in over a year. The last time out we had some troubles with it and lost the bike race. We entered it into the gamblers race so we could try and find the problem and the bike would not shift but the cars were so afraid of it they would not look and break out. So we kept winning. At that point I figured the gods of luck were on our side because its hard to go rounds with an 8 second bike that is running in the teens. If they only knew. I figured the motor was shot so we may as well keep going and the last run the bike stalls on the line. Electrical? I didn't even try to restart it and we called it a day. So fast forward, the motor now laying on the cardboard having just been pulled and we look down the intake and what do we see..... Epoxy! Yes, the epoxy D broke loose and was hung in one of the intakes and the next cylinder it had cracked and was starting to come loose. I have never seen this before. Not sure we are going to get the head, transmission and crank all done in time. The kid may be riding the small bike again, but is has a crank problem for sure as the cases cracked last time out. ARGH!! You have to love this sport.....



I just didn't have it in me to take pictures of the before. Take my word, the chain really did a number on it. You can see how far up until we found stable material. I think it must have been just the shock wave as where the gain sliced the body was still a few inches from my leg. And now we know why chain guards are manditory. It missed my dad's compass and dog tag.

 

[RacingJake]

Yeah I was hopping to brag about a sub 5.50 run..........

 

[skip]

You guys and your drag bikes make me so jealous! Every year my highlight is when I get to take my street bike back to the 1/4 and and relive the glory days. My bike is not fast, its a heavy bike and I am no lightweight these days. Ill be installing a new clutch, mine got really worn when the I raced Jethro and the other New England GS'rs last summer and was slipping pretty good. This years goal is to improve on the 10.66 and launch like I used to back in the day when my baIIs were bigger than my brain :-D Hopefully ill get in the 10.50 range or better. there is chance I may be moving to Hebron Ohio in a few years in which case I will be close to national trails raceway. If that come true ill build a bracket bike and get back into it again.

 

[lecroy]

Soon Jake!

Dang Skip, close to Columbus then. I lived there for some time and almost took at job with True Sports up in Hilliard. I was a big fan of Rahal. Some very good places to ride in that area. Plus the strip. Congradulations! Hope it all works out for you!!



We stripped all the black and green layers of paint off the front rim and I took it all apart last night to start sanding and polishing it. Once it was apart, it looks like a Kawasaki green. First thing I noticed was not all the same bolts held it together. Then I spun the bearings, and one has a snag to it so both will be replaced. Someone robbed the spacers so those will have to be made from scratch. The rims are streight and the front one polished up nice.

Not sure how you guys mount your engines, but I use mach larger bolts than stock. The cases have to be drilled out to get them to fit. It looks like with this setup, they had drilled and tapped the cases so none of the bolts went all the way through. I plan to stay with my way even though they were saving a little weight this way. I took a look at Greg's Koenig and plan to copy the new design for the front mounts.

 

[rosco15]

This is a pic of a poster TRP had out at their autorama display in downtown cleveland this past weekend. A friend took the picture and sent it to me. I thought it was pretty cool.

 

[lecroy]

Hey, can I get one of those autographed? Very cool that thye put you dead center where you belong!!


It was like Christmas in Spring here. The new rotors made it in from RC today. They did a great job with them. The new front bearings came in also so I was able to get the spacers cut for it and try mounting the hub. All that hand sanding, buffing and rubbing looks alright. Its a PMFR from end. Next I need to mount the breaks.

Of course, they did not send the nut for the axel but at least its not bent. You have to take the good where you can find it with this bike.

Then to top things off, a second box made it in. The tires!! Freaked me right out! This is an old F16 chassis. It is a lot wider and longer than my Flag bike which is more like a Pro-Stock size. Normally, we use the 26X10X15 tires. Pretty common. This chassis is setup with a 10" rim and uses a standard Pro-mod tire which is 29X11X15 and weighs 23 lbs. The bike came with an old 26X10 mounted on it so I took a picture to show the difference..

 

[rosco15]

Does that fix the clearance problem. That tire is alot taller.

 

[lecroy]

Does that fix the clearance problem. That tire is alot taller.

I won't know until I get everything mounted but it was about 1" with no one sitting on the bike and the 26 over inflated. With the added 1.5" I am thinking it's right on the line. Plan to mount the new tires today and see how it looks. Will the tub fit....


Update..
I got the tires mounted up (have the back ones done for me) and put them on the frame. With 10PSI in the rear, the axel adjustors in the center (they can move up and down), fork tubes level to the top tree and me sitting on it, I get about 3.5". I think once I drop a motor in it and take it down to 4PSI, its going to be fine.

The tub looks like a good match but will need a few tweeks to work, like last time. Started working out a bracket for the front caliper. Looks like it won't have to be anything fancy. Just flat stock. Bike came with both rear and front hand breaks. Plan to clutch it still, so need to figure out a back break lever.

 

[lecroy]

A few parts I found on eBay for the new bike. All top notch dragbike parts I am sure.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/DRAG...008QQitemZ180224547205QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/DRAG...008QQitemZ180224549792QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Drag...017QQitemZ270220327026QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW

 

[lecroy]

A few more parts I am considering..

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/drag...008QQitemZ180224275744QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/KAWA...002QQitemZ120235189428QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW


Got the front break mount finished up along with the spacers for the front fender. I just need a couple more parts before we can fire up the TIG. The body on this bike is a lot longer than my other bike and it has no support in the tail section. I have some added support on the other bike but I think that after putting the tub in that it will provide more than enough strength to keep the paint from cracking on the new one.

I plan to see if more of the rough parts can be purchased from Koenig. I know I can get an unfinished offset plate. I tossed the motor mounts and may see if I can get a set like what Gregs topgas bike has. His has a nice setup.

They had ran a slider and both brake controls are on the handlebars. I plan to hand clutch it and need to add a foot brake or figure out how to work two levers with one hand and not die. I think thats about all thats left before we can finish up the chassis.

 

[rosco15]

Pulled the trailer out yesterday and then checked the weather. Put it back in storage today.
Snow this evening will become heavy at times late. Low 28F. Winds ENE at 10 to 15 mph. Snow accumulating 3 to 5 inches.