Track Stories 08

[RacingJake]

Made it to the track tonight, been a few weeks and the right lane still had problems. The left lane was better and the topend was good too. I was able to hit the nos and no tire spin down the track, even swapped out the clutch springs to my soft ones and no clutch slippage.

Did have a few electrical issues tonight and 2 weeks ago and found my ignition rotor bolt came loose causing the motor to go flat sometimes.

Looks like the track is starting to come back so I'll be able to put the bars back on and see what she can really do. Goal this year and I think it's in reach is to crack 130 in the 1/8.

 

[lecroy]

Goal this year and I think it's in reach is to crack 130 in the 1/8.

Your on my tail!! My best so far was 132.75. Average is about 131.

Glad to hear that a few of us are making it out.

I met a guy at the track a few years back who was having some ignition problems. Dyna 4000, so I figured I would offer to help. I checked everything and it all looked fine. So I had him pull the pickup cover. Bolt came loose. Worse, it destroyed the pickup. I alway put a drop on this one just to play it safe....

Good luck and keep us posted!

 

[RacingJake]

I was thinking the same thing, a drop of the blue or red stuff. I never really cranked on that bolt, heck don't even know the torque # . Once the crank starts to turn I stop but last night I put a wrench on the hex just to make sure that bolt was tight.

I'm surprized I didn't lay the bike down during one run. No bars or delay I'm just hand clutching the bike and got the rpms up high and the bike starts rolling out of the beams. So I do the one finger on the front brake but when I launched and crank on more throttle I didn't let go of the front brake. Guess what the bike wants to do ????????? plow the front end over. Front tire locked up and the rear spinning up to the 60ft mark. I'd like to blame that one on my new gloves that are still alittle stiff :lol:

Next week I'll be back on the 2 step with the bars, it's alot safer \\/

 

[lecroy]

Don't feel too bad. You didn't wreck. I have done some real bone head stuff on the track. I think the worse was when I forgot to turn the auto on. Came out and hit the rev limiter. I didn't even think what I was doing and let go of the bars, reached over and threw the switch. No so bad, but it punched into second with still just one hand on and the other still on the switch. No one noticed, but it sure felt a bit unstable.

Did I ever post the video of the guy on the Harley I watched wreck off the line?

 

[RacingJake]

I can't remember, but do recall seeing a sporty with wheelie bars onetime. Guy dumps the clutch and he slides off the bike.

I've hurt myself more times on my trail bike's and that's only going 20 mph.

Been lucky at the track I guess.

 

[Guest]

I started drag racing on a gs 750 with a stock motor, struted with wheelie bars. You used to have to rev that thing to about 9 grand to launch & it would still usually bog.
Well, we built a new bike with a killer gs1000 motor. My first pass we set the limiter to 5000.
When i put it up on the 2 step at the line, I remember thinking "Crap this thing is going to bog again big time". Guess what? It didn't bog. That big motor burned up the 5.5 slick & that thing took off on me. Blew my one hand right off the handlebars. So here the bike is being steered one handed & it heads for the guardrail. I'm still in 1st gear (no way to reach the shift button) & somehow manage to straighten it out. That pass gave me new respect for the bike.
We eventually softened the launch with a lock-up. It still ran a best 60 ft. of 1.23 & regularly ran 9.1s in the quarter.

Paul

 

[lecroy]

The Harley guy took off before his light came on, then started to back the bike back up into the beam when his third bulb came. He was still backing up and he popped the clutch. Shot right out from under him. I think he did have bars on it. He didn't get hurt and it was funny to watch.

We put the new motor in the kids bike today. The crank, pistons, block, cases are all replaced... Same cams, head and tranny. Next week we will see if it will run.

Going to try and cut the new motor mounts and offset plate for the big bike tonight.
Mounted an output shaft in a set of empty cases to align things and get the measurements. Hope to be welding in a few more weeks.

 

[lecroy]

Made up all new motor mounts for it. The bike came with the original lower and back ones, but they were in poor coondition. I was able to use them for patterns to make the new ones. Used the same 6065, but its a little thicker and I added a little more meat around the holes. These are the unwelded fronts....

One of the rear ones....

Normally they will mount the motor with eight bolts. Where the stock GS would have the 3 long ones and the two shorts ones on the bottom. They just drill and tap the cases. This bike was setup like that but I just don't trust it, even if it is a little lighter. So it's held in place with 3 long ones and two shorts, like my other bike.

No, this is not a Chinese fighting tool, its the new offset plate. I need to change the front lip yet. Plan to weld a lip onto the stock starter cover that this can then bolt up to. Similar setup as the flag bike, but should be a little stronger. The only thing I don't like about these is that I can't directly tie the crank to the output shaft.

 

[rosco15]

Looks like that bike is coming along.

I Finally got my drum of E85. I had given up and then all of a sudden they called and said your drum is here. Picked up a drum pump and made a tool to open and close the drum. Changed all the jetting around. Got the bike running in the garage pretty good. A/F looks good at idle and blipping the throttle. Have to see how close I was on the main jet. Hopefully we get out this Saturday to give it a try. I'm hoping this stuff is as consistent as they say. Time will tell.

 

[lecroy]

That's good news. Did they cover this with your get one free drum card? Do you have a way to know how much is in it? Do they say on the drum?

50 gallons will last you a season anyway, even if you use it to start the grill, so may not be a problem. Like you said, just keep it sealed.

When I was playing with methanol, I would store it in brown glass bottles. I used the old chemical bottles from work because they seal tight and contained methanol (we use a lot of that stuff at work, but its lab grade $100 a gallon or so). The first time I filled one, I topped it off. Big mistake. Wife calls me for diner and we are sitting down eating and blam. Glass everywhere. After this I would leave the neck empty and had no problems.

With Torco backing out of several sponcerships, I wonder if more people will try and switch. Just the difference in the cost of fuel would be worth it for some teams.

Is this one of Edward Scissorhands fingers? Perhaps a landing arm for some type of luner lander? This 6065 is a bear to work with on the band saw. Once its welded into place I can do the final cut on the plate.

 

[rapidray]

I have a friend who is an NHRA alcohol funny car crew chief & he says they store their drums upside down to keep moisture out. Ray.

 

[lecroy]

Remember your bar physics?

If not, and your new to drinking or maybe to young, get a bottle of beer (I assume you understand bottle means bottle and not a can). Next get a glass (Easy with a bowl but if your doing this in the bar, you need to use standard glass. Fill the glass to about an inch from the top with water.

Of course, you need to make some bets before doing this. Bets are to cover the next beer. Normally, something like, "I bet ya a beer that I can drink all of the alcohol from the beer and leave the rest in the bottle" One of your poor sap buds will sucker up....

Remove the cap and place your thumb over the top. Hold the bottle upside down (Why you covered it with your thumb. You don't want to walk around the bar with spilled beer in your lap do ya?). With your thumb still on the top, place the neck of the bottle into the glass just below the water. Next, remove your thumb and watch your buds face as he watches what appears to be waves coming from the bottle. This will take some time.

The problem with Methanol is that it attracts waters like a mother. One reason they sell it as dry gas for your car. And once water gets into it, the fuel is not so good. The only way to really make sure water stays out is to seal it. I have never used Ethanol (except to drink) and am not sure if it is as much a problem.

 

[lecroy]

Very dickey but the best thing I could come up with... We will see if it will hold any sort of power....

 

[lecroy]

Yea, the weekend is here! Time to test the new motor. The cameras on the charger.

 

[RacingJake]

Good Luck Mark

I'm still chasing my tail.

I'm going to to put my old swingarm back on and see if the rear still spins. So far the fastest mph been 118, I should be in the mid 120's at least. I think I'm just overpowering the 7" slick with the WB at 65".

 

[lecroy]

Depending on how you look at it, things went really great or really bad.

We no longer have Torco as a sponcer. So we switched fuels to Sunoco. Both seem to run good on it. $6/gallon. Lined up both bikes. I taped the kid and was thinking, how good things were going as he made his way down the track but then things went wrong. Bike would not go into 3rd. I listened as he kept trying to plug it in. Then I was thinking, hey were is bike number two. I look away from the camera and there she sits. Still running but at the tree. He kills the motor and I look as the chain unspools as he backs up.

Just try a second time (not sure why) with kids bike. We pull a little timing out thinking that maybe we were over powering it. Same....

Bike two, we cut the broken link out and get a second master in there. Chain stays together, bike won't shift into forth.

I test the electronics, adjusting the drum and clean/lube the air cylinder on the kids bike. We also switch out the auto and try again. He hits his points pretty good and the bike makes a nice lazy 8.6 pass. The 60's are 1.23, 1.23 and 1.23. With the old motor it was 1.25. It actually dropped a little with the timing out of it.

Chain on bike two stretched bad. I figure its going to snap again but what the heck, one more time. This time, it won't even go into 2nd. Its done.

We switch the kids back to auto and try one more time. Dads thinking it's a perfect pass. I'm thinking I heard a delay when it went into 3rd. Sure enough, he had to plug it manually.

We did not check anything as the tranny only a few passes on it but I think when the crank broke, it tweeked a fork or bent a rod. I think when the chain broke on bike 2 that something happened to the tranny as well.

So, how could any of this be good news? It was not $1500 and points on the line. Plus it was just good to be outside and meet up with old friends. We have one more T&T to get are sht together.

Kids first run for 2008:
http://videos.streetfire.net/video/....htm?ref=215d7176-9d18-4505-9750-994b010250f6

 

[rosco15]

We'll for some reason I'm not getting a shift light for the 1-2 shift. I get the shift light for all other shifts. No light with the auto shift on or with it off.

The E-85 is gonna be difficult. The mid range is way lean. Very lean on my burnout. The top is rich. So I need to step up on my needles and down on the mains. And I think I need to ship out the Schnitz box for some repair.

 

[lecroy]

Sorry Ryan, can't help.

I was thinking about moving away from the MC-4 for the new bike. Would be interested in hearing what you find out and if they warrant the work. How long have you had that unit anyway?

 

[rosco15]

Not sure exactly, but at least 2 full seasons. I'm hoping they can turn it around quick. Now is not a good time to have it go down on me.

 

[lecroy]

Finally the new bike came back apart. TIGed on it for about 4 hours tonight. Not even close to done. More I looked at it, the more hacked up it looked. It looks like someone had done a major change to the frame design. You can see where some pipes had been cut off and others welded in. Comparing it with the other Koenig, it looks like it may have looked the same at one time. You can see the change in the quality of the welds too. Who ever did it, I think was trying to make it stronger. Maybe it started life as a Kaw?

What did I get myself into this time.