News:

Nitpicky? Hell yes.

Main Menu

Petrol head thread!!!

Started by billy rubin, October 29, 2019, 10:41:33 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

Icarus

That bike has my name on it but it ain't my bike.  It looks like a suicide machine with that spindly assed front brake that might only be big enough for a moped.  The thing with a belt drive looks suspiciously like a blower.  A rigid frame too? yikes that dude is likely to meet Jesus before he planned to.  Or if that belt shreds, as DL mentioned, the guy is likely to become a eunuch and therefore practically useless on dates.

Dark Lightning

Quote from: Icarus on May 22, 2020, 11:46:58 PM
That bike has my name on it but it ain't my bike.  It looks like a suicide machine with that spindly assed front brake that might only be big enough for a moped.  The thing with a belt drive looks suspiciously like a blower.  A rigid frame too? yikes that dude is likely to meet Jesus before he planned to.  Or if that belt shreds, as DL mentioned, the guy is likely to become a eunuch and therefore practically useless on dates.

:lol: I figured legless; maybe I thought of the wrong leg!

hermes2015

Quote from: Icarus on May 22, 2020, 11:46:58 PM
That bike has my name on it but it ain't my bike.  It looks like a suicide machine with that spindly assed front brake that might only be big enough for a moped.  The thing with a belt drive looks suspiciously like a blower.  A rigid frame too? yikes that dude is likely to meet Jesus before he planned to.  Or if that belt shreds, as DL mentioned, the guy is likely to become a eunuch and therefore practically useless on dates.

What a disappointment, Icarus. I assumed it was the younger you in that photo.
"Eventually everything connects - people, ideas, objects. The quality of the connections is the key to quality per se."
― Charles Eames

billy rubin

#108
thats a harsh seat even for drag racing. i think its open underneath to make room for the huge balls it takez to ride something like that

and h e doez have some kind of blower on the front as well.

interestingly almost nobody runs rear suspension or front brakes at all.


"I cannot understand the popularity of that kind of music, which is based on repetition. In a civilized society, things don't need to be said more than three times."

Icarus

I am pleased to notice that you do have front brakes on your LSR bike.   

billy rubin

well i confess not any more

i took them off so i could go faster. wind reziztance and all that.

but i have really good boots i use to drag on the azphalt when i reach the pits


"I cannot understand the popularity of that kind of music, which is based on repetition. In a civilized society, things don't need to be said more than three times."

Dark Lightning

Quote from: billy rubin on May 24, 2020, 01:04:46 AM
well i confess not any more

i took them off so i could go faster. wind reziztance and all that.

but i have really good boots i use to drag on the azphalt when i reach the pits

Well then, take that caliper off! That's got to be worth .3 MPH, or something at the top end. The weight means nothing at that point, only wind resistance. I don't know what you wear on your ride, but maybe you ought to wax your boots...and everything else. Stick with us "kid", we'll figure you into the record books. Hmm, how do we get some cred for that design work?  :???:

billy rubin

if you buy me a can of fuel i ll paint your name on the side of the bike


"I cannot understand the popularity of that kind of music, which is based on repetition. In a civilized society, things don't need to be said more than three times."

Dark Lightning

Quote from: billy rubin on May 24, 2020, 09:16:14 AM
if you buy me a can of fuel i ll paint your name on the side of the bike

I don't think you want "Dark Lightning" painted on there, but that's better than my old handle here, which was "Fireball".  :D

billy rubin



"I cannot understand the popularity of that kind of music, which is based on repetition. In a civilized society, things don't need to be said more than three times."

Dark Lightning


billy rubin

off to warehouse in a bit to disassemble amotor to tighten one bolt i cant remember tightening. i know its tight, but if it isnt i blow the motor up. so well see how long it takes me to get to the crankshaft and back up. next time ill take better notes.

if for some awful reason i can't get the race bike together ill go back with the commuter:



this is a 1997 buell, a 1203 cc sportster motor in a non-harley chassis. they were wonderful machines when buell was building them. now harley has abandoned support, nd the buells come with high tech rotax engines. not the same thing. i use this togo to work on when the triumphs and BSAs and the norton are all broken.  its as reliable as a stone doorstop but doesn't have the  idiosynchracies that make the old british stuff interesting. it even has an electric start. but it always works.

i took this one to the races last septmber and ran it down the mile. i had three different gearbox pulleys to work with. i geared it tall at first and it wouldn't go over 120 or so mph. very disappointing, because i wanted to get close to the record of around 140 and it was obvious it wasn't going to pull the gearing to get there. so i went up two teeth on the front pulley and it ran 132. very nice. but that was all it would do. i didn't need to even try the smallest pulley.

the bike is very comfortable to ride up to 100 mph, but after that its a bear to hang on. the tank and bars are so high that the wind hits your chest and tries to lift you up and off, so yuore fighting to stay on and cant concentrate. but below that speed its very nice to ride. good suspension, lots of torque, and excellent (to me) handling. i could put a fairing on it but then id be competing with 1000cc  speed machines at close to 180 mph.

but im headed out to get the norton out in a bit. slower than th ebuell, but much more interesting.


"I cannot understand the popularity of that kind of music, which is based on repetition. In a civilized society, things don't need to be said more than three times."

billy rubin

pratt and whitney R-4360 Radial "Corn Cob" Engine



four banks of seven cylinders. ttoo fuzzy to see the finning well, but it looks really graceful


"I cannot understand the popularity of that kind of music, which is based on repetition. In a civilized society, things don't need to be said more than three times."

xSilverPhinx

Quote from: billy rubin on May 26, 2020, 09:13:06 PM


:sherlock3: Ok, what am I looking at here...looks like a colony of metal organisms of some sort.
I am what survives if it's slain - Zack Hemsey


billy rubin

#119
so i split the race motor to check the connecting rod bolts. its a pain in the ass to do, because im certain that i tightened all four, but if i didnt ill be in trouble. so i did.

its been sitting in the stand a while like this, until i got the cylinderhead issues straightened out



so first, out with the primary drive. its a rubber belt from newby n britain. my next fastest competition uses stock chains, in oil, and wears them out every five or ten miless



once its out, i dont have to pull out the gearbox, just take off the covers to get at the hidden bolts



then the crankshaft pinion has to come off. i can leav the camshaft pinions on, because im not changing timing, and theyll stay with the right side when i split the motor



jugs off, pistons oput, just need to pull th ebolts holding it together



anf then tap it apart with a rubber mallet



the crank is a billet piece, machined from a solid steel blank. lots of hand work



its a pic of art, though. light and very strong. this one already suffered a blowup at 131 mph, and came back from the dead. a stock crank could not do that.



after the blow up, i stole the engine cases from a roadrace project and stuffed it full of thehandmade stuff to make a new motor. now th eroadrace bike is on the back burner.



. . . and of course, when i put a torque wrench on the rod bolts, all of them were fine. the whole teardown was completely unnecessary.



so its back together, and then i clay the pistons to make sure they dont smack into the valves with this new valve timing im runnin.



but in the meantime, it s a beautiful day, so i took the norton out for the first time this spring. started first kick, not having run since last fall, but it always does that.




"I cannot understand the popularity of that kind of music, which is based on repetition. In a civilized society, things don't need to be said more than three times."