TOPIC:

Wow, has it really been this long since I posted in my own thread? Damn, I struggle, but I digress. I was able to steal a little time yesterday to start digging out my garage and pull out my projects. I got as far as filling the recycling and trash cans, but I made a dent. It's progress Speaking of progress, iwas able to make a small stride in my bike. Nothing exciting; I was able to get my fork repaired. I'm not sure if I had mentioned it earlier in my thread, but my super cheap modern forks came with a price: the right side had a cracked axle clamp. Seems the guy was fond of the "if tights tight, too tights better!" mechanics mantra. I knew I would need to fix it sooner or later, so I kept an eye on ebay for a replacement fork. The problem is that most sellers are asking as much for one fork as I paid for the pair So I decided to get a damaged fork ($16) that had an intact lower leg. I sent that with my broken fork to a suspension friend that swapped the lower legs out for me. It's not much, but it is progress of sorts

wow, that sucks. i never would have thought that it would actually break. he must have torqued on it with all he had. glad to hear u found a cheap fix.

Adam posted something about his bike! Yay!!!


Some people's kids man.

leon

Awesome! I'm surprised you didn't TIG that fork back together. Just kidding, I would have done the same. You know we are expecting weekly updates now don't you. Glad to see you get back on this project. I would hate to see this one get neglected.

Don't think for a second I wasn't tempted to try it Josh. The more I thought about it, the more I figured I'd rather not rely on my newbie TIG skills to hold my front axle in place at 120mph.....

Miracle of miracles, I worked on my bike today I had wanted to add some lateral and shear bracing to the bottom shock mount, and I never got around to it till this afternoon. The bottom shock mount before I did anything looked like this:



I added a top shear plate to keep the mounts square, but it left a small gap at the front of the plate:


I filled the gap by cutting a strip of metal, and TIG welding it top and bottom. It's not pretty, but no one will ever see it when the bike is assembled


Then I wanted to put in some corner lateral bracing on the outside of the mount ears. Nothing big or heavy, just a little extra to keep those ears from wanting to move side to side. Without the corner bracing:


And with the 1.5" braces:


I can definitely tell that my tig skills need some work, especially in the hard to reach spots! Tomorrow I plan to get some of the electrical stuff mounted, or at least some of the electrical mounts installed.....perhaps I'll start working on the battery box if I have time.

Once the electrical gear and battery box mounts are in place, I'll strip the frame down, clean up any buggared welds and paint the sombitch. It's time this bike starts coming together!

its great to see u motivated again.
Keep at it.

Excellent!!

Definitely good to see this thread up and running again.....now it's time to get the bike up and running!

progress as promised!!!!!!









is it just me ,














or are you



















TAKING FOREVER?????????????????????????????????













leon

531blackbanshee wrote:

like these .

leon

p.s.from here
www.rocketindustries.com.au/search.php?&...on&page=200&limit=50

leon

BTW Leon, you are right about my upper subframe mounts.....far to ghetto to leave it as is, so Tuesday I'm going to order some tubing ends and clevis mounts. Much cleaner, pro looking and better fitting. Thanks for the link bud.

Adam

So there I was, staring at my bike, wanting it to be done. I was thinking about paint, and the few tidbits I needed to finish the engine. But reality sunk in, and I realized I still had fabrication work that needed to be done before I could think about cleaning up the welds and painting the frame. Namely, I still had to make a battery box/mounts, electrical mounts, tail light, passenger peg mounts and outboard bearing support frame mounts. I bought a used '05 CBR1K tail light ($9 shipped) to see if I can make it work ok. I bid on some '05 GSXR750 passenger pegs, hopefully I'll get those for the $10 opening bid. I removed the stock electrical panels from the factory battery box, and set them aside. I need to make the battery box and mount the battery, then see how I want to integrate the electrical components. So this weekend, it comes down to the battery box. I had visions of titanium battery boxes, but I want progress so I settled for less exotic materials.

I started with a block of styrofoam and cut it to fit the battery plus a little for some foam padding. Nothing fancy, I used a straight edge, a sharpie and a hacksaw. I used a styrofoam block instead of the battery as a mold so that I could make the box deeper than the battery, and trim it to my desired depth.



I wrapped the styrofoam in packaging tape to keep the resin from sticking to it and make demolding easier. I picked up a different type of resin that I wanted to try on some other parts, and figured I'd try it out on the battery box. The new resin is vinylester, kinda in between Polyester and epoxy. Close to epoxy strength, but closer to polyester cost. It is catalyzed the same as polyester with MEKP, so it stinks, but its viscosity is much thinner than polyester, and thats what I was looking for.

The first layer of fabric



Then after a few layers of chopped strand mat, extra corner and edge reinforcing, a couple more layers of carbon fabric on the outside


Now I'll let it cure, check the battery for fit, trim it and see how I want to mount it. Then I'll mold in some brackets that will bolt to tabs I'll weld onto the subframe, then I'll weld a couple more tabs for the electrical mounts. I should dig my engine out of the rafters and bolt it into the frame and get the outboard bearing support mounts sorted. Details........

I wasn't super happy with the asthetics of the last layer of CF, so I sanded the outside of the box real quick and wrapped it one more time. After letting it cure I cut the top half off and dug out the styrofoam. I tossed in a piece of the foam padding and the battery to make sure it fit


It could be worse. I certainly could have made it thinner and lighter, but it's holding a 10 lb hunk of plastic, lead and acid. I'd rather it hold up.......... Tomorrow I'll stick it in the frame and see where I can put the mounts to hold it. Perhaps I can even get the mounts cut and welded/laminated in place. That would be something

Nevermind I tried to fit the box in and......no go. I made the box wide enough to fit some 1/8" foam padding in on each side. That, plus the thickness of the laminate and the box won't fit between the frame rails. Now I have to make the battery box out of metal. Now I have an interesting carbon fiber box that, well, I can't do much with. Oh well, these kinds of things are to be expected. I'll make the next box out of aluminum, what the hell!

Boy that's some kind of high zoot carbon fiber box to throw loose hardware into. Nice effort, and I think you are about to find out the part of the mods that I found most challenging. How to make all that electrical stuff fit in less space.

Did you get your vinylester resin from US Composits? I have a boat re-furbishing project that I'm working on, and I have been interested in that stuff for laminating casting decks and such. I have worked with epoxy and regular polyester resin, but never the vinylester. How did the resin perform for you? I would suspect that it might be a little easier to work with if it starts out thin. It would also be nice to save a little dinero while laying up the large expanses of fiberglass that I will be working with.

Youve been away from the bike for a little while it might take some time to get back into that honed,creative zone.that cool carbon box will make a real nice pencil holder for your desk.

the only thing about "taking forever"
on a project is that some of the stuff you thought was "good enough"in the begining is not acceptable after seeing how much time you have put into the project.you are like "oh well might as well take the time to make it super trick" .


snowball effect,you know .

keep swingin,you are way closer than when you started .

leon