Today the plan was to:
a) Finish the rear seat mounting metalwork – completed see below
b) modify the tool tray to permit the central seat mount to rest on the frame – I am awaiting delivery of some plastic saddles so I have had to guess the dimensions in order to make progress – completed
c) sort out the mounting of the front tank latch – little bit of guess work involved here as well as the tank is not yet properly mounted but the latch has, I think, sufficient adjustment to accommodate any inaccuracy in my guesswork – not started
d) coat the inside surfaces of the tank (top and bottom) with ethanol resistant resin -. not started.
The metal work for the rear seat mounting absorbed an inordinate amount of time, mainly because in handling the parts I managed to mark up one of the plates for drilling the wrong way up, I didn’t notice until I trial fitted it together, the hole for the latch locating post was obviously in the wrong place. I rescued it by machining a brass bush from hexagon and attaching it in the right place almost breaking through to one of my lightening/bonding facilitation holes. I raised the bush by 9mm above the plate and countersunk a lead in to the hole to guide the post before the latch engages. It works a treat with the latch snapping shut with a satisfying click.
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A small problem I have encountered is that the powder coating has closed the holes for mounting the latch to the frame. I am frightened of using a drill to clear it as I fear it may snag and tear /chip the finish in the surrounding area. It is a lot worse for the bell crank for the rear suspension, the steel through bush inside the needle rollers will not go between the two mounting lugs. I hate the thought of taking a sanding disc to the finish but I cannot see any other way.
At the moment the critical path is the bonding of the tank and it’s positioning on the frame, I am awaiting delivery of resin putty to do the bonding. Also, I have to wait a couple of days for the resin to cure in the isolation mount indents before I can machine them in a different position. The seat mounting arrangements can only be finalised when the tank is bonded together and correctly positioned on the frame.
So I switched my attention to the engine.
A job I must do is to ensure the provision of adequate cam belt covers. The original rubber steel vertical cylinder one pretty well disintegrated when I took it off so I made some 6mm aluminium plate inner covers with quite a large weight saving. When I failed with my home brewed CF cam belt covers which were designed to work with the aluminium plate I bought some off the shelf CF replacements. These are obviously made to fit the original backing to the cover so I have a gap and nowhere to screw the camshaft end of the new vertical cylinder cover to.
Today, I machined some 10mm round aluminium bar to provide 2 x threaded posts. These posts were 28.5 mm long and my tap was not long enough to thread all the way through so I drilled and tapped one end 5mm and the other end 6mm.
I now need to make the gap filler which I think will be made from 2mm aluminium sheet screwed either to the 6mm plate. Getting the finished product to look half decent will be a bit of a challenge as the original moulded rubber was quite a convoluted shape. I do not think the covers were ever designed to be water tight and judging by the fine grit and road grime I removed when the originals came off I think they were only designed to stop road chippings/gravel getting between the belt and the pulleys.
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