First job today was to remove the 1mm polypropylene used to mould the tank base modification and to check that the extra clearance on the frame bridge had been achieved. The repair had holes in it so another couple of layers of CF were laid down when this had cured I then I applied a little filler to the bottom surface to tidy up the CF “patch”.
Cleaning the stippling brush, I had acetone handy so I thought I would try Utopia’s suggestion for removing the powder coating where it was not welcome. Whilst it did not magically wipe off, it softened the surface nicely, so I could scrape the powder coating off with a screwdriver blade. Thanks Utopia.
Next I re-manufactured the inner cam belt cover from 6mm aluminium plate as when I put the CF outer cover on the the Mk1 version there was a gap that would permit small children to enter the cam belt enclosure. This took a couple of hours.
I have known since I received these CF covers that I will have to modify the horizontal one to accommodate the Hall effect ignition trigger which works off the central cam belt pulley. The kit included a 3D printed ABS housing which bolts on the outside of the horizontal cam belt cover and partially encases the rotor with its rare earth magnets embedded and the signal receptors. The CF cam belt cover needed a 55mm dia hole cut into it to allow the rotor to be attached to the end of the double pulley. Working out how to cut the hole concentric with the pulley shaft was a bit of a challenge
The advantage of the hall effect system is that it runs at half engine speed, unlike the original Monster set up where the triggers work from the flywheel. This means no wasted spark on the exhaust stroke and more time for the coils to re-energise so hopefully a much stronger spark and a crisper response under load. Reading the Fastbikegear literature was quite educational, apparently the strength of a spark is dependent upon throttle position and revs and the air fuel ratio at the moment the coil discharges. With a carburettor engine the optimum mixture strength is rarely achieved (even when well set up). The carburettor has basically only 3 steps, slide cutaway/ pilot jet, needle position which is variable but not optimised across the whole range of its movement and main jet. When the fuel air ratio is not optimised a stronger spark is needed to compensate minimum c 30k volts. Fuel injection on the other hand through the ECU monitors all the parameters, temperature, throttle position, revs, and meters the fuel much more precisely and thus can get away with a much less energetic spark c 20k volts (those horrible unreliable stick coils on an S4).