Slow Monster rebuild

[jerry]

when using the Mosfet reg /rec from R1 or shcindengren the 3 yellow wires from alternator work fine in any combination eg: 123 , 132 . 321 ,213 , 312 the output will be obvious which is neg 12v and pos 12v

[Mr Gazza]

Originally Posted by 350TSS

Already bought the alloy basket and hub and some Suzuki GS 550 alloy clutch plates

Doesn't the GS 550 have a wet clutch? Will the plates work in a dry clutch?

[350TSS]

Gazza: GS550 does have a wet clutch and I bought them on "recommendation" of an American Ducati forum so it could just be fake news and I will have wasted £27 for the set. I will obviously let you know in due course whether or not they survive, or whether they grip or slip.
Jerry: the decision on the regulator is now made in favour of the old two wire one because that bit of the loom is wired up accordingly - I will keep the Mosfet as a spare for my 3 wire S4

[350TSS]

Spent today working on the fork yokes/steering head bearings. I want the finished yokes to be polished alloy because all the best café racers always have polished alloy. At one time I considered buying a machined billet top yoke but that money has been spent on wheels so I will retain the M900 top and bottom yokes, trouble is they are not things of beauty, rough cast with quite marked casting lines and various holes and lugs in them. I am stuck with them also because I have designed the instrument and the headlamp attachment systems around use of these threaded holes.
The top yoke took about 3 hours to get looking reasonable, process was 10 minutes in the blast cabinet to get rid of the surface crud, then 10 minutes on an 80 grit drum sander to remove the worst of the casting lines, then about half an hour with a block and 120 grit sand paper then, 240, 400, 800 and 1000 wet and dry. It really needs 20 minutes on a polishing mop on my bench grinder to get a really good shine and one is on order.
The bottom yoke was more problematic as the bearing would not release from the stem. Years ago, I bought a Machine Mart bearing puller for just such a job, unfortunately the steering stops prevent the jaws sitting flush with the top of the bottom yoke, even if they were able to engage I suspect that the infinitesmal gap between the stem and the inner race means that the MM puller is more ornament than use.
I tried chisels of various persuasions and eventually resorted to a small grindstone in a drill held in a vice. However hard you try, it is virtually impossible not to cut into the stem as you grind through the inner track. Fortunately I got away with a 0.5 mm deep notch on the stem about 4mm long. I then repeated the sanding /polishing process on the bottom yoke.
Postman came today with a CF front mudguard from a 916 that I got off fleabay for £90,the quality is not the best I have seen.
I have given up on making my own front mudguard as it is will be a complicated mold and I would rather spend the time working on the rest of the bike. Also Simply Bearings delivered a new clutch casing seal.

[350TSS]

[350TSS]

[utopia]

I'm in a similar position as you with the top yoke.
The various tapped holes have been used to accommodate my little homemade screen and the bracket that holds my battery charging/satnav socket. Also my one-piece bar clamp has been modded to take the satnav ball mounting.
But tbh, I don't see that there's much to be gained from a bling, billet yoke .. other than the bling.
Your (and my) money was much better spent on superlightweight wheels, I reckon.
And I quite like the "shed" nature of a polished, std item.

I have the same front mudguard, but I don't particularly favour the shortened rear blade, which doesn't do much of a job at its primary purpose of keeping road splatter and grit off the engine (when fitted to a naked bike).
I've had a crack at extending the rear, but its not exactly easy since the additional cantilever length can cause unacceptable "bounce" of the rear section.
I have yet to test my latest attempt but I feel that I have pushed the weight and length a tad beyond the limit and may need to do it all again.
My bike has independant lower brake lines, so I cut off the mounting for the crossover line from the linked caliper system that the mudguard was originally designed to accommodate.
In retrospect, this may have been a mistake as there may have been some additional support for the rear section of the guard to be had from that arrangement and I may have been better to switch to the linked-caliper system.
I mention all this in case your thoughts end up going in a similar direction.

Very much on the plus side though, the superbike guard protects the fork stanchions much better than the original monster one.

[350TSS]

Utopia: I definitely prefer the 916 style front mudguard because of the fork leg protection and on the style of bike I am trying to build it will look better I think.
The CF one pictured weighs 270 grammes, I have an ABS one as well which weighs 480 grammes but is considerably more flexible than the CF one. If I was considering extending the guard I would provide a reinforcement of CF on either side on the inside just above where the tyre goes from maximum width.
I will almost certainly have a two hose from master cylinder set up because the weight of a manifold is unwelcome and/or I am prejudiced against line 1 to RH caliper and line 2 from RH calliper to LH calliper as I have a (probably unjustified) fear that the RH calliper will apply its brake before the LH calliper and somehow cause a twisting motion.
My 750SS has a similar front guard and did not seem to suffer too much from crud on the engine and these days I try to avoid riding in the rain.

[utopia]

I think you will need to consider arranging some sort of reinforcement as you suggest, but I think it needs to extend as far as possible towards the "leg" area of the guard if it is to succeed in preventing the "bounce".

I used quite fine, twill weave, fibreglass cloth to attach the cut off rear section of another carbon guard.
I cut out the brakeline attachment section (it was damaged anyway) but left a thin strip at the very back where the profile returned to mudguard shape, and fixed the extension section to that.
However, even though I tried to keep everything as light and minimal as possible, there was a need to overlap the twill weave cloth on both halves, as well as to infill the cut out area and match in the slightly differing profiles, and thus the bit between ended up being a little thicker than I had hoped.
As this weight acts at quite a distance from the mounts, the result is extra bounce due to the leverage forces.
In retrospect, I would have been better to cut the rear section off completely and make my attachment point in front of the brakeline fixing point.
I reckon a std, carbon monster guard has a long enough blade to allow this .. and I have one awaiting my attention, but it'll have to wait quite a while yet.

Incidentally, I did this "on the bike" using foam strips to control the clearance from the tyre and also as an internal mould.
I covered the areas where resin (epoxy) was to be applied using cooking foil, but I would probably have been better buying some release film.

ps. just weighed my modded guard .,. 395g

[350TSS]

Had one of those days in the garage today, happens very rarely when working on nearly 25 year - old bikes – everything went right!!!
I went into the garage this morning with the intention of
1. completing all the earth leads on the loom (now done no dramas, I even managed to insert an extra lead into a part of the loom already made up) and
2. getting the swinging arm off the engine and the shock off the frame.
I was expecting sheared or at least rounded cap screws on the SA clamps or even a seized SA spindle. But no, all good news, both the rocker bearings for the damper and the swinging arm bearings and shaft were OK. The rear hoop bearings are shagged and the rear brake calliper is siezed but I knew that already and have already got the replacements.
The swinging arm shaft had the faintest polishing mark on it on the drive side but no discernible or measurable wear.
I even made a reasonable fist of lightening the steering stem top nut.
Tuesday’s job is to clean up the SA and then enlarge the rear wheel spindle adjustment slots from 17mm to 25mm. Hope that goes as well as today.

[Albie]

For a short while there will be nothing to see. Then then all of a sudden everything is everywhere else. Then slowly it will all come together again.

[utopia]

Originally Posted by Albie

For a short while there will be nothing to see. Then then all of a sudden everything is everywhere else. Then slowly it will all come together again.

Ha ha ... what a brilliant quote, Albie.
That sums it up exactly.
I particularly like the middle sentence.

Though maybe you missed out the postscript which says .. and even then it won't be quite "finished".


Its a bonus that the swingarm bearings are ok, cos they're a bit of a pig to replace, in my experience.
My advice is, don't even think about replacing them as a matter of course.
.... which is also your thinking, I presume.

[350TSS]

I am not looking for extra jobs - the estimate for completion just got below 400 hours

[Mr Gazza]

Regarding the "floppiness" issue... I suffered from this at one time.

I found that fitting new mounting bands round the fork improved things immensely and It's now nice and rigid.

You may observe that the bands have pegs which register in holes in the fork recesses. (Or vice versa?).
Sometimes not all the recesses are drilled, so take care when ordering as there are potentially 4 types needed, Pegged RH, un-pegged RH , pegged and un-pegged LH.

It made a really big difference on mine, but it still struggled to cope with the very small extra overhung weight of a fender extender. I abandoned the extender very quickly.

[Albie]

Originally Posted by 350TSS

I am not looking for extra jobs - the estimate for completion just got below 400 hours

You said that about 80 hrs ago When you was on 430 lol