Slow Monster rebuild

[350TSS]

The seat base was formed of 9mm plywood, as was the "skeleton" for the hump. The infill between the ribs was made from polyester foam cut (similar to the sort of foam used to stick flowers in) into 2" wide slats and glued in with wood glue. The profile for the seat was determined by eye, I wanted something that looked like the 1967 Honda 500 4 ridden by Mike Hailwood from the side view but was wider at the rear end to accommodate an LED rear light/indicator assembly sitting almost unnoticed underneath the base of the hump.

[350TSS]

Whilst working on the seat hump I thought that at some point I would have to spray it. It was never my intention to have any CF parts I made as bare CF with the weave showing through an immaculate clear gel coat.. This would not be in keeping with the age of the bike and anyway for CF to look really good it has to be 100% absolutely perfect and I was not confident of achieving that. If I painted it I could mold it/cast it and subsequently prime and fill it and then paint it to get a reasonably good finish in a solid colour (to be determined). With this requirement in mind I made a revolving table from two sheets of ply (formerly doors on a bedroom cupboard) and a belt pulley with an internal bearing from a derelict ride on lawn mower.
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[350TSS]

Realising that I would spend an awful lot of time making an aluminium battery box that fitted behind the headstock and it would probably in the end only fit where it touched, I had a re-think. If the battery box was going there why couldn't the coils and relays and fuse box go there as well. The wiring harness would be half the weight if I could do that (but I would have to remake the loom completely and I would also have to protect all the electrical components from water ingress).
This thinking also fitted with my view of what to do with the petrol tank. I had originally envisaged trying to make an aluminium tank (because I had never made one before) but I was not confident of welding 2mm sheet aluminium without it all going into holes or weeping from every seam. Also getting a good finish on the surface of the tank would challenge my panel beating skills beyond what was likely to be possible.
I came up with a design that placed the coils and relays into an enclosure that fitted in the triangle behind the headstock and projected through the lower frame rails. I would then make a lid covering this enclosure upon which I would mount the fuse box. The coil enclosure would project down towards the front wheel spindle about 80mm. The fuse box would be protected by 2 infill panels either side of the head stock. The coil enclosure and the infill panels would be made from carbon fibre.

[350TSS]

I took the bike down to MADASL to get the exhaust headers made. The original exhaust had a large dent in the front down pipe as a consequence of me riding over a 300mm kerb and grounding/flattening it.
The rear header had to be cut off with a Dremel as the bolts at the first pipe junction were seized and I managed to completely strip the hex on the first clamp. Hammered in Torx bits did not shift it and the only way the Dremel cutter would fit meant the stream of sparks was coming directly at my face - not pleasant.
Mark at MADASL is brilliant he also machined the flywheel and lightened the main drive pinion and the clutch drive gear and the jack shaft gear for the cam drive. It is not possible to machine massive amounts off the early Monster flywheel because of the need to maintain the ignition pick up positions on the flywheel. I think about 2kg became swarf.

[Dukedesmo]

Originally Posted by 350TSS

It is not possible to machine massive amounts off the early Monster flywheel because of the need to maintain the ignition pick up positions on the flywheel.

No but you can get a very light replacement from Nichols in the USA.

Like this;



Don't remember exactly how much it weighs but as it's made from ally, it's not much.

+1 for Mark at MADASL and great build thread, I'll be following.

[350TSS]

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The above pictures do not really show the headers and I will post more /better pictures at some later date. The tailpipe is stainless and Chinese and cost the princely sum of £55 from Banggood.com.
I was very pleased with the way Mark made the tail pipe sit to look just right. He also said that the distance from the ports to the junction piece was within 5mm. He also accommodated my wish to have a parallelogram rear brake hanger. With the lightening of the various gears, the manufacture of the headers, and the supply and fitting of rear ride height adjusters the total bill was c£700 but I needed to hire two vans to drop it to him and back home again , another £60 plus another £70 fuel. I will need to weld a bracket to the rear frame to make a steady for the tailpipe and make a bracket with rubber isolation mounts.

[Dirty]

This is brilliant

If you want to avoid the messy advertising after your pics copy the 'direct link' instead and Come back here, click the little yellow square -> above the text box and paste the link in the box

[350TSS]

More progress on the seat, the process is very long and very arduous. First make the skeleton, rub it down and skim with body filler, rub that down and you break through to the foam so at least another skim and rub down is required.
Then paint with primer resin and rub down again, find you have broken through again re-skim with body filler and re paint with primer resin and rub down again. paint with high gloss mould resin and rub down again with 240, 400, 600, 800, 1000 and 1500 wet and dry paper and see if the surface will take a high polish. If not repeat the previous processes. Then polish with rubbing compound and polish to a high gloss.
That gets you a male mould from which you can make a female mould that will be the basis of the finished article. 5 coats of release agent are then applied and the female mould can be defined. It has however to be made in such a way that it can be separated from the male mould. This involves cutting a sheet of clear polyester to match the profile of the male mould along a line where the mould will be split about 50mm bigger than the profile of the male mould. Using the polyester foam blocks glue gunned to the male mould attach the clear polyester sheet and seal the edges with wax so that there is no casting line in the female mould. Use the wax to form pyramids on the clear polyester sheet about every 75 mm to form registers so that the mould will always go back in exactly the same place.
Apply 5 coats of release agent to the polyester sheet and then apply I gel coat resin to one half of the mould and the polyester sheet mould divider then 3 or 4 layers of glass fibre matt and let it cure. When cured strip off the polyester sheet mould divider and apply release agent to the face exposed by removal of the divider, then gel coat and 3/4 layers of fibreglass to the other side of the mould. That gets you a repeatable female mould.
Apply another 5 coats of release agent followed by high gloss resin, followed by the CF sheet and resin 3 or four layers as required for strength.
So far I have made the male mould and cut the polyester sheet for the mold divider. However every time I look at the male mould I think I could do better

[350TSS]

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[350TSS]

I also started to think about the petrol tank. The seat can be made in 2 halves, the tank however depending upon its design will have to be made in at least a 3 part mould, two halves for the top surface and at least one for the bottom. The top and the bottom will then have to be bonded together. The inner bonding layer would need to be a resin impervious to attack by ethanol. The body of the tank would be Kevlar reinforced carbon fibre.
I wanted about a 4 gallon tank to give enough range and I also wanted the fuel carried as close to the centre of gravity as possible. Moving the battery and coils from above the rear cylinder would help with both these objectives. I also felt it would be better to try and restrict the extent to which the tank over-reached the top frame rails.
The first problem was where to start, defining the side view or defining the underside of the tank, consideration also had to be made as to how it would be secured to the frame, the position of the tap(s) and the filler and breather pipes and the extent to which baffles may be required within the tank to prevent sloshing.

[350TSS]

Work started on the tank base
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[350TSS]

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[350TSS]

Work on the tank skeleton
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[Flip]

Just what I need to be reading as I sip the last of my Christmas Ale.

Fantastic!!!!

[350TSS]

The last picture above shows the plug for the enclosure for the coils and fuse box and starter solenoid resting approximately where it should sit, behind and below the headstock.
I was worried at this point that the extremely close fit between the bottom of the tank and the top of the rear cylinder would turn that part of the tank into a petrol boiler. Also with the coil enclosure effectively partially blocking airflow to the rear cylinder, which already has a reputation for running hot and the planned panels to fit between the top and bottom frame rails immediately aft of the headstock to prevent moisture ingress to the electrics I was concerned that the carbs would also be starved of cold air.
Accordingly some scoops were fabricated to direct air to the carb area and to divert air to the rear cylinder.
How they will be fixed in position is yet to be determined