Monday, October 3, 2011

new clothes

Had some time with an extended fall to get the new fairings mounted and painted.  Clear coat applied over the top.  Plain numbers for now... or in compliance with AMA rules...?

Also still working on the mitovarna.  Since getting the completed exhaust back from cycleboyz, have gotten it running.  Still facing a typical bugbear -- cooling.  Seems to be a regular problem with most of my projects, save the klx400.  The KTM rad sits too low, and my theory is that despite purging the system of air, I still had a vapour lock/cavitation issue.  I have seen pictures of this exact frame and this exact engine, but the radiator used was a mito rad.  A bit small, but it would be better than what appeared to be no water flow that I was experiencing to date.  So, I will simply copy what apparently works, so a mito rad is on the way.  Cycleworld did an article on a crf450 engined mito, with again some fancy plumbing but the mito rad as a base.  I found a complete cooling system off of ebay Germany, so I will see if this works better.  Hopefully it gets here soon, as I would like to put the mito to bed for the winter knowing that it runs (which it doesn) but that it is adequately cooled (not yet).  I also tore the entire machine apart this past weekend, and rebuilt it wet -- using grease, etc on the bearing surfaces.  Went together nicely, and I think the suspension as is is not a million miles off.  Still need some minor parts -- a shipment of husky-specific stuff is on the way, a jet kit from thumpertalk, and some spacers to fit the r6 front caliper.  Some brake hoses, and I welded up a tubing mount for the rear muffler.  Not seen below due to it being painted.  IF I get the mito rad to work, I will be a bit pissed, as the radiator flares on the sides of the fairing will be made redundant.  Oh well... the bike still looks pretty cool.



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