Plugging away

Things are proceeding at a decent pace. Got the lower exhaust hanger built and painted, and dropped off the pipes at Cycleboyz to get properly welded. The headers were aluminized stuff, so my oxy kit won't weld it properly. The guys at the shop will either tig or mig it, depending on what they think. Don't care a whole lot either way, to be honest.

Got the bodywork back on -- looks great, except for... BUBBLES IN THE TANK PAINT!! Dammit!!! This will be a real bugger to fix right, and while the machine is certainly rideable, the tank may need to be bead blasted down to bare metal, re-prepped, and re-painted properly. Getting rid of the auto-air is nasty as well... I will leave it for now, but it certainly is disappointing. There are a few of them...

Also in the process of shortening the shotgun pipes. A real PITA, but I got one sectioned. Despite the fact that the exhausts weight about 20 lbs each, they are made of aluminum (at least the outer sleeves are. The guts are steel, and the rediculous pipe maze to quash sound and kill some ponies in the meantime. And again, something I cannot do due to the pipes being alloy. Will shorten the other tommorow, after I fought with the first one.

Good Help...

... is sometimes tough to find, so when Dad and Mom showed up for a visit, I stole Pop away for some quality time in the garage. There was lots that needed to be done... wheels mounted, swingarm mounted, exhaust routed, brakes hooked up, etc. etc.

1. Dad was the parts courier again this time, and brought in the rear hubcentric and tires to be mounted. When we removed the rear hub from the old swingarm, we found that most of the mounting bolts and the rear brake stay pin could be used on the MH swingarm. As well, the hub bearings looked OK, but were due for a clean and re-grease. While this was taking place, the rest of the rear axle of the bike was put together. When the hub bearings were done, the spacers went onto the swingarm axle, and the rear swingarm was attached to the engine case. Next went the tires onto the wheels, the rear rim onto to the rear axle, the shock, and then the front wheel was mounted. Finally the Duc got back onto its "feet".

2. While this was going on, Dad and I started to dream up a way to get the PS1000 headers and exhaust cans to work. I incorrectly thought they would be a bolt on, but I couldn't be farther from the truth. The best compromise we could come up with was a design with two separate pipes, no crossover, exiting out the right hand side of the bike. You can see in the first pic the rear header cut and tack-welded to clear the rear shock.

3. It took a rediculous amount of time, but over the course of 2 days we got the two pipes to the state you see here. You can see the steel upper mount (which I hope doubles as a mount for the rear licence plate, and the temporary alloy mount which is attached to the footpeg brace. It was very tedious to get the pipes symmetrical in terms of their angle, and roughly close to their orientation towards the rear of the bike.

4. The rear upper exhaust hanger is pictured below -- it is long to allow some flex in the design -- too short would have been too stout, and vibration may lead to cracking rather than flexing.

I don't know a lot about exhaust tuning -- a motoGP tech book I bought shows pictures of how the same engine from Honda, Ducati, Yamaha, etc. all had different exhausts on the bike depending on the characteristics the engineers wanted from it. Common sense to me and Dad suggested we try to get each header pipe the same length as the other, due to the lack of the crossover pipe. Stock, the front header was 9" longer than the rear. When I was done, the difference was only 4". How will it run? I have no idea. Will it make more or less horsepower? Only a dyno could tell. As this isn't a racer, I don't care a whole lot. Definately a different look but I'm happy with the progress so far. I'm sure I will have to fabricate an exhaust guard for my right boot, and I did see a neat bike with these same exhausts shortened for a stubby look, and likely a growlier sound. Need to finish the lower bracket first.

ReAssembly

For the last time, I think. Frame and swingarm/subframe came back from the powdercoaters. A nice durable finish, but not show-quality. At least if it were pristine, I would be reluctant to take it out on the street or track. It isn't going to peel, that's for sure. Cost me $250, which is a steal, due to the trellis design. A bit fiddly.

One afternoon's work got it to the stage you see here. Note the stack covers, which I hope will provide the same level of filtering as an aftermarket foam filter. I might add some K&N pre-filters as well. The mesh screen installed is pretty fine in terms of filtering. Will likely have to play with the jetting to get it to run OK. Still waiting on some parts for the rear axle (Dad has them) before I put the rear swingarm on. Want to line up the sprockets installed, and that will require some spacer juggling. So no sense doing anything at this point until I have the rear hubcentric to install inside the rear swingarm.

For the 4th time, finding discreet spots for all the wiring is getting somewhat easier. Its hard to believe how much extra footage of wiring is included, but I suppose there was an acre of fibreglass fairing to hid it all behind.

Home-made rearsets appear to be in the right spot peg-wise, but will have to get on the bike and ride it to fully be sure.

More to follow when the rest of the parts come in.

Slow Going

Slow going indeed... not much to report. I am supposed to be going to the powdercoaters tommorow to pick up the frame and swingarm. Hopefully it is ready to go prior to me making the hour-long drive down south. They were sandblasted awhile ago -- hopefully no surface rust has formed, and he remembers the color scheme I wanted and where the powder was to go and NOT go... we'll see.
I actually made a conscious business decision on ebay -- I bought the aformentioned Quat D exhaust for $450 bucks -- new, so less than half price from a retailer. Got it home, posted it on ebay, and advertised it on my usual Ducati stomping grounds with a $675 buy it now price... and got it within 3 hours. A cool $200 profit. Yippee! Yes, you CAN make money on ebay (sometimes). As for the exhaust, I think a sport classic shotgun system fits the style a bit better. Will keep you posted on that.
So the plan is to get the frame and swingarm tommorow, and start reassembly. Mom and Pop are coming for a visit on the long weekend, hauling the final pieces needed to get the bike back on its feet -- rear wheel, street tires, exhaust, etc. Will take lotsa pics of the reassembly as it proceeds. MotoDesmo is supposed to be running with 2 more articles on the build over the next few months.

Powdercoating and exhaust

The trip back from Fort Frances was fruitful -- Kate and I full of Mom's food, a great visit with family, and a car full of parts... not just bike parts, but new tires for the Mini as well. I was able to haul back all of the TTR parts needed to rebuild the engine, plus a pile of Ducati stuff. Still waiting on a swingarm, sprocket, rear wheel, and a potential exhaust. Race tires were also sold locally, and new Pirelli street tires (super corsa III's) were acquired.

The remaining tabs were removed from the frame, and it, the swingarm, and the subframe were sent to Cypress Industries for powdercoating. Will be interesting to give them a try -- I hope the parts turn out OK. The quoted price is reasonable, and the frame will be finished in a proper red -- "Snoopy Red", with the swingarm and subframe going black -- "R" model style. Look forward to how everything turns out. Considering doing the wheels as well, but I'll wait until I see how the other parts turn out.

Lastly, the rearset plates are coming together -- the basic plates have been cut out, with offset spacers to set them out from the frame somewhat. Still need to finish them on the belt sanders at school. 99% of the shape is finished via angle grinder and bandsaw -- lotsa aluminum dust all over the garage!

The aforementioned exhaust was actually a Quat D I got for less than 1/2 price on ebay, new. Will require some work to fit, as the two other guys doing this conversion have run into some exhaust problems. I had some good luck with cycleboys regarding stainless steel (which is what this pipe is made out of), and all I can see needing done is a minor tweaking of the rear header pipe... I think. Have to be patient until I have the parts in front of me...

Quick Progress

Things always seem to go in fits and starts. In the span of 3 days, I've gone from "tacking it and getting someone else to tig weld it", to what the heck -- I'll see if I can do it myself.

By jove, I think I got it. #2 tip and lots of pre-heating and deft flame work (if I do say myself), has got me a SS swing arm for my SS.

Right hand side view -- welding forged steel is a bit tough -- the welds (with oxy, anyway) end up looking mig-ish. A good tig welder would've come up with some nice fillets.

The entire assembly is boxed, with 100 wall sheet trimmed to fit.

This view looks a bit cockeyed -- I'm standing to the right of the bike when I took it; trust me, its straight. I also built in some left/right adjust ability into the frame mount for fine tuning. I then hauled the entire swingarm to Cycleboyz and to the Welding teacher at the local college. Both said the welds looked excellent, and were as good as being professionally tig'd. Three cheers for me!

The next step is sorting an exhaust system -- the Hindle unfortunately will not work. I need something that will leave the single-sided swing arm exposed, so either another high mount system, or an under engine (eg Quat D) exhaust would be the best. I think any system is going to require some tweaking, as the idiosyncrasies of the MH swing arm might foul on most rear exhaust downpipes.

Helmets, dirt bike parts, and swingarms

I have a Vemar head. The last time we went out to the slough for ice riding, as it was considerably colder, I decided to take my full face helmet, rather than my MX lid. It was the first time wearing it. A Vemar DeAngelis replica (the cheaper version) that I fell in love with a few years ago after seeing it in a UK magazine. Over the years, I realized that they likely would never officially be imported (although Motonation in CA now carries them). I actually ordered the high-buck one from the UK online, and was then told it was out of stock -- while they were processing my refund, I found the slightly cheaper (but still DOT/Snell equivalent approved) lid on ebay, and I got it for under $100, brand new and half price! I have no idea why the seller was selling, or how he got it in the first place (it was in the US). Whatever, its mine now, and it fits the best out of the many helmets I have owned over the years. Coming from Manitoba, the mosquito motif is perfect.

The TTR rebuild has turned into an unofficial Woodshops 25 project. Class numbers being what they are, I approached the teacher to offer the activity up, as there are 22 kids present on a good day, so me taking 3-4 per class out of general circulation helps with management and safety. To date, we have disassembled the entire engine and determined the following:

• only the transmission and cylinder head parts, as well as a few inceindentals are salvagable


• the case halves both have internal damage beyond repair or re-use


• the carb looks good -- we spent last class cleaning it, and removing some nearly-varnished fuel
  

I, of course, have decided to go whole hog -- 150cc kit, performance cam, and FMF exhaust will be installed, along with the new crank, case halves (matching) bearings, cam chain, etc. etc. Some things were surprising in terms of pricing. Case halves were $200/pr, but a complete gasket and oil ring set was $100! New bearings for the bottom end also cost $100. I tried to go a bit cheaper with non-Yamaha bearings, but I noticed that the NTN bearings had one less ball to carry the load. I checked with Pop who said this was NOT kosher -- so I returned the NTN and got the right ones from Yamaha -- from $40 to $100 in one easy step...

Since the big trip will take up most of my summer, I have decided to hold off licenceing the Ducati this summer, and endeavor to make the "Ultimate SS". I think I was pretty close as is, but what would set it apart is a single-sided swingarm. I think I found one of the last OEM MH900E swingarms on the market from a guy in England. We settled on a reasonable price, and unreasonable shipping (although it got here pretty quick), and I've started to fit the thing to the bike. It will mean stripping the frame right down again, as some maching, grinding, and welding will need to take place. However, seeing that there is some considerable value in the OEM ducati pieces I previously had on the bike, I will be able to recoup most of the costs.

It has been done before... Reed Herman from MN mounted one of the swingarms he had onto a customer's 900SS frame... as with most things Ducati (at least with aircooled engines), the swingarm is a direct bolt-on. That being said, I have to modify the frame, cutting off the lower half of the frame downtubes, as they foul on the outboard edges of the swingarm. So that means I will have to re-position the rearsets, so the 916 rearsets I got will no longer work -- considering I have custom-made probably 5 different sets of rearset plates, this is easy, and made simpler even with the fact that the brake and shift levers do not pivot on the plate. I used the 916 rearsets as a guide, grinded off an old rearset tab from another frame, and welded it "up" from one of the tabs which could stay on the frame. Then I cut off the bottom part of the frame to suit. It actually looks a bit like how the hypermotard and sport classic frames are designed. I have a pair of wooden templates made which locate the pegs from their new origin, to where they end up with the OEM 916 rearsets. Not very well explained... but if you've ever done this before, you know exactly what I'm talking about.

An email to Reed confirmed an important point -- the swingarm mount he used to graft onto his machine was chopped off of a steel SS swingarm, with hours of grinding and filing to get it to adapt to the compound curves of the MH swingarm. As chance would have it, years ago I snagged a steel SS swingarm for another project, which willfully donated parts of itself to the cause. An attempt at making a welding jig proved fruitless (as it did for Reed), as while the cantilever swingarm and MH swingarm are close on triangulated reference points, there is enough of a difference to cause a problem -- Reed ended up having a bike with an extra 2.5" of rear ride height, compensated by adjusting the eccentric in the hub. Being forwarned (and using my own eyeball engineering), I know now that the shock mount will sit much lower on the upper part of the swingarm stay. My plan is to fit it in situ, tack weld it in place (the shock mount is forged steel), and get it properly tig-welded by someone else.






You can also see from this pic the relocated rearset mounts, and the end of the orange paint...
















Wooden rearset template -- needs to be finished (shops sanders at school) -- and then replicated in aluminum. I have some 3/4: 7074 plate for this...

Still lots of grinding to do!








Reed had said in his email that it took him "about 5 hours to fit" -- truth be told, it took me about the same amount of time on Easter Friday to do likewise. I ended up with a pretty good fit, one that I can tack in place, and then take to a shop for tig-welding. As my mount does not sit as "high" as Reed's less boxing is going to be needed for reinforcement, but I can put some in place with some sheet steel.









Right hand side -- need to get rid of some paint prior to welding.
























LHS -- not bad!