up beat

The nice new ohlins is in position, but not without drama and a little bit of blood.
All in all though, it looks good and it looks right. Bearing in mind I don't know what I'm talking about! I am feeling up-beat and a bit more confident the bike will be ready for the 18th feb.

Now I gotta go and get on with it!
more photos and words when I'm not in the workshop over the coming weekend!

patience.

After spending Saturday morning with Darren, welding in the shock mount and sorting out a sub frame, we realised the hose from the gas bottle was in the wrong place.The hose where it joins to the shock was at the wrong angle. Not wanting to risk loosening the connection and loosing pressure, we halted proceedings until the following Thursday while I consulted Steve Jordan to make certain, as none of us were, that we could do the job ourselves.

So in the meantime, the FZ has been piled in the corner while I get on with sorting the XJR ready to be sold. She looks the business now! and is ready to go. I shall miss the old bus and am rather emotional about letting her go.

The FZ should keep my mind off the XJR.

While the XJR has been taking up all the room in the shed, the FZ has been scrutinised and we have decided the refine the design of the shock mounts and the sub frame, so maybe having the hose hold things up has been a blessing in disguise.

With almost all components in my possession now, I am hoping to get things together swiftly.Whether that is the case or not will have to be seen.

Ooops!

I accidently bought a spare engine! My finger just slipped and i clicked the "commit to bid" button...ooops! I guess now I'll have to accidently buy a set of files and get Phil to point me in the right direction.
I'd really like to get the maximum power allowed by the series regulations, so now we have something to play with between races!

Steve....do you think your Mrs will mind if I move into your workshop?

lovely job

A very good sight to see the shock in my hands.

Myself, Phil, Steve and Darren all met up last night to size up the shock and work out what else was needed. So Steve made tea, I got in the way a lot and Phil and Darren did all the work, lovely! Looking like the unit will do the job nicely although i get a feeling it will need a different spring but that's not a problem.So with smiles all round and hope in the air that this isn't all just a waste of time, we agreed Saturday was best to do the job.

Nice one Boys!!

Thanks to Steve and Sarah Jordan for getting the shock so quickly for us.

I wonder how long it'll look that shiny for!

Square eyes !

My eyes are going square through staring at the pages of e-bay, the postman is doing overtime and I must have contributed more in co2 output through all these deliveries, than a whole life time of track activities.

It is kind of nice spending loads of dosh on bike parts with the knowledge I'm gonna be finally racing, but, I'd rather be playing in the shed at the moment....maybe I'll be eating my words soon when I'm working every hour to get the bike ready in time!

Jordans m/c have made my week with a phone call telling me, the shock should be here later this week.Darren Nash of Nash fabrications, here on the Isle of Wight, is going to be on hand to sort the subframe out and the mounting of the shock. There a few small jobs for Darren while he is at it, but once he has done his bit it will open the flood gates for us to get the bike ready in time for Mallory on the 18th of feb.

The seriously long line of deliveries has started and i get the feeling I'm going to be running to the collection yard on a daily basis for the next 2 weeks! Phew!

At least we'll have plenty of boxes etc. to use for our FZ unwanted parts sell off.

Meanwhile I have set about sorting out our Transit van. It's nearing the later portion of it's life so there are loads of jobs to get done.Besides the mechanical side of things which I'd rather pay someone else to do, I am building a new interior and buying a big awning in an attempt to be a bit more organised and comfortable in the evenings.I watched Phil suffer from a few bad nights sleep in the back of the big old bus last season and I'm sure he doesn't want a repeat of all that. I know I don't!

While my van is off the road having all the brakes done (not by me....big grin!), I am using my Yamaha XJR1300 to get to work...glad it's not raining at the moment.

Once the van is done, the XJBUS, as she is affectionately known by us all, is up FOR SALE.

It's with great reluctance, but I can't have all the cake i guess, and I really dislike riding on public roads since i started riding on the track. Here's a pic of her last summer. She needs a darn good clean at the moment and a new set of pads (which are still in their boxes!) and then she'll be sweet again.

Hurry up postman!!

I have not posted for some time, due to nothing much happening.

We are waiting for the rear shock to turn up.

Steve and Sarah Jordan, of Jordan motorcycles,have sorted a shock for us that is a brand new Ohlins unit, with the remote gas bottle we require, fully adjustable and with a built in ride height adjuster which should help us get the shock where it needs to be.

Anyway.... I have been test fitting the tank, fairing, seat unit and belly pan and furiously buying various bits and pieces. Ive spent more time on ebay than in the workshop.

The seat unit is new and is from an OWO1 and the belly pan is new and from an FZR1000.
I found a spare rear wheel and disc, which completes the spare set for wets, so another set of wheels to paint!

I really hope that shock turns up soon. Less than a month left before the CTC tset day at Mallory.

I think I'll be using my RSV for that!

The new additions to the bodywork fit a treat.

Not so sure on the look of the bellypan but it has to stay to act as a catch tray in the event of an oil or water leak.

We agree here that the seat unit is in keeping.

Time is getting short.....i feel a rush coming on.......hurry up postman!!

Im still worrying

Our friendly fabricator turned up yesterday on his lovely new gsxr600,..nice bike Darren!, to take a look at the lardy old girl.
"No problem mucker. We'll just do....bla blah"
Excellent!
The top shock mount needs relocating to where, hopefully, it needs to be.
We know there is a big issue in getting it in the right place, I'm finding it rather worrying but Phil seems to be un-fazed by it and thinks it'll be ok, so I'll stop worrying then.....ahh...Im still worrying.



We think we can use differant length dogbones on the linkage to help get the shock performing it's stroke correctly and also a built in ride height adjuster on the shock would be a great help.

I have be talking to Jordan Motorcycles, near Leatherhead, about sorting the right shock for the job, and I'm hoping we'll have one soon.We are keen to use jordans as they are at all the Thunderbike races, with their race service.

Steve has been scouring e-bay for a decent seat unit and has come up with a nice ow01 unit that looks like it will be suited to the FZ looks and keep her looking like a Yamaha. It's a bit pricey, but we need to get it quick, so Darren can get on with the subframe.The same goes for the shock.
So by the time the subframe and shock are sorted, the valve clearances should be done.
I'm sure i can find time to give the motor a coat of paint to tidy her up and then it should be time to get it back in the frame.
I am due at Mallory park on February the 18th, to do the CTC course (competence to compete),
so time is getting short. I can see the RSV coming out of the shed for that, which should be ok for the course, but, it's only 3 weeks later, and the Thunderbikes first race.......not too confident we'll make it at the moment!
Ok, I'll stop being negative.... smile..

Daylight robbery!

spent the evening painting the wheels and weighing various stuff that has been taken off the bike.....A 22kg loss so far. I can't see too many more areas that we can loose weight so i sat myself on the scales....80 kg....what a fat git! I'm sure when i finally lay my hands on a new push bike I could loose a couple of kilos.

Phil was busy messing with the shims. After a hunt all over the Island motorbike shops, and no luck in finding any new shims, Phil "doctored" the shims himself. We could have ordered some from the local Yam dealer for the sum of £5.60p each!!!!!..... daylight robbery if you ask me!

what ever happened to the old days when you could exchange shims and they were about £1 each!?..

I will find out how Phil got on last night later today when we meet up with our fabricator.

Steve doing what we built the workshop for........ watching bike racing in peace!

The generator gets it!

Great!..... things are moving forward at last!

Phil has taken on the job of doing the valve clearance, and has found all the clearances, too tight.
So we are tracking down some shims.
In the quest for less weight continues and the generator gets it!
While Phil attacked the cams etc, I took on the enormous task of removing the monster.... 3 bolts later,..hard work.... i need a beer!.... the thing was on the floor.
I suspect Phil is thinking "bugger, more bloody work".
He says he can make a cover. I think I'll be buying the beers next season!
Haven't weighed it yet but it's got to be 4 kilos. Less engine resistance should give a small increase on bhp.
Meanwhile, Steve is busy getting various FZ parts ready to sell on the big bay, when he's not dribbling over his new high level cans for his raptor!
Oh and the state the workshop is in already..err, we won't go there, let's just say
we aim to get the neighbouring shed sorted for some more space this weekend.
Almost ready to paint the 3 wheels we have this weekend. Yamaha gold, i feel, is in keeping with the Yamaha racing tradition . It would be nice to keep the colours as an FZ, rather than a christmas tree for at least the first race.
The subframe, and the top shock mount will get an inspection this weekend by Darren,
who i have managed to persuade to help us out.He's a great fabricator and rather busy at the moment so thanks to him for giving us his time.


Parting shot... Stevie misbehaving,...as usual!

Slow motion

Things are a bit slow at the moment, as would be expected at this time of year. i've been scratching about in the workshop while Phil is taking care of several bits and pieces and sorting his Laverda. All i can do for now is clean and polish, mess about and tinker with things.





One job i decided to look at was the height and mounting of the tank. Packing up the front mounts have moved the tank back meaning we have to loose the heavily over weight rear mount assembly.... good!
We intend to try the YZF carbs and air box. The carbs seem like they will do the job but the YZF airbox is slightly taller. Hopefully raising the tank will help. We are going to look at ways of getting more air in the intake.

Coming up with a rear shock is the next major hurdle....finding the money is anyway!
as soon as that happens, we should be able to apply a bit more throttle to the project.
Hopefully this weekend will be productive!.... I'm keen to get moving!