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Going Racing

Started by The Prophet of Doom, October 15, 2011, 04:39:21 AM

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The Prophet of Doom

My budget for toys (actually for anything) is currently zero.  I'll look at a new spring or a new shock after I get a job - or if anyone has a good 83 or aftermarket shock to trade, tell me what parts you need in exchange.

I really like the look of the R1 shock for my bike with its joined on canister and I can't really tell how bad it will be without an engine etc installed.  I've cranked up the pre-load and will leave it in place for the time being.  It's an easy 5 minute swap out if it sucks and I'll have the 82 shock prettied up just in case.

Meanwhile the springs on both shocks will have to become ORANGE.

Rick G

KB those old XL250's had ball bearing mains and needle bearing rod , They are very tolerant of low/no oil!
Rick G
Go soothingly on the grease mud, as there in lurks the skid demon
'82.5 Yamaha XZ550 RJ  Vision,
'90 Suzuki VX800, 1990 Suzuki DR350.
'74  XL350   Honda , 77 XL350 Honda, 78 XL350 Honda, '82 XT 200 Yamaha, '67 Yamaha YG1TK, 80cc trail bike

kiwibum

Quote from: Rick G on July 03, 2013, 02:04:01 AM
KB those old XL250's had ball bearing mains and needle bearing rod , They are very tolerant of low/no oil!
Yes, shame they didn't make the cam as bullet proof because it just ran direct on aluminium from what I remember and was very intolerant of low/no oil. I bought the bike in bits from a  guy who had stripped the motor, found the camshaft guides were worn out causing his problems and couldn't afford the new head to make it all work again. I had a friend put it in a mill and fit bronze shells for the cam to run in, making a cheap fix and meant it would last longer. Just as well due to it's first start on an empty crank case, luckily everything had been smothered with oil on assembly.

Rohan. Apologies for hijacking your race thread. Now back to your normal program. Zip ties and cardboard make great "preflight tags". Also if you are really frugal (as I am) you can easily reuse zip ties by using a small flat blade screw driver to lift the little latching tang so you can pull the tie back out again. :)

The Prophet of Doom

Thinking about it I think I still have a stash of toe tags still from when I did search and rescue,  They have a  string, and a handy little evidence envelope I could use for keeping the required split pins etc that I'm not quite ready to insert

Name of deceased: XZ550
Blood Type: Castrol Power 1 GPS 4T 10W-40
Cause of death: 10 years of neglect

Rick G

Kiwi , the  hotrod type here still have needle bearing conversions for XL \s , cams too!
Rick G
Go soothingly on the grease mud, as there in lurks the skid demon
'82.5 Yamaha XZ550 RJ  Vision,
'90 Suzuki VX800, 1990 Suzuki DR350.
'74  XL350   Honda , 77 XL350 Honda, 78 XL350 Honda, '82 XT 200 Yamaha, '67 Yamaha YG1TK, 80cc trail bike

The Prophet of Doom

A while ago I posted that I got a single LED volt meter (Tri-colour)from http://www.sparkbright.co.uk/

Pretty cool but I was not loving the LED look together with my gauges.
Got a clear jeweled bezel off ebay for about $5, drilled out the bulb mounting stuff and it fits right in without any further mods.  The unit is already waterproof so it's ready to go as soon as I get the dash built.






The Prophet of Doom

Remember discussions the other day on Tigs thread about the temperature meter, that this is just a volt meter too ?  I realised with a second volt meter like this one re-calibrated I could easily have two panel lights - one for volts, one for temp.  Double cool.  For accurate temperature readings (like on the US83/R16 models), it would need regulated voltage but that's no really huge deal.

I contacted Andrew at Sparkbright about getting one programmed with different voltage thresholds - he is pretty responsive.  Turns out that their volt meter has a built in regulator and they should be able to make me a temperature measuring version of this without too much hassle - We still have to have discussions about thresholds etc. and they can't get to it till the end of August.  That's OK it will probably still be raining in a month.

Rick G

I was puzzled for a min. then I remembered that you are on the bottom of the world and your seasons are reversed. I'd love to send you a box of our 113 deg. F. weather.
Rick G
Go soothingly on the grease mud, as there in lurks the skid demon
'82.5 Yamaha XZ550 RJ  Vision,
'90 Suzuki VX800, 1990 Suzuki DR350.
'74  XL350   Honda , 77 XL350 Honda, 78 XL350 Honda, '82 XT 200 Yamaha, '67 Yamaha YG1TK, 80cc trail bike

The Prophet of Doom

Thanks Rick it must have worked it was a lovely day here today.  For a change.

pinholenz

Yeah, and the earthquakes were kind enough to leave you alone in Christchurch and shift their focus to Wellington. Good day all round. Thanks Rick.
Only one '82.5  eXtreme Zen 550

The Prophet of Doom

#190
I'm stalled for a week or so on my big-arse brake mod as the shop where I buy metal is out of 10mm plate.

Anyone who has put a 7" headlight on their bike with stock brackets would notice that it hits the plastic emblem thingy.
I cut the seams of the bracket with a hacksaw, and then MIGed the ears back on 20mm higher.  I couldn't do this if I was keeping stock gauges, but I'm not so I can.  My welding sucks so a fair bit of grinding was needed to make it smoothish

A quick wire brush and a powder coat (I love the ability to powder coat at home) and it's back together - but no longer touching the plastic emblem below.  I like the headlight a bit higher - I think it makes the bars stick up less visually and pulls it backwards a little.

The downside is that there is no longer any room for the airhorn behind the headlight.  I need a new secret place for it.

The Prophet of Doom

#191
I was just looking at the pic above and noticed that it had an asymetric lens pattern.  I can't power it up at the moment as I don't have a LiFe charger.
Does anyone know if that will throw a left hand drive or right hand drive pattern? I have a horrid feeling this is for the crazy US driving on the wrong side of the road and will fail inspection.

[EDIT]
I stole my concubine's battery out of her car over the weekend.  The headlamp does indeed kick upwards to the left, so that's all good.  No replacement necessary.

kiwibum

You should be able to flip it 180 if it's right hand orientated rather than left hand? I'm not sure but I think it's only car headlights that have the beam oriented for the side of the road.

Disconnect your LiFe battery and use jumper leads from your car battery to put power on the bike to test it.

The Prophet of Doom

Quote from: kiwibum on July 31, 2013, 06:15:54 AM
You should be able to flip it 180 if it's right hand orientated rather than left hand? I'm not sure but I think it's only car headlights that have the beam oriented for the side of the road.

Disconnect your LiFe battery and use jumper leads from your car battery to put power on the bike to test it.
I cleverly did that, actually it's rotated in the pic, but rotating 180 degrees leaves the pattern the same.
I'll have to pull my concubine's battery in the weekend.  Don't want to use my posh one.  I was just hoping someone would know, and save me a bit of hassle and a few dirty looks.

By the way the LED headlight earlier in this thread is for sale.  I liked it, it's brighter and better but I prefer the larger 7" sizing.  I'll be on the lookout for a true 7" LED that will fit in this bucket I think

Rikugun

I was unaware there was a bias left or right built into the lens - I would have thought aiming was responsible for that? I have seen "TOP" indicated so I'm guessing it's important in that orientation.  :)  ???

Does it have any SAE or DOT markings on it? Where did you source it from?
It is far better to grasp the universe as it really is then to persist in delusion, however satisfying or reassuring.  Carl Sagan

The Prophet of Doom

If you look at it carefully, you'll see an angle that goes up to the left and down to the right.  I'm not sure how that translates when taking the reflector into consideration.  I guess I'll have to try it out.

Many bike headlights are asymetric, and it's kind of a big deal here with the testing people since it's one of the few things they are bright enough to test.  It screws up a lot of people importing from Europe and the US and for bikes like modern GSXs and BMWs with projector headlights it can mean $1000+ extra to get a new lens - if indeed they are available.

Mine is from Taiwan, which is a LHD country, but that's no guarantee of anything as they manufacture for worldwide markets.  There are no standards markings on it.

kiwibum

Quote from: roro on July 31, 2013, 09:57:54 AM
...  There are no standards markings on it.

Your just as likely to have trouble with the WOF inspector because it has "no standards markings on it". Or maybe it is only on the first check for road certification (when bike gets registered if it was de-registered) they look to ensure all light lenses have standards approval marks. If the registration is on hold and it's just a normal Warrant of Fitness they probably wont worry about it.

The Prophet of Doom

I stole my concubine's battery out of her car over the weekend.  The headlamp does indeed kick upwards to the left, so that's all good.  No replacement necessary, but yes the WOF guys are always bleating on about standards markings.  They are a pain the arse.

I drilled my headlight for my new Multi-colour LED idiot lights.   I figure I can get away with just the 3 - all clear for the RGB LEDs I'm using.  Looks a bit like a Darlek, but should be OK one the Speedo and Rev are mounted

LED 1 = Volt meter
LED 2 = Water Temperature
LED 3 = Normal idiot lights - if more than one applies at once then cycle through them.

Thinking about a Macchina Arduino to do the logging, run the displays/LEDs etc.  Pricey but the built in EMF suppression, protection and CAN bus may make it cheaper in the long run

pinholenz

Hmm. Are you still going with the very sexy speedo and tacho dials?

Off topic, I had my job "dis-established" this week.  Last payday at Christmas. What joy. More time to potter on the bike? Yeah right!
Only one '82.5  eXtreme Zen 550

The Prophet of Doom

Sucks that's both of us out of a job, and Iain.  Good luck finding a replacement.  I'll be bankrupt if I don't get one by Christmas and the bike will get sold by the bank :-(

As is always the way with mods - every change buggers up something else.  When I raised the headlight to clear the horn badge properly it reduced the room available and the DCC gauges look horrible without some breathing room.  I'm also not that keen on their bottom mount design.  My DIY mount bracket was cool, but not ice cold.- I was already considering expensive gauge cups etc and a more traditional Triumph style dash. 

My new cunning plan is to keep the tach, (but re-illuminated red) mounted off-centre and then to use a tiny digital speedo readout where the idiot lights normally go.  Should look pretty good.  Images will follow.