The Hunt for head gaskets:

I might make a pattern from an old one and create my own, looking through various sites the price of one gasket ranges from £60 to £80 an di need 2, The rc24 are about half the price, not sure why the rc36 are so expensive, I might try the home made copper sheet anealed for crushing purposes. will see.

Ive been also smoothing out the casting marks , amazingly i can buy a compl;ete cyclinder head with cams etc for less than a gasket. I useful thing to know is that there is no difference between front and rear heads.

Engine assembly with a broken ankle

 

Bike 2 engine refurb continues

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Been a while but Ive rebuilt the engine from scratch, all parts thoroughly cleaned, new bearing shells, new conrod shells, piston bores are fine, pistons cleaned checked. puttin git all back together. These engines are pretty much bullet proof, wear and tear is not really present, this engine looks like its done only 20k. I ve had it for 14 years in the shed sitting there. VFR rc36 parts are common and still cheap as chips. Ive made a sump pan gasket, I scanned the pan then drew round it and the holes using corel draw, then transfered it to a brother scan and cut machine and cut it out- pretty accurate.

 gearbox cleaned and back in, selector drum fitting in- tricky

not sure about main bearings-so  I might have to spend  £15 per half shell- £120 vat 

Ultrasonics

 

Home made Ultrasonic cleaner with 6 * 50 W transducers!

 

Ultrasonics do the job. I have been cleaning all parts in this. I must make sure to do 15 min stints as the electronics do get hot!

 

This engine hasnt been opened up at all, has a thin layer of solidifed oil settled on most parts. slight rust speckles on the steal cam sprockets and timing/oil pump sprockets, so it means Ill split the whole engine and clean all the parts. I havent really got a time limit, im not intending to get it ready for racing anymore.

Ive completely cleaned the hub from gunk, polished and re greased, bearings were fine. ZX14shock fitted, needed little to fit, -tiny bit of filing on the bottom shock bracket abd the top fixing, the frame needed also filing a touch for the reservoir. Front forks and bearing fitted.
 

NEw life in the VFR- RC36TWIN

 AFter a long time- lots has happened in 7 years since I last update this!

 After selling my trx from my other blog I'm goin gback to the VFR. I have 4 now, 2 RC24 and 2 RC36's, I'm going to start again and with lots of spares create 2 rc36 twins. I'm not sure if anyone reads this stuff anymore, might go to videoing as that seems the place to be...dunno though

I'm going to create a twin, I already have enough bits to do this, I'll get out all the bits at some point and run through.

First thing is I have a spare engine and frame, Learnt lots of lessons from the last RC36 with stuck bolts etc. Removed the engine and frame from my spare which has been sitting in the shed for 10 years. Removed the special adjuster bolts that were seized - a common problem with the lower engine mounting.  Once out I did a general clean, scrape off old muck and then run a angle grinder and fiece brush over it, lots of brake cleaner.

rusted bolts- bit of home electrolysis to de-rust stuff - first test- will create a bigger system later.

Back in the shed

Had some time to sort out the shed, haven't really done this since last year when next doors tree fell through it. Just popped the r1 seat on just t see if I would work. It will need a bit of think, use the sub frame I made but lowered down, or cut part of the original sub frame . Why does honda spend all that money creating an aluminium frame and then putting a nasty steal frame for the rider and passenger.

The photo doesn't really give the proper angle but it is interesting to see how it looks. Much too high so imagine it dropped shout 50mm.

New seat

I have bought 2 seats, one for my Trx and one for the Vfr, this blue r1 2006 model grp is a bit battered but I'll use it for a new rear seat sub frame I will make. The current seat height is far too high which gave me too much load onto my arms, lowering the seat height will solve this. So as you are aware I'm fixing 2 bikes, checkout my other blog, trx850racer, link on page.

Found a start line video of me! pity you cant here the sound of the vfr but the overall noise of everything makes thuderbikes the noisiest!

New Years resolution, to fix both Vfr and trx....Cbr if I can find an aluminium welder!

Its been a long time, just haven't had any time to do anything on the bikes, but this year,I hope to do something, I've got to get the trx working again, then get the Vfr back but both will need a lot of work. I have to sort out the shed to do this. Last year we had some nastily floods and high windy we weren't affected by the floods but the ground water and high winds caused a neighbours copper beach to crash down on my shed! Flattening half of it, missed the bikes but ruined some of my spares.

Back again!...sometime

Well if you've followed my other blogs, the trx850 racer ended up in the tyre wall at Donington bending the front end, having taken a while to recover I've come to the conclusion I still should try and develop the Vfr too...it's only sat in the shed. It's never going to be that fast but sounds a whole lot better than most bikes. I may try and develop this and keep both bikes as race bikes, my first blog cbr640may be a little long way off resurrecting but  I still have my cbr640 FH engine probably the most bullet proof honda engine ever. 

So I've got lots of stuff to do round he house but I'm going to have a rethink about this bike and see what I can do...may take a year or two.

moving on to another project!...for a while

Time to retire the vfr to the shed, its been a good crack but I have a new project in the wings which I think will be more competitive. I havent lost all hope I have a spare engine which i can tinker with, the current engine has cracked exhaust manifold lugs which I cant tighten up so exhausts especially the fronts are leaking gas but this is all on hold now. I have a Trx850 which is so light in comparison, I have an r1 front end to put on and best of all the Nitron race shock from the vfr is a direct swap. The vfr only managed 77 bhp at the back wheel which is about the same as the trx but 30kg heavier! I can tune the trx a little more with less money and also its easier and quicker to pull apart!
So for now check out my new blog on the trx.....link to follow

Possible tweaks for the future

Well doing some research I can get hold of some fireblade 929 pistons they will fit onto the Vfr conrods, same grudgeon pin diameter but need to machine a tad off the piston valve pockets. This will make it 830cc..."a whopping 4m increase in bore size but apparently the 3rd gen Vfr has enough material.

brands report: picture courtesy of zxrdave

thought id better write something, been busy doing the bathroom. I used the friday afternoon Indy circuit to try out the old beast. I got an instructor to give me a few tips, my lines were good just had to be more aggressive overtaking people. I found the ground clearance was much better and could force myself in harder round paddock, druids and onto clearways. my arm left arm started giving me pain, really strange feeling where all my strength vanished, i just couldnt get the bike flipped over to the left on graham hill bend, a combination of bad movement technique, riding position I guess. Anyhow I knackered myself and hammered the bike...not good for the weekends racing but satisfied that 54 seconds around brands was near my target.

Racing weekend used the GP circuit, however I had not got any sprockets to change the gearing so I just left it at 16 front 45 rear. May have been a tad under geared. This was one of my fears along with the lack of power the vfr puts out. It has no real umph to it, I could corner fast, catch up the next rider but as soon as I got along side them it just had no extra push so I was out powered once onto the straights.

My first experience of the gp circuit, getting the lines right is a must so I did watch my entry points and gradually got braver as the races went by. My weekend racing results were a complete disaster as I never really got anywhere. Race 1 interesting crash at druids with 2 riders getting tangled forced me to practically stop and go round the outside of them, messed up, could not get passed an old triumph triple, again I could get him in the corners and would get alongside but just got out-powered, so I spent all the race trying to find a way round...but this guy was an old pro..good battle and improved my lines. I came across a ducati 748 and he was real slow in the corners and he didnt have the bottle to go into clearways as fast as me, a managed to go straight under him and as I levelled out to the start straight the bike just died, didnt cut out, thought it was petrol starvation but how as Id put 6 litres in the tank. My total loss system had consumed the battery...I hadnt put it on charge since the mornings qualification. least a got passed the finish line so I could bag a completed race...another signature to get.

Next race...started really well, more confident and really started harassing riders, got passed a few, even the big TLr1000....(thunderbike extreme class)....but I had a problem...it manifested itself in an instant on lap 2 going into the fast left hander at Hawthorns, I just feathered the brake as I left it late to peel in and the front went into the biggest weave/tank slapping situation....from then  on each time a dabbed the brake the front would shudder violently...it couldnt be warped discs again?...so the places I made soon vanished and came 3rd from last....but I still finished..not a dnf.

Chatting to the vfr guru Rob Whittey we talked about suspension set up and that I really need a K5 suzuki front....soon got onto engine tuning...Rob said you cant tune the standard engine without spending big bucks on high comp pistons.etc......no matter what jetting one uses you will never get more power...its un tuneable..
so...me thinks has the vfr come to an end???

while talking Rob then pointed at the top yoke pinch bolts!......where has the right one gone!!??...oh dear..I couldnt have torqued it up...so its just loosened to the point of coming out....which while the fork leg flexing bent the yoke outwards a little. The question is , is it too damaged?
Sunday I took it a little easier...I thought.
Torqued up...charged battery...race 3 sunday...came last ....mind you there were a lot of fallers, the 3 behind crashed at different points so I WAS EFFECTIVELY LAST!....never mind the yellow flag and 2 passing me...so peed off mid race I just carried on. Had a massive slide at paddock on the penultimate lap, the 748 lost it the next lap where I slid....not sure if Id run out of lean or had I hit the oil that had been dropped earlier .

Last race it was really wet and I ventured out...no wet tyres...came in at the end of the warm up, visor misting up, too much water.....too scary....wimped out.

so Do I continue with the vfr?.....do I go to Snetterton for the last race weekend?

I do want to stay in the sport class for now.I do have another project waiting....a trx850

Do I big bore the vfr?.....a lot of money for a set of pistons....?? should I keep my R1 forks for the trx?..

VFR750F thunderbike Version 2.0

Now only 194kg!...not sure how much petrol is in it, I'll empty it and weigh again.

New fairing idea

The task is to loose this big heavy weight glass fibre fairing. Its too wide still even though I have tried cutting and pulling in but it still would deck out. A few kilos of weight too. I will weigh the bike once I have got the bike back to track ready condition!

So the task is to put something in its place. My initial thoughts were of some kind of bellypan so I dug out the original fairing plastic lower to see what I could do with that and perhaps graft a bellpan onto it.

This could be possible but would take too long, I have to make sure the extra bits cover the rear exhausts....too difficult!

So I went on ebay and bought a honda hornet acu race bellpan. I reckoned that this would do the job as the hornet has an upswept exhaust at the back. Looks a bit ugly, next make some simple brackets which can attach to one of the clutch cover bolts..easy job. 

 

Tried to get a snug fit, will have to layer the bottom of the bellypan with heat reflective tape, the exhausts dont quite touch underneath bt it will still scorch the glass fibre. Ive cut a small curve in the rear of the pan where the exhaust pipe exits the rear. Finally sizing up the top fairing, going to re-mount it with a slight angle pullin git up so it the side edges run along the top of the frame rather than the bottom.

Sold the GSA and have gone back to being sensible.