Slow Monster rebuild

[Flip]

Oh forgot to ask- do you have a Bultaco....race it?

[Dukedesmo]

Originally Posted by 350TSS

It is not possible to machine massive amounts off the early Monster flywheel because of the need to maintain the ignition pick up positions on the flywheel.

No but you can get a very light replacement from Nichols in the USA.

Like this;



Don't remember exactly how much it weighs but as it's made from ally, it's not much.

+1 for Mark at MADASL and great build thread, I'll be following.

[350TSS]

"Oh forgot to ask- do you have a Bultaco....race it?"

Used to in 1972/3 best bike I ever owned/raced, bought for £350, not very fast top speed compared to TR2s, TZ350s and lousy brakes that would not pass MOT after about 3 applications but handled and was generally reliable and really fast between about 70mph and 110mph.
39 starts that season, 6 crashes, 2 DNFs one holed piston my fault wrong plug left in and one seizure whilst leading at Brands, 19 x 2nd places never lower than 6th remainder. sold it for £350 at end of season.
Wish I could find it now to buy it back

[350TSS]

Duke desmo
Nichols flywheel was considered but perhaps too light for road bike and more money than I wanted to spend at £180.95 + postage = £192 plus customs duties (unknown), also mass not specified on website. If I was doing BOTT then an almost definite yes, but up and down Shipbourne Road and round UK A and B roads?????

[350TSS]

I treated the clutch casing which has now been lightened (with a drill and a file) to 20 minutes in the sand blaster. The black stains inside where the drum fits did not come out with the first pass with the blaster. This case and the alternator case will be treated to 2 cycles in the dishwasher when SWMBO is next out of the house. I intend to paint the whole engine and the sand blasted finish should give a good key for the first coat of etch primer. The painting will have to wait until the weather is warmer and there is less moisture in the atmosphere. Also with all the sanding and rubbing down of moulds the garage has a 0.010" film of filler over every single surface so this will have to be vacuumed up before I go near the paint gun.

images upload

I used kiln dried bedding sand instead of the sand blasting medium sold by Machine Mart as at £4.75 for 25kg it is 20% of the price of the proper stuff. I tried masking tape on the bearings but the sand gets everywhere and the bearing (which I would have replaced anyway) is now completely clogged.

[350TSS]

Continuing the lightening theme, I decided to make a CF instrument nacelle and headlight support bracket. The speedo and rev counter will fit into the wells formed in the mould with a rubber liner and with a clear ABS sheet fixed to the top surface. The headlight support bracket will fix by 2 x 6mm mush head cap screws to the top yoke where the indicator mounts are currently and will support the instrument nacelle and will be attached by the same 5mm mush head socket cap screws that fix the ABS sheet to the nacelle. at the lower fork yoke the two bolt holes used to secure the current headlight U bracket will attach to a cross piece between the two CF headlight supports. I have not yet decided whether to make a CF headlight shell, the attachment of the rim looks tricky to mould successfully.
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uploading images

[350TSS]

Progress has stalled in the last month, the garage is too cold and the atmosphere is too damp just now to consider applying resin to the moulds already made.
I could continue with the strip down of the bike as a whole but I really want to dry build it first with all the new components before I think about painting frames and rebuilding and re-painting engines which means that it is better to be patient and get the new components finished first. This is not in my nature at all.
I have been thinking a lot about the production process of producing the carbon fibre parts. When the resin and hardener are mixed you have about 20 to 30 minutes working time before the resin becomes gloopy and unusable which usually means mixing lots of small batches of resin.
If you apply the resin by brush it can take a good 10 minutes to cover an item the size of the rear hugger and you always get a striated finish from the brush which requires rubbing down. The rub down is usually quite extensive and frequently causes a breakthrough to the layer beneath. So about 50% of the resin applied ends up being converted to dust.
Also it is virtually impossible to accurately estimate the volume of resin mix required to cover the mould (although experience helps in guesstimating). Too much and you watch the quite expensive materials go jelly like in the mixing jar and worse is if you mix too little and try to spread it really thinly and it goes jelly like whilst on the job.
The answer, I think, is to prepare lots of components to cover and mix a reasonable quantity and then spray the resin. This should cut down considerably on the rubbing down. If I mix too much a second wet coat can be applied to those items already covered with a first spray. You should also never mix too little as you will only get to cover what the spray gun will deliver the resin to.
There are a number of problems with spraying though:
ELF and SAFETY - I will need a very good quality face mask to prevent my lungs becoming inelastic and to prevent my eyes glazing over completely. Now on order
Ventilation - I will need a means of removing the poisonous/carcinogenic fumes from the spray area. An old Dyson vacuum cleaner is being lined up but no design for the extractor hood or ductwork has yet been thought about
Temperature and moisture control - to ensure consistent curing time and to eliminate the possibility of the resin "blooming" if ambient humidity is high. A fan heater is obviously no good as it will just distribute dust, a paraffin heater will just distribute oily smuts not consistent with good resin or paint finishes, so electric convection heating is required. As you probably know by now I never, ever throw anything away and at the top of the loft in the garage are some old (very old, equipped with 3 pin round plugs, remember them?) convection heaters taken from the house refurbishment I will see if I can press them into service.
Dust control - my garage door faces North and even though I have lots of fluorescents and the walls are painted white I can only see well if the front garage door is open, I live near a wood and a large number of leaves blow in every time I open the garage door. Also, the past months efforts at producing moulds have left a 0.010" layer of filler dust on every surface. - The solution is to provide a tent within the garage, large enough to spray multiple components, demountable so I can have my floor space back when I have finished spraying, fed by my compressor air main and sealed relatively well against ingress of dust/leaves and self contained enough so that I am not heating the whole of west Kent.
Getting the right viscosity for spraying and cleaning the spray equipment after use - I do not know the answer to this, it will be a case of bulk deliveries of acetone to both thin the resin for spraying and for cleaning the spray gun before the resin solidifies it useless - just suck it and see?

#55

I am very impressed with your attention to detail and dedication, this looks like an amazing project. My M750 is nearly ready to ride after 2 years of rebuilding, it took so long due to lack of free time but it's my pride in joy. I haven't gone to the extent that you have but it is inspiring me to do more after summer is over.

Nice work and good luck.

[Flip]

Originally Posted by AshM750

I am very impressed with your attention to detail and dedication, this looks like an amazing project. My M750 is nearly ready to ride after 2 years of rebuilding, it took so long due to lack of free time but it's my pride in joy. I haven't gone to the extent that you have but it is inspiring me to do more after summer is over.

Nice work and good luck.

Yes second all that- this is a fantastic thread!!

As for inspiration to do more- I think most owners of the older bikes will nearly always consider them to be 'work in progress' to some degree.

Bet you can't wait to get yours back on the road after two years!!

I am desperate Flip especially after your great recommendation to use Maxton Suspension, they are so well built.

Anyway back to 350TSS and the monster rebuild, this one is gona be a good one.

[350TSS]

I am going to have to buy a new rear shock as the old one is shagged, I have heard good things about Maxton and Hagon which do our readers recommend?

[jonzi]

I have a hagon on my race bike, but I was a newbie and knew nothing and just bought as some one suggested.

I think that Hagon is a decent budget brand, where as Maxton is much more premium.

The Hagon has been alright on a race bike though.

[Darren69]

Depends on you budget really. You've got Hagon and Hyperpro at the budget end then Nitron/Wilbers offer their budget spec shocks sort of in the middle then the likes of Maxton and Ohlins etc at the £600 -1000 top end. Nitron, Wilbers and Maxton and others offer higher spec versions with custom setups which can push the price up to nearly that.

I can only comment on the Ohlins really which made a big improvement to mine, but I didn't pay full price for it, so it probably wouldn't have been such good value in terms of improvement if I had done.

I don't know if this is of interest, it seems a reasonable budget option?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Wilbers-54...kAAOSwVFlUG-uU

[Flip]

I have no experience of either as a monoshock (my old race bike originally had Hagons on when I bought it though) but I really can't recommend Nitron shocks enough- I've had mine on my 900 for eleven years now and it looks as good as new after having it serviced- they even corrected a little design fault and fitted a new top free of charge so their customer service is about as good as it gets too. They'll even fit a black spring if you don't like their trademark turquoise, with all springs fitted to match your weight etc. of course.

http://www.nitron.co.uk/catalogue_it...1&prodID=73986

Before the service:


Measuring Pre-Load:


Fully serviced and looking new after eleven years:


I am also a big Maxton fan and have their internal GP20 conversion on my Monster and on my little race bike along with a pair of their shocks on the rear. Again customer service and quality is exemplary but they can get very busy before and during the race season due to so many people using them which I am sure you are aware of.

The race bike's rear:


Obviously there are the makes already mentioned and well known to be of good quality with reflecting prices but another budget option could be YSS perhaps but again I have no experience of them but details can be found here:

http://www.wemoto.com/bikes/ducati/m...ies_monoshock/

One thing that I have noticed though is that the YSS one has holes in the pre-load adjusting ring (the same as Nitron and Maxton- not sure about the other makes) meaning that with the very limited access to the top of the shock when fitted makes adjustment a lot easier than a 'C' spanner which the Hagon uses.

Also the Hagon has a stainless body and the YSS looks to be anodised Aluminium so I guess you pays ya money and takes ya choices.

If it were my cash I'd have no hesitation in choosing Nitron again though.

[350TSS]

Thanks guys, a bit to ponder on but I think plenty of time before the cash has to leave the wallet