Slow Monster rebuild

[350TSS]

As a bit of light relief from rubbing down I made a lubricant feed for my lathe out of a stout polythene chemical container, a petrol tap and some M900 carb overflow pipe that had become hard with age. I put the pipe in front of the fan heater for 10 minutes uncoiled it and forced it over the tap outlet. When it cooled down it became semi rigid again. I will need a flexible means of accurately directing the lubricant flow and a wire coat hanger is probably the answer.
The tank is contained on the shelf by a section of old bicycle inner tube.



P.S does anyone know whether an Alternator from a 916 would fit an M900? Does the rotor fit the crank and will the windings fit in the alternator case?

[utopia]

Unfortunately, your chuck key will now always be oily.
But your rubber band looks long enough to cope with repositioning.

[Mr Gazza]

Originally Posted by 350TSS

4. Ply wood is about the worst material for the skeleton because when you break through it is difficult to shape edge on. I used ply because I had loads of offcuts cluttering up my garage. MDF would be better and others have suggested balsa wood but I have no idea where to obtain any locally.

10. The grades of wet and dry you buy in bulk will not accord with what you actually need to do the job. 180 and 240 grade gets far more use than 600 800 and 1000 grade.

Use 6mm Depron for the skeleton. It can be accurately cut to any shape with a scalpel and hot-glued together.
Available from good model shops along with balsa and lightweight woven glass cloth.

Shape the foam blocks with a bandsaw or circular saw against a fence, to start with accurately sized and square cornered blocks. A hot wire cutter can be used too.

Stick some 80 grit and 100 grit to some mdf or ply offcuts with spray mount, to make some giant emery boards. You can do the same with bits of broom handle and other shapes.
These will make it easier to shape the foam. Don't bother with anything finer on the raw foam.. Just get the shape true and don't worry about plucks, holes, or the general finish.

Once the shape is good, lay over a single layer of glass cloth (18gms/m2 rings a bell?).
Then the filling can start. Only tiny amounts of filler should be needed, either knifing stopper or lightweight filler like One Strike, One Fill or Fill Once... I20 grade or 240 paper is good for that.
Once fair, apply a resin coat and get down through the grades to achieve a glossy surface.

[Dukedesmo]

Originally Posted by 350TSS

P.S does anyone know whether an Alternator from a 916 would fit an M900? Does the rotor fit the crank and will the windings fit in the alternator case?

I've got both bikes and have had them both apart (although not at the same time) and I believe the rotor is the same part. In which case I would think the windings are probably also the same but can't be 100% sure?

[350TSS]

I was trying to start a new thread and cannot find anywhere the "new thread" button, suggestions / help please

[utopia]

Click on "uk monster owners' club forum" at the top left of this page.
Select the particular (sub) forum that you require.
The "new thread" option will appear, top left.

[Darkness]

Click on the 'UK Monster Owners Club Forum' linkey in the address, then choose the category you want (Open it) and you should find a 'New Thread' button at top left. Simples. Snap! You beat me to it Utopia.

[350TSS]

About a month ago my 6 year-old Machine Mart digital vernier caliper started behaving badly, not re-setting to zero, showing random readings. I changed the battery but the problem persisted.
A new vernier caliper arrived today (£10.56 on flea bay and seemingly better quality than the MM version) and I was able to measure the old M900 and the S4 forks. My original M900 forks were 50mm top yoke and 54mm bottom yoke and the forks I acquired with the S4 (not necessarily S4 forks) are exactly the same. Good news as no boring of yokes required and the clip ons I bought earlier in the project will fit. I will now send the forks away to either KTech or Maxton for new cartridges/springs and a refurb.
The things I have not yet started and have to design and make are:
1. Mold for Instrument nacelle Mk 2
2. Headlamp brackets (with the clip ons now fitted and with the existing attachment locations I have this is probably easier to make in 3mm folded aluminium)
3. Rear brake caliper hanger, my original thought was to machine some top hat spacers to fit the rear wheel spindle and have a bronze bush between the top hat spacers and another machined part that bolted to a 10mm plate that held the caliper and the rose joint for the parallelogram linkage. The S4 rear brake hanger however seems to be narrower than the M900 one and this would only allow me a bronze bush 14mm wide, allowing enough meat on the “brims” of the top hat bushes (3mm). Such a narrow bronze bush would mean potential for lateral twist of the whole assembly including the caliper and disc and pad. Not at all desirable.
I am now favouring a double row ball bearing which I can get in the correct width. This has two advantages, one my machining ability is not so heavily tested and two the bearings can be sealed. The disadvantage is weight of the bearing assembly itself and the outer size of the bearing will necessitate a much bigger housing , so more weight.
The other consideration is that I have yet to acquire the CF wheels so I do not at present know the size of the RH wheel bearing boss on the wheel itself.
Utopia - could you possibly send me some pictures of the your Dymag wheel showing the bearing boss size on the wheel and the relationship to the caliper mounting assembly?

[350TSS]

PS thanks for the new post button info

[350TSS]

Been a while since I last posted, garage time has been restricted for last couple of weeks. I think I have fallen about a month behind my schedule in terms of actual work completed.
I am trying to get to a position where I can spray the primer resin onto all the molds (there are now 15 separate molds) in a large batch a) to save having to rub out all the brush marks b) so I can mix the resin in larger batches and save wastage and c) so that the set up time is reduced, pre-cleaning, vacuuming of the garage. A lot of rubbing down has taken place over the past few weeks but it does not look like real progress, it certainly would not show up on photographs.
I did however manage to order the ignition system from New Zealand, (see bottom of page 16), an eye watering £412. I will post pictures when it arrives.
It looks like my 2nd hand Manx Norton coil will be a non-starter so I will have to either re-use the originals (very possibly what will actually happen) or investigate smaller/higher output alternatives.
Maxton have been contacted re new cartridges (£510) and rebuild (£145) another £655 plus the dreaded 20% VAT. (K Tech do not appear to list anything that fits on their website that fits S4 forks so Maxton it will have to be).
This above price is for a new style (SD25) cartridge without external pre-load adjustment (pre- load can be done with spacers between the spring and the fork caps). The one with external pre-load adjustment would be another £140 on top. After all the work I have done the bike will be a keeper, only I will ever ride it (without a pillion) so I can live with a bit of buggering about with spacers and thereafter it will be set for the remainder of its life (and mine?). Fork legs will be couriered off as soon as I have cleaned and polished the fork bottoms.
Yesterday I knocked up some headlamp brackets in recycled road sign aluminium. The holes for mounting the headlamp shell itself will wait until I have a fly screen manufactured as this will give me a small latitude for up and down and fore and aft adjustment.

[350TSS]

[350TSS]

Sorry for blank spaces pictures on post image not loading to web site???????????

[utopia]

Pics are there now, for me at least.

I can find no reference to SD25 cartridges on the Maxton site (only GP20 and GP30).
Are these too new to be there yet, I wonder ?
My interest arises from the likelyhood that I will have Maxton convert my own monster forks in due course (same type as yours).
I haven't spoken to them yet but I was erring towards the top-of-the-range GP30 cartridges ... if they will fit inside my 50/54mm legs.
But perhaps they won't, hence the SD25s ....?

I'm with you on the preload adjustment.
If the correct springs are chosen in the first place, it should be easy enough to set the preload to the required amount (ie correct sag) by using simple spacers and there should be little if any need to fiddle with this thereafter (though this is still possible using different spacers).
Not having preload adjusters gives more clearance for the fork tops to the bars (in my case flats), as well as cleaning up the lines.
On the other hand damping adjustment seems to me to be both more difficult to predict/set initially and also more likely to require a tweek or two later on.

[350TSS]

Pictures not with me yet but I am sure they will turn up. Thanks
SD25 are not yet on website I am likely to be one of the first customers. My contact was via e mail when I could not find out whether GP20 and GP 30 were available for 50/54 Showas - they suggested the SD 25s. Agreed on the damping adjustment which is possible from the fork tops.

[350TSS]

Today I worked out how to attach the head lamp lens and chrome ring to the head lamp shell. Basically, I will mold some carbon fibre into a ring that will be bonded into the open face of the shell which should a) stiffen the shell and b) provide somewhere hidden to attach clips to screw the chrome ring to. The CF ring will have a channel cross sectional shape to provide a) a wider bonding surface to the shell and b) a bit of further rigidity to the finished product.
Cutting two concentric circles in 9mm ply wood with a jigsaw took a bit of time, not so much the cutting but the filing and shaping, the outer edge of the ring will need to be a reasonably snug fit into the headlamp shell and the hole through the middle obviously has to accommodate the conical lens itself.