Slow Monster rebuild

[350TSS]

I made the polypropylene skirts for the air scoop moulds and nearly finished the hugger mould skirt today and I finished the modification to the battery tray (see above). I had intended to lay up CF for the replacement infill panels and first pass at the belt covers but did not get time for it. The belt covers will almost certainly fail because of the convoluted shape and the near right angle transitions between the outward face and the part that covers the belt itself. Not really sure what to do if they do fail as the original covers were sacrificed in making the mould - I might just have to buy some.
Suffering from insomnia last night I had a look at my ETTC plan and in summary I need another 270 hours to complete the bike (if all goes to plan which it never does), with 127 hours still required to finish the CF stuff, 48 on painting, 45 hours on the engine, 20 on residual wiring stuff with the balance being odds and sods. These are all wildly optimistic estimates obviously.
Unfortunately, all the CF stuff has to be done first (I am getting bored with it - as I am sure you are) as the errant CF strands and the dust from filler will all have to be vacuumed up before the engine internals are uncovered.
Once the engine is done then the frame can be bolted on and I am sure progress from then on will be very rapid.

[350TSS]

I had a full day yesterday and made good progress but only managed an hour in the garage today and after a bit of a struggle separated my re-made CF infill panels and headlamp bowl from their modified moulds.
I separated them after only one lamination of CF and very glad I did as it would have been impossible if the CF had been any less flexible. A wooden lolly stick proved very useful in separating the headlamp bowl from its mould, just thick and stiff enough to push between the CF and the mould without damaging the component or the mould
The results were better than first time round but not in any way outstanding, the good news is they are repairable but they will have to be filled and painted.
The ignitech enclosure is now finished in satin black and is a firm push fit into the triangular space behind and below the headstock. It clicks satisfyingly into place without the need for any fasteners. The battery box has been further tweaked and with the addition of some rubber moulding should seal the ignitech enclosure from above. I have yet to work out the exact cable harness route out of the box and where to put any rubber grommets.
ETTC now 256 hours

[350TSS]

That last one was a devil of a post

[350TSS]

Yesterday’s efforts, does not look too bad from this side:
gas stations open 24 hours

But this side shows why it will have to be painted.


I spent today putting more 2 more laminations on each of the above and the first lamination on the belt covers, also preparing the hugger and air scoop moulds with wax and release agent.

[350TSS]

Filthy weather kept me from repairing the mower today, one of the overlapping contra rotating blades got stopped by a random bit of nylon rope the other blade continued to rotate, smashing the first blade but not before it tore both bearing housings clean out of the deck – Honda want £1200 + VAT for a complete new deck assembly.
Nothing for it I had to spend the day in the garage. Good progress was made, first I trimmed the headlamp shell then bonded in the ring on the front face which will hold a clip and a bracket with a captive nut to screw the chrome bezel to.
Then I spent an hour separating the belt covers from the mould and as I feared they were not aesthetically pleasing, they are repairable but will have to be painted. I decided to try repairing them from the inside, by removing any milky areas with a Dremel 12mm drum sander then taping up the offending area/hole with the resin resistant tape from the outside and back filling with another lamination of carbon fibre. Worth a try.
closest lloyds bank to me


The hugger got its first lamination of CF as did the first of the air scoops, after that the fumes in the closed garage started to get to me so called it a day.
where is the nearest diesel gas station
The ETTC is now below 250 hours (just).

[350TSS]

The internal repair of the belt covers was a bit of a disaster, a good proportion of the resin used to repair from the inside seeped past the tape and glued the covers to the bench. They took a bit of removing as I had left them under the halogen floodlights to cure and it had properly gone off. The dilemma was then 1) carry on repairing (estimate 6 hours and a very good prospect that they would end up looking naff) or 2) re-make them from scratch (probably about 4 hours but knowing full well that wet laying from my mould was very unlikely to produce a half decent result). So I went onto fleabay and bought some (and a sprocket cover with a similarly problematic mould). I felt a bit bad about it as buying ready-made stuff was not really part of the ethos of this build, but sometimes you have to just bow to the inevitable.
Next I cut the hole in the tank base to accept the petrol tap boss and bonded it in, it was the only place it would fit and I am a bit worried that I may not be able to turn the tap to the reserve position as it may foul the frame tube. Not insuperable but annoying if it does. I twisted some masking tape to put through the two holes where the normal and reserve pipes project into the tank. The resin got to these and they will now have to be drilled out, but I will leave this until after the base has had a layer of ethanol resistant resin just before bonding it to the tank top surface.

[350TSS]

The headlamp shell is now complete except for bonding the captive nuts inside and on a like for like basis the shell alone is 131g lighter than the original steel one.
Making fixings for the chrome bezel to the rim took a lot longer than planned. I settled on a 4mm mushroom head cap screw to engage in the notch in the bezel at the top and a 6mm aluminium plate drilled and tapped 5mm to take the bolt at the bottom. It was good way to do it but the execution was rather ruined when drilling the CF shell to attach the plate the drill walked about 4mm, it is adequately secured but it just looks a bit bodged.
Other than that CF work continues all the air-scoops have now one CF lamination, as does the seat base, the hugger has two. Making the larger components is infinitely preferable to laying up the CF on the smaller intricate ones, touch wood the hugger and the seat base do not come out too cosmetically challenged.


The re-made infill panels and the ignitech enclosure are completed and trimmed to fit in their designated locations, they are currently painted satin black but this is subject to change.


Finally, I jury rigged the headlamp supports and the support plate for my swivelling loom connector plate.


ETTC now down to 236 hours

[350TSS]

Had an overall good day and even though some of the results mean more work there was tangible evidence of progress.
The hugger came out of the mould and, whilst needing some repair and ultimately painting, it is OK.
It only weighs 273g, it has been made with 2 laminations and may need another. I never weighed the original but my guess would be around 600g. I might try to amend the shape a little when I trim it finally as the original is a little bulbous looking, the only problem with that is the full semi-circular shape does give the top of the arch over the tyre some rigidity.



The seat came out nearly perfect but with three small blemishes on the exposed hump bit, it will also need repair and painting. My originally planned paint scheme will have to be amended as the exposure of “perfect” carbon fibre will not be possible. The seat has had only three laminations and definitely needs at least one more.


The air scoops also came out OK (one nearly perfect, 2 x OK and one needing a fair amount of repair).

[350TSS]

Nothing photogenic happened these last couple of days, but progress was made. The hugger got one more CF lamination and, around the lower attachment points a further layer. The first two fill and rub down cycles were undertaken with probably another two before it is ready for primer.
The air scoops also had 2 fill and rub down cycles with possibly just one more before they are also ready for primer.
I resurrected my first failed infill panel with a couple of fill and rub down cycles. I have done this because I have no idea whether or not my swivelling wiring loom connector plate will work. As designed the loom will pass through the infill panel then through a rubber fork gaiter and the 5 way AMP connectors will be attached to the rotating plate with the axis of the connectors vertically down the line of the headstock.
When the steering is turned to the left the plate with the connectors attached will swivel clockwise hopefully virtually eliminating any stress on the wiring passing round the headstock. The other side of the connectors will have sufficient free loom to accommodate this swivelling for the various sub looms to the instruments, the left and right hand switch gear, the headlamp/indicators etc. If this does not work the loom will have to be re-routed close to the headstock and a different hole will have to be cut in the resurrected infill panel.

[350TSS]

The seat base also got 2 additional CF laminations and additional CF along the vertical sides of the base itself. I plan to use the design for the attachment of the original seat, namely, at the front, a fork that engages with the transverse bridge across the frame and a sprung fore and aft latch at the rear of the seat. A key element of this design is that the seat base has to have the fork engaged and then pressed down onto shaped pads that sit on the frame rails so the latch at the rear engages and has enough tension to prevent disengagement or the seat base wobbling loose.

For this to work on my CF seat base and for it to sit “right” on the frame both aesthetically and ergonomically (I am 6’ and want the seat pad to sit as high as possible so my arthritic knees are not at too acute an angle with the balls of my feet on the rear set foot rests) I have to determine quite precisely the following:
a) The height above the lower edge of the seat base of the top of the fork that engages with the frame bridge
b) The distance between the latch pin at the rear and any “stop” that prevents the fork at the front of the seat base moving further forward
c) The height above the lower edge of the seat base and the bottom of the rear latch pin and its lateral positioning relative to the shape of the seat hump
d) The required positioning of the pads, fore and aft and vertically of the 4 x pads to be bonded into the seat base that rest on the frame rails, there is a lateral component here as well otherwise the seat base will not sit square on the frame rails.

There are three complications, first is that the front 150mm of the seat base is not flat and slopes upward towards the petrol tank which means that my front fork which can only be attached to the underside of the sloping seat base has to be quite accurately positioned fore and aft.

The second is that the very rear portion of the truncated frame rises at an angle of c 35 degrees from the horizontal but the rearmost 35mm is bent to fall from the horizontal by about 15 degrees. I had always intended that the seat base would sit on the frame rails so that the base would rise at say 30 degrees with the rear most portion of the frame being mostly covered by the lower edge of the seat hump.
The third is that I extended the front of the seat base by about 50mm to give a bit more room between the rear of the tank and the base of the seat hump and I do not know how long the seat base should be so that the hump does not look disconnected and looks “right”. It is one of those areas where form and function have to be integrated, if it does not look right then it is not right.

Sorry for such a long and complicated explanation but I find that writing it down helps me to resolve the issue. I now know I cannot start to fit the seat until the petrol tank is finished, the rearmost edge of the tank finishes in a downward arc and the front of the seat base will have to follow that arc. The length of the seat base can then be determined such that the hump is not too close to the tank or alternatively hanging out in the breeze. At that point I can determine my datum for all subsequent measurement and fabrication / moulding, namely the positioning of the top surface of the fork which touches the rearmost part of the frame bridge. All other dimensions will flow from knowledge of that point. I think rubber, either foam or something more resilient, will be my friend in making sure that the seat sits securely and in the right position both fore and aft and laterally.

[TimDW]

This is a crazy build! Keep up the good work!

Dear Richard

Its Naomi, this is the only way I can get through to you

The cheese and tomato sandwich I made you has been sat on the counter for days, and Sam has been staying at Mrs Bouet's house since last Wednesday

I appreciate your efforts to solve the cracked downstairs toilet seat with a carbon fibre replacement have proved moderately fruitful in reducing the overall centre of gravity, however it is not exactly a fulfilment of your parental responsibilities, nor will this rash on my bottom go away.

Estimated time to re-appearance ?

Love from the fam

[mickj]

Looks like someone has been shown the red card

[Darren69]

Lol! Oh dear

[350TSS]

My daughter and son (fresh from A levels) are holidaying in southern France with my mate who introduced me to this forum (and sold me a rather nice Senna grey/red S4). They are not above taking the **** from their dear old dad ably assisted by my mate. Made me laugh though