Rat Bike Project

[willedoo]

I was looking up some youtube videos last night on fans and some interesting stuff there. One mob were doing a lot of comparisons of temperatures before and after adding fans in different situations. They seemed to do the job ok. They found the highest rear cylinder temperature without fans was out on the highway with the engine working hard. Even though they were going fast, the rear cylinder wan't getting much cooling air.

[facthunter]

Intuitively yes, But airflow around bike engines is complex and sometimes Oil from the seat area  ends up well forward. The front Cylinder on a Vee twin works the Hardest and usually has the Bluer Pipe. Any idea Why?   I like V twins , There's a LOT right about them for a Bike AND a small Plane.Nev 

[Litespeed]

I love flat twins and Guzzi V twins.

 

Others not so much.  But do appreciate a high performance twin sport bike.

 

I am resisting the cruiser v twins until my back wont allow sport riding.

 

You still riding Nev ?

[Marty_d]

1 hour ago, facthunter said:

 I like V twins , There's a LOT right about them for a Bike AND a small Plane.Nev 

Interesting, I thought most v twins would have too much vibration for a plane - I know mine would!

Mind you a purpose built one like the Spirit might be less like a washing machine.

[pmccarthy]

I think the first Anzani was a v twin.

[facthunter]

Torsional vibration wise they are far better. Never have 2 _Pistons stopped at the same time. Nev

[onetrack]

I need to find a T-Shirt that says, "Harley-Davidsons - Destroying Hearing and Promoting Intense Hatred from Peace-Loving Neighbours Since 1911!"

 

I really don't understand why so many H-D owners can get away with open exhaust systems with a road-licenced vehicle.

[facthunter]

Plenty of 4 cylinder Buzz Bombs do it also.  Not Pleasant for the rider as well as the community. Clamp down on the OBVIOUSLY noisy ones. Engine Brakes on trucks are sometimes worse.  They've been going since 1903 and the early ones were Known as "Silent Grey Fellows"  The Later ones meet all the required sound restrictions , and always have. You could hardly Hear my 1916 as it Passed you. . Great bike at that time. Get you anywhere..  Nev.

[onetrack]

Almost without fail, anytime I see a H-D approaching on the highway, and I have my window down, I wind it up. The owners seem to specialise in ensuring they damage your hearing as they overtake or pass. No Jap bike comes anywhere near them.

[facthunter]

Some do.  They are antisocial. Nev

[willedoo]

The straight-through drag pipes seem to appearing everywhere these days. Not so bad with a quiet steady rider, but I think a lot of others like to crank that throttle on just to make a racket. A mate of mine is putting Verex drag pipes on his new Bonneville, about $1,400 for the pair I think it is. He was a bit concerned about getting pulled up with them, but he's an old bloke and rides steady so should be ok. The standard pipes on his Speedmaster sound like a sewing machine. He checked up on putting the drag pipes on it and seems to think the warranty will be ok.

[facthunter]

The rider will get sick of the Noise if the truth be Known.  It's a "Look at Me" thing for those with no other attributes. Poor sods really.  Nev

[willedoo]

There's one around here that rides a Harley with drag pipes and I must admit, he's not too bright. If he has an audience he will crank the throttle extra hard for maximum racket.  I guess he thinks everyone is thinking "Wow!", whereas in reality they're all thinking "Dickhead!".

[willedoo]

I have a question that is off topic but thought I'd ask here rather than start a new thread just for a simple question. Regarding blown fuses: does a blown fuse always indicate a problem like a short or do they sometimes just blow due to age. A fuse in my car that runs tail lights and dash lights blew; I put in a new one and everything is working good. The blown fuse would be about 23 years old and the fuses are subject to a bit of dust. Could it have been a dust related short or just old age.

[willedoo]

When I said car, it's just a generic term. It's a dual cab ute.

[onetrack]

Willie, if the fuse blew, the circuit has been overloaded. You don't mention the style of fuse (there are several). I'm speaking about the old glass fuses, now. If the fuse fell apart, or the ends fell off, I would put that down to age. However, the ends don't normally fall off, because they're held by the clips, they usually fall off when you pull them out.

 

You can get intermittent electrical faults that are a PIA. A little patch of bare wire touching metal occasionally. A wire being occasionally crushed between other parts that move.

It can be a real pain to track down a lot of the time. Look for areas where movement takes place, where things can be hit (taillights are often hit by road debris), or where moisture has crept in.

 

Edited Wednesday at 07:30 AM by onetrack

[willedoo]

They're the plastic fuses with two exposed prongs. I guess I'll have to wait and see if it blows again, and if so, start trying to track the issue. I was coming back down the highway on Sunday night, about an hours drive, and had to keep checking my speed with the torch.

[nomadpete]

In my experience, the only fuses that fail for no reason, are the glass tube ones. Never had a modern moulded plastic type fail without real overload.

 

Twice I have had difficult to track down overloads in vehicles, caused by unsecured wiring that vibrated or moved against bodywork.

 

One made my headlights (only rarely, but that was too often) go out on left hand corners.

 

The other made the engine fail, but only on right hand corners  when accelerating hard. In that case the engine loom moved a certain way that it rubbed on the firewall.

 

Intermittents are the worst to fix. Do not start fitting bigger fuses unless you wish to replace an entire loom or deal with a fire when the fault returns.

 

 

Edited Wednesday at 08:59 PM by nomadpete

[facthunter]

Trailers develop places where a Wire can have the Insulation rubbed through.. Some trailer wiring is shoddy. You also may have a FAULTY RELAY,  The original fuse may not be big enough to carry the extra stop Lights current draw. Nev

[willedoo]

A few random thoughts on engines. As mentioned previously, with a plot like this, not much construction happens until an engine is decided on and sorted. About all that can happen until that point is sorting out some parts and more plotting. There's two logical choices, a bike engine or a car engine, and above all, something with a V configuration (that's not Japanese). So that's the basic parameters.

 

None of the engines I have here are suitable. With my own restrictions preventing the use of any old engine, sorting out a motor will be the highest cost component. A Harley engine would be nice, but fairly expensive. You could probably buy a unit Sportster motor for the price of just the bare motor in a big twin, but getting a cheap and practical reverse gear setup on a Sportster engine is problematic. A fairly simple job on the later big twin gearboxes, but a bit of money involved in buying an engine plus gearbox in reasonable condition.

 

Then there's car motors, the main issue being what will fit. You see some rat bikes with huge car engines that require a really high custom fuel tank, or fuel tanks located somewhere other than above the engine, bike style. I'd much prefer to have a more traditional style of bike tank over the motor. That brings up the issue of total height from ground clearance to where it will fit under a fuel tank. That makes it hard for carburettor motors. I think even a short block engine like a 253 would be getting too high with carburettor and air cleaner. Some people custom build tanks that have a big hollow to take that and even have intakes poking out the top of the tank. But I'd really like to use my 5 gallon Fat Bob tank rather than a custom. I've also figured out the Buick 3800 has too much bulk above the rocker boxes to practically fit.

 

One motor I like for a lot of reasons is the GM LS1 engine. For a 5.7 litre engine, it's very compact and only about 500mm wide. They have a cast ali sump pan that's not tall, as well as being strong. On the opposite end, the EFI intake is very low profile and saves a lot of height compared to most other comparable V8s or V6s. They are also light with an ali block and heads, and combined with their efficient water jacket design, you can get away with a smaller radiator than the iron V8s. A pushrod motor, so a cam upgrade is relatively cheap and easy. Wth the lifter guides, no need to remove heads and manifolds to swap cams. A strong motor with a skirted block, 6 bolt mains, and rods and crank in standard form are good to 700HP, so they're very popular with rodders and the like. Roller rockers as standard on a rocker cradle, beehive springs, separate valley plate, a coil for each plug and lots of other good design features. The stock exhaust manifolds are close to extractors in flow. As per the attached photo, the compactness of the engine can be seen.

 

 

[willedoo]

Another thing with car engines - there's a lot of cheap ones around with the basic motor there, but a lot of bolt-ons not included. That's ok for someone looking to replace a motor in their vehicle where they already have all the accessories. Starting from scratch, I think you're better off paying more for a complete engine, eg: most of what you need to run and use the motor. Otherwise you could get a big shock to the wallet trying to track down all those missing bits. You might pay $1,000 or $1,500 more for a complete unit, but you might save at least twice that over having to buy bits.

 

Another thing I like on the LS1 engine is the use of reuseable O ring type gaskets on things like the rocker covers, intake manifold etc..

Edited 5 hours ago by willedoo

[facthunter]

Why do you want all that Power? You can't use it.  Mass low down makes it safer. Reverse can be an Electric Motor. How far do you go in reverse?   Blip that engine and you will tip the bike up sideways  Nev

[willedoo]

2 minutes ago, facthunter said:

Why do you want all that Power?

I don't. That 700 maxim HP is nothing to see here. I mentioned it just as an example of the strength of the motor, which also is a big advantage for those types that want to build rods and race cars. The Iron block LS1 engine blocks will handle another 300HP on that at around 1,000. Again, all theoretical, nohing to do with me.

[facthunter]

IS this going to be a TRIKE? Nev

[willedoo]

It will have a sidecar on it. It's the only way I could ride it after the hip replacement, to mount something solid. You should have seen me trying to get on a mate's Deuce on the weekend, it was comical.

 

Think of it this way Nev, when you look at a lot of those custom jobs, how many ever actually see a highway, or come anywhere near to using a lot of the power they've built into their motors. Most do it partially for a bit of show, but mainly as an engineering exercise combined with the fun of just doing it. It's all about fun.