At last my custom painted tank is here...

Don from Boyz Toyz has done a stunning job. As ever it is difficult to capture the colours as they appear to the naked eye. However the white is just right, not at all fridge like but not at all cream. The metallic red is rich and not orangey and the metallic green is very dark looking almost black until the light hits it. Tricolore a la hot rod, not a pizza box in sight! To my mind at least, it has the retro motorsport look I wanted and I am stoked. No more words needed:

This is all the inspiration I need to solve the remaining pieces of the puzzle. All thanks be to The Force : )

Anticipation is the greater part of pleasure......AAAARGH!

Friday I had the day off, the plan being to go and get my newly painted tank and see if the Piaggio white with metallic green and red stripes thing was working. I got a call from the paint shop on Thursday to say it wasn't going to be quite ready for Friday and rather than changing my leave dates again, decided that Mrs Cutter and I would take the Firestorm and her 695 to the coast - the beautiful  Aldeburgh. There are so many lovely winding country lanes between Aldeburgh and London. Friday morning dawned bright and sunny, and as we were about to leave later in the morning, I got a call to say the tank would be ready after all. However, there was no way I was going to mess Mrs Cutter around and waste a bright sunny blue-sky day riding in a car.

Bikes are about riding right? The tank would have to wait......gnnngrhhuuurggh! However getting the tank next day, which would mean not thanking Don in person but picking it up from the polisher, was not possible as I was meeting old Univ. mates, including one I haven't seen for over twenty years (all sometime bikers and/or musicians natch). And so here I sit knowing the tank's ready, but not knowing what it has turned out like. I am guessing from Don's repeated comments about being more than happy for it to be seen around the paintshop for a week or so, that it's looking fantastic. Current plan is to get it next Saturday morning, prior to prepping for a gig that evening...

In the meantime, 916 clutch master cylinder arrived and was fitted with Venhill hose to Oberon slave cylinder, and fitted with Oberon adjustable lever. At some future date Factory Racing anodised reservoirs may tidy the cockpit looks up. I know the original coffin master cylinders are more retro and tidier, but I love the sports look of remote reservoirs, and the stock units were fouling the clip-on brackets so there we go:

I now have a working clutch! I have a failed delivery card from the postie so hopefully the 916 brake master is at the depot, will check today.



Other progress and general good news - high spec Motobatt battery arrived. It's got 20% extra cranking power and a good rep for being long lived and resilient. Makes me feel better about not being able to afford an ultra lightweight Lithium Ion job at the moment.
The best thing about the new battery was that I was able to turn the motor over on the starter. So what you say? Well this demonstrated in one fell swoop that my clutch push rod and new pressure  plate assembly works, the cleaned and re-built starter motor works, and with clutch out the front sprocket rotated anticlockwise which, as it's on the left hand side of the bike is the correct direction to indicate that....THE SPRAG IS IN THE RIGHT WAY 'ROUND!!! Jeeez what a relief.

Other stuff, am waiting on exhaust shims which will allow me to fit exhaust and start fabricating rear support brackets. Have LEDs for two extra warning lights not catered for in speedo - but they sent me a white one instead of a red one... Next biggie is design and sort the seat re-cover and possible re-shape.

 Oh yeah and left side rearset on and working. Things are gathering speed friends...

On It's Wheels!

This is very premature and I will probably regret it, but I just couldn't resist. The project has got real momentum at the moment and I really wanted to see the bike on it's wheels. The kids helped me get it off the table safely. With luck I may even have the painted tank by the end of this week. It's scheduled to be ready to pick up on my birthday but I have to confirm tomorrow. If the plan sticks I will be so happy.

 

In other news. Rear brake with new Venhill hose, rearset brake controls including banjo brake light switch all fitted. However brake switch a little too long so utilising double copper washers which is not ideal.

Continued struggling to keep the PJ1 exhaust paint on long enough so it survives relatively unscathed until engine is run to cure it. Our oven's not big enough, although I did have another go, this time with electric heat gun rather than blow torch.

Bit pathetic so roll on engine running - way off yet though.

Having discounted professional electrician to do tidy job on dash due to cost, I am running out of excuses to put off wiring it in.... Got to start sorting seat covering choices too which will be fun.

Not The Approved Method (or "Clown over Matter")

As some of you may have noticed, my version of a hydraulic bike bench (to raise a motorcycle to an ergonomic height for working on) with a further jack or stand securely mounted on it (to further raise the bike off it's wheels when on the bench) is a coffee table. Not just any coffee table, but a shagged-out one rescued from a skip, constructed from some toxic exotic wood, supplemented with a few bits of pine block and board, some nailed carelessly to the top. It gives the miser in me, and the spirit of my can-do ancestors, great pleasure to utilise only equipment that would look at home in a Brothers Grimm tale.

On Sunday I had a sudden urge to put the front wheel in and let fate decide how the bike would get off the table.

During that process the inevitable happened. The bike, which has been teetering for weeks, fell over away from me as I fiddled with the front wheel while sitting on the floor. Toward me would have been worse. Through some fluke, and due to the centralised mass of the engine on which the whole thing was pivoting, even though it fell to an angle of about 80 degrees, I was able to counterweight it easily but not move, or remedy the situation. As I was about to reach for my phone and alert the youngest Cutter offspring, I noticed that said Cutter-ette was looking out of the window at me, so I gestured in a desperate fashion and together we got the thing upright. Sufficient to say I was determined not to learn my lesson, and not ten minutes later the front wheel went rolling across the garage floor as though determined to fall and damage a disc rotor. As I groped for it ineffectually it came to rest gently contacting the world only through the medium of rubber.

Due to mistakenly thinking I was missing a spacer, I resentfully changed tack and started thinking about mounting the Motogadget Tiny speedo. I knocked up a simple bracket, and this proved to be all that was going to be necessary, stylistically as well as functionally. I'd though I would have to make a small alloy dash as the new speedo only has four warning lights hidden in it's face and I need more. But it seemed a shame to take such a minimalist little gauge and put it in an acre of alloy plate.

The speedo will handle indicators, high beam, neutral and oil pressure. That leaves side-stand warning, low fuel (there is no gauge or reserve on an M900) and charging light. I can probably live without the side-stand light as it has a cutout anyway. So I've ordered two LED's in bezels that I hope will mount stealthily in my very mimimalist bracket, under the speedo itself.

This bracket may prove to be just a prototype, but it cheered me right up seeing the speedo mounted. I'm still anxious about the wiring job to come, and I was grumpy about what I thought was missing spacer for the front wheel slowing my headlong plummet toward destiny.

Today I realised there was no spacer required, it's function is carried out by a shoulder on the front axle. Time to enlist fate again. The coffee table is birthing a healthy sprog but it's a complicated labour, and not by the approved method:

I think I have reached a point where an assistant is required again. I'll let y'all know when she gets down off the operating table safely, but in the meantime it's so damn good to see her with wheels on. Remember don't try this at home, yours or anyone else's.....

I love this bloke..

Adam Cramer reminds me of Jim Campilongo - in fact what Campilongo is to guitar this guy is to bikes and wrenching:


Handmade Portraits: Liberty Vintage Motorcycles from Etsy on Vimeo.

Reblogged from the excellent Pipeburn at:
http://www.pipeburn.com/home/2011/3/11/video-liberty-vintage-motorcycles.html

The great, intelligent, eccentric, passionate, obsessive American male spirit in full effect... Something we don't always remember exists from across the pond.

In fact what the hell:



Excuse the cheese, this guy is golden. A teacher and he doesn't care whether you get it when he goes "off-piste". That's a mark of the Greats, any fule kno that.

See here/hear also:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=5FA4EYr1VJ0#t=0s

Nuff said...

Looking back on a week in 'shackland...

So I'm back at work feeling that I have something to sustain me - a week doing project-related stuff was good for the soul. I made some stupid mistakes and then rescued them. I spent a lot of time pottering around. I had previously drained my tank and left it out to air for two days in order to lose lethal explosive fumes prior to transportation. As you can see Mrs Cutter felt it prudent to take shelter in the cluckbunker while I drained the fuel. The chooks had more faith...

The net is full of every warning, technique, argument, superstition, example, confusion and revelation you could imagine about dealing with petrol fumes in tanks; baking, dry ice, pumping with exhaust fumes, washing with water, detergent, acetone, thinners, blood of virgin jellyfish, incantations, dances, prayers, stuffing with tribbles or guineapigs dressed as tribbles. You name it there's a contradiction to it. In the end I thought; air it right way up for a day, wrong way up for a night, and on it's sides for a day/night. Sniff it. Fall over. Lock it in the boot. Warn the painter to warn the welder that a fool delivered it.




I visited Don at Boyz Toyz taking the tank and my designs in the car. What a gentleman - really friendly and helpful, and he even brought my phone back to life....  Yep the industrial estate where he's based is a bit of a bomb site, and as I opened the car door - PLOP! - phone makes a death dive bid-for-freedom into six inches of muddy water. I never would have believed  it could survive it, but it's fine after he applied his compressed air line to it, though the slide action is still a bit gritty. We talked about Ducati's at length as he's an air-cooled ducati nut too, and we worked through the colour swatches and the striping.

That night I was tossing and turning, had I really taken enough care picking the colours? As a friend pointed out, I hadn't seen the swatches in daylight only artificial light. Oh well, forecast was cold but sunny and the Firestorm needed a blat. I was on hols after all. The sun didn't arrrive until much later and I froze my butt off, especially as I took the wrong lane in some roadworks that dumped me past the right junction. I had been there the day before but still needed a warm evil McD and the fantastic googlemaps GPS implementation on my phone. Section 1. eat chips, Section 2 turn left and after 2.5 metres push, don't pull door, etc etc. The fact that you can type in just the name of a custom bike painting firm based in an estate mainly made up of old containers, and get precise directions is something to behold. What we take for granted these days is unbelievable. Science still a bit slow in coming up with immortality mind...

Don wasn't that suprised to see me, I think he's seen it all. I met a nice bloke there who was picking up bodywork from a previously white and blue 1800 Suzuki techno-muscle cruiser. He'd had Don spray it up in satin black with stealth artwork that only showed up at certain angles. WIth his moral support, I decided the colours I'd picked for the stripes were right, and spotted a Piaggio scooter Don was working on that had the right shade of vintage white for the base colour.

That night I was tossing and turning......had I really, really, I mean really, picked dark enough stripe colours to avoid the pizzabox effect? Mrs Cutter was now fixing to put one or other of us out of our misery....

Yes! I decided that even if the rich metallic green and red where more traditional than I had planned in their greeness and redness, I had faith that it was going to look very cool. The black frame and wheels would mitigate the Luigi's Deli sun canopy effect.

Then I tossed some more (they can't touch you for it you know), and I turned some more. Shite! Did Don think the drawings I gave him were totally accurate in terms of stripes being 90 degrees to actual tank mounting position??  A monster tank has every angle and curve you can think of on it somewhere. The next morning I rang him and did everything I could to assure him I wasn't some kind of paint-shop stalker. A discussion then ensued about taking reference 90 degree angles from fuel cap and original logo. I would get a call if this didn't sort it out, and would then have to collect tank and photograph in situ, on the frame sitting on it's wheels. I never got that call, so hopefully everything is fine. Turnaround is up to about 3 weeks, (including welding up the hinge plate on the base to cure the rust problems) so I am just waiting in great, great, anticipation. In the meantime a polished alloy, race-style keyless gascap has been ordered...

I started work on mating the airbox to the Keihin carbs. I had to do some cutting mentioned in the instructions. I had to do some cutting not mentioned in the instructions, or by anyone else ever as far as I could see. But then again, (and excuse the diversion from the carbs here, we'll get back to that in just a while), I thought I was the only one who had problems with a Cyclecat top yoke rubbing against ignition key block. That is until I researched some old posts on UK Monster Owners forum by a gent who inspired me with his blog right back at the beginning m900.blogspot.com. He mentioned in a forum post that a few 900s from around '95 to '97 had the frame mounting for the ignition in a slightly different place, so I was not alone. I ground the offending face, which includes the steering lock bolt, down a couple of mm. and it now fits fine.

 

Back to the carb/airbox union. I won't go into the full embarrasing details. Suffice to say that some cutting, and some hot gluing, and some foam, have allowed clearance for the carbs. This without totally obliviating the purpose of the K&N filter, and all the gasket and sealing gubbins, and other malarky that could have been wasted due to a fool and his 3000rpm hole saw.

In a medical analogy, it wasn't that that the surgeon cut off the wrong leg - no, no, it deffo needed to come off. It was just that while he was doing it he thought he was cutting off an arm. 'Nuff said. It all came together in the end. We'll see if the extra "intakes" affect performance further down the line:

Most of the rest of the week was spent trying to persuade the loom to go back in place in a slighty less visible way than it did originally. The project referenced above did this in a very precise and sublime way. I am not even going to think about achieving the same level of tidyness, as this continues to be a quick and dirty build. Well dirty anyway. The tango with the loom is given added spice by the fact that half of it is joined to the top of the air/battery box where the coils and ignition modules live. The other half has to fit under and around said box. Meanwhile the box and rubber unions have to be pressed unwillingly down on the carb manifolds squashin' said wiring and confusing and tangling it with fuel lines. This is stuff I hate and am crap at. Therefore I am doing it at a rate of five cups of tea per strand of wire, divided by the square root of the total sum of cable-ties, to the power of 10 trips to the loo with a bike mag.

Notice ID tags for wiring, most of which have now fallen off. The task is not complete. But I have faith. I am going to carry on low and slow. I'm going to meander it into place. Yep, a week in the shed endeth and the lesson is moderation in all things, including moderation itself. I haven't been back for a few days. And when that tank returns - all being well - I will be super-motivated. My mantra "there still lots of scary stuff to do" endures, but in the end, in the words of my keyboard player "it's going to be badass!"

Thanks to my good friend Shaun  for sorting out tickets for Maceo Parker last night, now that really was badass.....

Manifold Blessings

Before (well actually after first pass abrasion with scotchbrite disk and some chemical cleaning):

 After (The PJ1, yet to be heat cured...)

The nasty collars, bottom right in the paving stone pic above, are being replaced with these (an ebay find):

 So one more day at work and then I have a week off dedicated to 'shack life! Hallelujah, a chance to make some real progress, and children, believe me the to-do list is long.

However, there will be no pressure. This is also a chance to take the tank to the painters in deepest Essex to have the hinge plate re-welded where it rusts, a dent filled and my paint scheme applied! So a little sketching has been required.




Colours are not indicative of the final shades, but it's all about red and green on a white background. It's just how dark the colours should be and how white the white. I really don't want that thing where the red ends up looking orange. Plus, I do like a bit of US auto badge cool, if you know what I mean....

......so, the the red and green will be much darker than is typical and may well be kandy. This has to end up looking motorsport clean, rally retro, hot-rod, and Italian all at once. Well it will in MY head and that's all that counts. The idea is to have tricolore without looking like ice cream van and bunting. To look a bit traditional without copying an existing scheme. The two stripes on white background give me tricolore without three stripes.

Is to top-stripe (offset) to over stripe? That is the question....

I am very, very excited about getting the tank painted - it's going to be highly motivational when it comes back. I am going to see a gentleman at a company called Boyz Toyz. The guv'nor is an aircooled Ducati fan and builder himself,. I have seen his work in the flesh on a customised Sports Classic, it's proper as Guy Martin would say. Full report when I get the tank back. This weekend I need to get the petrol and the fumes out prior to transportation.

I also hope to talk to some seat makers. Still wondering whether to re-profile the shape to something more "two-four" cafe, and whether to go for a tan leather. Brown is always tricky. Here's a rough idea of the over-all scheme.

BTW I have my 'storm back with a younger engine in it. Having my daily ride back where it should be makes me whole again.

More reports during or after  'shack week....

Back on the rollercoaster of doom...(temporarily of course).....

...still, feck the backside of a warthog!
Having done a nice big update, I went down to the 'shack in fine mood. My optimism was to be rewarded by a slap in the chops with a wet mackerel. Started trying to put the ignition key unit in place only to find it fouls on the Cyclecat top yoke. This rubbed a little powdercoating off the back of the yoke - no matter - I have grown accustomed to keeping a few dings and rubs in proportion - my alter ego is, after all, Captain Not-Perfecto. However as I looked closer I noticed flaking around the stem nut. Couple of big chunks just came away, apparently not in any way connected with the ignition unit rubbing. It just looks like the polished alloy surface didn't take the coating well enough. Now having the yoke back in it's original finish might not ordinarily be such a bad thing - it was lovely. However, it was powder-coated black along with the bottom yoke, to minimise the difference in machining between them, and fit in with blacked out frame, headlamp etc etc. Hurrumph.

Going to have solve the key block problem, and possible take apart the front end again and get the top yoke re-coated, or painted or anodised or something....maybe abrade the surface. Back to powder-coaters for the n'th time. For now clouds hang over 'shack.

Project Status

Things are gathering pace at the 'shack. I've procured and fitted an Oberon clutch slave cylinder. Also got Venhill braided clutch hose which will go on when I'm ready to put hydraulic fluid in (you fill the slave first):

 

 

I've cleaned up the rear brake caliper as best I can using brake cleaner, Gunk and various other toxic gear. I now learn that getting rebuild seal kits is not easy. Trying to decide whether to just wack it back on for now, but have ordered some red rubber grease, so I think I will take the pistons out and see what's what. I have bought Venhill braided hose for this too. Depending on how looking at the seals goes (I hope to re-use them) I will then tackle the front calipers. They already have Goodridge hoses in good nick so no need to replace those.

 I love being able to clean up little parts like the pin and retaining spring with a scotchbrite pad on a drill. They looked like they had spent 50 years under the sea before I did that.

Note the horrible original old rubber hose in the foreground. Venhill braided steel hose, covered in clear PVC and on hard chromed fittings that rotate into position on their banjo bolts - even sounds sexier eh? Not that I'm writing-off rubber missus - just not for hydraulic lines (phnaar phnaar chortle chortle.....)

I finally got the paint to stick and harden on the valve covers. When the motor finally runs the Smoothrite will get baked on and get even harder:

Then with baited breath I turned my attention to the Keihin FCRs. This is getting pretty real now. As mentioned in earlier posts I have forgone the pleasure of pod filters and stuck with ugly plastic airbox. This may change in the future, but I wanted to stick with the advice from Chris of California Cycleworks who recommends stock airbox with the lid cut away exposing a K&N stock pattern filter. Here's a before and after on the filter lid. It's a bit Barney Rubble where I've cut it, will try and straighten the edges up a bit:

Chris's instructions suggest taking the rubber inlets out of the bottom of the airbox and fitting them onto the Keihens' adaptors first before re-positioning in airbox. They make the carbs look even more evil!

I've transferred my tear-down photos on to my laptop so I can take it down to the 'shack to check what goes where underneath the carbs, as they will obscure an area that holds various bits of wiring, connectors and mounting plates. The carbs go onto the inlets shown below, and then are covered by the airbox which includes the coils mounting plate and the battery box.

In other news a good bloke on the fabulous UK Monster Owners Club forum is providing me with a nicer oil cooler and associated pipery from a newer model of Monster. Not so good is that my second "special screw" (this post is turning into Carry On Ducati) has failed while being torqued up to the figure given in the Haynes manual. This is a little bolt with a hex flat cap on one end and a thread on the other. It is secured with a self-locking nut and goes through the bracket on top of the swingarm to hold the rod-end bearing on the suspension arch in place. They cost almost a fiver each and have to be ordered from Ducati so take weeks to get here. Bit of a pain - still no biggie.

I also killed a scotchbrite disc trying to clean up the exhaust manifolds. I followed that up with some mega scary stainless exhaust restoring fluid, but there is plenty of rust left on them even so. I am trying to prep them for painting with PJ1 High Temperature Flat Black paint. Trouble with painting at the moment is most of these paints want room temperature application. While the weather is milder at the moment it still isn't warm so either heat or ventilation, not both, is possible. We'll see...

Compared to my geologically slow progress rate this is approaching the speed of light! I have even contacted the paint shop, and booked off the first week in March both to take the tank there, and spend a few days of concerted 'shack time working on the bike. I want this ride ready for the summer - too long have I slumbered!
Don at  Boyz Toys Paint is a Ducati builder himself and has quoted me a good price for re-braze of tank hinge plate, general restoration and paint job.

So what's to do?

 Getting loom back in while incorporating the new speedo with it's super small wiring. Fabricating brackets for rear no. plate and indicators, exhaust cans, speed sensor, and speedo itself. Designing re-cover pattern/materials etc. for seat, drawing up definitive tank paint design for the painter. Re-fit coils, rectifier, fuse box etc. Get seat to work with or without conventional seat catch mechanism. Caliper re-builds, master cylinder tart-up and fit Oberon levers. Mounting headlamp where top fixings melted while being powder coated. Deal with taking left side of engine apart again if sprag clutch is wrong way round. Source and fit carbon mudguards. And probably loads more I've forgotten about.

Bizarrely enough, one of the things taxing my brain is how to dispose of old fuel which I have in my Monster and my son's scooter project. The local recycling centre takes oil but not petrol as far as I know. I will have to phone the council. Anyway, it's all happening at the Chickenshack... stay tuned!

Wheels

So a good friend, (and consumate piss-taker), Dan the Man not only put my tyres on, but supplied one of them for free - thanks mate you know who you are! The powder-coating seemed to hold up to the procedure which was a relief as I was a bit suspicious of it's resilience.

Unfortunately, my donor bike came with front discs with different disk carriers, round hole pattern on one side and spoke pattern on the other. I don't have the budget to sort that at present, especially as both discs have plenty of life in them. Ho hum. Think the spoke pattern looks nicer, so if one of those turns up...or maybe some wavys if I ever have the spare cash. I'm still saving for paint job and seat customisation.

Talking of budget woes, more news in - my daily ride (Firestorm) has fallen victim to the curse of the Honda cam-chain adjuster. I new this was on the cards but...well it's a long story which I'll skip. I've bought a second hand engine with low miles on it, but I don't think I can face doing the swap in the 'shack which already has two disassembled vehicles in it. Also, I would like to have the manual adjusters I bought (part of long story) fitted and the valve clearances checked.

I thought of how great it would be to have the experience and psychological lift of doing it all myself. However the ethos of the Ducati project has been slow small steps. I can't afford to have something go wrong while re-building the Firestorm, and find myself in a shed with three piles of bit in it, (son's scooter project, Monster and 'storm). Especially as the Cutter family's last running bike, Mrs Cutter's M695 is now having clutch problems. I think it just needs bleeding, but this is getting depressing - I do have a day job....

So, I've had some great advice from VTR.org forum, and may get the work done by a chap from the forum who seems to have a hell of a reputation for fixing and modifying 'storms. It's all a bit of a pain and a distraction from the project, but it is my daily ride to work and I need it to keep me sane. It's also made me realise how much I love the Firestorm, even though it started out as a cheap bridging ride between loans to free up cash for the Rooster's carbs and Ohlins.

Anyway, I still feel like the project is really rolling now. When I started I didn't allow myself to think much about the really fun bit, putting it all together. I wanted some of the scary "heavy lifting" out of the way. Now I'm in that rebuild phase and it feels so good. Here's a shot of the swingarm with scotchbrite (dull polish) and laquered adjusters, and gold anodised adjuster plates: The adjusters look better in real life, not nearly as dull but nicely lived in.


Next steps in rebuild order, exhaust manifold on, and then the FCR carbs!! Need to decide whether to paint manifold matt black, or heat-wrap it before I fit it. The heat wrap thing is getting a bit common but it is nice and edgy.

I have a fairly free weekend but tomorrow I have to go and get that Firestorm engine from Suffolk. It's unlikely I'll get the exhaust decision sorted but there's plenty of other little jobs need doing - tarting up brake and clutch resevoirs for instance, taking the headlamp apart again and fixing an internal metal cover that has come adrift, and braving the crimping/soldering nightmare of the Motogadget speedo connector and it's microscopic gauge wiring. Onwards and upwards compadres!!