It has been a long time since my last post because I had to wait forever on my shortened swing arm. I got pretty discouraged, so had to put my mind on other things to not go insane and kill the fabricator.
I ordered it in December, but the fabricator got ill for about two weeks and has been behind the ball ever since. I finally got it back early this month and started work at Tin Can Customs again.
Things have gone pretty quick from there, but before that I needed to go over the gearbox because of the problem with 3rd gear jumping out on high revs at low speed.
I haven't taken a pic for some reason, but it turned out that the third gear and it's locking gear were worn down, making the teeth angled and allowing it to slip.
I have ordered replacement second hand gears to go on, just have to pull the bearing, swap it and have it put back on. Fortunately there is a really good engine rebuilding shop near the garage I work at. They're going to mill and port the head and work on the valves.
They will probably pull the bearings as well.
My clutch pack has this weird double plate in there, but my new plates don't come with one. Does anyone what this one is for?
The swingarm has finally been shortened by 8 cm/3.14" and along with a slightly shorter offset it comes as close to the original rake and trail as possible with this set up.
Two problems came out of this:
The rear brake hits the rear shock when I set up the wheel closest to the frame, so the bracket needs to be flipped. Will get this done this week.
The swingarm is so much bigger at the pivot axle it doesn't clear the back of the engine. Not sure how to fix this problem yet, might be able to take off a few mm off at that end, taken into the engine expands when running.
A problem I knew I'd have and will tackle ASAP is the sprockets not lining up. The rear sprocket can come in a bit still, I need to figure out how far I can move the front sprocket. Also the rear is a 520 sprocket and the F2 engine comes with a 630 sprocket. Not sure how to fix this yet. Any ideas?
I finally mounted the handlebars, but ran into a problem there as well. The tops of the forks are too high, since it originally had clip ons. I handmade a set of blocks that raise the bar. I'm using the ZX6R controls for now, because I will be using this as a daily driver and want all the functions that come with it. Looking to replace them with nicer looking ones later on.
The blocks I made out of 23 mm aluminium, which took waaaaaay too long. Still need to lose 2 mm from the top, but don't have a machine to do so.
I decided to cut the rear footrest mounts and replace them with removable pegs. This changed the lines a lot and now the side covers look very out of place. This means changing the idea for my under-seat tray/oil tank. The mounts on the right side will hold the rear brake master, the reservoir will be mounted on the frame. I found a brake-line bolt that has a built-in brake light switch, so that eliminates the need for a the old switch.
This is with side cover and no footrest mounts, and with the exhaust it came with.
The exhaust looked out of place now, so I ended up getting a Supertrapp for a steal: 150 euro's. Looks much better and I don't need a long exhaust brace.
I cut the hoop because it was on crooked and the frame seems to be crooked as well at the back. On side looks like its sitting lower somehow. I will check this when it is put into the frame jig for welding.
Tuesday I can pick up my fenders, will have a quarter fender up front and a 1/3 in the rear. It rains a lot here and this will be my daily driver, so need them.
Wednesday will be fabricating mounts and drilling holes. The upholsterer comes by that evening to go over the plans. I bought a waterproof army bag to use as a seat
Thursday I will drop by the painter with the whole shabang.
Originally I was going with a white frame, but that will be dirty all day every day, so black it is. Not sure if I should go gloss or matte finish on it.
The tank won't be getting the portrait yet, because of time restraints: I'll be leaving for Spain on april 12th until the end of September and this needs to be done before that. I'm bringing it on a trailer to ride it there.
Not sure what to do with the swingarm, triple and alu fenders. Fenders will be same as the tank most likely, a very flat grey. Maybe keeping the swingarm and triple bare alu or have it powdercoated the same as the frame.
Again, any tips, advice or comments are more than welcome!
