Topic: K1 Hot Rod the Rat Race, new/old stuff.

[Don R]

 Sounds like a good plan.

[Don R]

 I got a good neighborhood ride in and it's working great. The oil looks clean so I'll leave it a little longer. The sump and screen appeared to be clean last time I peeked in there.
 My main concern now is the primary, when I change the oil I'll drop the pan and measure the slack.

[Don R]

 I got the Koni's rebuilt today, I waited to put the oil in for some guidance on setting the valving. It has 5 half turns of adjustment and I'm 2 half turns from max stiffness. I'm going with 75 ml of 10 weight oil in each.
 
  I haven't added the 750A alternator yet. I want a lightened rotor with a starter, I only have lightened without a starter or starter with no alternator. The RC cover doesn't fit the chrome dyno cover well so I got stuck there.
  It will be cool tomorrow, it would be a good day to slap on some leather and give this thing a proper test ride.
  I ordered 4 Wix oil filters from Rock Auto for what 2 cost at NAPA.  I like to buy local, but a chain store is a chain store. The locally owned parts stores are all gone. The 2.5 gallon jugs of Rotella appear to be the deal of the day at the local farm store.

[Don R]

  I rode about 15 miles today, it ran well, kept the battery charged and made it up to 80 before traffic got in the way. The 18/43 sprockets are better than the 17/43 but rpm's still seem high probably due to the low profile tire. I can't wait to ride it back to back with the 836 that I built and ported, I think the motor I built might be faster, it's torquey for sure. 
 I need to keep my toe completely off the shifter until I'm ready to shift, it does pop out of third gear if my toe gets a little anxious. I'll adjust the foot peg and shifter, but I have to assume the trans has had a wee bit of hard use. The clutch pull is hard but holds and shifts awesome, washers can be removed.
 The long-term plan is new chains, and a back-cut transmission.
 As some of you cautioned, the engine probably needed a total rebuild but I'm going to try to enjoy it this summer and plan for a winter bottom end overhaul.  The best part is that it really looks amazing.
  I always thought a bike will tell you what it wants to be, the K0 nugget wanted to be restored because it is so original, this bike is so modified it wanted to be re-assembled with the modified parts that came with it. The suspension is pretty good for a low bike, it turns really good for having a long swingarm, I did a nice u turn at an intersection in the country, the motor is a little more peaky than I expected but it pulls good. 

[Don R]

 I completed the welding on my O2 probe and tried it out on the Rat. I made a quick run down the street and the early numbers show that the 29's are dialed in pretty good. The tail end of the probe was pretty hot which tells me enough exhaust is flowing through it.

 Most of the part throttle acceleration A/F ratios look to be in the high 12's. Cruise was a little leaner. I wasn't able to make much speed but so far so good. I need to figure out how to video the tach and A/F meter without having to watch it at the same time. Our racecar's go pro might have a suitable mount, that would be awesome.
 A refresher course in the meter would be helpful, it has a record button, and mode button. I'm not sure if it's a time recording or a snapshot. Edit:  I just printed the instructions for that refresher.

[grcamna2]

Glad it's running good Don.

[Don R]

 Thanks, I got mixed results the last time I tried the O2 sensor, this appears to be better. I'm hoping to use it to tune the carbs on a couple other bikes especially the turbo project. This is more of a learning experience so seeing some numbers that make sense will be helpful in the future.

[BenelliSEI]

Don…… where did you weld on the probe nipple? I have a leftover unit and may want to give this a try….. Thanks!

[Don R]

  Here is the sensor, this was made from left over tubing from the two alcohol funnycars we front halved. It is just tacked up which leaked air and gave wonky readings. I later shortened the outlet, welded it fully and I am now getting more consistent numbers, the probe goes in about 18". The toggle was replaced with a push button which records the reading for playback. The bolt hanging down is just a plug for the condensation drip leg.
 In this pic I'm using a drilled baffle in the no number pipes. Carb #1 gave me fits for a long time until I pulled the float valve and flushed out the grit that was above it. 
 I hold it in with a harpin clip, hose clamp, bungee, all the above, or whatever works with the muffler.

 In this pic it is only tack welded which I'm convinced skewed the numbers.

[grcamna2]

  Here is the sensor, this was made from left over tubing from the two alcohol funnycars we front halved. It is just tacked up which leaked air and gave wonky readings. I later shortened the outlet, welded it fully and I am now getting more consistent numbers, the probe goes in about 18". The toggle was replaced with a push button which records the reading for playback. The bolt hanging down is just a plug for the condensation drip leg.
 In this pic I'm using a drilled baffle in the no number pipes. Carb #1 gave me fits for a long time until I pulled the float valve and flushed out the grit that was above it. 
 I hold it in with a harpin clip, hose clamp, bungee, all the above, or whatever works with the muffler.

What main jets did you install after the reading Don ?

[BenelliSEI]

Clever!

[Don R]

 Actually, the blue green bike went back to near stock jets. It's an 836 mildly ported with a road race cam but I put Yamiya no number pipes on it. It had previously had an unknown origin pipe that I suspect is off a DOHC 750, the front part looks like a late Yoshimura and the looong muffler looks like something Dunstall would have made.

[Don R]

 My plan is to move the o2 gauge closer to the tach so I can video them both while I ride through the gears.

[Don R]

 It was a partial failure, the phone camera couldn't record the digital gauge.  It does however idle sufficiently lean around 14-1 to not foul plugs and stays in the green around 12-1 all through the gears. Next up I want to do a highway ride and check the plugs afterwards. I can hear the valve lash, it won't hurt to check it when it's another day and cooled off.

[Don R]

  The turn signal indicator light didn't work so I took the headlight apart and eventually figured out the light blue wire for the turn indicator was plugged into a faded light green wire. I got it plugged back into a proper blue and now all of the lights are working.
  I'm waiting to discover what doesn't work now. All of the lights seem ok, it doesn't have a horn yet so it might be that.   

[Don R]

 I had a pair of Frankenbike's K0 sidecover badges so I heated them with a hot air gun and formed them to the curve of the sidecover. Then I painted them silver and sanded off the raised areas with some wet 800 grit. The silver matches the silver stripes on the Rat Race, I think it looks good and fits well with the patina of the rest of the bike.
 A little double sided 3M tape and they are stuck on good. I need to scuff the silver a bit where I did a touch-up. It also looks straighter in person.

[RAFster122s]

Looks great Don!

[Don R]

 I stuck them on, stepped back to take a pic and realized they were on the wrong sides. L0L! I had to peel them off and re-do my work. The little bit of heat was needed to make them sit flat on the rounded and filled in K1 side-cover. I may try a set on a K0 sidecover.

[Don R]

 I stumbled across a pc of the Lester brothers. 

[newday777]

I stumbled across a pc of the Lester brothers.

I like the brothers.

What's the hose coming out the from under the seat down behind the muffler?
And the bar, is that part of a wheelie bar?

[PeWe]

AFR measurement gadget. Lambda sond with its cable.

[Don R]

 Thanks for catching that PeWe.
  I just noticed the question and yes, it's my version of a wide band O2 probe, it collects exhaust forward of the muffler where there is less chance of reversion of air backing into the pipe between exhaust pulses. The hanging cylinder is there to provide a condensation sump so the O2 sensor doesn't get a moisture buildup.
 The cable goes to the battery charger plug and the handlebar mounted gauge.   It's off the bike now since I was pleased with the readings of the 29 smoothbores.

[Don R]

 I took the first test ride away from town, I went to my favorite Mom and Pop bike shop. Pop was gone on his yearly ride out west. Anyway, the Rat Race was running rough and died, I blamed the inline fuel filter, went on reserve and rode to the parts store for a fresh inline filter. When I get the tank cleaned I'll trust it more and remove that filter.
 Next up was a fill up of gas and off to the highway. It runs awesome at higher throttle openings but not so good at low speeds which makes me think it needs some attention to the low speed jets.
  Part way there, the screw in the speedometer drive backed out and the cable fell out. When I got there the experienced fuel line had split at the new filter, and it was trailing gas. The odometer knob had fallen off recently and I have only a guess that it was 70 miles or so round trip.
 Anyway, I got the keys for my new to me K1 ignition switch, some fuel lines and a gas filter for the Goldwing. I met a Valkyre guy and had a nice visit with him and the shop owner/son of Charlie.
  I stopped for a photo op and made it within a mile of home before it went on reserve again, also at a stop light in traffic. I got it going, jumped onto smaller streets and made it all the way home. It cranks hard when hot, maybe due to an old starter or the 6 year old battery.
 All in all, it didn't burn down, only a few parts fell off and I got a nice picture to remember it by.

[Don R]

 I'm surprised the 2.5" longer swing arm doesn't make turning around much more difficult. The ride is a bit harsh but with lowered forks and laid down rear shocks, that was expected. The seat also has little room for squish. The Radial tires may contribute to that also.
 Future plans include double disc brakes with center feed calipers, the K1 gauges get new faces, the engine gets stripped of black paint or re-painted. A lot of the old black washed off, but most of it is still there. I'm leaving the paint as is, that chrome silver paint on Frankenbike's sidecover emblems matched the stripe perfectly.

[PeWe]

If running bad at lower revs.
Cut the advancer springs almost a wound and reshape the cut end to a new loop to attach to the tower or weight.
It will run better that way.

If advancer has a play on crank before tighten the nut holding it. Let it sit max counterclockwise. T and F match the case mark then.

Do not use the big nut to turn engine when advancer will end up in max clockwise position and case mark will not match T at TDC. 

That's how my bikes are.

My K6 has an alternative case mark 3mm to the right. Used when timing cam and rotate engine on big nut, no plugs in.