Not too much to add because I've been insanely busy with work (however, did get a week off to go to Montreal and drink too much, so I can't really complain).
I finished up my master cylinder:
I worked with Little Horse (ok, HE worked and I sent him some sketches and measurements - I am going to have to learn to machine things if this project is going to progress much more) to redevelop my left side cover, and this is what I currently have - fits nicely too!
I found an excellent condition 18" rear rim for cheap, so now I need to clean it up and prep it for PC like the front.
I thought long and hard about my suspension set up and found these, which my very forgiving wife has yet to kick me out of bed for:
I have F forks, and I think I'll pair them up to Racetech emulators and non progressive springs when I get around to rebuilding them.
I'm also planning to add a steering damper - I'm concerned I may need it with the increased height of the rear shocks.
However - the F forks are also an inch longer - so now I'm at 14.5" in the rear and 1" longer the my K5 came with in the front. Given that I'm 6'5" and a heavy bugger, the handling my still come out fairly neutral and any center of gravity issues will still be more my fault than the bikes.
Currently I'm rebuilding the front brakes so, the MC is done, the caliper is apart on my work desk for polishing and painting and new pads etc. Stainless lines from Slingshot are also en route to my door as we speak - thanks pampodoro!
Now for today's big question:
My next big project is the engine. I could greatly use some community advice here as I plan my build - I'm about a month or two from ordering my parts. I don't want the cost to be stratospheric (my initial plan had me around $3000 with parts and machining), I want a great daily runner that still pulls hard. If I had to guess, I'd say I want to pull around 55-60 hp at the rear wheel, reliably.
I do understand the importance of tuning, I do have Hondaman's book (and he's sent me some great PMs so far to help me out, so thanks for that!) and I am planning to have this dyno tuned by a local Honda guru when it's all said and done (I'll dial in the carbs to where I think it's butt-cheek acceptable, then get it down the road to the dyno guy).
Thing is - this will be my first engine build (of any kind) so I could use any advice you guys are willing to throw at me. I have about 6 pages of handwritten notes from that thread where two other rookies rebuild from the ground up with the help of the community, so I'll be relying a lot on that and HMs book to steer me.
Here's what I'm currently thinking for the engine - flame away:
I'm starting with a previously nicely running K5 engine with 19,000 original miles on it. This plan also assumes that nothing is broken that will need fixing and that I don't break anything myself.
I have a nicely rebuild and cleaned up stock set of carbs I'll be using, with Tintops antiPod (on order for the next batch). They are currently stock jetted - will worry about that later.
I was hoping to send the head off to MRieck to do some porting/polishing and valve matching, since the consensus I get is that cleaning up airflow into and through the head is probably one of the more effective things to do. I assume I have a stock, and therefore, probably rough cast K5 head.
I will of course replace all the seals and rubber bits, if for no other reason then to lay hands on them and see what they all do and where they go (remember, my first time into this engine).
I was thinking of using the Cycle X spring kit with the hard anodized alloy retainers to help out the cleaned up head somewhat, and mating that to a slightly higher lift cam like the WebCam 41, 41A or maybe Cycle X's mild-mid grinds. I was also planning to have new valve guides pushed in.
I will replace the cam chain tensioner assembly and guide, and use heavy duty cam chains. I was also going to replace the primary chain and primary chain tensioner - is this likely to be useful or necessary?
I am planning to use heavy duty cylinder studs from APE or similar.
I was planning to switch the connecting rods nuts and bolts out for F2 nuts and bolts and I'm thinking of having the rods polished and shot peened (for peace of mind, and I can have it done fairly inexpensively).
While I'm in there, I'm going to rebuild the clutch pack with new friction disks and springs.
Of course, the pistons will get new rings - but this is where I can't make up my mind. I had originally thought to get a Wiseco 836 kit put in and get the boring out done as well. From reading around, it's seems like I'll have to worry more about my clearances with that kit and it maybe won't give me the extra 10 or so hp I was hoping for anyway. Is this something I'm better off deciding once I actually get into it so I can see what the current tolerances are? I mean, if I have to overbore, it probably is worth going for it, if I don't, maybe it isn't. Any thoughts on bigger displacement?
All this will then be vented into some sort of 4-1 exhaust - likely a Kerker or one of Carpy's Yoshi knockoffs.
So that's where I am at present. Cheers until next time.
