Back in the UK, now the itch needs scratching again......Thank you Barry

      So, been back in the UK now for 3 months, got the house almost sorted, tools arrived back from overseas safely, unlike some of our belongings. Still have a pang of regret over selling up on my KZ650, lathe and milling machine. But ever the optimist i still have my spanners and tools. The journey begins again. Looking at projects whilst sorting a few things, and generally pottering in the garage. Then I visit the dad-in-law, takes me into his garage and presents me with a large box. "Don't open it 'till you get home" he says. 

     Drinking up the tea, leaving and driving like I stole it, i get home and 2 minutes with a box cutter, the gift is revealed, and it is not quite my genre, but gorgeous and now the creative juices and lists are growing. It is a carbon fibre, to gorgeous to paint, but who knows.

     Need a donor bike first, undecided - should i go modern and dress up as retro, giving the apearance of a classic witht he advantages of modern technology or just gro straight old school?

     The quandry begins.......Will keep y'all posted, but this is the look i am going for:

     The costs to get this done true to original are prohibitive, so am looking to pay homage to the era rather than restore / create a true period racer. Donor will be something along the lines of  CB / GS / Z  or the like, if one comes up at the right price and location. 

      Will see what happens over the next few weeks and months.

     And, as you can see, may have to be creative with exhaust routing and fairing manufacturing. The tank should be easy enough to do, the rest....

     Right, am away to scroll my way through eBay, marketplace, Gumtree and local ads to see what comes up, The itch needs attending too, but not rushing into it.

     Check back for the occasional updates until I find the project. 

A New Hope (no not star wars)

     Well, I may have an opportunity in October to get my bike home. Ii is a slim opportunity but one I am going to grasp.
     So i may have my cafe racer project by November this year again.

     In the mean time i will need something else to do......hmmmmm

Parting Ways...........

     Due to export / import costs, it is not practical for me to take my bike home to the UK. Unless I find a way, I am selling my much loved project before my return to to Scotland.
     This is a sad day, needs must when the devil is driving. If you are interested, drop me a line.

     Will start another project when I find one back home in Scotland.

My first build, FZR600R in yellow.

    As I am away at home in the UK at the moment, in between various jobs to be done, I got my loved 600 out for a wash and refresh.
    It's a light tuned FZR600R. The paint job was born, like most of my work from costs and necessity. SAR yellow,  which lead to the choice of Camel Racing Rossi colours. Lots of fun and can't wait till next spring, 2 bikes with different characters to choose from.

Seat Unit Modifications before paint......

     Before I get my 'tins' painted, there is a modification I need to do. So as not to spoil the lines of the tail unit. Just so as not to spoil the tail lines, a little like the bike below:

 

     The thing is, I hate paying too much, a modified rear seat pan is around double that of the one I have, the tail light is an LED item from eBay, costing $6.00 including delivery. The pipe was the same from home depot. A couple of thinking days later, some measuring and more thinking the shopping list was compiled. Fiberglass repair kit, 2" PVC pipe and a 2" PVC pipe connector to make and recess the light. 

     Off to the late I goes, opening one side of the connector to accept the tail light mount and to cut and open out the PVC pipe to accept the lens. The two parts then glues together ready for shaping to fit the tail unit. Once fitted the unit center line will be marked, the pipe shaped to the correct contour and then rough mounted. The initial mounting enabling the positioning and marking of the hole to be cut in the seat unit (I know - very sweaty moment and large cojones required for the cut).

     Progress so far has been made, just the shaping and cutting to go. The some light gluing, fiber-glassing and lots of sanding to get the smooth lines I desire.  Once fitted - it's off to the paint shop!

Finished Footrests!!

     The holiday / Hurricane week end, before any weather arrives to force me to runaway from Florida for a bit - I took the opportunity to finish the 'pegs'.

     Firstly they needed marking up for the 8mm holes for the securing pins. I had to round 2 flats so they slid into the holders correctly, then mark up the centers of the holes. This was done, then each piece mounted into my milling machine, for centering - counter sinking and drilling to 8mm:

The holes were drilled in 3 stages, counter sink, 4mm and then the final 8mm hole. I ran the mill at the correct speed for the steel insert rather than for aluminium. Seems a sensible course, avoiding excess heat from the steel and  possibility of blunting the drill bit or worse. Once both rests were drilled i re fitted them to the rear-sets, just to ensure a nice fit.
     Chem-bluing the hex part of the rests, I then marked the 45 degree slant, when machined off the angle will allow the rests to pivot up (for when I get the knee down - and no hero blobs to worry about....). The pieces were marked up and then each mounted back in the milling machine,  my cutter of choice being a 4 flute 3/4" end mill. The mounting complete i cut the angles to half the across the points depth, basically to the center of the rest. The cutter was a hot knife through butter.

    

 

Once both pieces were cut they were cleaned. Not sure if I am going to polish them as yet as I like the contrast in finish and form. The the securing pins were given a good clean and parkerized. Giving them a black to grey look. The all pieces were cleaned one final time, checked for fit and assembled.

     I am very pleased with the final finish. The pegs from Barry were nice, and I was determined to put them on my bike. That is now possible, with a little bit of thought and engineering know-how. The picture below shows the rear-sets, pegs and securing nuts. All bespoke pieces finished to within 2 thou and giving a great sense of achievement.

     Now onto the next part of the build, I do keep saying engine, but I am working up to that. I now have the tail light and the seat unit will need modifying to accommodate it. The intention is to recess the light into the unit. Beer-o'clock now.

Footrests - part 2. A third installment will be called for I think.

     Beer was good, I have a penchant for PBR, refreshing and tasty. So a few days later I get to designing and machining the foot rest nuts, for the other side of the rear-sets. You can see them below, My original design did not turn down the outer side of the nuts but the finish was clunky and, dare I say, amateurish, lacking in thought and refinement. S, after a little thought and some math, one prototype later, a finished design was settled upon. Off to the lathe.
     I had some hex aluminum stock, 3/4" across the flats, this was my metal of choice - mainly because it suited my needs, was free and is very easy to machine.

     Firstly, the holes for the frame mounts were drilled, tapped and counter drilled to fit the bike:

 

     An easy and straight forward task, KAWASAKI do everything in metric, I have an old American Sheldon lathe, acquired 6 years ago from the back of an old army service trailer in a junk yard. Dealer said if I could get it out I could have it (Oxy--acetylene torches, 5 ton army repair trailer suspended under a crane, July in Georgia and a near death experience). Bob's your uncle, I was the - much to my wife's delight - the proud owner of a lathe, albeit at the time in dire need of a lot or work to get it running. Once the holes were done, the overall depth being approx. 7/8", and the M8 X 1.25 mm tapped hole being approx the deeper 1/2" or so. All depths calculated and the drill bits marked with tape for ease of production. The bar was then turned to 5/8", to match the rear set bushed holes:

     Once this was completed, the stock was cut to just over an inch in length. Then turned to the required inch and then turned to 3/4", mostly because that was aesthetically pleasing to my eye. Then the ends had a complimentary angle put on them.

     Repeat four times and hey presto - securing nuts for the rear sets. Now, this is when, on further inspection, the rather nice racing foot pegs that Barry gave me do not fit the hangers. The space being 3/4" and the foot rest ends being 5/8" in diameter. As you can see from the picture below, some more engineering was demanded.

 I measured, re-measured and then got to work. As it turned out, the hex stock I have been using for the securing nuts fits the foot rests. I elected to use that as the starting point. Being all aluminum worried me to the point where it was decided that instead of just boring the aluminium stock out to 5/8", interference fitting the pegs and mounting into the rear-sets. although a nice solution, is inherently weak, being all aluminium. Ah-ha! I will produce a steel liner for the hex stock, interference fit that, then fit foot pegs into the liner, and then into the rear sets. I am a genius! So a steel sleeve was produced, forced into the prepared hex stock, with some metal epoxy - courtesy of Gorilla Glue for extra security. There will also be a cross pin when fitted to the bike, this is where the pegs will pivot.

     I faced off the piece and will let it  cure for 24 hours prior to drilling the cross hole for the fixing pin, machining the 45 degree angle to facilitate the rests moving up and back to horizontal, when i ground the pegs in a corner......

     The foot rest production so far shown above, not to shabby, very bespoke and, as it turns out, cost effective. I have about 2 1/2 hours vested in production and another 2 1/2 in mistakes and fuck-ups. Another hour or so will see them complete and mounted. More to follow in installment 3!