It's dead I tell you ...

6 months *then* I sold it. Mainly because the cam caps had worked loose
from where I'd araldited the stripped screws.

 

<from the ledge>
Reprieved!

 

<fx: aside to audience>

Do you think he fell for that? It'd be a shame to lose 2
70s-throwbacks in one year...

</fx>

 

In

"'ees Basil"

--
Steve Parry

http://www.gwynfryn.co.uk

http://wrexhamseals.tripod.com

 

In

correctly?


we had a batch of GPz550's in the early 80's with the same prob
... mate of mine bought a new one off me and 450 mile later the
rod spat .... he was not an impresseed person ...

Turns out someone at KHI, Japan had their torque wrench set on
the wrong settings ....

--
Steve Parry

http://www.gwynfryn.co.uk

http://wrexhamseals.tripod.com

 

" "

 

Don't worry, there's a few left yet.

 

I was given a Lotus 1650cc (Ford Lotus Cortina type competition spec)
engine complete with the Webers, hi flow oil pump etc., attached. It
came out of the skip at the Ford Competition Dept. Some one had not
assembled it correctly and the big end bolts came undone on number two.

I brazed a bit of bell housing in the hole. Balanced a new 123c rod to
match the others. Had the crank crack tested. Stuck it in my TVR Mk2a.
Never let me down.

And again on a 277cc Maco third gear went out though the bottom of the
gear box. Araldited a bit of ally plate over the inside filled the hole
with 'Plastic metal' got a second hand cog from Snide and Sharks put the
lot back together and it ran for all the time I had it and for the guy
who bought it off of me.

 

*cough*
http://groups.google.co.uk/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8
&threadm=bdukkvo3jhlhas1mpsimpp7k9enfmtrua4%404ax.com&rnum=4
&prev=/groups%3Fq%3Dgroup%253Auk.rec.motorcycles%2Bnumberplate%2Brat%
26ie%3DUTF-8%26oe%3DUTF-8%26hl%3Den

 

More than irons are in the fire now. I've just beaten off an ebay
sniper to win a *cough*CBR600engineanddownpipes*cough* that will have
to be fitted in time for the new college term. That should be
sufficiently evil, I reckon.

Angle grinder at the ready ...

 

Make it easy WDY

 

One for the week and one for sunday best? Stylish.

 

Using the patented Mavis Beacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique, Pip

Woo (and if I may be so bold) Hoo! I likes yer style.

 

Hmm. That should be a challenge.

 

The challenge may come at the "obtaining insurance cover" stage. I
can't see why fitting the engine should be that difficult (easy to say
that now, of course) as the dimensions are not that different, we're
getting the downpipes and loom/ignition all together with it - and the
Rat has unboltable frame tubes - and a steel box frame.

So - out with the old, off with the downtubes and in with the new on a
trolley jack. Hook the front sprocket up to the chain, line it all up
and refit the downtubes with mods if required. Weld in plates to
mount the engine off on a "fits where it touches" principle and then
it's just a matter of bolting it up and plugging a few wires in.

Piece of piss, 45 minutes tops.

Ludicrous optimism is easy, sitting here.

 

Easy as anything. There was little to buggerall chance of getting a
direct replacement, so we grabbed the first available "mainstream"
motor that looks like it might just fit in the space allotted.

Good way to solve the crippling carb icing problem ;-)

 

Yersh. As long as the rear width of the crankcases will actually fit
between the framespars, and allow you to line up the gearbox sprocket.
Other things to look for are additional height/depth of the motor,
which could give ground clearance problems. And additional motor
length/downpipe/radiator size, which may give clearance issues with
the front wheel. Not to mention mating the CBR carbs with the FZR
airbox.

If that lot goes ok, then you'll be left with the little, but often
really annoying little problems like mounting differently sized/shaped
coils, ignitier unit, etc.

Quite. Have fun

 

I've had a close look at the (different model) CBR on the patio next
to the Rat, combined with scrutiny of photos of the engine purchased
and it looks like it will fit. Fatal, I know, but (hopefully) nowt a
bit of hot work and a big hammer can't sort. Ground clearance is an
issue, but there's a fair bit to play with. If it fouls the front
wheel - that's a bit of an issue but I'll give it a go.

The airbox snag had occurred to me, but I'll either knock up a

That's fun, though. I love twiddling and problem solving like that -
there's a huge space under the ZXR tank, in any case. At the moment,
before it's filled with engine, at least.

If all else fails, I know a man who built a Harris turbo, you know ...

 

Weld on some plates to the bits of the engine that will touch
down. Nice sparky bits...

If it fouls the front

Just kick the forks out and go "cruiser" on it's ass.

heh.

It does seem that with a sufficient amount of
a) time
b) welding experience
c) anglegrinding experience

then just about anything will fit. And you've got
plenty of all three...

 

....and he solved the problem by writing a nice cheque to the Harris
Brothers.

I've still got the reciept, y'know. I think it was something like
2.3k, for :
- frame:
- forks (marzocchi)
- brakes (brembo)
- wheels (dymag)
- tank, seat & fairing, headlights, ancillaries

Bargain, eh? Course, that was in the days when a top of the range jap
bike was about 3.5k