R80 restyle project

[SeanW]

Am bolting her back together now -the fun bit

engine and gearbox back in frame, swingarm in with new bearings, steering head with new bearings, and one fork leg rebuilt. Those damper rods are an absolute c**t to get back in the stanchions, but think I have got the hang of it now.

Have also pretty much finished the ripped-off-from-Richie-Moore airbox arrangement. Just need to create some means of lashing the air filter down.

Might swop to the later starter motor cover at some point (assuming they fit).

Have also been busy with photoshop, making a face to go over the top of the speedo (which will end up rotated thru 90 degrees)

 

[SeanW]

A bit of an update - not much to show visually for recent work, but have put most of electrics back in and re-instated the alternator, timing cover, etc

Did a bit of a preview mock up of the speedo last night. Still quite a lot of fiddling about to be done here, like adding a 90 degree drive to the cable, but am quite pleased with the look and how it fits with the bike as a whole

Not too much left to do...

Assemble Pistons/barrels/heads
Assemble front calipers
Get scraping driveshaft sorted out
make end section of exhaust
Drill /fit rear mudguard

 

[jackassdave]

looking good ,why not run the exhaust throught the section between the rear mudguard and have a turn out there ,it wont come out so close to your leg ,exiting through the triangle bit on the frame (thats easy to say do this do that ) i know how hard stuff is in reality .
i really like the look of this one ,sort of how i might go ,when i start the next one .

 

[SeanW]

have explored lots of options on the pipe, including going under the seat and exiting where you suggest, but I think some of the pics I've put up are a bit misleading

I might route it under the seat at a later date, but there is no room to do anything fancy without moving the battery. But I might go for an underslung battery at some point in the future, then route the exhaust right to left under the seat with some kind of exit in the left sidepanel area - this would really tuck it in, and make leg burns impossible

But the turnout in the pics above isn't how or where it's going to be in real life - that's just an uncut 90 degree bend casually slapped on the end of the Y-piece.

Current plan is to replace that with a custom made bend that will snake round the rear frame tube, ending a few inches short of the shock. I'm then gonna bung a GPR "deeptone" silencer on it....

 

[jackassdave]

what i meant was ,to exit the bend ,where the side panel was ,great work .nice to see some hand made bits .

 

[SeanW]

a few snags...

Things not quite going smoothly with the rebuild at the moment

Tried installing some stainless pushrod tubes; 3 of the 4 went in fine (using the correct mandrel to knock them in), but the last one got completely stuck half way in.

It wont go in either direction now. I've tired heating the barrel in the oven and pouring ice water over the tube before trying to knock it out, but all that happens is the lip of the mandrel just starts flaring out instead of anything actually moving.

Wondering what the best way to get it out without damaging the hole it locates in. Will take it to a machine shop if necessary, but not quite sure what approach to suggest.

Also, weird thing happening with battery - I put it back on charge after it had sat around doing nothing for about 9 months. It starts off showing a voltage of about 5V, and a charging current of an amp or two, but the voltage then goes slowly DOWN. (yes, it is connected the right way round). Is this a sign of a fooked battery? It was nearly new before the bike blew up a year ago

 

[SeanW]

another thing forgot to mention...

Probably need to extend the right side HT lead by a few inches to be absolutely sure it doesn't get melted by the exhaust

Should I extend both leads by the same amount or won;t it make any difference?

 

[Rob Farmer]

It wont go in either direction now. I've tired heating the barrel in the oven and pouring ice water over the tube before trying to knock it out, but all that happens is the lip of the mandrel just starts flaring out instead of anything actually moving.

It's gone in slightly scewed. You will probably have to sacrifice the pushrod tube and put it in a vice. Whatever you do don't tap the skirt of the barrel. They distort very easily. I'm not a fan of stainless tubes they are usually at least 1mm smaller on the ID than the originals.

I like your speedo face.

 

[SeanW]

making some progress forward on project scrambler, but not as fast as I'd hoped. Here's what's been happening and some recent pics...

Successes...

- forks rebuilt
- electrics and lights back in place, including revised rear light and indicator arrangement
- airbox and filter completed
- alloy mudguards fitted (I also found that an upside down R80 mudflap can be fitted neatly behind the battery cage to provide some extra protection for the electrics)
- Deeper sump from an RS fitted

Snags...

- still need to work out why the driveshaft is rubbing on the swingarm
- After rebuilding the right side cylinder including new pushrod tubes and rings I realised I hadn't actually checked whether the pistons and barrels were within service limits. As most of the rest of the engine has proved to be very worn, I've decided to get the barrels and pistons properly measured and checked. They are already 2nd oversize, so a rebore won't be an option. One of those 1000cc /25% power-up bolt on kits is looking tempting...
- I finally managed to extract the wedged-halfway-in new stainless pushrod tube from the left side barrel after getting a plug welded in it, allowing it to be drifted out. You can see how bonded the stainless and alloy had become in one of the pics - it seems to have taken large chunks of alloy with it in preference to coming out cleanly. Any metallurguists/engineers have an explanation for this?

Still need to get the exhaust sorted out, though the pics below give a slightly better idea of what it will look like when finished (silencer excepted)

 

[tw99]

- I finally managed to extract the wedged-halfway-in new stainless pushrod tube from the left side barrel after getting a plug welded in it, allowing it to be drifted out. You can see how bonded the stainless and alloy had become in one of the pics - it seems to have taken large chunks of alloy with it in preference to coming out cleanly. Any metallurguists/engineers have an explanation for this?

Speaking as neither, could it be evidence of some previous bodged repair in that area, which the new pushrod tube has (re-)damaged and now partly pulled out ?

 

[jackassdave]

really liking the look of the bike ,allso interested to know how you you did the richie moore copy airbox ,did you just cut down an origonal ,if so how is the air filter fed?

 

[Dogbytes]

I seem to recall that stainless and aluminium is a combination that's particularly prone to electrolytic corrosion. They ned to be separated by a reliable waterproof grease. I usually use that white, marine spec grease you get from chandlers.

 

[SeanW]

really liking the look of the bike ,allso interested to know how you you did the richie moore copy airbox ,did you just cut down an origonal ,if so how is the air filter fed?

I bought a used later-type of airbox (with the flat filter) off ebay. You also need the carb tubes that go with it, otherwise, you'll probably find only one of the originals can be made to fit.

All I did with it was cut a piece of (3mm?) aluminium sheet to fit over the bottom half of the airbox, then cut a big hole in the middle to accept a universal K&N filter (the upper end of it is closed, unlike the two-open-ended stock filter). Had to make some bits for the bottom of the lid so that it locates precisely on the box, and also fitted foam tape where the lid and box join to keep it airtight. A couple of mini bungees hold the filter an the lid in place (hopefully). I'll post some better pics at some point in the future

I've guessed a bit at the filter size as K&N were no help whatsoever in recommending a size, but the filter area is about the same as the original cylindrical element, and should be freer flowing. Fuelling will probably need tweaking anyway, especially with the new exhaust.

Just whizzed over to Steve Scriminger's this afternoon and the kind fellow measured both bores (they were spot on) and even gave them a quick hone and gave me an odd pushrod tube to replace the wrecked one, for nothing. Quote: "You own a BMW so I know you'll be back..."

 

[SeanW]

here's a slightly closer look at the airbox for now...

oops - a bit bigger than I was expecting

 

[jackassdave]

nice work ,allthough i hope i dont feel a project coming on ,as ive just got rid of an airhead

 

[SeanW]

finished ... almost

well, project street scrambler is almost finished...

a couple of parts need to be made next week, then it's battery back in and see if it runs.

those last parts are a silencer mount (it's just hanging in mid air right now) and a custom part to replace the right side fuel tap, which won;t work with the new exhaust. it'll reroute the right fuel line under the tank via an inline tap and filter, into the left side fuel line (see pic).

 

[jackassdave]

i think it looks great ,especially with the single seat ,nice work

 

[Kenny]

Agreed, looks good

Protect those cables near the exhaust though .

 

[SeanW]

Agreed, looks good

Protect those cables near the exhaust though .

They're zip tied to the starter cover

Apart from the choke, which is knackered amd will shortly be replaced

Unless you can get some kind of individual plunger mechanism to ech crb to do away with cables completely...

 

[Rob Farmer]

Nice work Sean.



If I was being picky I'd say paint the speedo bracket black.