Track bike progress

[Ax-Racing]

Wolfgang, you have to fix fairing damage on Abe replica

[Mick C]

They look fantastic Wolfgang, congrats on both bikes!!!

Good luck with your track day...if they go as good as they look then you'll be ripping it up!

Cheers
Mick

[wolfgangh]

Wolfgang, you have to fix fairing damage on Abe replica

Alex, how the hell did you see that? Did It already have that in Varano last year?

[ncr160]

Another very attractive motorcycle Wolfgangh
I love the Rainey one because I have discover and love motorcycle gp thanks to Rainey, Schwantz, Gadner, Mamola ... It makes wonderfull memory.
For your pipes, you could try longer 'straight pipe' before the silencers or try to 'cross' the diverging section.

Thank you for your all your post. Nick

[Ax-Racing]

Wolfgang, you have to fix fairing damage on Abe replica

Alex, how the hell did you see that? Did It already have that in Varano last year?

yes Wolfgang, just happened before varano 2014, as you told me

[wolfgangh]

Hello friends,
I promised to keep you updated about the results of our radical engine tuning after this weeks 2 trackdays. Well, it was good and bad.

Here is the bike in our box, waiting for its maiden ride (is this correct - it sounds so dodgy?):



First day, the bike did not start for about an hour, we had no spark. Checked kill switch, but it was in the ON position. In the end I figured out I had incidentially changed the polarity of the kill switch from active HIGH to active LOW with the ZEELPROG software, so that actually the switch was reversed (OFF was ON).

Then my buddy Herbert, an experienced racer with strong twostroke racing background from the 70´s and 80`s, went out on the track, but came back after 1 lap. He noticed that 1 cylinder did not pull as strong as it should - after a short search we figured that the idle screw (not the one for the mixture, but the one which sets the closed position of the slide) of the top right carburator was lying in the bellypan of the fairings - lost through vibrations. We fixed it with drilled wire.

Then it rained for the rest of the day, he could not go out again on monday.

Next morning, rain until noon, it then dried up pretty rapidly. Herbert went out to another try.

Here he passes the finish line first time, pretty careful and not revving more than 8k, you can see him listening to any strange engine noises carefully.



After only the 3rd lap he back in to the pitlane again, with one carb slide stuck in the WOT position (upper right cylinder). When we removed the fairings, we immediately noticed amounts of sand in the upper carb mouths. Nothing in the lowers though. After a short while of thinking and searching we came to the conclusion that this must be the remainders of the sandblasting of the frame many years ago, which fell out of the headstock area due to the vibrations. Since our upper carbs are pointing straight forwards/upwards (in direction of the headstock) and we even mounted 2 U-style "air shields" to prevent hot air from the radiator enter the carbs, the sand was directed straight into the carbs and so the slide stuck.

Here is a picture of the traces of sand in the "air shield" which leads to the carb mouth:



and here the sand in the carb mouth:



Of course we stopped any further running of the engine, since sand could have entered the cylinders. I now need to completely dismantle the bike to
-a) remove all sand out of the frame, close all holes
-b) check the cylinders and maybe even crankcases for sand

A quick look though the exhaust port did not show any visible damage.

Besides this totally unexpected defect, which might happen in 1 out of 10.000 cases (usually it would not matter since standard carbs are facing sideways and have airfiilters) the resumee was very positive:

- the bike handled awesome, even with a 190 rear tire.
- the dry clutch operated extremely smooth, gearbox was like a dream
- no oil or coolant leaks at all
- nice spark color
- engine pulled strong through the RPM range, he did not rev past 10k due to run-in procedure.
- coolant temp on all 4 cylinders was equal, but went up to 70°C (remember, I have 2 separate electric waterpumps, temp sensor sits in the head close to the coolant outlet
- will do small changes with the carb setting
- need to play with ignition curve - we had a pretty conservative one with max. 26°C advance at 3,5k
- besides a potential damage of the cylinders due to the sand, the engine survived without any failure. All electronics worked as intended, besides my stupid error with the kill switch polarity.

Next spring, when everything is back together, we will do next trackday, I am very positive that this will be much better, we are for sure moving in the right direction.

[Ax-Racing]

nice report Wolfgang

we are facing a winter with big work on engines
and rebuilding bikes for next spring

[Smoker]

Excellent job of diagnosing the problems, and having a good shakedown at the track.

Not bad at all for a custom bike of this magnitude!

[WVWRZ500N]

I just can't get away from using an air filter. This is a good case in point. A closed coarse even has debris present. All it takes is one pebble and the engine is toasted.

Beautiful looking bike Wolfgang! I can sympathize with your rider, always nerve racking the first running of a new build.

Regards,
Bill Wilson
Wilson Performance
Lee's Summit, MO
http://www.wilsonperformance.net" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Member RZ500 Owners Group #573
816-377-3185
WVWRZ500N@aol.com

[HWY9CA]

Great work- need some track pics...

JT

[Speed Freak]

Very nice bike.

Tought i missed to see it because i had no time to go to the Hollaus Gedächtnisrennen...
Will you be there next year?

Hopefully the sand didn`t cause any damage inside the engine.

Michael

[wolfgangh]

Hello Michael,
I had not been to this years "Hollaus Gedächtnisrennen" as well. We were attending trackdays from STARDESIGN at Pannoniaring.

A quick wrap-up for all who follow this thread.

After one throttle slide stuck at WOT in the 3rd lap, we figured out that sand (from sandblasting) got through the carbs of the upper cylinders and potentially into the engine. Meanwhile the engine has been completely disassembled and the news are good and bad.

The cylinders and pistons have very little damage; we will get away with new rings and new coating of the pistons, maybe slight honing. Sand definitely worked its way through the cylinders into the crankcase (or the other way round).
The upper crankcase had visible amounts of grit inside. The outer main bearings still run totally smooth without any signs of damage or dirt; but the inner main bearings and the labyrinth seems to be impacted. We also need to check the big end bearings of the rods - so crank overhaul is needed.
We noticed that one of our epoxy fillings (inserts) of the crank webs started to get loose, so we cant rely on the others to stay attached. Below a picture of these inserts for those who dont remember:





I need to check how one of these inserts could get loose, the bolts had been screwed into the crank webs first and then the epoxy was filled in so the bolts should actually not get loose. However, I will remove all these inserts for safety reasons once the cranks are apart. I may try to get nylon inserts made (3D scanning) and mounted but I am afraid of same issue then; likely I will not use these inserts at all.

If I need the labyrinth seal be replaced, are PMJE (http://www.pjme.co.uk" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;) and YAMBITS parts OK to use?

The good side of this incident with the engine is that I found some other issues which I would not have detected if I had not torn down the engine now, and which potentially could have caused much bigger damage over time:

- there were lots of aluminum particles, even filings, in the gearbox oil. I guess these were remainders of the clutch cover machining for the dry clutch modification, not properly washed out by myself

- dirt and grit in the coolant circuits, e.g. in the water pockets of the cylinder head. I had not flushed the new radiators properly. Could have done damage to my electrical waterpumps.

So besides the cost of checking and rebuilding both cranks and the potential of not having crank web inserts going forward, I only have plenty of work to do. It could have come worse. Overall, the engine concept seems to work as expected besides the crank web mounting method

I will keep posting as I move forward. Thanks for your interest

[hybrid]

H
the bolts had been screwed into the crank webs first and then the epoxy was filled in so the bolts should actually not get loose.

It might have been heat cycles that made them loose.
Are you saying that you screwed the inserts down tight first, then filled in the holes with the screws in them?

What about thread lock aka loctite?

[Speed Freak]

Are they made out of pure epoxy?
I would use epoxy filled with glass fiber reinforcement or microballoons (light) - or a mixture of both, microballoons and glass fibers for stability.
Only epoxy is quite brittle. Is the one filling maybe broken around the bolt?

On the other hand, if you just screw in the bolts without tension and then fill in the epoxy they will get loose if the connection between epoxy and the bolt breaks (heat cycles, vibrations).

If the fillings are not too brittle you can try to loosen the bolts and tighten them again, then you have tension in the bolts which prevents the inserts to get loose.

[ns86]

Wolfgang,
Awesome job on this as all your work! I have a single Brembo axial gp caliper I got from a supermoto project. I have been trying to match up a right side one. I can't seem to match the code anywhere? Also, do you know the logo on the adapter and what company it is? Thanx for any input, Dan