 Having got the latest order from Rally Design I have now installed the new brake fluid reservoir which replaces the one I wrenched to pieces the other week. Unlike last time I’ve had to snip off a bit of plastic and use one of the other outlets on the reservoir for the clutch master cylinder. For some reason the extra outlets are smaller bore than the main brake ones which seems a bit daft as the master cylinders are the same. I guess Mr Saab, who made this device, has some sort of other plans for it.
Apart from the hose to the clutch slave cylinder this is now all done. I’ve only not done that last bit because I haven’t got the banjo bolt for the slave cylinder end. This is a slightly wierd size at M10 x 1.25mm. I’ve ordered one from Demon Tweeks but it hasn’t arrived yet. Before filling and bleeding everything I want to remake the front brake flexi-hoses. A while ago now I bought some 1/8″ NPTF fittings which will work rather better than the adapters I was previously using. I just never got around to making the hoses before. (Not for the first time, I’m left in bewildered amazement at the sheer variety of pressure fittings.) |
Yet Another New Year…
 ..has arrived and I’m nearly a year older as my birthday’s in only a week or so. I haven’t been well over Christmas, having had the worst migraine attack I’ve ever had. That’s a bit alarming actually, enough to actually drive me to the doctors. Of course, that was pretty much a waste of time…
As a consequence, I’ve made rather less progress over the break than I’d intended to. Ho hum. However, I have done a couple of things. Most importantly, the engine is now in properly with the engine mounts all painted properly. You can see the new POR-15 quite clearly in the photo. Although it’s the “same” colour as the old stuff you can see how much the old stuff has faded after a year exposed to the elements. |
Pedalling forwards
 Look at that, you don’t a post for ages then they come along in quick succession.
There’s not much to report, but I’ve been sorting the pedals out. I’ve fitted the new master cylinders including the one for the clutch. The clevis that I got for connecting to the clutch pedal is rather large actually but it should do the job. You may notice in this photo that the reservoir is missing. This is because I was taking the pipes off and managed to completely wrench one of the output connections off the reservoir; I obviously don’t know my own strength. Annoying as I’ll now have to buy a new one. You can probably tell in the photo that I painted over the bit of the pedal box that I had to modify with some new POR-15. You can tell from this just how much the colour of the stuff has changed over the year since I first painted the shotblasted chassis. So, apart from the connection to the clutch slave cylinder, and replacing the reservoir, this is all done. I just may put the engine back in tomorrow and put the wiring all in place. That’d be nice… |
Moving on
 Well, I’ve managed to do a couple of small things but hopefully over the next week I can manage to spend a good deal of time in the garage. We’ve not got too much on over the next week, probably mainly because we didn’t arrange too much because of Anthea’s operation; a couple of months ago it was hard to think about Christmas. Mind you, she’s much better now which is great. We’re starting to talk about the next racing season which puts the pressure on my to actually get on with getting the car sorted.One thing that needs doing for the new engine is the inlet. The CBR1000 engine has two sets of injectors. The primary ones are in the normal place on the throttle bodies; you can see them on the right of this photo of the airbox. There is another set though which are positioned above the inlet trumpets and squirt directly into the trumpet when the ECU decides that a huge dose of fuel would be useful. You can see the secondary injectors on the top of the airbox here. The problem with all this is, of course, that the standard airbox ends up with being really tall. This isn’t a problem on the bike but in a car it’s a pain. Most of the modern bike engines end up needing quite a bonnet bulge. Dan’s car has a positive skyscraper for example. However, Andy says he’s making a new GRP airbox which will be better, although it’s still going to be tall. |
The red one goes to the green one with the purply stripe
 Not too much progress to report, but a bit anyway.
The major activity over the last couple of days has been converting this thing into somthing useful. This is the entire loom from the bike, other than the tails connected directly to the lights and so on. It’s a lot more complicated than the equivalent thing for the CBR900. It’s also made doubly difficult to use by being set up to connect properly to all the sensors, and so on, when in the bike. On the bike the ECU mounts on the very top of the airbox and the loom wraps around the engine to all the sensors and so on. The problem is that the top of the airbox would be a daft place to put the ECU in the car. If I mount it, as seems sensible, on the scuttle then nothing’s going to fit any more. |
Continue reading “The red one goes to the green one with the purply stripe”
It’s in!
 I seem to have been beavering, in a rather restrained way, away for ages and not getting that far. However, things are happening even though the on-track day is getting alarming closer and closer.
I said I’d probably have to modify the pedal box again, and I’ve now done this. As you can see from the photo I’ve cut off the top corner of the box. I have checked that my size 12 race boots don’t bash into the new corners. (And, for the reader who questioned me; yes, it was the left boot.) The other thing I’ve done is added a new master cylinder which you can also see in the photo. This isn’t actually the final cylinder but a spare one I had lying around. Well, to be fair I knew I had it somewhere but it only took me about 2 hours to find it. I needed it in there, though, as when I made the engine mounting I was going to have to arrange to miss the additional obstruction. |
Progress, of a sort
 One of the things I need to do for the new engine is to get a fuel tank that’s suitable for the new engine. The most critical issue here is the fuel pump mounting. In order to make the Honda ECU happy it’s been found to be best to use the standard CBR1000 fuel pump. This is an in-tank device that pokes up into the bottom of the bike’s tank.
So, the idea is to make the same sort of thing work in the car. In order to do that I need to get this device in the bottom of a tank. It’s upside down here but it provides the proper mounting for the Honda fuel pump. |
But it doesn’t fit!
 Well, at last it was time to press on with the CBR1000 fit. I went up to Andy’s last weekend to look at how it fitted in Rob Grant’s striker. It didn’t look too difficult although I already knew I was going to have to make some brand new engine mountings.
First thing, though, was to take the CBR900 engine out, as seen in the picture here. This should, I hope, be the last time I take this engine out. |
Back on track
Well, I hope so anyway. You may have noticed I’ve been absent recently. Essentially, I’ve been snowed under. However, I seem to be getting out of it now.
I’ve now managed to get the garage mostly tidied up, although I am thinking about making life difficult for myself by putting some more paint on the floor. I do now have lots of the bits that I need to get going on the class B engine change. Most obviously, I’ve got the engine as seen here. Continue reading “Back on track”
What’s he doing?
I know, I know. It’s been ages since I posted here. I’ve got the obvious excuse, though, that things have been rather frenetic with respect to Anthea. However, she seems to be slowly on the mend now so my thoughts are turning back to car things. Inevitably, I didn’t do the Birkett. It might have been just about possible but, to be honest, my mind was on other things.
Essentially, there are 3 things I want to do to the car this winter, as in the following list. I’ve given myself a target for getting the car done by booking up for a track day at Snetterton on February 14th. That will probably be about a month before the start of the season proper and should give me a chance to see if the car actually works.