Found the oil leak. Incorrect o ring seals on oil line that feeds the cam gear. section width should be 2.2mm but 2.0mm fitted.
The initial shakedown at Broadford was a success. I need to explore recovering some lost horsepower after I was politely asked by the clerk of course to quieten down the beautiful sounding megaphones to avoid being sent home early. Here are some links to explore. https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=2551748498220403 https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=2551728098222443 Would may need to follow Bruce Whalley on facebook to get full access. Enjoy.
Hi Guys, There is a chance that I will get back to Broadford around Australia day (25 Jan) for a second shakedown. Since the first run, I have gone up a couple of jet sizes on the main jets as I suspected it was a bit lean. I have also made up a set of larger "muffler inserts". These just take the edge of the noise with the open megaphones and I am hoping that will be enough to satisfy the noise police without loosing as much performance while keeping as much of the charateristic sound as possible. I also upgraded the rear shocks. I have tried to maintain the period look using modern gas filled shocks while adding the ability to better adjust the setup.
After almost 12 months now, complicated by COVID lock down, I am now heading back to the track for another shakedown session with my little RC replica. As a bit of refresher for everyone, take a look at this compilation video recently put together by Bruce Walley. There is a little more video footage that Bruce had previously not posted.
Ok. Went round to see Frank today and had a bit of a chin wag. Frank got stuck into me for not posting any feedback after the RC162s 2nd outing last week. So here is a bit of a run down. Started the day running larger jets in the carbs compared to last time. Also running softer springs on the vacuum diaphragms. The theory from last time being that it was starving for fuel as the carbs were not running their best without an airbox. I spoke to another friend who suggested that maybe the vacuum pistons were not lifting fully (he had similar experience with MC19 carbs), hence the lighter spring idea. That didn't work, pick up on throttle was horrible. Went back to the original springs. Much better. Now I am getting a reasonable level of acceleration enrichment again. Confirmed that the pistons are opening fully as I can see down the carbs when belting down the back straight after a quick glance down at full throttle. Bike still feels lean as it will not rev out when cold but improves as it warms up. Usable revs past 18k now so a big improvement. Went up another 2 jet sizes but absolutely no change. Now thinking that the needles are sitting too low and limiting max fuel flow. Will need to shim the needles a bit for next time out. No time left in the day to sort this one out. The new Chinese rear shocks worked a treat. The bike feels so much more stable and controllable. Noticed a bit of instability under hard braking towards the end of the day as I was pushing the bike harder. Dialed in 6 more clicks of rebound on the rear and that helped heaps. So at the end of the day, the bike was feeling much better and I was getting more confident on the skinny rubber. Next time out I will play with the needle settings a bit more and also run some new equal length velocity stacks to try and push peak torque up a bit more rather than the softer spread from the unequal length ones. Sorry not many pics from the day. Too busy riding and tuning. Old meets new. My RC162 rep, my sons 88 GSXR750 and a friends CBR600RR at Broadford. We all had fun and no bike or rider issues to speak of as such.
Back at Broadford again tomorrow for the next round of testing/tuning. I will try to get some video and pics to post.
Hi Guys, I know I promised you some onboard footage, but I was a bit reluctant to put this one up. It ends badly. Camera mounting is pretty poor, lots of vibration. Engine is still a long way off song. Considerably down on power. In the earlier laps, when cold, it just would not pull. Sounds and feels smooth enough, but no go. I was out with the slowest group, which is a good thing for me. The first few laps were behind a pace bike, no overtaking, and were very slow. When we were able to pick up our pace a bit I found that I still did not have enough heat in my tyres and was blocked by a less experience rider than me (if there is such a thing). A valuable lesson learnt in bike control. I don't think I touched the front brake, but who really knows. All I do know is that it hurt. See for yourselves. I spent the next couple of nights in hospital staring at the ceiling. Peter.
Umm yep... that would have hurt... but it could have been a lot worse. That little bike will get up and boogie when you get it fully sorted. Love the noise it makes too...
Yep. Fracture to the base of my skull (neck brace 24/7 for 6 weeks) and plastic surgery tomorrow to sort out my broken thumb) plus a few bumps and grazes. My gear did its job well! My brand new helmet is cactus though after face planting the track. However, I am in much better shape than a young couple that were admitted to the Alfred when I was in emergency. Young husband & wife, sharing a few drinks with their mates. Decided to go for a blast around the block on their bikes. From what I understand, no lights, no protective gear, not even helmets. They didn't see the roundabout. They are still with us (probably because their younger bones are still like rubber) but they are in bad shape. The lesson here - ALWAYS WEAR DECENT GEAR.
Geez Peter, really sorry to hear about your accident, but glad to hear you're mostly okay. Take care and rest up.
Thanks guys. Surgery today to hook my thumb back together. Back home again. I think it all went well. The neck brace is a bit inconvenient.