This is turning out to be bi-annual news, sorry folks.
After our outing at Wroughton it was pretty obvious that the standard clutch was not up to handling all those stampeding horses the engine now produces. I had this in mind when I designed the new right hand engine case and allowed plenty of clearance above the clutch pressure plate.
For those who don't know how a lock up works on a typical multi plate bike clutch I'll try to explain without the aid of photos:-
An additional plate is mounted above the pressure plate and has 'L' shaped arms that bear on the pressure plate at one end and have a weight on the other. The weights are usually in the form of a nut and bolt plus washers so that the weight can be adjusted. As the clutch revs rise centripetal force causes the arms to bear down firmly on the clutch pressure plate, supplementing the clutch springs and hopefully stopping the darn thing slipping.
The only problem is that all the stress has to go somewhere and can cause the clutch basket to explode....hopefully not!
So on to the construction; The pressure plate needs steel inserts where the lock up arms bear on it, so this was the first challenge as the plate is a die casting with very thin walls.
The actual plate that holds the lock up arms was fairly straight forward, machined from a piece of aluminium billet, and with the aid of some longer bolts it all went together fairly painlessly.
I haven't been able to fire up yet to see if the clutch lever can actually be pulled in at tickover (joke), but once there is a fine day will do so.
So there you have it 2007, mmmh another typical Fang year!
As my son is now really busy with Phd research, the chances of us all meeting at some suitable venue are slimmer than ever in 2008. Consequently I have volunteered myself as test pilot. Though lacking Dominic's riding skills and faster reactions, my experience will hopefully speed up the development process.
7th August
With all the members of Team Fang together for once and no racing opportunities, we jumped at the chance to exhibit at the 2007 Honda Owners Club Festival held at Gaydon Motor Museum in Warwickshire.
Even better, when we arrived we were directed to a site opposite Honda UK's impressive stand which they had even painted to match 'The Fang'!
I had hoped to have a look around the spectacular Museum but even before the official opening at 10am we were fielding questions from other exhibitors and from 10am onwards it became a steady stream, some folks even coming over from the BMW car rally held on another part of the site.
Secretary of the HOC, Erica was particularly keen for us to start the bike up, so not needing any more encouragement we began preparing. This soon attracted a curious crowd who all stepped back some way when the bike burst into life, followed by beaming smiles as the bike settled down into it's rhythmic, hunting tick over. Once the engine was warm I gave Dominic the thumbs up and he gave the bike a big hand full, this was enough to cause the crowd to visibly jump and clap there hands on their ears!
After shutting the bike down the questions began to come thick and fast, and were still continuing as we loaded up to leave. One of the many memorable comments was "That's the best thing I've seen all day".
All in all the very well organised and pleasant day. Many thanks to the Oxford Honda Owners Club and in particular Erica for the invitation, find out more at: www.oxfordhoc.co.uk
14th June
RETURN of The Fang!
Dominic finished his MSci and is having a well earned rest before starting his PhD in September, this meant we finally managed to test on the 10th June at a VMCC sprint at nearby Wroughton.
We fired up the bike during the previous week and with a 3.4mm main jet it ran fine, a little on the rich side for safety. The ambient temperature was 23C.
Once at the sprint, it was obvious things would be a little different; by 11:30 it was over 30C, and rising with very high humidity.
First surprise was the loss of around 8psi boost, and it was obviously running very rich too. This would not have been a problem, if Dom had not been held on the line for ages, resulting in the engine flooding twice. Chatting to one of our fellow fuel competitors was quite revealing, he had to turn the fuel on and off to keep his running!
The next surprise was the lack of track time: No sooner had the meeting begun, than it was time for the lunch break, followed by a second riders meeting at which we were told we would continue to 5pm. In the mean time I had jetted down to 3.2mm, so off we went at about 3:30 for our first full run. Unfortunately Dom's foot came off the footrest as he went to change into 2nd gear, and then caught underneath it aborting the run. However the bike was running perfectly so we headed back to our pit to turn the bike around.
Arriving back at the start at 4pm ready to finally lay down a decent time, we were stunned to find the meeting had ended! We were not very happy, having spent quite a lot of the day sitting at the start waiting to be allowed to run whilst the track was unused!
THE lack of updates and action last year was down to lack of time; my commitments at Turnertech just did not allow for any racing activities. Add to that Dominic's final year of his MSci and daughter Bryony's first year at University, there was just no way we would ever make it to the track.
However I did find time to design and make a new clutch cover, the starter now drives an adaptor on the end of the crank. The new starter used a 1.6 Honda Civic motor, driving through a gearbox I made which uses a surplus Hayabusa gear to reverse the rotation. The great thing about these motors is that the solenoid is integral and they also have a freewheel, very useful when withdrawing the starter as the engine fires up.
The carburetor manifold has been modified to raise the carb slightly and a drain valve installed in the manifold from the supercharger to the plenum chamber. Previously we had a problem with fuel lying in this section flooding the engine on restarting.
Various little refinements to the controls for the fuel shut off valves and the seating of the SU piston on the main jet, among other things, all help to avoid some of the niggling little problems we have had in the past.
Once Dominic recovers from celebrating his 1st we will be testing again, and look out for us at the Calne (Wiltshire) Big Bike Day on 21st June. There were 3,500 bikes in 2006 and all the proceeds go to charity.
