Poached from Tokyo

 

 

 

1994 Bol D'OR winning YZF 750

raunch!

Be advised Nasa..countdown to fireup has begun..

With Hitachi style block connectors in hand and a bunch of wire and relays, the OW01's wiring set-up is almost at a close.As always you have to be aware just how much work is involved when dealing with a pure out and out road racer which you want to convert back to semi-standard.
Doesn't make it any easier that you start with an OW...

So basically the PRK wiring look is in , the relays are attached and all the required wiring is hooked up. On the list to do, we have a front instrument panel and idiot lights , but on the other hand I may not bother with them and simply add a zxr speedo. Still work in progress..
Then we have the fact that the bike came with a zxr 750 radiator..and no fan.. As I have a ZXRrr I know the importance of the fan..as these bikes run hot..
initially the idea was to keep the rad and add a zx10 fan which i would mount to the left side....there would have to be a thermo switch added of course...currently I simply added a block connector which has the temp switch plugged into the system...
As I was really wanting to make a replica of the Suzuka 8 hour bike that Roberts put out Rainey on, I thought it would be good to have a look around at other larger rads..suddenly, out of the blue came the unicorn crap..

This is the same as set up that the S8 hour had... don't reckon I'll bother with fans.....I believe this is a factory YEC... so one step closer anyway...

So far, I haven't even managed to turn the engine over after the rebuild of the OW engine. With the Ignition lock arriving yesterday, the idea is to plug in and get her turned over to see if there are any unwanted issues...

 

 

Alloy tank is obviously not stock and is apparently an endurance tank size...has the pump in the bottom. You can see the YEC frame strengtheners make this like the forth road bridge..

Relay"ing the message"...

God I hate waiting for parts that I've sourced...part of the rebuild process I know, but tremendously boring anyway!

having got a list of relays the search begun in earnest for the revelant black boxes...some of them now obsolete, so if your lucky enough to find one on the fleabay it's a case of buy it now..as in yesterday!

It would have have been "oh so much easier" to leave the sprint harness on the bike..but that would have restricted play time and as the bike was setup for a total loss battery system, been impossible to use without jump starts..

I've managed to find 3 of the main relays and now it's simply a case of waiting.
The replica right switch arrived from Japan and to my dismay had a different set of block and bullet connectors fitted...it's only a matter of time and effort to change the connectors to one 9 pin block connector..but once again it's a question of waiting for the parts to arrive.Such a shame the previous owner gutted the original switch and used it simply as a kill switch..however, c'est la vie.

There are a few items on the list like a condenser and resistor (used for the fuel reserve?) which can wait for a while..I will have to fix a few block connectors for the switch and the fuel pump which has also had it's connector removed and changed to two bullet connectors as opposed to the three pin connector.

One more headache was solved today.
This time it was the speedometer issue. The bike also has a tach and temp guage left from it's original cluster...and as the bike isn't going to be 100% original I thought of sourcing a seperate speedo casing which I could then fit a brand new speedo innard that I bought a while back which is a black faced 300km/h speedo face. I sourced a Kawasaki 89 H2 speedo on the bay which was complete. So I'll rip the innards out and replace with the one I have stored. Obviously that will also require a swap of the front dymag for the original front wheel which came with the bike.
Not sure about the backlights on the speedo , but don't think this will be too difficult.

Another wee headache I had was the fact that the top yoke has no place for an ignition switch. However, solution solved by using a steering damper plate to hold the switch (which isn't as yet purchased..)....should be a neat solution despite losing the locking ability.

Right then, busy busy...at the weekend the team I coach won the swedish 7's championship with a 58-0 win in the final...

Somewhere in a grotto....

where are we with the OW01?

Right then, the ow01 project is moving forwards, slowly but surely.
Received a mail from Tokyo this morning informing me that the headlight wiring and lamps went through and will be in the post soon. That was a massive bonus...and basically removing the sprint harness for the road harness is where we are in the project.
On the way from WEBIKE, Japan, is a right hand switch as the original had been butchered into a kill switch from the previous owner with it's innards guttered...shame..but good that he left the left hand switch in the left-overs box..
So now it's been a case of relay hunting and working out what I need to complete the harness which I found on fleabay for a token 45 quid...I've managed to find a complete list of electric parts that I need to source and on top of that will be getting a rear mudguard and bracket that will assist in fitting the rear light gear.
Up front and I will use a race fairing bracket.
Haven't as yet decided which way to go with regards fairing. I have sourced a couple of originals, but it may be easier to buy a replica as opposed to paying for the real thing.

Took a bit of work..but...worth the result...

One of the major issues of buying rare bikes in "not" perfect 100% mint condition is getting into a condition so you can use them on the road without having them turn out too bad..

So far the search for OW01 parts has been interesting. There are not many spares around and even the guys who have a stock are finding their stock shrinking..

Recently I was fortunate enough to find a guy selling an original ow01 wiring harness on Ebay , as an FZR1000 wiring harness..well, lets just say it shared the 3PK harness s/n number..

Now that I've removed the total loss sprint harness, I've fitted the original and I'm in the process of sourcing the correct relays and bits and bobs..despite having the original headlights, I didn't have the front wiring harness and this is a "Unicorn syndrome" part to find.. 

So a few nights ago I googled the WWW and there it was..a complete front headlight setup with harness on Yahoo Japan Auctions...

These auctions are amazing..you can find some really cool stuff ..

The seller had "local shipping" only and the broker to buy anything off the site wanted me to pre-deposit money, pay x amount extra and percentages of shipping and all the rest..I wasn't too excited at the prospect..

..so I contacted a business that we used at work, based in Tokyo and asked if someone could help....

Cut a long story short, it's mine and should be on the way soon...

Alien Twin

This is what the end product of my original designed and built racing frame turned into once it reached the States.
Apparently the price tag was extreme, but so was the amount of work on the engine and plastics.

Obviously when I worked the project from base camp we didn't have more than TZ replica fairings and seats...
All in all a very mean looking motorcycle.

ZXR750R

The ZXRR after I refitted the original exhaust and replaced the dented tank from the crash a few years back. Lots of improvements since the original purchase and a fine looking machine.

Butchered G&L G000543

It's a pass me down with a very low S/N number...one of the early Leo and George guitars , an F-100 series II with a 12" radius neck which somebody decided to butcher....It came with a pickguard carrying a humbucker and two single coils and with the bridge blocked off.
It's obviously too butchered to return to former glory as the F-100 didn't have more than a pickguard over the volume tone/pots and had passive pickups..
Plan is to look at getting another pickguard custom made and based on the one that it came with that covers up the deepest of scars...and put in a claw and springs in the back.
The pickups removed were all cheap and cheerfuls...on first using the guitar I liked the bridge humbucker..but then I noticed it broke up too early on the gain and sounded poor...I have a few humbuckers I could use, as well as two mini-humbuckers sitting on the shelf..maybe a humbucker in the tail and mini in the neck, for something different...

updates to follow..

Takin' shape

Slowly but surely the OW01 racer has had it's 93 YZF engine removed and her original engine put back together and stuck back in the frame.

The original engine came in several boxes and wasn't really looking very healthy, so I had to clean up what could be cleaned up and put back together.

Now she's awaiting a battery and a wee bit work on the wiring harness as I've fitted a starter motor and charger...start up isn't far away...

Engine specs include:

Necessary matched YZF SP crankcases

Pete beale crank and head

YEC Endurance 3 ring pistons

B kit gearbox

Getting there...

Bournemouth sevens

Just back from the Bournemouth Sevens which was to be our warm up games prior to the European Championships in Amsterdam and Moscow qulaifier for the World cup.
The Swedish ladies did a positive weekend , ending up third at the end of the day.

OW01 engine rebuild

Finally something to write about...well, thats not true, there has been plenty to write about, I just haven't. having looked at trying to salvage the original OW01 cases I decided they were past the point of saving (for now) and decided to buy a set of YZF cases which are the same.

I've cleaned up all the race parts that arrived in a box and started the rebuild. Things are going forwards and at the moment it's a case of find the correct part in the box, inspect and clean and then fit.

Yesterday it was working out which bearing shells should be fitted by using the crank grind numbers versus the crankcase numbers.

"Nickel"Rock

Finally the three way switch arrived today..so it was time to get the wiring diagram out, soldering iron and get the Tomte workshop in full swing..
"nickel" is the name of this one..basically down to the fact that I swapped out all the gold parts to nickel...
having soldered up the sds-1 (vintage) to the Shaw era Dirty Fingers to the single pot and three way switch, I stuck some strings on her and....and...disappointment! the neck pickup was weak..capital W!
hmm..I remembered I'd manage to drop the sds-1 and I'd stuck one of the magnets back on the bottom...could it be that easy that I put it on the wrong way round?
Off came the strings...the neck..the pickguard...out came the pickup and I swapped one of the magnets around on the bottom of the pup..I checked the magnetism and it was suddenly a lot stronger...
Back on with the pickguard..screws..neck..strings..

and...what a sound! great balance between the sds-1 and the DF with a warm sound from the neck pick up. Still experimental by using a 1 meg volume pot and no tone pot..
Since I've purchased this JV body it's been through several changes and from the start..it didn't work...but since then..since the Warmoth pro neck and full size steel block and of course the brass nut..has made this guitar into something special..
The neck is a beautiful top of the line Warmoth pro neck..birdseye maple with a Brazilian rosewood fretboard and jumbo frets with the 9,5 to 12 inch radius..
The JV body started as an 83 3 bolt squire body which I modified to take a four bolt neck and which I routed for a humbucker in the bridge. As the idea was to only have a humbucker in the tail I removed more wood than necessary which gave the guitar a different resonance (a positive surprise).

back to the smoking stacks tomorrow

Bike weekend.

On saturday I took the trip down the road to the Bike show in Gothenburg.
16€ later and I was off into a sea of motorcycles, mopeds, helmets and accessories.
To date, I have never purchased a new motorcycle and probably never will either.And to be honest, looking around the stands there wasn't much I would buy.
The theme for 2012 seems to be over done with huge touring chopper whatevers..with nasty paint schemes and horrendous prices...kinda gave me flashbacks to "orange county choppers" who , in my opinon, have never built a decent looking bike since they started...in fact, I would go as far to say that the yanks just don't have the eye for building decent choppers/bobbers/customs. Scandinavian chopper designs are much cleaner and better built and thats just the beginning...
..and at the MCM stand a few nice bikes were shown in a competition for best bike.
Otherwise the new "Victory" bikes were not my taste at all..and the Harleys..my god..I'll post pics of some of the "efforts" on show..the average age of those testing these bikes was Jurassic Period..I don't get it...but good for them if they feel cool driving around on something resembling a lucas ice cream van:

Apparently the lads of Motorhead have their own "victory" bikes..I was stopped and asked one of the younger girls handing out the adverts where the bikes were built...the answer I got was interesting...
- well, I know the drummer is Swedish..but the rest are ..like Americans I think...
I meant the bikes, I replied...
-Oh, America I think...
ok, thanks...incidentally..Lemmy is American ...I said
-Oh..which one is Lemmy...

hmmm...

Moving on and I got talking to some enthusiasts with the same interests which was very informative..a quick chat with Thomas from Motorspeed was followed up by a look at some marvelous bikes from a museum that were on show and had the rather remarkable "flying merkel"...

Now thats what I call a Bike!!! This was back to back with a Patton 500, a gorgeous blast from the past and a bike I've never seen before in the flesh..this however was a modern day replica..1 of 7 but who cares! I'll post pics at a later date that I took of the bikes.

Moving on and trying to avoid the "chopper space ship gliders"....I suddenly came across Checas Ducati superbike which was fresh from his winning 2011 season.This was followed by an incredible Honda Fireblade endurance racing..pics to come ...suffice to say , just the Öhlins forks had the same cost as a brand new fireblade! Swinging arm was HRC and crafted by the dwarfs of Mordor! I had a long chat with the mechanic who gave me some in-depth on the costs and technical datas of the project!

Right, think I'll stop there until I've uploaded the pics!