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T8's 750 Cafe Racer Project

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  • steve murdoch
    replied
    Any mechanical advantages to your brake stay?
    I love the cool factor.

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  • T8erbug
    Guest replied
    Here is the rear brake situation now. All installed and ready to go!



    Last edited by Guest; 09-21-2017, 10:44 AM.

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  • T8erbug
    Guest replied
    Originally posted by GregT View Post
    What caliper are you using ? Number of pistons ?
    Bore of the M/c you have now - usually cast into the underside.

    tell me that and i'll give you a close figure for what size M/c to look for.
    Awesome, thanks! I looked under the MC and didn't see a casting but I know it's not the stock unit for the donor forks/brakes (2001 GSXR600). It's a nissin unit, however the caliper is stock for the model and runs on four pistons.

    Originally posted by Triam View Post
    Maybe you could design what you want the seat to look like in solidworks, and then have your friend stick it in the mill and surface mill it until it looks like you want it. It'd be symmetrical if you did that.
    We do have a new mill that will do this kind of stuff in high density foam but at this point it's almost more work to stop where I'm at, design the part in solidworks, figure out a clamping situation, and try to mill it all straight in one try with my current plug.. If we'd have had the ability to do it this way from the start I would have done it no doubt because you're right about it being totally symetrical. I will be taking full advantage of the new mill when doing the underbelly pan plug. It should make things much easier.

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  • Triam
    Guest replied
    Originally posted by T8erbug View Post
    I have been dreading this moment for a while now.. But with the last warm streak we had here I couldn't help but think about how this bike was already supposed to be "ready to ride". Anyways, the challenge with the plug is making it symmetrical. Since it's all been built from scratch there are minor imperfections everywhere.. as you shape it and reshape it some things get close while others seem to drift out of shape. Looks fine but I want it to look great and don't want nitpicky people to have anything catch their eyes. It's a tough deal but anyways hopefully I can get this done in the next week or so and finally experiment with laying some fiberglass.
    Maybe you could design what you want the seat to look like in solidworks, and then have your friend stick it in the mill and surface mill it until it looks like you want it. It'd be symmetrical if you did that.

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  • GregT
    replied
    What caliper are you using ? Number of pistons ?
    Bore of the M/c you have now - usually cast into the underside.

    tell me that and i'll give you a close figure for what size M/c to look for.

    Leave a comment:


  • T8erbug
    Guest replied
    Seat Plug

    I have been dreading this moment for a while now.. But with the last warm streak we had here I couldn't help but think about how this bike was already supposed to be "ready to ride". Anyways, the challenge with the plug is making it symmetrical. Since it's all been built from scratch there are minor imperfections everywhere.. as you shape it and reshape it some things get close while others seem to drift out of shape. Looks fine but I want it to look great and don't want nitpicky people to have anything catch their eyes. It's a tough deal but anyways hopefully I can get this done in the next week or so and finally experiment with laying some fiberglass.


    Last edited by Guest; 09-21-2017, 10:51 AM.

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  • Chuck78
    replied
    Awesome man! Really glad to hear that you are finally nearing the moment when you can get that thing on the road!

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  • T8erbug
    Guest replied
    Sorry I have been gone for so long! Springtime is almost here and there has been a lot of stuff happening around here. I have a few things I'm working on the bike before a lot of real progress is evident but check out the new and improved caliper bracket stay. I just couldn't stand the 3/8 bolts and rod ends knowing that everything else on the bike is metric. SO I bit the bullet and found some metric rod ends and hex bar to make a new unit. Turned out pretty sweet (the one on the bottom is the new one)!



    More pics of progress to come soon. I'm having braided steel brake lines custom built for it but first I need to get a good master cylinder for the front brake that's built for a single caliper because the one I currently have is a nissin unit designed for two four-piston calipers. As you can imagine it will not function as intended with proper feel and feedback and it will also be way too aggressive. Anyways hopefully within the next three or four weeks I'll have her on the road for some testing!
    Last edited by Guest; 09-21-2017, 10:52 AM.

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  • GregT
    replied
    Originally posted by steve murdoch View Post
    Being ignorant on the subject, why are the metric joints so much more expensive?
    In addition to what t8er has already answered...the biggest market for these joints appears to be North America. Dirt cars, motorsport generally.
    I'm outside the US and the price difference isn't quite as great as inside the US...but it's still significant. Heims bought from a speedway supplier here will be US made and in inch sizing...appreciably cheaper than metric sizes. It's basically market size dictates prices...

    And T8er...any time you weld on an alloy arm, put in an axle with the appropriate spacer to hold the legs parallel...they move on you...
    Last edited by GregT; 01-12-2014, 04:05 AM.

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  • T8erbug
    Guest replied
    Steering Dampener Assembly

    Ok, so I had a busy weekend of throwing some of the bike together. Probably one of the most productive weeks I've had in a while! I got some new hexigonal bar stock to make my new rod end holder with, a steering damper bracket that thankfully I didn't have to make (finding anything for 45mm tubes is tough), REcounterbored the bolt head holes on the steel dampener mounting bracket on the drill press with an end mill, welded the bracket to the frame, drilled out and tapped misc. holes, counterbored the stock damper tube clamp to fit the special pivot bolt on the end of the damper, had a guy I know give me an aluminum welding lesson while he built up some material for me on my swingarm (where the rear brake control arm bracket used to be), and a few other odds and ends but that's most of what I got done. I had Brian build up enough material on the swingarm that I can machine it down and make it look like it never even had a gap in material for a bracket to fit in there. I also had him fill in the hole I had previously drilled and tapped into my rear caliper bracket so that I can redrill and tap it with M10-1.5 threads. Anyways that's about it for now. Lot's to do still but this week was a good one for progress. The dampener works great! Needs heavier fork oil in it though but I'll do that later. Anyways here are some pics of the work.



    Making the necessary adjustments to the stock fork tube clamp to fit the damper rod end bolt. Just had to make counterbores in each hole.










    Here's the material added to the swingarm. It's enough for me to machine down a nice square edge and then have Brian run a nice finishing pass on it for me. I've already started machining material away but have stopped to wait for my new cross sliding vise. I'm hoping it's better and will hold tighter tolerances.


    Brian welded in this part I machined up to hold the other end of the rear brake control arm. He is normally a very good welder and can stack dimes but it was tough on this arm because he didn't want to preheat it for fear it would warp on top of the fact the swingarm had a clear coat on it we didn't notice till it was a tad too late. Anyways, it will hold just fine and dandy and is better than I could have done


    Drilling the M10 hole proved to be too small of a job for the drill press OR a hand drill so I bought this little 90° drill attachment and it worked like a charm to fit in the tight space.
    Last edited by Guest; 09-21-2017, 12:02 PM.

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  • T8erbug
    Guest replied
    Originally posted by steve murdoch View Post
    Being ignorant on the subject, why are the metric joints so much more expensive?
    It's my understanding that "RBC Heim" invented rod ends and started doing business here in the USA so they only made these bearing products in standard fractional sizes. They only just barely started making a metric line. There are other companies (mainly overseas) that have started making their own and they are in metric sizes so I can get them just not through the company I work for. I did some searching today though and found a vendor here in the U.S. called FK Bearings and their pricing is awesome. I went ahead and ordered a couple and will actually pay a little less than I did for the 3/8" ones I used. They are a little lower quality but I think they will work in this application just fine. Long story short the price, as of now in the states, is about $7-15 for standard and $40-100 for metric just because the usage is so much less for metric.
    Last edited by Guest; 01-12-2014, 06:07 PM.

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  • steve murdoch
    replied
    Being ignorant on the subject, why are the metric joints so much more expensive?

    Leave a comment:


  • T8erbug
    Guest replied
    Washined up some new parts this weekend with good ol' Ben. I feel like our late nights at the shop are starting to wear on both me and him. I feel bad because although I throw him a bone from time to time (machining jobs) it just never seems like enough for all that he's done for me. Anyways, here are a couple parts I came up with to serve two purposes 1) Steering dampener bracket 2) Steering stopper. I'm an idiot and measured wrong on the SHCS head so our counterbores are too small on the steel part (to be welded to the frame) so I'm going to buy an endmill that will cut the right diameter and fix them at home on the drill press. Other than that everything came out great. We also lathed up the rear brake control arm and I mocked it up real quick without the lock nuts. I machined a little aluminum bracket for the inside of the swingarm that the other heim will bolt to and will get it welded on sometime this week. Now that I've mocked things up I can finally order my stainless steel brake lines ! I was going to design and machine a fork tube bracket for the other end of the steering dampener but found one online for the fine price of $20 (that's about what I'd pay for gas to meet up with Ben at the shop) that will fit my fork tube. I'm not one of those guys that will design and machine EVERYTHING when I can buy parts that look and function well made here in the USA for less than I can spend on building my own. As long as it fits the build and doesn't look out of place I'll do it. I am picky though so if it doesn't fit my idea I will build it so that it will. I do feel a bit guilty though... Those heim joints I used are 3/8" size instead of using metric 10mm. It will be the only fastener on the bike in SAE size and I feel a little dumb because the reason I did it was to save $20 or so.. If it bothers me too bad I'll change it in the future but for now I just really want to get this thing functioning. Anyways here are some pics of the parts.



    Last edited by Guest; 09-21-2017, 12:05 PM.

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  • T8erbug
    Guest replied
    Thanks for your concern fellas. To be honest, these tires are on because I got them for half price and because they look good. I do understand they'll wear out quick but I only need them for shakedown rides and a photoshoot. After that I'll be doing brakestands with them. As far as competing with this bike I may in the future and when I do you can rest assured I will put some proper road race tires on (hence why I went with the wider 17" wheels). Anyways, just wanted to let you guys know I'm not 100% naive . . . Still pretty naive.. Just not quite 100%

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  • Chuck78
    replied
    I, too, was concerned about your tire selection, but more so with high speed road stability. I've heard that a tread like that on a motorcycle makes things feel pretty hectic above highway speeds!

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