December 2017

Post Wakefield park the engine was reported to have lost power, so Ivan did some prelim investigating and found one tappet nut had come loose. So loose in fact that it fell off, creating a little trouble on a short trip across the rocker box. Luckily not much damage was caused and all the pieces were easily retrieved from the engine. Stacy had also reported the bike was jumping out of gear, so a little more investigating was done.

It was decided that a “freshen up” was probably a good idea, so the motor has been completely stripped down. A broken selector pin in 1st / 2nd selector fork was found so this was fixed, but while looking at the gear set, I noticed that 3^rd on the main shaft wasn’t moving far enough into engagement. This has been remedied by grinding .035” from one side of the gear, and re-shimming the other side. We now have full engagement of the dogs. Hopefully this solves the problem.

All the spares we need have been ordered from Geoff XS, these include, a new set of piston rings, valve guide seals, and the required gaskets to re assemble.

Next race meeting is the Island Classic in January. Do yourself a favour and make your way down and have a look. More fantastic classic race bikes than you can poke a stick at , and of course our club racer.

Cheers, Nick McGinn.

p.s the photo is the extra shim need to move the gear across after grinding. It’s the one the scriber is pointing at. Other good news ,Stacy reported clutch to be “perfect”!!!!! (thank God)

November 2017

A new Tachometer has been donated to the club racer and will be fitted to the bike in time for the Aussie titles. The Scitsu tacho was the one Ivan specified and is the same as the one fitted to his racer. It was donated by Terry Gliddon. All we need to do now is fabricate a mounting bracket so Ivan can fit it to the bike before racing commences at Wakefield. Hopefully this will help Stacey have a successful weekend.

October 2017

The Mount Tarrengower Hill Climb was run on the weekend of the 14th and 15th of October with Stacey competing on our club racer and winning the bike section with the fastest time up the hill with a time of 43.9 seconds. This time was only a few tenths off the fastest ever time recorded for a bike. Stacey had some bad luck with the failure of a $12 part causing her to abandon her third run or she might have taken the title of fastest time ever for a bike. The part that failed was the radial bearing behind the clutch causing the nut holding the clutch onto the gearbox shaft to come loose locking the clutch. Nick McGinn has now repaired the problem so the bike is ready to compete at the Australian road racing championship at Wakefield park raceway in November. Thanks Nick, great job.

July 2017

Stacey has just signed a deal with Hi-Tec Oils and as this involves us we will be getting some oil product for future oil changes in our racer. Hi-Tecs technical department has assured us that the oil that is being supplied is equivalent to the Castrol Activ 4T we have been using to date and Ivan has decided to go with them as Stacey will be supplying us with that product as part of that deal.

June 2017

After the major rebuild the bike went Winton and in Stacey's hands cleaned up the opposition taking out the P4Unlimited class and also winning the Ken Lucas Cup.

April 2017

Following the Barry Sheene Festival of Speed and the Victorian Road Race Titles, where the bike performed very well incidentally, it was noticed that a crack had started to appear in the upper crankcase.

As you can clearly see in the picture it has cracked in the top case just in front of the rear engine mount and to do the job properly it will have to be welded inside and out to make sure it does not reoccur.

While this is being fixed John Chambers who has the rolling chassis at his workshop will do some minor touch ups on the frame to make it look pretty again but also the check it over for any problems that might be evident.

We will also look at getting a tachometer for the bike, Ivan’s preference is to get a Scitsu brand tacho which has its own battery supply independent of the bikes battery and it triggered by induction so no physical connection to the ignition system.

  The top engine mount on the rocker cover has also got some damage that will also be fixed while it’s at the welders. Apparently John has the piece that was broken out of the top mount.

Here is the motor all apart to repair the cracked crankcase at Nick’s place, he has transposed all the internals into another set of cases we had that were donated so we’ll use them and get the others repaired for spares. While it was apart Nick noticed the cush drive springs in the back of the clutch basket had broken again. I had a spare set so I sent them up for Nick to use. While he was checking out everything he noticed the bearing bush in the primary drive gear was a little tight so he machined .002” off the bush and the clutch spins nicely now.

This is the bush previously described which was too tight and may be the cause of some of the clutch dragging issues that have plagued us. We will soon see when it’s all together again.

 Ivan sent down the repaired clutch cover that had been leaking so now we can return the one he lent us back to him, thanks Ivan. He also sent down the required gaskets for the rebuild and some tyres Stacey requested for the racer. Ivan also suggested we fit an hour meter so we will know how many hours the engine has run which will help us determine when it may need attention again.

When I last spoke to nick the motor was well on the way to being together again as evidenced by the pic he sent me, just the head to go and it will be all but finished.

The cush drive springs have yet to fitted but that begs the question do we use the buffer blocks or go ahead and just fit all new springs? The buffer blocks restrict the rotary motion of the primary drive gear which compresses the springs and the theory is if you can prevent the springs from binding it will stop them from breaking. We have never used the buffer blocks before because Ivan doesn’t use them in his racer so we decided to follow his lead and not fit them either but now it seems it might be beneficial to try them. Ivan might not have the problem because he has a different riding style to Stacey but will only know if we give it a try and see what happens.

  Did you know there are differences between the early and later crankcases? I thought the only difference was in the area of the front engine mount but they are also different around the rear engine mount as well.

Notice the webbing inside the crankcase on this early model compared to the heavier webbing on the later set below.

This may be the reason we got some cracking in our crankcase and the reason why the factory added some extra heavier webbing on the later models. Interesting theory.

Thanks to Nick and all involved in getting our racer back on track.

 Stacey ’s new tyres.

March 2017

International Festival of Speed 2017

The International Festival of Speed or as we affectionately call it the Barry Sheene was run on the weekend of the 23^rd  – 26^th  of March at the Sydney Motorsport Park Eastern Creek Venue with several XS650’s in attendance. The club racer was there of course with Stacey Heaney aboard and Ivan Hoey was also there with his championship winning bike and last but not least Mark Peatman’s team FCR bike was also there with ex club member Colin Waltho aboard.

Heading out for the last race

Stacey also rode a Honda CB125 and a Suzuki T500. She also rode a Royal Enfield in practice but the class was cancelled so she then rode the club racer in the P4 750 class as well to finish the weekend with a 4^th place result in that class.

The Races

Friday - P4 Unlimited Leg 1 - Stacey started the day with a fastest lap on lap 2 with a 2:07.906 Ivan did not appear in the results for this race.

                  P4 750 Leg 1 - Ivan started with a fastest lap on lap 2 with a 1:54.946 followed by Stacey with a fastest lap on lap4 with a 2:00.922 and Colin following them with a fastest lap on lap2 with a 2:07.757 but received a 10 second penalty for a jump start.

Saturday - P4 Unlimited Leg 2 - Ivan started this race with a fastest lap on lap 3 with a 1:53.588 and Stacey following him with a fastest lap on lap3 with a 1:58.064

                  P4 750 Leg 2 - Ivan again lead the way with a fastest lap on lap5 with a 1:54.397  with Colin following him with a fastest lap on lap 4 with a 2:01.954 and Stacey following them with a fastest lap on lap 5 with a 2:03.405

                  P4 Unlimited Leg 3 - Stacey was alone again in this race and managed to do a fastest lap on lap 5 with a 1:57.429

                   P4 750 Leg 3 - Ivan lead the way again with a fastest lap on lap 3 with a 1:52.590 followed by Stacey with a fastest lap on lap 4 with a 1:57.701 and Colin following with a fastest lap on lap 5 with a 2:02.553

Sunday - P4 Unlimited Leg 4 - Stacey finished this leg with a fastest lap on lap 4 with a 2:00.572 and Ivan DNF

                   P4 750 Leg 4 - Ivan bounced back to lead the XS’s with a fastest lap on lap 6 with a 1:53.563 closely followed by Stacey with a fastest lap on lap 3 with a 1:55.967 and Colin DNF

                  P4 750 Leg 5 - Stacey again lead the XS’s with a fastest lap on lap 3 with a 1:58.602 followed by Colin with a fastest lap on lap 5 with a 2:02.333 and Ivan DNF

The Results

P4 Unlimited - Stacey finished in 7^th place with Ivan finishing in 11^th place. Ivan crashed in one race which affected the results.

P4 750 – Stacey finished in 4^th place followed by Ivan in 6^th place and Colin finishing in 8^th place.

L – R  Ivan Hoey (5) Stacey Heaney (162) Colin Waltho (110).

Well done to all our club members involved this weekend.

Just a reminder for all visitors to the track, don’t touch the bikes unless you are asked to help. If you visit make sure you don’t get in the way. The riders do appreciate your support but they have to focus on what they are doing so please keep that in mind.

After a successful weekend of racing at the Island Classic at Phillip Island the bike was transported to John Chambers’s workshop awaiting Nick McGinn’s attention as the new maintenance person when the bike is in Victoria. Nick wasted no time in servicing the bike and reported a few things to fix. Firstly one of the carburettor manifolds was found to be cracked and will need to be replaced, Ivan went to Gowanloch’s and bought some Del Orto (Malossi) manifold rubbers to replace to torn Mikuni manifolds. Nick has offered to make some alloy manifolds to fit the new tubes which connect the carburettors to the manifolds and have a filler to make the transition smooth from venturi to port.

Gowanlochs supplied replacement manifolds.

 Nick reported no free play in the clutch when checked which may be due to normal wear and tear. As reported in the last newsletter the club racer needs a new brake master cylinder to correct the feel of the brakes with the new Brembo calipres. We now need a master cylinder with a 16mm bore and John Chambers has now received one from Ivan Hoey who had one to spare. Thanks to Geoff’s XS for supplying Ivan with another spare.

 Nick found the left rotor had 8 thou of run out and the right had 11 thou of run out even after Ivan took most of the wobble out when he had the bike at Christmas. Nick has now fixed this problem. He also replaced the stainless steel bolts on the RHS rotor with the proper bolts.

 Nick made up some new inlet manifold spigots to mount the carbs incorporating the spacers previously used to increase the length of the inlets to nullify the effect of reversion.

 Here is the reason we change the oil and check the filters after every race meeting, check out the crap in the side filter screen!

 Nick has rechecked the disc rotors after refacing the carriers and the run out is now .002 of an inch on each rotor.

 He also noticed the bracket on the left fork leg had been welded on crooked and has now shimmed the calipre to compensate. We will need to replace this fork leg and weld on another bracket to rectify this problem at some time in the future. Anyone got a spare left 35mm fork slider they want to donate? Thanks Nick for your time and effort, great job. Tyre warmers have now been bought for the race kit by Ivan Hoey.

February 2017

Now that the 2016 year of racing has been completed and the racer has been garaged for some updates, some of the problems we had can be revealed. As you know there were some issues with the brakes last year at more than one meeting so it was decided to update the brakes with some Brembo F08 calipres and rectify some of the reasons for these failures. We were lucky enough to receive these calipres as a swap from Steve Hobbs so we jumped at the chance to do the upgrade.

Brembo brakes now fitted to the club racer with new brackets welded to the forks and safety wired and ready for action.

Pad impression on the disc rotors could indicate badly installed calipres.

  The circular marks on the front disc rotors appears on both sides in the same position, it is assumed that this mark has been caused by refitting the old calipres incorrectly causing undue pressure on the rotors and their alloy carriers and bending them. This is why we assume we have had brake problems, i.e. sticking front calipres, on the bike since the new tyres were fitted after the Mount Terrangower hill climb as the calipres have to be removed to fit the front tyre.

Along with the upgrade to Brembo’s was the need to weld on new brackets which came at a cost of $200. We also needed to straighten the disc rotors and alloy carriers which had been bent slightly causing the pads to remain in contact with the rotors for longer than necessary resulting in additional heat being generated and causing the calipres to stick when the brake fluid heats up and expands due to excess friction.

Everything has now been straightened and is in alignment and ready to go racing in 2017, thank you Ivan Hoey and Mark Peatman for all your hard work over the Christmas break to rectify these problems.

Third gear dogs in bad shape have now been replaced

 Next job on the agenda was the gearbox which according to Stacey was jumping out of gear regularly. The motor was removed from the frame and the bottom half of the crankcase removed so the gearbox could be checked. Ivan noted that the gearbox was in a sad state with several gears pitted with the case hardening peeling off and the dogs worn on third gear. Five gears and two shims were replaced to recondition the gearbox. The gearbox has now been fixed with the parts being donated by Ivan Hoey and Mark Peatman.

During this strip down it was also noticed that the crankshaft seal was coming out as the circlip had not been installed. This was potentially very dangerous because of the possibility of oil spewing everywhere had it come out completely.

  Circlip now installed to retain the crank seal.

We know the circlip was not fitted originally because it had to be modified or it couldn’t be fitted.

The front sprocket had also been installed backwards causing it to rub on the bearing seal holder and also cause a misalignment of the chain. This has never been changed and has probably raced like this all year. The only sprocket change was for Tasmania when the stock primary drive gears were used so a stock 34 tooth rear sprocket was fitted along with a new chain supplied by Stacey and fitted at the track prior to racing by Mark. This went unnoticed until the motor was removed to inspect the gearbox. It has now been fixed.

John Chambers questioned the validity of this claim that the sprocket was installed backwards and offers this explanation.

Based on the assumption that the club racer does not have a bent frame and that the rear wheel spacers are stock and correct length:  

1.   The front sprocket (stock 530) is mounted hard up to the drive shaft sleave which in turn is mounted hard to the drive shaft bearing, which in turn is mounted in a fixed location in the engine cases.

2.   The sleave external face is the same face as the rear wheel sprocket mounting surface.

3.   For this purpose lets call these faces “zero”

4.   The stock drive shaft sleave protrudes past the stock oil seal 3mm, but as we have the easy access aluminium inserts that carry the oil seal, the distance from this aluminium external edge is 2.6mm. (this aluminium insert is also locked in the grooved recess used by the stock oil seal and so cannot protrude any further.)  In saying, we still have 0.4mm clearance to the stock sprocket.

5.   During recent re-assemble of the motor there were no scratch marks or wear marks visible the aluminium carrier. I also check these measurements on another motor to confirm the race bike was not different for some reason.

6.   Zero is maintained.  

For the benefit of members; it should be pointed out that the sprocket was actually fitted correctly.  

Unless when fitting the alloy seal carriers: it specifies that a 520 sprocket (in reverse) and chain should be used. Which I am sure it does not.

The club racer whoever is fitted with a 520 chain which uses a stepped sprocket. One face being flat and the other having a 3mm step to maintain standard sprocket thickness so the lock tab and lock nut work correctly.

This does not  change  the “Zero” surfaces. This is how it was install to maintain the correct line.

The idea that the sprocket be reversed was to give more clearance to the aluminium seal carrier. Instead of the 0.4mm clearance it now has 3.4mm. This also gives better clearance for grit and grime. It also gives a larger flatter surface for the lock washer to press down on but not much.  

I questioned this with Ivan and he then informed me that the rear wheel sprocket had been packed to allow for this.!!!! And to give the rear tyre additional clearance of the chain.  

I then ask you all why accuse or point out that the front sprocket was installed incorrectly if you don’t tell us that these changes have been made. This I am assuming happed in Tassie when the rear sprocket was change and refitted as these spacers where not on the bike at Phillip Island when the previous sprocket change was made. These spacers that have been fitted are only washers of 1.2mm and still fall short by 2.2mm to bring us in to a line of “Zero plus 3.4mm”  

I have spoken to Nick and he is prepared to machine a correct offset (based on the straightness of the wheel, engine alignment. Should be 3.4mm plus or minus.  

It maybe that the 1.2mm washers are enough if things are actually not in correct line.

Another job on the agenda was to fit some high energy coils that had been donated by the late Dave Taylor.

These fit nicely under the tank.

A new fibreglass seat has also been supplied by Mark Peatman as the old one was always cracking and needing repair and the new seat allows us to throw away those troublesome number plates that were always cracking too. So now we can put the numbers on the side of the seat cowling instead. I’ll put some pics up when it is mounted to the bike.

One item which we will also need to consider is the inclusion of a tachometer on the race bike, Ivan thinks it is essential to have a tacho and with his racing expertise we accept it is needed and will buy and fit the required tacho as soon as possible. Ivan favours the Scitsu brand which has a version that comes with its own internal battery and a plug to disconnect it when not in use and only needs one wire to be connected by winding it around one of the spark plug leads so it gets its impulses by induction and no physical connection is made to the ignition circuit to cause any problems. Here is a pic of the one fitted to Ivan’s bike.

The rear brake damage caused by the broken torque arm has now been fixed, Ivan has repaired the rod operated rear brake system including a new alloy torque arm for now.

The Fairing tank and seat are almost ready to paint in the new red and white colour scheme.

Another club member, Nick McGinn, has stepped up with an offer to service the racer when it’s in Victoria. If you have ever seen any of Nick’s bikes you will know how good this offer is, Nick’s bikes are works of art and his attention to detail is first class.

On behalf of the club members I want to thank everyone who has donated their time and parts to make this happen especially Ivan Hoey, Mark Peatman and Geoff Bamford and look forward to seeing this racing in 2017.

Stacey Heaney has indicated she would like to race the bike at the Barry Sheene this year and Steve Hobbs has already offered to not only pit crew for her but to also offer accommodation to her and her father Des and boyfriend Caillin for the weekend.

As you can see the bike looks Fantastic in its new colours.

Stacey should be more than happy to be seen on such a great looking bike and I have every confidence that it will perform as well as it looks.

The proud team of Ivan Hoey, Geoff Bamford and Mark Peatman, these are the blokes responsible for the great work done over the Christmas break. If you see any of these blokes make sure you thank them for the work they did and the donations they made.

2017 January

With the new year comes a new approach for the club racer, this year we have some sponsors which makes a huge difference to the way we will go racing. Over the Christmas break we made a number of significant changes to the racer. Probably the most noticeable is the change of paint scheme.

Also changed was the braking system to Brembo front calipres.

With this change to Brembo calipres came the need to change the master cylinder from the current bore to one with a smaller bore to prevent the wooden feeling when the brakes are applied. The explanation and chart below is taken from our old friend Mike Morse's website at Vintage Brake in the USA.

For 2 piston opposed calipers, I like ratios in the 27:1 range, feeling some line and caliper flex. For a firmer lever, use 23:1. I think ratios lower than 23:1 produce a lever feel so "wooden" as to have little, if any feel. Combine "low" leverage ratios with sticky pads, and unpredictable lockup is the result. The high effort required at the lever also results in undesired input to the bars. Single piston calipers are much happier in the 14:1 to 12:1 range. Disc and wheel diameters, as well as hand lever ratios, must be considered.

In our case we have two Brembo calipres with two 38mm pistons each, so if we look at the chart at the line 38mm(4) and read the description above it tells us we need a master cylinder that gives us around a  27:1 ratio for best feel then we can see the master cylinder bore size should be between 14mm and 15mm. As Mike states in the preamble the wheel size and rotor size must also be taken into consideration and as we use a 18" front wheel in the racer and a few millimetres have been removed from the diameter of the rotors to allow a proper fit for the calipres we will be using a 16mm master cylinder the same as Ivan's bike.