Update 13/12/15

Hi Guys,
 The fuel tank for the Club Racer got picked up last night and it should be done mid week and I should have it back here by the week end. I pulled the fuel taps apart today and you should have seen the sand, well the rubbers on the inside have been totally chewed out from turning the tap handles off and on, I think I have some more here amongst what I got from Dave’s estate.
 Tomorrow I will pull the carburettors off and check those out and give them a thorough clean out. I will also fire her up again and do an oil change and see what comes out of there. I’ll also clean the two oil filters and all the other service requirements, valves, etc. I’ll let you all know how I go and what I find out in my next report tomorrow night.
Till then,
Daryl.

Update 8/12/15

Hello to all those who have been following the build of this fantastic machine.

 Well as you heard in the last update the Club Racer had its debut today with its real engine in place, not a loaned one as previously used. This engine is the real deal. A quick rundown on this engine. 270° rephased and specially lightened crank, high ratio primary drive gears, 750cc big bore kit, flowed head, 36mm DelOrto carburettors with velocity stacks and K&N air filters, modified camshaft with lightened rockers with Porsche adjusters, performance valve springs with Titanium retainers and the spark provided by the best ignition you can buy, a Probe Engineering unit. For a full insight to what has gone into this engine, see the posts below, I am sure you will enjoy reading all about it as much as I have building it. - Daryl

Base camp at Broadford

 Well we got out to the track at about 10.30am, a beautiful day at about 20°C and set our Club Racer shade up and got the Racer ready. I was very ably assisted all day by John Chambers who transported the bike to the track and set up our pit camp with Terry and Alison Gliddon who were there when we arrived. It has been 15 years since I was on a race track, this very one actually so I knew which way to go and how to ride it. It was all the same.

The first session I limited the revs to 5000 rpm and this engine has only had about ten minutes running time here at my shop in sunny Melbourne at Professional Motorcycle Tuning. Boy, does she pull, from 3000 rpm up till 5000 rpm, she just wants to go and go. I couldn’t be happier with the results. One thing I did notice was that it needs shorter gearing, we had the gearing set up with a 17 teeth sprocket on the front and a 34 teeth sprocket on the rear. It would be better with 36 or 37 teeth on the rear so it could rev as I was not even getting into top gear. The gearing might be OK for Phillip Island but for this little track a Broadford, I think not. With the first session over and a check over of the Racer all was pretty good. A few little adjustments were made to the tacho mounting and a check over of the engine and a general nut and bolt inspection found all to be OK, no oil leaks, nothing, so I was happy.

As you can clearly see these filters are full of rust and sand from inside the tank.

 The second session started in a lot hotter ambient temperature, it was now 31°C and humidity had dropped from 68% to 21%. This time out I upped the revs to 6000 rpm, and she still wanted more, but no, not yet, but it will come. Well I did 1 ½ laps and she started to break down, I thought what is going on, like she was running out of fuel, I had plenty in her ??? I rolled into the pits a little annoyed that something was wrong after all I built this engine. Well on close inspection we found the fuel filters totally blocked. I mean you could not even blow through them. Have a look at the photos. Now our Racer has been raced before, with reasonable results, but somewhere along the track the tank has been swapped for another one. I wish I had known. Well we got some more filters and drained the carburettors and cleaned the fuel lines out and gave her a test fire, first kick and she burst into life.

 Time for session three. The temperature had dropped to 27°C by now with humidity still at 21%, just nice. Out we go, the first lap I gave her a bit more, 6500 rpm, and she still wanted more. This is going great, then we got a red flag, a rock on the track the size of a cricket ball just as you exit the esses coming onto pit exit straight. So I pulled into the dummy grid and shut her down till the track was clear. Ready to go again, kick, kick, and more kicks, finally burst into life and I was away. As I pulled onto the track she started to break down again, I thought not again, but yes, blocked fuel filters. Shut her down and rolled into the pit, I was not a happy chappy. There was just too much rust and what looks like sand in this fuel tank, so that was it for the day, time to load up and have a cold one.

Colin Rosewarne photography posted this pic on Facebook

 Well, what did I come away with from the track debut ? We should have checked the tank before using it, live and learn. So this week I will get the fuel tank off and have it totally cleaned out and a liner put through it to stop anything coming through the fuel filters, clean the carburettors right out and fire her up again and do an oil change and inspect the oil filters, but overall I was very happy with the results for the day. I only got about 8-10 laps in, not what I wanted so I would like to get her back to Broadford to cut some more laps before we take our Club Racer to the Island Classic at the end of January, 2016. Special thanks to John Chambers without who's help we wouldn't have even made it to the track. Till our next update and outing.
Cheers,
Daryl Hutcheon,
President, XS650 Club of Australia, Inc
Chief engine builder and Test Pilot.

Update 3/12/15

Hi All,
 Well it has been a while since I have done an update on the Racer but things have not stood still.
As you have been following the build you would have notice that we did not have any air filters on the carburettors, just the velocity stacks with a mesh screen that would only keep out rocks, birds and small children. Well that problem has now been solved. We got some shorter stacks and fitted some nice big K&N air filters over these. These will allow only clean air into our freshly built engine and so it will last. There is still a velocity stack on the inside so the flow into the venturi of the carburettor will still be nice without too much turbulence.

 This Sunday, 6th December, at The State Motorcycle Complex at Broadford our Club Racer will make it's track debut with the new engine in it. The engine up until now has only got about 15 minutes running on it and has not been started since you saw it at our AGM. This will be a special time for our racer and myself, I have not been on the track since May 2000, so I will have to dust off the leathers and have a play, I'm getting nervous. So I urge as many of you to come and see this historic outing for both the Racer and myself.

 For those that intend to come along please ring my mobile on 0409 164 274, just in case of any late changes in our plans. We will have the Club Race Tent set up and a range of goodies for sale. If you can't make it out look for another update early next week on how we went.
 Bye for now (with fingers crossed) and wish me luck,
Daryl.   

K&N RU-0510 filters are 3.5" X 5" with a 52mm flange which fits over the short velocity stacks we bought.

DelOrto short velocity stacks over which the filters mount.

Hi Guys, 
John came over yesterday and we did a bit of work on the Club Racer. We remounted the RH foot peg assembly so the kick starter would clear. Now you can operate the kick start lever and it does not touch the peg or brake pedal.  What we need next are some jets, Rob McKie runs 160 main jets in his Dellortos. But he has got almost every size made so we can use a set of his to set the bike up with. It only has 135s in it at the moment, just so it would run at the AGM, Ivan, you missed out big time on hearing it starting up and running, you have to hear it in the flesh it's awesome!!!

We also need a needle and seat assembly, about $30.00 from Gowanloch’s in Sydney. The one in there now is out of my 34mm Dellorto's. We also need to sort out what we are going to use for velocity stacks or air filters. What is on there at the moment are my stacks off my 34mm units. I am hoping to have the dyno fixed soon, fingers crossed, or someone will die !!! Then we can run it in under controlled conditions and see how it goes.

This weekend was the Southern Classic at Broadford and it would have been nice to have the Racer there, we also missed out on the hill climb that Stacy ran in at Mount Tarrangower. I am not sure when the next meeting is to have it compete. The Island Classic is Aust Day weekend. Broadford Bonanza is Easter time, I want to run it there !!!

Your President and XS650 engine builder J
Daryl J

WE HAVE A RUNNER J

Well I said that it would be 99.9% that our Club Racer would be up and running at our AGM, now it’s 100%. I started to do a few things on it last night and found that the big green coils bid not fit under the tank L And that was after I cut the mounts off where they normally mount, they are just too big, I tried to mount them lower but wasn’t happy so I pulled the pin on last night’s progress.  Sometimes it is better to walk away and come back to it later. Today was a better day J I went and got another set of coils, the ones off my own project bike, here is the link to it. http://www.xs650.org.au/members%20bikes/Daryl%20Hutcheon/Dazzled.htm The coils are off a Kawasaki ZZR250, I have no idea of the year but they have the right impedance and work. With a custom made mounting bracket they fit just right. With that done it was time to finished of the wiring for the Probe Ignition. I’m starting to get nervous as I know it won’t be long till we are running.

 The wiring finished, battery charged up, carbs all primed and the oil in the engine the time had come. Club member, Roger Ogren had flown out from the USA to attend our AGM a see our Club Racer in person. He gave me a hand to fire our beast up, moral support, with about six kicks it roared into life J. It has been over 35 years since I built my first Yamaha XS650 engine and fired that one up and have lost count the number I have built since. As I fired up each one and brought them to life they gave me a warm glow. This one was no different, it’s a feeling hard to describe, like creating a new life J  It has been a long road to build this machine with parts donated from all over the world, the frame being done up in Sydney and the engine done down here in Melbourne, 800 Kms apart. Has it been worth it?

Hell Yes !!!!

Well it’s Friday the 2^nd of October. I put the engine through a few heat cycles yesterday to settle things in. Today I will check all the usual things, re-torque the head, valve clearances, cam chain adjustment, and ignition timing. Then it is fit all the body work and give our Club Racer a clean and polish ready for tomorrows AGM where it will get fired up again a few times for those in attendance. So if you want to see our creation in the flesh and hear it running you know where you will have to be, our AGM J

Hi Folks,

 Well I think tomorrow will be the day when our Club Racer finally bursts into life and roars J I got the carbs set  up, float levels set, 18mm, put some larger pilot jets in, #65, the mains will be a bit small but that is OK for the time being, we can sort that later. I have got the throttle cable routed in a bit of an odd way, but it works. It would be nice if we had some 45 deg carb tops instead of the 90 deg ones fitted, add that to the shopping list. Also one of the carbs was missing a needle and seat assembly so I raided one out of my 34mm Dellortos, we are using 36mm models. Same for the velocity stacks, they are off my Dellortos as well, just on loan till we get some air filters or velocity stacks. More to add to the shopping list, it’s only a short list.  All these little jobs seem to take so long, like the breather on the top of the engine, I think that was the original gasket. Old gaskets can be soooo hard to get off and this one was no different, I won’t tell you how long it took to get off, but it wasn’t five minutes, believe me !!!

 Well what’s left ? Mount the ignition coils up, I need to make some mounting spacers for those, lucky I have a lathe here to do that J Then wire them back to the Probe Ignition and fit a kill switch. Recheck the valve clearances. Put some oil in the crankcases, 2 litres is enough, Shell Thuet recommended that amount. Fit the spark plugs, BP7ES. Hook the fuel up and then give it a kick J J J

Where is the kick starter lever, lucky I had one to use off a customer’s engine that I am doing, thank you ???????????, they don’t know yet, SSSHHH, they will get it back. So if all goes well you will hear my cheering in another country. Do you know that this build is being watched by not only you here in Australia but by people all over the world. Not bad I think J Well done to all.

Well another big day working on our Club Racer, I was hoping that it would get started up today L but we ran into a few more problems. As you know we had a problem with the fitment of the clutch assemble, a small binding problem with the needle bearing in the clutch basket. 30 seconds in my press and it was fixed J, spins free now J. I fitted up all the clutch plates and found that the clutch pack was too thick, a change around of some plates and bingo, all OK. Before it was rubbing on the inside of the clutch cover, not now.

 But clutch side issues were not over L as I was cleaning the cover I found a crack where the brake lever had hit it. Go back to the very first photo on the hand over day and you will see where the end on the brake pedal is, right where the crack is L. John held the cover as I tapped the crack out hoping that it was only cracked on the inside. Filled the cover with parts washer fluid and went for lunch. Got back after about 30 minutes and had a look under the cover, F*&^, can’t use that cover, it was leaking fluid out J. Up to the loft. I found another cover till we can get this one repaired and polished, then swap them over. It is my only spare off my engine and there are no extra covers with the Racer, I thought we had some looking back through the photos ????

 I don’t like the look of chrome clutch or stator covers. The stator cover we have has been chromed and it is starting to come off. It will go off to get de-chromed and a light polish just like the clutch cover. Again I thought we had more than one ???? Up to the loft again and grab my spare till the Racer one is done. My covers are just a LOAN till we get the Racer one done, OK !!!  With the oil seals all in place, clutch push rod, selector shaft and output shaft, we fitted up the front sprocket and chain. On with the loaner stator cover and adjusted the clutch push rod. All good that side J Fitted the loaner clutch cover with a new gasket. Fitted the sump plate with a new oil filter and gasket and primed up the oil pump, getting closer J Not much more to do J.

 I have mentioned “we” a lot here, my helper of late and ONLY helper, John Chambers, our Secretary/Treasurer, has been coming across the last few weekends to give me a hand to get our Club Racer ready for the AGM so ALL can see what we can achieve. John, I thank you so much for all your help and assistance, and drinking all my coffee J almost time for a cold one J  The last 1% of a build takes 99% of the time and I can almost hear our Club Racer roaring, we will hear it roar at the AGM, I hope.

Almost there,  Daryl J

Update 26/9/15

We are just about there J I fitted up the Probe Ignition and time it all up so that bit is done J. These ignitions are the best and so simple to set up. I will run you through on what is done. First of all I must explain that this is a race bike and some of the photos are of it and some are of a stocky, OK.  

OK, first of all remove your old points, LH end of the cam, advancer shaft and advancer unit on the RH end. Find your nearest bin and throw them away, they are no longer required. You will also need to get the bushes out of the cam that the advancer shaft rotates on, but only on the LH end. It is explained in the instructions on how to get these out, simple job. You can now put the chrome cover back on the RH end now J.

 OK, what next. Mount the round circuit board where the points plate used to be with the writing to the top. Now, find the little rotor, those little dots are the magnets that trigger the unit. I modify the rotor, another special tool that I have made for fitting Probe Ignitions, I drill two holes in the rotor so it can be held easier. Right, fit the rotor up into the LH end of the cam and find TDC (top dead center) on the LH cylinder. Turn the engine over by the nut on the end of stator, not the kick start lever. When you have found TDC on the LH side and you have the rotor positioned as in the photo, I drew the arrow, nip the screw up in the center of the rotor with the allen key supplied, 3/16”, that’s the key not the amount required J

 Find the black box and plug the lead in from the round circuit board, it can only go in one connector and only one way. In the other plug you hook a 9v battery up to via a little lead supplied. This is so simple J A little light (LED) will come on J, now what you want to do is rotate the engine, they rotate the same way as the wheels spin. Wind it over a couple of times and watch the LED go on and off, cool J

What we want is the LED to go out just as the timing mark lines up with the FULL advance mark on the stator housing. If it doesn’t adjust the rotor a bit whichever way it needs to go. Once you have done that, tighten the screw up tight, now you know why I made the special tool and drilled the two holes. I must send Mark at Probe Ignitions an email about my little modification, makes things so much easier.

 Right. Done all that. Wind the engine over a few times and watch the LED go out just as it reaches the FULL advance mark. Job done, your ignition is all set J Simple, yes......yes. Next I have to wire the ignition coils up, but I will leave that till later. Any questions ?? You know how to contact me.

 Till next update, Daryl J

Update 22/9/15

Well guys,
 I have been working on the Racer now for a while as you know and we have some problems, some major, some not. First, we cannot run a kick starter with the rear set we have, I cannot even get the lever on because it fouls big time, only just, and I mean just enough clearance for the kick starter shaft. The rear sets will have to be totally redesigned and made.

 Second, the clutch, well, anymore that finger tight on the clutch nut and it almost locks up. I am going to fit up a standard clutch assemble tomorrow and see if the clutch hub spins freely, let us hope it does. If it doesn’t ?????  And we did not even have a clutch hub nut in with all the parts !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I had to find one, a customers !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am going to set up the high ratio clutch up on a dummy shaft tomorrow and try to see why it will not spin freely. After consultation with Ivan who makes the high ratio primary gear set it's all been sorted and everything is ok.

Well I said that the Racer would be at the AGM by 99.9 %, that 0.1 % is raising its head. If it happens, it WILL be at the AGM, maybe a static display or as a runner with no RH rear set, it will be there !!!!!!!! running or not !!! Grrrrrrrrrrr

Daryl L

PS, got the ignition all set up, I love Probe Ignitions J And while I’m at it, don’t worry, its being built by a committee J I know J And do you guys know that when you put a later swing arm, as we have, in an early frame, which it is, the rear shocks are not parallel, the shocks lean in at the top, as //  \\ understand ???

What else will I find ???????????? nothing I hope that can’t be over come J

Update 21/9/15

More progress today, got lots more done than I thought would get done in one day, John Chambers, our Secretary/Treasurer came over today and we had a very busy day, we even forgot to have lunch J. While I modified all the Porsche style adjusters, each one has to be done individually. So it’s put a rocker spindle in with its rocker and adjuster, sit the cam in the head, bolt the head cover on, set enough clearance, lock the nut up. Unbolt the cover, pull the spindle out, remove the rocker, put it in a jig I made and modify. Not a five minute job. And there are four to be done, but it is worth it.

 While I was doing all this, John, was busy modifying the throttle cable, a two into one set-up, to suit our Dellorto carburettors and quick action throttle housing. It would be so nice if we could just get parts off the shelf that fit without having to modify them. The lower outers had to be made a little shorter (a couple of times) and the upper inner longer, but he got it done, a job well done john.

 With that done and all the adjusters modified I assembled the head cover with all its rockers in place. Next I put the head on our 750cc barrels and fitted the camshaft, timed it up all without breaking the cam chain. You DO NOT have to break the cam chain to remove or replace the camshaft. DO NOT believe everything that the manuals say.

 With that done, I put the head cover on and torqued the head down, (we had a little chat J), set the valve clearances and turned the engine over a few times, (they get heavy J) and nothing touched. Time to fit the engine into the frame. John moved some of the other bikes outside while I rolled the bench under my little crane and lifted it off my engine stand. We rolled the frame into position and within a few minutes we had the engine sitting loosely within its mounts. With all the engine mount bolts through their points it was out with the rattle gun and tighten all the bolts.

THE ENGINE IS IN J

There is still a bit of work to go but as I said earlier I am 99% sure our Club Racer will be at our upcoming AGM, now I am 99.9% sure.

Time for a cold one I think.

Hi Guys,
Time for another update J Things have been progressing along with the Club Racer engine just fine. We now have our cam all ground up to suit our 270 degree crankshaft and the adjustable cam sprocket fitted. The sprocket is held on by three small bolts, these are from an early Yamaha R1, for keeping it in the family so to speak. They are 7mm x 1mm pitch, I had to hand file the slots slightly as the shank on the bolts is slightly larger than the thread, 7.5mm. The shank is the un-threaded part on a bolt.

 Then building the crankshaft we used a RH web on the LH side to aid with the balancing set-up. The RH web does not have a taper like the LH web so I had to make up another special tool, to time the camshaft and ignition, a timing disc so to speak. As you can see in the photo it is set at TDC on a standard XS650 stator housing which I have removed the stator windings from. The second one I have had to do, I broke the first one in my lathe trying to machine the centre out of it L.

 So now that I have the cam I can put the head on and start checking a few clearances. I have already done some rough calculations and I think we will be all good. So head on this weekend and into the frame. I am 99% confident that it will be up and running at our AGM. I know that I will have some late nights coming up but I know that it will be worth it.

 I will try and post some more photos and tell you where we are at, fingers crossed. J

With the right 36 tooth sprocket we can make sure the cam will work in our race motor and then go ahead and make an exact copy onto our billet cam for the motor knowing everything will work as it should. Thanks again Nick for this donation. If you want one of these adjustable cam sprocket kits for your project contact Nick McGinn at bmc94772@bigpond.net.au for details. Indexing the cam can make a huge difference as to how it will perform.

As you can see Matt's work is impeccable but we will now need to get some keyways cut so it can be mounted in the machine to grind the lobes to the final shape. We also need to drill and tap the threads to attach the sprocket and buy some high tensile bolts to hold it all together. Matt had not had time or access to a lathe to complete this work but we thank him for what he did achieve and hope this won't take too long to do. The cam blank is also solid and will need to be drilled through the centre to shave some weight as this is made of 4140 chrome moly steel and is quite heavy. The final thing that will have to be done is to have it Nitrided for hardness.

The head was assembled with Mikes XS performance Stainless Steel valves, springs, collets and seals as well as Kibblewhite bronze guides. The retainers are copies of the Mikes XS performance chrome moly steel ones supplied in the kit but ours are made from Titanium 6ALV6 and chromium nitride coated, these weigh half that of the originals.

Welcome to 2015 Race bike update. Well as you can see the crankshaft has been all pressed up, trued, welded
and rechecked for trueness. I am very happy with the way it came out, less than 0.0001" run out, that's 1/10 th of a thou :) damn near perfect.

Some of you might say why couldn't I get it closer, well there is more than that in the movement in the bearings.
You only have to breathe on the thing and it will spin :) so as THE engine builder I am happy :) Next to drop the crank and gearbox in the cases and they can be buttoned up then the top end can go on.