Race Dates 2015

Hi all

Well the season has only been over a couple of months and at long last next years dates have been released.

I've listed all the National Races in Ireland and also a few on Isle Of Man, as these are the ones I would like to do, but as always work and financies will dictate where I end up.


24TH/25TH APRIL COOKSTOWN 100


1ST/2ND MAY  TANDRAGEE 100


30TH MAY - 1ST JUNE PRE TT CLASSIC


20TH/21ST  JUNE KELLS ROADRACES


3RD/4TH JULY SKERRIES 100


6TH-9TH JULY SOUTHERN 100


11TH/12TH JULY WALDERSTOWN


24TH/25TH JULY ARMOY


15TH/16TH AUGUST FAUGHEEN


22ND AUGUST - 4TH SEPTEMBER CLASSIC TT/ MANX GRAND PRIX


5TH/6TH SEPTEMBER KILLALANE ROADRACES

Hopefully I will be able to do as many as possible, but we will see.

Maybe see you at some?

Cheers
Stuart

Engine Work Begins

Hi all

Well after getting my bikes back it didn’t take long to start fiddling, and was only a matter of days before the engine was sat proudly on my bench.

Before removing it from the frame I did a compression test on the cylinders, as this may help determine where the missing horse power has gone.

As with the dyno, it wasn’t great news as it showed that I had between 90 and 110 psi whereas I should be getting a minimum of 100 and up to between 160 and 170 psi.

Loss of compression can be caused by two things, either the valves are not closing properly, usually due to a build up of carbon on the seats or the shims that open the valves are wrong, or the piston rings are worn.

To check which is happening at this stage I poured a small amount of oil into the cylinder, if the compression goes up it means the rings are worn as the oil acts as a sealant, if it stays the same then the valves need attention as this would not be affected by the oil.

The compression went up to 160, so this means either the rings or the bores of the cylinder have worn, I’m hoping it’s the rings. Just goes to show worn rings are usually spotted by blue smoke from the exhaust as oil is burnt with the fuel, but on mine there was no sign of blue smoke.

Still this is only theory at this stage as the engine needs to be stripped and then I can measure the rings and bore to see which is worn. 

This one I call engine on the bench.

 

It didn't take long to strip the engine, far too much practice, sadly.

The bores showed signs of wear so I have choosen to use another set of barrels which I had as spares. I also measured all the bearings on the crank and con rods, and ordered new ones.

I've also bought a new cylinder head which has been tuned, so await that with baited breath to see if it is any good.   

With the head off I checked to see if any of the vavles were leaking. I did this by putting a small amount of parafin down each valve and left it over night. When I checked the next day I could see the head was wet meaning the valves were not seating correctly.

From this I can see that I need to grind the vavles to fit the face they sit in, this is called lapping the valves in. I will also check to see if the springs are still strong enough to close the valves properly, this is simply done by measuring them.

So now I'm just waiting on bits to be delivered, and postie is quite busy at this time of year, so am having to wait longer which is really frustrating as I am so keen to see if I've improved my engine at all.

I'll give you an update just as soon as I have a progress report.

Cheers

Stuart

Hi all

Sorry for the delay in an update, but decided a couple of months off from fiddling with bikes was in order. Still, bikes are now back home and my first job was to get the bikes put on a dyno to see what power they are currently putting out.

For this I went to Double Take Motorcycles in Southampton.

Double Take is run by twins, Nick and Chris Sansome, who I’ve known since before I started racing. In fact it was Nick who showed me his ZXR400 so that I knew what I was getting into.

The plan is to see what the bikes power is now and then after Winter fiddling, hopefully it will have gone up.

The Supertwin seems to be running well, the best Nick has seen in fact, and is putting out a healthy 76hp. Not quite as much as I’d hoped by still good.

The results for the 400 were less favourable. A standard ZXR puts out about 64hp and mine, which has a race exhaust, has slightly upped compression and runs a total loss ignition, was putting out 54hp.

The fuelling was described by Nick as ‘shocking’ as it was running very lean.

So the plan is now to check the compression of the engine, then strip her down and give her a good check over and try to locate the missing ponies, I have been told that most will return when the fuelling is sorted, which will happen when I fit a ram air box during the rebuild.

Nick also managed to shed some light on the misfire of the SV, as he told me that the routing of the wire from the quickshifter to the power commander maybe close to an HT lead as it can pick up interference from such a cable, which will cause the quickshifter to cut the engine, so fingers crossed this is the case.

I know this should be bad news about the 400, but am looking at it that it’s not me getting slower and it’s the bike, which is fixable, so all good.

I will keep you all up to date as to how the rebuild goes over the coming months, and hopefully have a better dyno printout. 

I've also received some pictures from Skerries and Killalane, from Jack Chambers, thanks for these Jack.

 

 Speak soon

Cheers

Stuart

Check out Double Take at www.doubletakemotorcycles.co.uk