Luke enjoying a seat on the bike with his Daddy!

Pages being updated

I've just updated the "Motorbikes" page, once I find some pictures of the VW camper, I'll update that page too.

Getting up to date

So, seeing as though my last post was back in April last year, I felt an update is well overdue.

I always knew that funds wouldn't allow me to do the full seasons racing, so I aimed at the more local tracks for lower travel and time costs, and also the fact I had a slight knowledge of places like Brands Hatch, Snetterton and Silverstone.  I think I managed to spin the car in almost every race I entered last season, and although I was a back marker with every race, I finished every race that I entered with no accidents, I managed to post consistent lap times, and the car held out for me mechanically.

At the end of the season, I think virtually everyone else with a similar car to me was planning a more modern engine upgrade over the winter, but I have opted to stick with the old Fireblade 919cc relic, having no spare cash to throw at the project.  I barely scratched the surface of how the car could potentially perform, and being the novice that I still am, I feel that it would be wise to gain more track time to gain experience rather than just think it is the car that is slow rather than myself.  It would be all too easy to upgrade the engine, only to have to start ironing out new problems which are inevitable with a new install, and also not being able to get to grips with the increase in power and the change to the cars dynamics.  I will be firmly sticking to the beleif that to finish first, first you have to finish.

To be honest though, racing the car has been at the back of my mind entirely since I packed it away back in August.  With Gina no longer working, I cannot warrant anything being spent on racing at all.  To add to the dilemma,  we put our house on the market just before Christmas, as we need a bigger property, partly to house all of my automotive projects, but also with a view to accommodating an expanding family in years to come.  I had more or less come to the conclusion that my priority should shift from time and money spent on the race car, to getting my bay window VW camper van (or Kombi as people on the continent like to call them) sorted out and on the road. In a finished and roadworthy state, the van would be an asset with a decent value if the need arose to sell it, would give us a decent and cheap holiday or two, and would of course provide a higher level of comfort at race weekends too.

The van is in a pretty sorry state, and there has been plenty of grinding and welding to get rid of ther rot, and there is a lot of rust.  There is a separate page dedicated to the van, and I shall update it with the work I have been doing to it, and the pictures I have taken so far.

I must admit though, I have been looking at some very cheap winter track days.......

Ok, ok, I've been busy!!!

I know everyone, blog progress has been absent recently. This is just a quick update on where I'm at, and I will have to fill in the detail properly later.
Having taken my friends caravan out to the French alps in December, we have tried to get out there as much as possible to make the most of the snow this season, we are going to pick it back up the weekend after brands hatch. Along with wanting to spend time with the family, I've realised I committed to too much, so will have to stop saying yes to everything!

It's been pretty busy at work, as we are so far behind, but that hasn't stopped me from making a few bits and peice for various cars in my lunch break. Today, I have just had a few sump plates lasered out, as my old one had split. We have made new ones out of thicker stock that should hopefully take more punishment.

The old split one...

Shiny new one...

 I've also done a ring gear for my mates kurtis 500, that has a Cadillac V8 in it.

 I am never making another one of those again...what a pig!! I was lucky enough to be taken to Silverstone for the day as payment for the ring gear, where FS racing were testing their freshly restored Chevron, I had another play with their Corvette, but it was mainly track time I had in the Fury that I needed.

 FS hired Mike Wilds for the day, and he took me out in my car to show me the lines of the circuit, my god can he drive, and I had never really appreciated the potential that my car has got. Apart from a bit of brake biasing, Mike said the car had great balance and grip. Me happy :-)

Gearbox damage

So I managed to lay the two engines out next to each other yesterday, firstly to look for any obvious signs of damage to the gears, and also to swap various bits from the current to spare engine, such as oil cooler couplings, mounting frame and billet sump.

With the sump off of the damaged engine, I used a pair of mole grips on the selector shaft to index through to fourth gear. All gears engaged as they should, but as soon as I turned the output shaft when 4th was engaged, I could see the selector fork moving out of It's position. If I held the fork in place, 4th gear would engage correctly, and I soon realised at that point that the selector drum was damaged. The tip part of the profile slot had been smashed off, thus allowing movement lateraly of the fork, allowing 4th gear to disengage. I know my writing probably makes this description twice as difficult to understand as it should be, so I'll try and get some pictures up to aid the explanation.  I'm just wondering now if the drive dogs are still intact, there was certainly some swarf build up on the oil strainer. Do I just swap the selector drum out and hope for the best, or go the whole hog and replace 4th and the selector fork too?

Finger out...Engine out.

I managed to make some real headway this morning.  Without the luxury of a post lift, and not being able to drive the car up my service ramps, due to the car being so light they slide away from underneath as you go up them, I chose to utilise the trailer.

First job for today was bonnet off. This wasn't the easiest task to execute on my own, it was pretty early this morning, and there was no evidence of my neighbours who usually wander over for a chat, find out what's going on and lend a hand if needed.  So with the winds gusting, I safely lowered it onto the front of the trailer avoiding any mishaps.  I then needed to get the side panel off to gain access to the exhaust system.  Some fixing areas had rivnuts attached, others has stainless dome head screws that were three times as long as they needed to be, secured the other (most inaccessible) side with fiddly little nyloc nuts.  A 5 minute job turns into 20!  I shall definitely be sorting some quick release system out for the body panels, Dzus or something else....

I need to sort out the exhaust end can which, although looking very nicely made and certainly in good condition (AB item?) is clearly too loud as I failed the 105Db noise test at Snetterton in November.  I'm hoping I can get away with just re-packing it, but I guess whilst its off, I should look into the catalyst side of things too, as this is stipulated in the 750 MC regs.....

Then just simply followed a methodical list of disconnections to be performed.  Coolant drained, oil drained, fuel lines off, loom off etc.

The reverse system on this car (as bike engines have no reverse gear), is made up of an additional bike starter motor, grafted onto the chassis rails so that it engages on a gear on the engine output shaft/prop coupling.  Pulling levers and pressing buttons usually ends up with just a horrible grinding noise and no motion, so, as this needed to be removed to assist in engine removal, it will be something else to look into fixing..

My mate from work had offered to pop round to help me lift the engine out.  I though I wouldn't bother taking the engine hoist from the FS workshop as the engine would be light enough,  I knew the weight of the engine from when I collected the spare the other weekend.  With everything undone I just went balls out, and lifted it on my own, bending at the knees with a straight back...!

It was then just a case of making notes and taking photos to remember where everything went.  I had a tidy up of tools and put the engine in the garage.  I'm on night shift come Monday, so I'll drop the spare in to see if it works as it should.  The guy I bought it off gave me a guarantee for what its worth, he seemed nice enough, we'll just have to see...

It was just as I was throwing the cover back on the car, as my mate from work rounded the corner walking his dog....so he came indoors to see what DIY I'd been getting up to around the house....

Race entry pack

Ok, so I haven't explained exactly how I came to getting the current race car, I shall elaborate later, but I wanted to mention at this point I have received my race entry pack for the 2011 RGB season with the 750 motor club. My race number for this year is 88, I chose this number because our little boy Luke was born on the 8th of august.

I went to collect the car from FS Racing yesterday, I need to take the engine out and get 4th gear repaired, which I completely toasted at a Snetterton trackday in November.  Whilst I was at the workshop, I collected my new race suit and a few other bits that Joe kindly ordered in for me, seeing as the get preferential rates from suppliers :-) the suit fits perfectly, now I look like a proper racer!