LSR

[kevin]

Oh, I do love well-machined metal. +1

the pistons still need handwork, though. as machined, the tight cutouts in the crown unavoidably mask the valves at low lift, so i'll have to sit down with a dremel and smooth out the contours so the gases can squeeze around.

[kevin]

This... is admirable. Respect increased 40% and rising...! +1

we'll see how well it holds together, augusto. the compression ratio is 11.75 to 1, which normally means i can run only methanol as fuel. but my class is gasoline, so there will be a lot of adjustment. if you mess up the adjustment, you have to start over:

[Augusto]

So, it's dangerous but I bet that's your second name, so you'll do just fine!

I'm very happy for you. I hope one day I'll start a project like that. It looks like a big deal and something worth doing...!

[kevin]

it's not particularly dangerous. much safer topping out a machine on a straight road with an ambulance crew right there than going to work in the morning with the car people all around me.

the man who held the record in my area crashed and died year before last, but he was doing over 300 mph. i'm planning on only 160 by the time this motor is fully developed.

[Augusto]

So weren't you planning to break the maximum speed ever? That's what I read...!

[kevin]

competitions are divided into classes, augusto. you compete against machines of similar ages or designs to yours.

the maximum speed ever achieved by a wheel-driven motorcycle is 376 mph, on this:



this machine used two contemporary suzuki engines, at 2600 cc, and a fibrglas shell. probably 1000-plus horsepower, and takes an army of specialists to make it run.

my machine is an antique, 50 years old, and is built to design parameters first put on paper in the 1930s. i'm limited to 650 cc, not allowed any streamlining, no chemical changes to the fuel, no turbo or supercharging-- maybe 75 to 80 horsepower. i build it and i ride it myself. the state of the art in my class looks like this:



the world's record for antique machines like mine is 149 mph at the california dry lakes, 128 in maine, and 125 at my strip in ohio. if i do 150 mph, it will be the fastest machine of its type in the world.

[Augusto]

Ok, thanks 4 the clarification.

The most important part should be to have people who love you on your side on the inauguration day, I suppose. That's what I find more exciting of your project, that I think you're going to look like a hero to them all...!

[kevin]

maybe. i'm not really motivated by other people.

it's an intellectual problem in the end, as this sort of stuff is ephemeral and will be forgotten in a few years. it's all about learning to understand the natural world and how to make gases, flames, engine design, and airflow combine in a certain way.

plus it's a reason to impose various personal disciplines. i've lost 22 pounds to make myself faster on this machine, and i have 18 pounds to go.

[Augusto]

Well, I always think about you and your wife and everything you two say, with pleasure, I may add.

I don't think I will forget this thread in many years. It's meaningful, phylosophical and powerful. I haven't seen anything like this excepting in movies. You're an extraordinary human being.

Now I'll leave you alone so you don't freak out.

[kevin]

ain't over yet.

the crankshaft is done, balanced, and waiting for me to send the man a bunch of money so he can ship them.

jugs and cases are at the machinist, getting bored and honed.

cylinder head is at the other machinist, where it's been sitting since february, i think. when you're one of only three people in the country who can do this work, you can pick your own schedule.

once these three hurdles are over, it's time to put it together and head for the dyno:



^^^this is my local dyno shop, with a nice old 1955 double-engined salt machine on it that ultimately went over 150 mph.

[Jezzebelle]

I hope you have your kids or shawna or someone record your race so we can watch it!

[kevin]

we'll see. i've missed may, june, and july, because things weren't ready.

there was a race in maine in july, where my closest competitor bumped the record from 125 to 128.2:



the rider owns the bike and makes the runs. my competition is the guy in the hat. he's the builder, and he's the one who's made it go fast.

if i can get shawna to come in september, i'll have pictures of me running the middle bike just to work out logistics. currently it's got carburation issues and the clutch slips around 95 mph. but i'll install the electronic air/fuel gauge this week and start fine-tuning, and there's plenty of time to experiment with the clutch. i have three complete replacement clutches sitting in the shop now.

[kevin]

the middle bike:



i don't know how fast it is. back before i leaned on the motor it would go 115 with stock gearing. it has more horsepower now, and weighs a lot less, but i fell down at way over the ton on it once and i'm just gradually working it back up and over, making sure it doesn't get squirrelly again.

with the higher race gearing it will do 125 at redline, if it can pull that.

[kevin]

oxygen sensor in the exhaust:



reads out air/fuel ratio directly on the handlebar gauge:



lets me tune the various jets, needles, and cutaways with an actual number to look at, rather than with seat of the pants measurements. this is on the middle bike, just a dry run for the number one machine.

all my settings were rich, except for idle. i use a mica spark plug to set the idle mixture. blue flame inside the motor is lean:



yellow is rich:



can't use the transparent plug except at idle, because the pressures blow it out. hence the A/F gauge.

[eyeshaveit]

No catalytic converter?

[kevin]

no, eyes, not on this machine. it's far too old.

catalytic converters were on only about 20 percent of motorcycles 10 years ago. this machine was already thirty years old back then.

it was designed for high-volatility 104 octane leaded fuel. i generally run 110 octane leaded premium in it, as i do in all the old bikes with hemi heads. so long as i have the sensor in, i'm running only modern 93 octane unleaded premium.

it makes tuning more problematic, as the modern fuel volatilities are much lower, but using the lower octane 93 errs on the side of caution. if i tune for 110 and run 93 to save the sensor, i'm liable to hole the pistons.

[kevin]

billet crankshaft arrived today, after months of waiting:




this crank was machined from a solid block of steel. no castings, no forgings-- one piece.

the pulley is for the newby belt drive-- no chain, just a rubber belt, running dry.

day after tomorrow the cases will have the new camshaft bushes installed. the jugs are already bored for the new pistons.

moving on to the finale, but this will not be ready by september, unless a miracle happens.

may of next year is the first race meet for this serious bike.

[Kiahanie]

Beautiful crank. +1

[kevin]

spectacular work. only two places in the world make these things, and it takes a while to get them.

here's a stock crank for comparison. look how delicate the racing unit is:

[Kiahanie]

Yeah, I use sheathing, too. Makes for a soft place for heavy scratchable stuff to sit.

Great comparison. I rebuilt my VW bus engine decades ago and never got a job like yours. But then, I never raced that bus, either.

[kevin]

VW bus engines were famous, but not for speed:

[Kiahanie]

That happened to mine. Pinhole in fuel line to the carb. Fortunately I had a jerrycan of water and a blanket so put it out before it did any more damage than burning up some wiring. And the points cap.

[kevin]

i used to commute between san francisco and silicon valley on US 101.

about once a week i would drive by a volkswagen on fire on the shoulder.

like clockwork.

[Kiahanie]

Yeah, I used to always think "there but for the grace..." Mine happened as I was pulling out of the parking lot at work (in San Jose, even). I thought then (and still do) it was sabotage.

[none]

billet crankshaft arrived today, after months of waiting:




this crank was machined from a solid block of steel. no castings, no forgings-- one piece.

the pulley is for the newby belt drive-- no chain, just a rubber belt, running dry.

day after tomorrow the cases will have the new camshaft bushes installed. the jugs are already bored for the new pistons.

moving on to the finale, but this will not be ready by september, unless a miracle happens.

may of next year is the first race meet for this serious bike.

out of tolerance...

[kevin]

Yeah, I used to always think "there but for the grace..." Mine happened as I was pulling out of the parking lot at work (in San Jose, even). I thought then (and still do) it was sabotage.

i had a friend with a 68 bus i used to sabotage. he got to where he would park it on the next block so i wouldn't find it. the night before he took it cross country i went looking. he had backed it up against the front bumper of a sedan so i couldn't get into the engine compartment.

i pried open the wing mirror, opened the driver's door and pushed it forward a few feet. then i wired an old motorcycle horn to the coil positive lead so it would blow whenever he started the motor. closed the door and pushed it back into place.

had another friend with an old variant. i tied the undercarriage to a stop sign in the parking lot with a thirty foot rope, so he would get it up to ten or fifteen miles per hour before he hit the end.

once i jacked it up on blocks so the rear wheels were a half inch off the ground.

i loved volkswagens.

[Kiahanie]

billet crankshaft arrived today, after months of waiting:

this crank was machined from a solid block of steel. no castings, no forgings-- one piece.

the pulley is for the newby belt drive-- no chain, just a rubber belt, running dry.

day after tomorrow the cases will have the new camshaft bushes installed. the jugs are already bored for the new pistons.

moving on to the finale, but this will not be ready by september, unless a miracle happens.

may of next year is the first race meet for this serious bike.

out of tolerance...

NO! ! NO! It's so pretty and shiny!

by how much and where?

[kevin]

tomorrow i pick the cases up from the machine shop. he's bored the cylinders to fit the pistons, installed the camshaft bearings. had a problem with them-- he took them back out because they were out of spec and got new ones.

so with the cases in hand there's nothing i'm waiting on from other people except the cylinder head, which is still in tennessee with the air flow guy. but if he doesn't have it done by the time i need it, i have a back up motor that i can rob the head from just to have something to run.

this is the machine as it currently sits, with the dummy motor in it to test for fit.



i have the air/fuel gauge installed on the middle bike right now, and if i can figure a mount up i'll install the GPS tachometer on that as well to test that configuration. except for the head, everything is ready and waiting to be put together-- chassis, carburation, ignition, motor, instrumentation.

tomorrow on the way back from the machine shop i'll drop by the local airport and see whether they'll let me use the runway to dial in the carbs and the ignition timing.

[kevin]

other projects in the meantime have been moving forward:

the BSAs





the norton



the triple and the middle bike





and the long, long, longterm bitsa:

[Augusto]

Nice...!

So you're a professional mechanic?

The last one doesn't seem to be moving forward, tho...