Better late than never
 

Well, at least I have an excuse: Blimmin' DIY, but got to keep the wife happy, since I am going to be asking for quite a bit of her patience for this year's race season.:D

Anyway, I finally got started on bike preparation and after taking all the necessary gobbins off, I got the engine out tonight. Not a bad job really, as it only took 3 hours from a complete bike to the engine sitting on the floor.

If you remember my reports from my spill at Oulton last year, I am happy that so far I found no nasty surprises, although I found one engine mounting bolt snapped.

So, tomorrow I am off to MachineMart to get an engine stand and the fab some brackets to bolt the engine onto the stand. Then it's strip down time!

Best bit tonight was watching the 2 hour AMA season review on M&M while doing this job!:)

Hows the spares collection going Felix, the minimum I take is spare Levers, footrests, handlebars, throttle assembly & battery. Along with the Wets, wheels & Discs.

Not too badly, Kev. In addition to the things you mention, I have brake pads, spark plugs, chain and various sprockets, body work, clutch, various CF parts, such as airtubes, heel guards, seat mount, etc. Plus a big great hammer!!!

my GSXR 600 has been all strip down and had the engine check over,i've brought all new bodywork for it and that has been sent away to get spray up.
there will be three off as racing under the same colours,with the Derby phoenix club,already booked my first test session for feb 22nd,just cant wait to get out there.......:frog:

I always take someone with me that knows what the heck they're doing, cash, credit card, mobile phone, plus lots of Diet Coke, chocolate and crisps, Nurofen, beer.....and a large rubber mallet!

Seriously...add spare kit - gloves, helmet, boots and leathers - no good getting the bike sorted only to fail scrutineering due to damaged gear. (remember to get your dog tag with name and DOB on it)

Can't wait for the season to start. I'm off to Jerez at the end of the month for a couple of days 'practice'....oh yes I am....yeehaa

WeeJohnyB

Well, here are some pictures of my progress so far. Now, I am staring at a to-do-list as long as my arm. Amazing as it seems, getting to this stage from a complete bike with all bodywork on, ready to run, to this stage is all of 3 hours.




Aside from the body work there really aren't that many bits (yet to be cleaned)


Here is where most of the work needs to happen:

awwww.......Felix.
what did you go and put piccies up for :o
I really needed reminding about what that bike looks like under the bodywork ;)

Hope it all goes well mate :)

Very Nice Felix looks a bit like my place at the moment could play snap with most of the bits. Bet yours is back together and running before mine.
Is that a MS products carbon overflow tank I see in the lower right of one of the pics

Oh, I don't know whose will be back together first. I need to strip it down to the frame and get it checked. Then, it's taking the engine to bits, repair body work, etc, etc, etc. I hope to have it back together by end of March.

Yes, it is a MS overflow tank, standard issue.

Felix, it looks like your bike is in one of those garage things...............here's a picture of my TZ which WJB is racing this year in my 'workshop' :lol:

John

Monty

That picture wouldn't be any more exciting to me if you put Kylie naked across it.:lol:

It's looking clean though! Hopefully we can get to Brands on the 18th of March and hopefully it'll be going like the train in the picture on your kitchen wall!!!!!


Sooooo excited:sing:

WeeJohnyB

Well, at least the beer is likely to be within reach in your "workshop", Monty. You should get proper kitchen table, tough.:lol:

I've got one mate since that is the 'dining' end of my kitchen diner. The table get taken to bits and put in the cupboard when I need to use the room as my workshop. Beats working in a cold damp garage I can tell you, I've got heat, light, power, water-hot and cold, beer, food, music, phone, a shower, toilet, and my bed all within easy reach and I don't have to go out in the rain and snow to get to them-works for me.:D

John

Well. After making pretty good progress over the last few weeks, it looks less and less likely that I will make the March 20 date for the first race.

Reason for it? Engine build. Was hoping to get the engine into the frame this weekend. But, after an extended session at Nelly's dialling in cams and checking valve pocket depths, it turns out that the exhaust valve pocket are not deep enough in the pistons. So, instead of final assembly, the piston have been mailed to AJ Racing for machining 1 mm off the exhaust valve pockets to get the specified clearances. That means, at best, the engine will be ready to go into the frame next weekend, meaning I have only 1 week really to finish assemble the bike. Mind you, the frame is still sitting on the floor naked.

It just doesn't look probable that it all comes together in time for the first race weekend.

So it goes. However, a HUGE thank you is due to Nelly for the loan of his workshop, his times, and all those pucka specialist tools. An equally HUGE thank you is due to Alan Shirley of AJ Racing for his invaluable advice, putting up with my constant pestering, and his excellent service.

Fairing space is getting tight now. I'll post some pictures when it's all done. So far, we have:
Joe Bar Team (Pguenet)
Cornerspeed Cornerspeed (Nelly)
AJ Racing (Alan)
Motorcycle Cosmetics (highly recommended paint sprayer in Leeds)

All of the above have provided invaluable assistance either FOC or at cut rate prices.

Paying title sponser is still required...

Football Weeksy? FOOTBALL! Thats 22 grown men punting a leather covered bag of wind round a field isn't it??:lol:

John

:rodent: : "As opposed to rideouts that Jools goes on...He's the leather covered bag of wind that chases after 22 other people"

Jools: "I've gotta get rid of this rodent...Anybody got Rentokill's number?"

[Edited on 1-3-2004 by Jools]

Things are looking up !
 

Finally! Engine is in one piece and back in the frame. Almost there, really, as you can tell from the picture. :D A couple of full days, and it should be back in one piece. If things go well, she might wake up some sleepy neighbours this Sunday morning! Ahhh...

You\'re a brave man!!!
 

How do you get that lot back together - I wouldn't trust myself to do it.

Nice one, more pics as she progresses please.

Tim:frog:

Didn't you have a Mechano kit when you were a kid then Tim??:lol::lol::lol:

John

Latest update
 

After another long evening in the garage, things continue to go well. Look, mum, it's got wheels!

another pic

last one for now...

Felix,

See you've got yourself a digital camera (not to mention a bike looking more ready for the ACU test sessions this month!!!! :D )

Tried your home number tonite but I must have a digit wrong or you've changed it since your 'We've changed address' memo of last year.

Will try again over the weekend.

Guy

Well, more good news, bad news.

Good news is that the bike is nearly finished and would be ready to race on March 20th. Here is the bad news bit, though: All the grids are full for that meeting at Croft! Bugger!

I'll still be up there on Saturday watching my mate doing his first race on his GSXR750.

So my race debut will have to wait for another day, I am afraid. Looking at the Bemsee website, they have a Croft date on April 4/5. Must call them first thing tomorrow.

Felix, we're at Pembrey on 3 & 4 April with New Era for the first round of the SuperClub series. It's a bit of a trek, but you could enter the 'Sound of Thunder'. We'll be there for Friday test day as I've never ridden it before, then two races on Sat and two on Sun.

First race though will hopefully be 21 March at Mallory for New Era Club series just as a warm up to the season.

WeeJohnyB

WJB, Hopefully see you and Monty at Pembrey, I've entered the F600 on both Sat and Sun hopefully it will not be over subscribed and I will get a place on the grid., will be arriving late Friday afternoon so will probably have to park up on the grass.
Felix get those entries in early. i know Whele (996SPS) is doing bemsee this year, not sure if he is doing Croft though.
I'll try and find out if Garry Smith (748R) is doing Pembrey in April. As for Paynep (888)whats your plans mate, when do you hope to be out on track. I also understand Ianh will be doing a few races as well this year, considering the engine mods he listed under a relevent post last week should be interesting to see how fast his 998S goes.

Success! Well, at last on the bike preparation front. After many, many hours it fire up last night. On first try, even! Now, the only thing remaining is to get the body work back and apply stickers, which takes all of 20 minutes. And, she is ready for action.

Just need to get the race entries sorted.

Next...

next...

next...

last one for now. Next set will hopefully in full livery.

So Felix as you say ready for action, is that for the track, if so does that mean its cooling system now contains only water, best keep the garage heating on then.

Yup, gone right off the alcohol, it's water only for me know:lol:

That is certainly one sweet bike and although there are probably enough pics for some, keep them coming and include a close up of the coil mounts for us.
Kev

What's your interest in the coil mounts? What do you want to know?

They are obviously quite different from a standard 9*6/998 or my 748RS, which is not only one of the problems I have to overcome with the fitting of the 998 engine, but it could well be a problem when I come to putting the 955 engine into a frame. May be easier if I try and track down the most suitable frame.