Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Visit to the dyno.




I took Gordon to see Eric at Ekquire Motorcycles in Bury St Edmunds today, I needed to run in the Slipstream motor in as it had a new liner and piston when it was rebuilt. On advise from Steve Ruth I ran Gordon through the gears up to 6000 rpm without load, Then let the motor cool down before doing the same again but up to 8000rpm. When I asked Martin Sweet of Slipstream how high I can rev the motor he said 8500rpm, but to be easy on the motor I have decided to top out at 8000rpm, with this in mind I put Gordon through a power run on the dyno. I was very happy with the figures especailly when I realised I had only reved the motor to 7879rpm, it was showing 70.2 bhp @ rear wheel, as you can see on the read out the motor was still pulling and based on this I think the motor could be around 74bhp @ 8000rpm!! ROLL ON PEMBREY

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Alive and kicking!

I eventually got Gordon started today, the first time I had since he arrived.

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Gordon gets his new decals





Dave Goddard of Cabtec Enterprise had done a fantastic job of the decals for Gordon, couldn't wait to stick them on.

Friday, March 12, 2010


Dave Goddard dropped round some of the decals for Gordon tonight so decided to brave the cold and apply them!

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

The weigh in!


Took Gordon to Steve ruth where he had his suspension adjusted to a base setting for me to work from, also Steve weighed Gordon, 126 kg, not bad for a road based Mono! In contrast my Harris Yamaha XTZ686 weighed in at 132 kg?
All being well I should be able to start Gordon this weekend then take him to Ekquire m/c's to have a run on the dyno the end of next week.

Tuesday, March 9, 2010


Put Gordon in the van as he is taking a trip to see Steve Ruth, Steve will set the suspension and weight distribution for me. I have every confidence in Steve as he has been preparing my race engines for almost 5 years now and he certainly knows his onions!

Sunday, March 7, 2010

Getting there now!




After another few hours in the man cave I was able to test the water pump and system for leaks, although I will do a full test when I have the motor running. I also managed to mount the dash and control box, I had to move the transponder holder to the right hand fork leg and moved the original dash bracket forward a few centimetres, this allowed the control box to be situated just behind giving me good access to the connections.

Saturday, March 6, 2010

Coming together!





Well the engine is in, took around 2 hours as I had a problem with one of the engine bolts. After putting on the exhaust I was relieved to see that the new additional mounting bracket lined up almost perfectly with the original bolt hole. Gordon uses 39mm Kehein carbs and this is the first time I have come across push/pull throttle cables! needles to say I had a nightmare trying to work out how to connect both cables, but I eventually succeeded and the carbs now snap shut! So all being well Gordon will be ready to fire up by next weekend, then off to the dyno during the next week, watch this space!!

Friday, March 5, 2010

The engine has landed!!




After a nightmare working day I managed to get to Slipstream to pick up the engine for Gordon. Martin informed me that the motor has a new liner, new piston, new crank and a total strip down and rebuild. I started getting everything ready for the rebuild and should have the engine in by tomorrow evening. Martin advised me to be careful when running the engine in so will get it down to Ekquire M/C's in Bury St Edmunds, there I will do 20 minute runs just going through the gears then let cool down for aprox 20 to 30 mins before the next run. After the 4th or 5th run I will then see what the motor is delivering at the rear wheel, Martin expects around 76bhp which would be ideal.

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Slipstream Tuning

Contacted Martin and Roy of Slipstream tuning today to find out the progress of the engine, it is ready to be collected but does not have a clutch cover gasket. This is not a major problem as I can still get the motor in and just put the new gasket on when it arrives, at least then I can get Gordon back together agian and looking like a bike!

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Testing the data logger!!!


With the engine not back till the weekend I was unable to make any progress with the rebuild of Gordon, however I thought I would check to see how the newly acquired data logging dash worked, and how hard/easy it was to program. As my van is diesel the only petrol engine to check the RPM on was the donkey starter, so with a boiling kettle by the side for testing the temp readout, and the RPM lead clipped onto the HT lead the test began. For the short test, which proved everything worked OK, I had the most sophisticated dash ever seen on a donkey starter!!!

Monday, March 1, 2010

Cutting it fine!

Just called Slipstream and the engine they are letting me use to run in Gordon may not be ready till the weekend! This is cutting it fine to get Gordon rebuilt, on the dyno and out on a test day, so may have to use the Friday of the first meetimg at Pembery to dial in the settings. Not ideal as I have never raced at the circuit before and might have to ask Gordon's dad, Mike(Spike) Edwards, for some pointers.