Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Bodywork

The bodywork was an interesting design. I had wanted the rear swingarm to be extended so that the rear tyre would stick out halfway through the fender. After some sketches and ideas tossed around, we had agreed on a "brace" design. Sort of like those found on a sports bike. Sometime later, Ray, who was still worrying about the reliability of the swingarm somehow found a way to make it look good and also make it stable. He had brought the swingarm to a CNC shop to get the extensions machined. These machined parts will not only be the extension, but there are thinner sections that slide into the existing swingarm so that it is reliable and can support the extra extension. The swingarm is then welded and the suspension points are then relocated.

The original tank has been removed and replaced with a reversed sportsbike tank. I personally like that tank because when flipped backwards, it actually resemble a Frisco tank. It has a fuel float in the tank but unfortunately it (or the fuel gauge) is not working. So I cant use it which is quite risky due to the fact that I wont know how much fuel I have left.

Unfortunately, the welding of MODENAS is very untidy and looks horrid. Since I am leaving the rear section that holds the fender in place uncovered (there used to be this cheap chromed plastic crap), we will have to do something about it. Hopefully the mechanic will be shaving it off or remembers (like what he said) that he is supposed to fill it all up with bondo.

About the wheels, we had to look for another rear wheel shaft as the original that came with the bike was too short. The problem with these are, for every brand, there is a different length and thickness of the shaft. For the original bike, the shaft was too thin and for the bike that previously own the rims, the shaft is too short. So where do I locate a shaft that is thick enough and long enough?
There are 2 ways to go about this.
The hard but not too expensive way: ask every shop or spare parts place you can find for it with a sample of the correct thickness.
The easy but expensive way: Just get the sample to a CnC shop, pay a hefty sum to get it custom made. Oh did I mention that it will take some weeks?

Well.. I did it the hard but less expensive way first… I scouted around many many shops in my area just to look for it… there wasn't a single one. Then, finally, giving up and telling the mechanic and Ray that they would have to make one for me, I went to the bike shop near my house (which I didn't bother going in the first place) to buy all the other junk that the mechanic wanted including another carb (will explain later). As I was about to leave after ordering my stuff (they didn't have some things), I decided to try asking the owner. Him knowing me for so long (since I moved here like some years ago), let me rummage through his store looking and comparing shafts (actually even he and his head mechanic were looking). It was like looking for a damn needle in a bunch of OTHER needles… finally, we found one of the right thickness that was quite long… acting like we found a gold nugget the size of Texas, we quickly ran to the front holding it like MY PRECIOUS…. We broke out the measuring tape to measure it (this is the point where I tell you the length we wanted was 14 inches) we measured it, then again, not believing that it was 1 inch shorter then what we needed, we each measured again each one doing it once and took a poll on who got it right (kinda stupid coz all 3 of us got 13 inches). I picked up the phone and rang the mechanic telling him the almost good news. He however insisted that he MUST have 14 inches. All 3 of us frowned in disappointment. I almost stooped so low as to thinking if I rub it and sway it around it might grow (you know what I meant). I laughed to myself and just confirmed the rest of the things to order and left. The next day, I came to pick up the stuff I ordered, an aching feeling told me to take that shaft we found anyway, just to try it out. I asked the owner if I could borrow it, just for awhile, if it doesn't fit I will bring it back. And he said ok. I took the shaft and all the things he needed me to buy and I rode to my mechanics place on a loaned bike (takes about an hour to get from my place to the mechanics place). When I reached his place, he was away at his day job, so I left the parts. I just took up the shaft and placed it between the spokes to my rims to see if it fits.. lo and behold, it was a perfect fit. I quickly went back and paid the guy. Problem solved.

Back to the carburetor, this beast of a carb was previously sitting the d chest cavity of my 150cc racing bike (Yamaha TZM). Based on the size of it, its definitely NOT made for a 150c bike. I love that thing, so, since my bike was in pieces, I decided to want to put it into my chopper. The other day, we were trying to fit the carb (as the intake assembly for the carb just arrived coz my old carb got stolen), we fount that the beast is so damn big it doesn't fit properly. Cracking my head for solutions and having all of them thrown out, I was then suggested by Ray to temporarily install an RXZ carb which is built for a 135 cc bike. Having not much choice and the bike being delayed for so long (will blog about that later), I went ahead and bought the carb. Whatever that makes the bike come out is good for me. Speaking of carbs, a friend of mine who is quite close recently had a bad accident. He had just modded his moped but decided after the accident that he wont be riding anymore. He has a racing carb as well and recently just told me that he will give it to me.. yes.. so in total I now have 3 carbs. Good for me for future use.

Here comes the story about the battery box. Earlier on, I had discussed with the mechanic on the creation of a battery box (as the standard one is just a plastic cover and stuff. Didn't really like that) then later on as the complications and delay of the build happened, apparently he wanted to "discuss" about how the battery box would be built. In the end, I had decided that since I will be using a different carb, I wont be using the air box (which is right next to the batt box.) so we ended up hollowing it out to use to store stuff. I will probably do something about that later on.

As for the rest of the things, either I will be adding it in later or something. I already cant wait to ride my bike so I will figure that out later on.

Le Carcass

Alip Grinding Down D Ext Swingarm

The Shaft I Found


By Vy

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