Norton 880 long-term project
- Thread starter grandpaul
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grandpaul said:Front engine steady by Windy Eads (very simple & effective), and all new Mark III adjustable isolastics-
Did you make the engine steady yourself? Would it work better if the link was more parallel to the engine?
grandpaul
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"Half a dozen of one, Six of the other"
...so goes the old saying.
Started installing the inner primary from the 850 and realized there was no hole in the VR880 cradle for the Mark III shifter crossover shaft.
Plan "B". Installed the Spyke starter and then tried to fit up the carbon fibre inner primary and found that the top alternator stator bracket stud was too large in diameter for the CF primary dowel hole; drilled it out and proceeded to fit it up.
Oh, crud. The belt drive clutch basket hasn't been fitted up with the e-start ring gear yet. Never mind, on with Plan "C"; I can kickstart just fine. Removed the starter.
Tension of the belt wanted to keep pulling the drive pulley off the taper, so I fitted up the alternator rotor. Well, isn't that special, Norton decided to cast in an "oh no you don't" lip that prohibits you from installing the Mark III alternator stator frame with the rotor already in place! A pair of vice grips made quick work of that lip, dressed the edges and installed it. I'll need to carefully trim up 4 spacers for the alternator frame to stand it off the appropriate distance from the crankcase in the absence of the OEM inner case half.
It's a bit of a fiddle to get the two alignment dowels meshed, and then start the center fixing nut on the CF primary, but it's done.
Installed the Barnett friction plates with a final extra scrolled bronze plate to bring the stack up to optimum height, and popped on the diphragm and retainer clip. Couldn't seem to locate the clutch rod adjuster, so that'll wait 'till tomorrow morning. Installed the 32mm intakes for the stock 932s. All in all, good progress today.
...so goes the old saying.
Started installing the inner primary from the 850 and realized there was no hole in the VR880 cradle for the Mark III shifter crossover shaft.
Plan "B". Installed the Spyke starter and then tried to fit up the carbon fibre inner primary and found that the top alternator stator bracket stud was too large in diameter for the CF primary dowel hole; drilled it out and proceeded to fit it up.
Oh, crud. The belt drive clutch basket hasn't been fitted up with the e-start ring gear yet. Never mind, on with Plan "C"; I can kickstart just fine. Removed the starter.
Tension of the belt wanted to keep pulling the drive pulley off the taper, so I fitted up the alternator rotor. Well, isn't that special, Norton decided to cast in an "oh no you don't" lip that prohibits you from installing the Mark III alternator stator frame with the rotor already in place! A pair of vice grips made quick work of that lip, dressed the edges and installed it. I'll need to carefully trim up 4 spacers for the alternator frame to stand it off the appropriate distance from the crankcase in the absence of the OEM inner case half.
It's a bit of a fiddle to get the two alignment dowels meshed, and then start the center fixing nut on the CF primary, but it's done.
Installed the Barnett friction plates with a final extra scrolled bronze plate to bring the stack up to optimum height, and popped on the diphragm and retainer clip. Couldn't seem to locate the clutch rod adjuster, so that'll wait 'till tomorrow morning. Installed the 32mm intakes for the stock 932s. All in all, good progress today.
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- Oct 5, 2008
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I'm too slow...I probably won't get around to making my new pegs and shifting outfit until next year anyway.
Riding season is here and I'm supposed to get my last parts this week. This means I'll probably just ride it as is until next rainy season. If I get used to the right hand shift I might leave it and just do a peg adjustment, but that means I can't really push the bike with confidence.
It looks like that bike may see the road very soon.
Riding season is here and I'm supposed to get my last parts this week. This means I'll probably just ride it as is until next rainy season. If I get used to the right hand shift I might leave it and just do a peg adjustment, but that means I can't really push the bike with confidence.
It looks like that bike may see the road very soon.
grandpaul
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Okay, time for Plan "D" !!!
The drive pulley that I have is designed for a pre- Mark III and doesn't fit far enough onto the crankshaft, so the belt drive and carbon fiber primary case are out of the picture (for now).
So, I drilled a hole in the tranny cradle for a Mark III inner primary chaincase steady (distance stud), replaced the clutch inner hub onto the Mark III clutch basket, and I'm looking high and low for the bloody distance piece!
I'm going to plug the shifter cross-shaft holes in the primary case (for now), and do the right-foot shift conversion for sure. The fact that I'm going to Left-foot brake with the necessity of a disc brake master cylinder actuator, means I need to hurry up and get a set of rearset footpegs in here and fabricate the linkage.
In order to make the rear wheel work with the new swingarm, I'm going to have to machine off the extraneous material from the Mark III sprocket dummy shaft and fashion a 9/16" one-piece rear axle. Fun, fun, fun.
Then comes the carbs! (Plan "E" ?) The FCR 33mm intakes have a proprietary spacing for the mounting at the head to co-exist with the Baisley 880 head, so I either need to find some rubber manifold adapters from 32/33mm spigot to horizontal orientation / appropriate spacing for OEM Mark III 32mm inlet manifolds, OR, I need to hurry up and build a set of Amal 932s from parts on the shelf (shouldn't be too hard to do).
If anyone can help with any of the above, I'd sure appreciate it...
The drive pulley that I have is designed for a pre- Mark III and doesn't fit far enough onto the crankshaft, so the belt drive and carbon fiber primary case are out of the picture (for now).
So, I drilled a hole in the tranny cradle for a Mark III inner primary chaincase steady (distance stud), replaced the clutch inner hub onto the Mark III clutch basket, and I'm looking high and low for the bloody distance piece!
I'm going to plug the shifter cross-shaft holes in the primary case (for now), and do the right-foot shift conversion for sure. The fact that I'm going to Left-foot brake with the necessity of a disc brake master cylinder actuator, means I need to hurry up and get a set of rearset footpegs in here and fabricate the linkage.
In order to make the rear wheel work with the new swingarm, I'm going to have to machine off the extraneous material from the Mark III sprocket dummy shaft and fashion a 9/16" one-piece rear axle. Fun, fun, fun.
Then comes the carbs! (Plan "E" ?) The FCR 33mm intakes have a proprietary spacing for the mounting at the head to co-exist with the Baisley 880 head, so I either need to find some rubber manifold adapters from 32/33mm spigot to horizontal orientation / appropriate spacing for OEM Mark III 32mm inlet manifolds, OR, I need to hurry up and build a set of Amal 932s from parts on the shelf (shouldn't be too hard to do).
If anyone can help with any of the above, I'd sure appreciate it...
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Random idea. I know you really want to use you cool new carbies. I'm assuming they mount like a Mikuni with the rear of the carb round and fit into a rubber mount and seal with a hose clamp? If they don't this idea is wrong.
How about going over to a muffler service and finding a steel flange of the correct size. I've seen a number of ones on medium powerplants that could be adapted. You could make one but it would be a pain. Then have them bend a section of exhaust pipe to the shape you need. Some welding and grinding, paint... Finish up with a bit of radiator hose and a couple of clamps.
How about going over to a muffler service and finding a steel flange of the correct size. I've seen a number of ones on medium powerplants that could be adapted. You could make one but it would be a pain. Then have them bend a section of exhaust pipe to the shape you need. Some welding and grinding, paint... Finish up with a bit of radiator hose and a couple of clamps.
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I made my own, the rubber "hose" came from the hardware store, it's a $4 plumbing mechanical joint complete with the hose clamps (I'm trying to find cooler hose clamps, but I'm sure they will be more than $4 :wink: ). My adapters mate the 35mm carbs to the 32mm Norton manifolds which in turn go down to the 30mm port at the head. I hope they perform well even with all this constriction. I think CNW sells a bolt on manifold made for these carbs.
Jean
Jean
grandpaul
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My favorite part - the wiring!
Too bad I couldn't find the matching Kawasaki conrol cluster cannon plugs. Still, I used all bullet connectors so that the main sections of the harness can be removed without disturbing any of the other sections.
Had to fabricate a small tail light backplate to accommodate the dual tail light bulb sockets; just below this will bolt up a license plate bracket that leaves the plate just below the tail, lit up by some spilled light from a gap between the tail light and the backplate.
Perfect setup - totally fused system with a 25 amp automatic master circuit breaker. 6 fuses; one for each major circuit including ignition, headlight, tail light, brake lights, horn relay & e-start relay-
AGM battery will be here in the morning along with horn relay, dual-lead Rev-tech coil & Blue 8mm resistor plug leads. I'm debating to myself whether or not to go with a tiny set of blinkers like the ones I used on "Project Charlie"...
Too bad I couldn't find the matching Kawasaki conrol cluster cannon plugs. Still, I used all bullet connectors so that the main sections of the harness can be removed without disturbing any of the other sections.
Had to fabricate a small tail light backplate to accommodate the dual tail light bulb sockets; just below this will bolt up a license plate bracket that leaves the plate just below the tail, lit up by some spilled light from a gap between the tail light and the backplate.
Perfect setup - totally fused system with a 25 amp automatic master circuit breaker. 6 fuses; one for each major circuit including ignition, headlight, tail light, brake lights, horn relay & e-start relay-
AGM battery will be here in the morning along with horn relay, dual-lead Rev-tech coil & Blue 8mm resistor plug leads. I'm debating to myself whether or not to go with a tiny set of blinkers like the ones I used on "Project Charlie"...
grandpaul
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You may have noticed I also installed the freshly painted Kawasaki 636 front fender; the painter got a real close match to the Dreer 880 Blue, and the pinstripes are close to an exact match-
Last thing I did this afternoon was fabricate a Dzus fastener catch bracket for the left sidecover, and mounted the oil tank & Right sidecover (after "persuading" the oil tank's inner face to clear the monoshock); so, the bodywork is 100% complete.
Holt Caterpillar came through with a hardened bolt, 3/4" diameter x 11-1/2" long, that I'm having turned down and re-threaded for the one-piece rear axle. The thickened section of the dummy axle on the original Mark III will be replaced with a custom-turned spacer to match the same dimensions inside the hub assembly.
Cookie is loaning me a pair of clean Amal 932s to use on the 850 engine (Thanx, man); the FCR adapters don't fit this head, they're made for the 880.
Last thing I did this afternoon was fabricate a Dzus fastener catch bracket for the left sidecover, and mounted the oil tank & Right sidecover (after "persuading" the oil tank's inner face to clear the monoshock); so, the bodywork is 100% complete.
Holt Caterpillar came through with a hardened bolt, 3/4" diameter x 11-1/2" long, that I'm having turned down and re-threaded for the one-piece rear axle. The thickened section of the dummy axle on the original Mark III will be replaced with a custom-turned spacer to match the same dimensions inside the hub assembly.
Cookie is loaning me a pair of clean Amal 932s to use on the 850 engine (Thanx, man); the FCR adapters don't fit this head, they're made for the 880.
grandpaul
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A few items sorted out today:
Separated all the hardware for OEM head steady and installed it (will have Taylor for the final build, it's already on the way), and mounted the rev-tech dual-lead coil and wired it in. (no pix)
Installed all of the OEM electric start primary system after fiddling with the back spacing on the chaincase standoff lug for way too long (they sent me the wrong part and I had to space it with bits I had on hand). Installed the Spax 3-phase alternator and wasted another 20 minutes reworking the outer diameter of the rotor nut to better fit the new rotor (it was just a bit to snug to catch the threads properly). I also plugged up the shifter cross shaft opening with the stub end of a shifter rubber RTV'ed in place.
I need to pop the clutch cover back off and add a stuffer plate, the lever pull is too stiff for my taste, but the clutch is working.
I cut a relatively thin section of sheet metal to mock up the electrical panel, and mounted all the components (except horn relay, it'll go on the lower left side)-
Final version will be sturdier material, I didn't have anything heavier to work with right on hand at the moment.
Last item was the rearset pegs; it turns out I was able to use the Kawasaki rear brake pedal mounting base, cut, shaved and re-drilled to accommodate the orientation for Left-foot disc brake master cylinder-
Just need to chop off the excess bit of bracket after I bolt up some sort of triangulating stiffener, then overhaul & connec the rear caliper (the Nissin won't work).
Separated all the hardware for OEM head steady and installed it (will have Taylor for the final build, it's already on the way), and mounted the rev-tech dual-lead coil and wired it in. (no pix)
Installed all of the OEM electric start primary system after fiddling with the back spacing on the chaincase standoff lug for way too long (they sent me the wrong part and I had to space it with bits I had on hand). Installed the Spax 3-phase alternator and wasted another 20 minutes reworking the outer diameter of the rotor nut to better fit the new rotor (it was just a bit to snug to catch the threads properly). I also plugged up the shifter cross shaft opening with the stub end of a shifter rubber RTV'ed in place.
I need to pop the clutch cover back off and add a stuffer plate, the lever pull is too stiff for my taste, but the clutch is working.
I cut a relatively thin section of sheet metal to mock up the electrical panel, and mounted all the components (except horn relay, it'll go on the lower left side)-
Final version will be sturdier material, I didn't have anything heavier to work with right on hand at the moment.
Last item was the rearset pegs; it turns out I was able to use the Kawasaki rear brake pedal mounting base, cut, shaved and re-drilled to accommodate the orientation for Left-foot disc brake master cylinder-
Just need to chop off the excess bit of bracket after I bolt up some sort of triangulating stiffener, then overhaul & connec the rear caliper (the Nissin won't work).