The Kenny Dreer VR880 undressed

I have been planning on doing some kind of blog on this bike for Jerry.
As you'll see, it's somewhat apart now so I don't have any clean pix of the whole bike.
It may be awhile till I get it back to photo stage, so here is what it looks like under the skins.
Just so everyone knows these photos are posted with Kenny's permission.

Enjoy






First off, there is no headsteady. Yes, the head is polished



but, there is a lower ISO.



It has extra beefy left side case



Frame tube with fill cap and return line on bottom



Box channel added, blue fitting is drain, supply line is on bottom



Drain fitting and supply line



Right side, shows breather line



Fill tube, looking down



Fill tube again



Custom formed breather box, 1/2 the thickness of oil tank, oil cooler is behind it.



Breather box again, notice oil cooler behind it.



Breather lines, stock is blocked, large line runs to head, small line to oil fill



Breather line enters head



Then exits and goes to breather box


Cross over gusset is removed for air cleaner clearance, side gussets are added in place



Side gussets again


That's it for now.

Hi Michael,

Your sense of humour is fine with me. My wife, Cate, has the most acerbic sense of humour you will ever hear.

The pics are great, and a great help. All is as we thought it would be. Do you know if there are any inherant problems with the system? Is the boxing at the back for added capacity or simply for convenience. Without going out to the shed to look at the frame as I'm still in my wife's pink bath robe at this time of the morning I'm wondering if, as an alternative to the boxing, I extend the main top tube for added capacity.

All the stuff that goes there will be moving anyway as I will be modding this area for the single shock/singlesided swinging arm conversion. Was thinking of extending that main tube substantially anyway to act as a stand alone subframe (ala some scooters I've seen recently).

You mention an oil cooler. Is this because you do only short trips, because you live in a hot climate (hotter than Australia? A couple of times last summer it exceeded 40 celcius her and I'm in the southern part of Australia) or because this system doesn't allow enough cooling of the oil simply because the oil reservior is shrouded/over the engine etc.

Andy

I thought that the hose from the bottom of the head was to drain oil from the valve spring area and was not a breather par say. I have had a bad time using the exhaust rocker as a vent location. Letting air thru the push rod tunnel disturbs the oil from flowing down. The venting of the timing chest with a one-way Krankvent seems more than enough. Than just let it return tot the tank.
Two and one half U.S. quarts is just enough an oil cooler would at least increase this a little? What is the operating level of the oil in the frame? Is a baffle added near the new cut-out for the filler cap so as to protect against splash upon braking? Anyone know who may have proceeded Kenny in this effort? Maybe they could shed a little light? Seems like a cylinder has much less surface area per volume held than an oil tank so less cooling? Is the box the top of the tank as far as oil level? That could explain a lot. Thanks for the pics they are useful Seems like the line drawing of the Triumph oil in frame system out of the manual might also be of some use as it shows the route of the oil thru the system. Still not a real good idea of how the pictured system flows.

Thank you for your efforts Michael! please, MORE... )

Interesting photos Mike. Thanks for sharing. I had no idea the Dreer bikes were so extensively modified. Is it true he's going back into production? I heard a rumor he was restarting the Vintage Rebuilds business.

But is that rust I see on the cylinder block? :shock:
tsk tsk. Looks just like Chugley's barrel! Methinks a little more paint is needed there :wink:

Debby

I'll try to answer these in order.

Andy P.
I don't know the reason for the box section but my quess is added capacity and a slosh box or baffle area to keep oil at the supply during braking and cornering.

I believe the cooler is added for extra capacity and cooling since the tube has such a small surface area for cooling.

Norbsa
2 1/2 qts total
Level, just below the neck line
No baffle at fill area
Don't know who preceeded him.
Don't understand the Q about the box on top of tank.

Debby
Yes, heavily modified and true work of art.
Not sure about the current status of Vintage Rebuilds or Norton. See Kenny's note below.
Rust??? The camera picks up things you can't normally see. The rust is on the bottom side, I've never seen it till I took these pix. The bike came from Mass. Judging by the condition of the alloys when I got it, it was close to the ocean. Also the frame looks alot better than the pix show.

I have exchanged several E-mails with Kenny. He has always been responsive and forthright.
Here is one response.

I'm OK, and I'm OK with you posting my comments. I don't feel it necessary
that I hide from the public. I made myself accessible during the Vintage
Rebuilds days, and did some good things. The Norton Motorsports story is
still unfolding, and even thou I have resigned from the company I started, I
still remain as a board member, and have a responsibility to them. I would
be more than happy if I could contribute or answer any questions readers may
have.



Best regards,



Kenny



That being said, here is his E-mail. kenny.dreer@nortonmotorcycles.com

Wow just 2 1/2 U.S. quarts including a cooler and a filter and the box? The old tanks are looking better all the time. Seems like a shame to waste all the capacity in the large backbone tube. Must be some really stifling pluming problems stopping its use. Although Triumph’s did the same thing but have a larger down tube. It's got to be hard to clean the thing out for this use with weld Beebe’s, crud and rust pressure testing. Why are we doing this again? Oh yea I just bought a 250 oil in frame for an old 441 rig. There's just got to be a reason to go this way. It's got to have love in there somewhere of this, I know.

another OIF solution from france

hi,

very interesting. obviously if oif is used, it gives the possibility of the 'open' look behind the carbs. this has been done on a french site that can be read with googles translate tool. the url is http://translate.google.com/transla...&prev=/search?q=moto+anglaises&hl=en&lr=&sa=G

graham[/url]

i owned a vr880 the only one in europe, after many problems to many to list here it ended up in the national motorcycle musem in birmingham uk : i have since bought a 850 e start from matt at colorado and i am very happy with it. finish and quality
are streets ahead of the dreer machine and i would recommend him to anybody his after sales service is good even to me in the u.k.

Richard Barks

Michael, one hot topic in Norton circles is headsteadies.. But the way it appears in the pictures, with that ground wire in place, not to be one... Did Kenny 86 the headsteady??

and thanks again for sharing!

Captain said:

Michael, one hot topic in Norton circles is headsteadies.. But the way it appears in the pictures, with that ground wire in place, not to be one... Did Kenny 86 the headsteady??

and thanks again for sharing!

Click to expand...

Yes he did. But he developed a lower ISO. Notice the second pix. He installed a lower Iso in the cradle at the lower part of the frame. He originally did this with a headsteady and dubbed it Quadralastic or something. He later dropped the headsteady all together.

Hi Graham

You posted this comment and link

"hi,

very interesting. obviously if oif is used, it gives the possibility of the 'open' look behind the carbs. this has been done on a french site that can be read with googles translate tool. the url is http://translate.google.com/translate?h ... D%26sa%3DG

graham[/url]"

but when I followed the link I could not find the OIF bike you appear to be referring to. Maybe you'll have to be a bit more specific as to it's exact location link.

Andy

hi,
the website is broken link removed
i used google language tools to translate to english.

rgds graham

michael,

i dont know if youll need kennys "permission" on this, but do you know what kind of forks and wheel/hub he uses for his dual disc front end?

or does anyone know?

thanx
mike

No secrets on this. It is a stock Roadholder, non disc, front end with Honda (I think) F4 cartridge internals.
The calipers are GMA with a long mounting plate running from the Fender bolts.
Michael from Vintage Brake told me this system was developed by Kosman Engineering for Kenny.
If you are looking for more brake, Vintage Brake knows thier stuff.

www.vintagebrake.com

Do you still have the Dreer VR880?

No. I sold it.

Norbsa - the oil flows from the bottom of the box into the supply side of the pump, through the engine, out the scavenge through the filter per usual, then up to the top of the frame next to the filler. I would guess the cooler is in the return line.

Last I talked to Kenny, he sold the last of his old bike stuff to Tom Reid who has been doing some continuing VR880 stuff and is building a client bike frm the last set of Green bodywork that I offered here a while back. Unless he JUST had a change of mind in the last week, he's not getting back into Vintage Rebuilds.

...but I could be wrong!

Re:

AndyP said:

but when I followed the link I could not find the OIF bike you appear to be referring to. Maybe you'll have to be a bit more specific as to it's exact location link.

Andy

Click to expand...

A picture is worth 1000 words, the pictures on http://www.motos-anglaises.com/norton/8 ... ando1a.htm tell the story pretty well. There is a lot of text but also lots of pictures and for the language challenged, "suite" = NEXT PAGE

Jean

Oh, I forgot, thanks Michael, very interesting pictures. Post more if you have them.

Jean