April 30, 2009

Today’s test was a washout! It’s raining cats and dogs here. I heard on the news it’s been one of the wettest months ever. It rains a lot out here in Indiana in the spring. So today was a good day to work in the “man cave”

I got the Dzus fasteners on the fairing today. They look good and work like a charm. I got these on a site called  kurveygirl.com  She has very good prices on these fasteners. My last fairing bracket came in and I put it on tonight, so the fairing is secured real good. I shouldn’t have any problems getting thru tech inspection (I hope) The last thing I’m waiting on is the mean eyes. LOL I’m going to put them on the rear tail section. Ye all must fear the “mean eyes” LOL . So that’s about it. When I receive the eyes I’ll take one more picture of the “project”. After I wrap this up, I’ll be changing gears to my racing exploits. Here are a few pics of the Dzus fasteners installed. I’ll be back!

April 29,2009

Let me start off by saying  “I’M DONE”!  With the tuning anyway. I think the little beast is ready for the track now. I have to do some high speed testing tomorrow, but if all goes well Putnam Park here I come! I have one lower fairing bracket coming in, and of course the mean eyes. I’m really pleased. and I don’t get pleased like this very often!

I want to give a shout out to my brother in England, Dave B. Happy birthday Wild Mono Man Dave! I hope you get this in time. I think there’s a 5 hour difference. I hope Claire give’s you the “works” LOL  Thanks for all you’re support Dave and encouragement. It means a lot. It’s really weird how much we both have in common. Someday I’ll get across the pond and see you. Maybe get to ride that rocking bike of yours. Tell you’re boy Ash he better keep her in one piece. LOL  Have a great B-Day.

I’ll do another update tomorrow after the high speed testing, Gosh I wish I had a dyno……………………. Until such time…   

April 28,2009

I think I may have the little beast sorted out. The fuel pump I bought off E-Bay seems to be defective. The pump runs all the time instead of 30 seconds like it’s supposed too. I put the old pump back on, and the engine runs much better. I still have some fine tuning to do on the carbs.

The guy at Factory Pro   http://www.factorypro.com/ told me what to do next. It’s the air fuel mixture screws now. Mid-range and top end feel good. The set up seems to work, but I’m not claiming victory yet. I’m getting close, and I feel pretty good about the way the bike is now running. I got my “Powered by: Pugsley & Little Pugsley” on the body work. Davey B Racing was just a tad to big. Oh well, maybe on next years TZ fairing. Holly and Dedra have been a big support to me. Dee’s been helping me with all the jetting changes :) the kid’s got talent! LOL. Just one more decal for the back. The “mean eyes” LOL!  I’m about ready to wrap this project up. One lower fairing bracket, the mean eyes decal and the last minute carb tuning, and I’m DONE! I may run a few day’s into May, but all in all I’m pretty much on schedule for the end of April. When I’m done with the project, I’ll be switching gears to the track.  It’s been fun, well most of the time anyway, :) Now I can watch my friend Dave over in England’s, Mono build.  Yahoo….

As always a couple of pictures, until such time……..

April 26,2009

Well I almost gave up but………………….something wouldn’t let me. I went back out after I got back from an early morning ride. Sorry about you’re bike Jim, but there’s always  next time. I came back home after about a 70 mile short ride and went back at it again. I looked at the jetting set up sheet from the previous owner, and I saw that he was running the needles at the 2nd from the top position on the needle. I pulled the carbs off and tried that. It worked. Now the engine isn’t being over loaded with gas. I took it up the street real quick, and it ran like a banshee. You talk about loud. Man when that thing spooled up,  it sounded like an F-1 car. These 400 engines scream………… I think I may have it finally solved. I’m going to put the bike on the trailer and bring it over to Holly’s Moms house to do some high speed runs. Out there in the country, no one will call the cops on me. LOL I don’t want to push my luck with my neighbors. LOL

My namesake in England had some bad news. When his engine guy went to install his engine main bearings, he found a crack in the case. Dave has got to get another case and have it machined out. Bummer, hang in there Dave, you’ll get it. Dave ‘s  got a real sweet machine. I wish I could take it for a ride when he’s done. Maybe someday we’ll finally meet, and he’ll let me give it a go! LOL. I’ll be routing for you Dave!

I took a picture of both 400’s today, twins. I think I’m going to take the “white whistler” out for a ride this afternoon. I’m getting my new leathers broken in. Their starting to feel better.  I still have a few more things coming this week ,but now the bike seems (seems) to be running right, I should be ready for the track and RR school in a few weeks. I’m really hoping the CCS gives me the number 154 so Dave and I can still joke abut it.  Until such time…….

 

April 25,2009

I’m real bummed. I got the larger jets today and installed them, but the bike runs far worse than before. I’m going to give  up on the pods for now because from what I hear it is extremely hard to tune the carbs when you’re running pod filters. That’s at least what the guy’s on the 400 club say, and a lot of these guy’s race 400’s so I’ll take their word on this one. It’s more hassle that it’s worth at this point in time. I may try and get a hold of Brian Cook to see if maybe he can help me down the line. So with that said I’m giving up on a few extra ponies and settling for some usable power. Tomorrow I’m going to go back to the 87.5 and put the stock air box on and see what happens. The guy’s in the club say you have to run the air box if you want it to run right. I’m going to give it a go. My 1988 400 runs perfect with the stock set up. I can’t ride the bike the way it’s running. I’d rather have it run like my other bike. I can race that.

I got all three bikes out today for a photo shoot. It was a nice day but I spent a lot of it screwing around with the jetting. I don’t give up easy, but this one has me stumped. Maybe I should have got another RZ, LOL their a lot easier to tune. LOL. I’ll be back tomorrow I hope with better news.

 

April 23,2009

I’m 95% done, with a week left in the month. I temporally put all the body work on until I get all the pieces that were missing delivered. I’ve got parts coming from all over the place. Just small odds and end stuff. I’m pretty much done with all the hard stuff. All I have to do mechanically is get the jetting set correctly. This has been very elusive for me.  I think the guy at Factory Pro got me on the right track. I went very much fatter on the mains. I’m hoping that this will be the end of the tuning nightmares. Dave B. also turned me on to a good card tuning site that reaffirms my theory about being too small on the main jets.

  I got some of the product stickers on and I’m picking up my Davey B. Racing stickers for the main fairing tomorrow. So it’s not quite done yet……………….but I can finally see light at the end of the tunnel. I hope my namesake in England has an easier time getting everything to fit. Good Luck Dave!  I’m cheering you on brother! Here are some pictures of the fairing on. Next year I plan on using a TZ fairing. Dave has got a nice set up on his machine, so I’m going to copy him. LOL. I’ll be back this weekend with another update and more “project” news. Until such time :)

April 22,2009

I got the rest of the bodywork back today. I rushed home and started to put it on and right away. I ran into problems right off the get go. Brackets missing, broken. bent. It’s quite a mess. It will take me several hours to get this mess figured out. I did get the right side mounted but it’s not quite up to my standards. I want to get it mounted and looking tidy. I hate it when things don’t fit together right. Oh well, I’ll be doing more custom work. I hope I have this done by the weekend. The new jets are coming from California Factory Pro and I hope to have them tomorrow or Saturday. Here’s a picture of where I’m at so far. Until such time..