Test Engine Assembly and Mockup

I had a little time this afternoon (after a nice birthday lunch) to assemble the "test engine." This engine uses the 3-speed auto clutch from a C100, but with a higher compression C110 piston and the bigger port aluminum C110 cylinder head. The cylinder barrel and rocker box assembly are shared between the C100 and C110.


Right side of C100 Test Engine



Left side of C100 Test Engine



And of course I couldn't wait to get it mocked-up in the frame, to check the fit of the exhaust and intake manifold/carb setup. As it turns out, the "right" side engine case is slightly different between the C110 and C100. The C100 has an extra buldge on the clutch side because of the automatic clutch mechanism. This buldge hits the exhaust pipe I built. Just enough so that the exhaust won't bolt on the swingarm bracket. I have a couple options, the easiest being to extend the exhaust bracket, but I'm fearful that might make it look funny if it starts to "run down hill" as it exits the back of the bike. I'll need to spend some more time fiddling with it. Hhhmm.


Test engine installed, intake and exhaust mocked up on bike for fitment



Little Salty is really starting to look like a bike now



Another productive and fun day in the garage.

C'

Silver Side Covers

After a bit of photoshop work, I decided I liked having the side covers painted silver. So...I painted them silver yesterday. Exciting I know!

Silver side covers. The end.


After some work porting formula Vee cylinder heads, I'll get back on Salty. I should have one of my cylinder barrels back from the machinist, and will assemble the "test" engine.

C'

Front Fender Fun

All it takes is a little paint, and suddenly little Salty starts to look like a motorcycle. I prepped and painted the front fender over the weekend, and got it mounted up late last night. I just couldn't wait to see what it looked like.

It took a bit of fiddling to get the fender to fit just right, as it isn't the original C110 front fender. I'm not actually sure what it came off of, as it was just sitting in my spare parts bin. It looks the part and will keep salt spray off the engine when bombing along at 50mph.


Freshly painted front fender mounted on bike:



Close up of the front fender, still needing a good rubbing out and polishing:



Lastly, I test fit the side covers. The "left" side covers up the battery, while the "right" side covers up the air filter. I'm not yet decided on the final cover. I shot them black primer just to see how black would look, but I don't like it. Perhaps silver will work for them. hhmm.........


C'

New (and cleaned up) Engine Parts

I spent some time today cleaning up engine parts, mostly top end cylinder head parts like rocker arms, valves, springs, pushrods etc. I also took the opportunity to lighten a couple sets of just about every component. My goal is to have two complete running engines, and enough spare parts to rebuild each engine if needed.

I'm building up the original C110 4-speed along with a C100 3-speed. The C110 will have all the hot rod light weight parts, while the C100 will get mostly stock parts, and end up being the test mule over the winter and spring.

Two sets of lightened rocker arms:



A few sets of valves. The back set is stock, the front three sets have been backcut and lightened around the tulip:



One of two sets of brand new 40mm C10 Piston Kits I found, complete with pin, rings, and pin clips:



10-Pack of "O-Rings" kits. Seal the cylinder head to cylinder barrel, around the pushrod openings:


After I assemble a rocker box and cylinder head, I'll assemble the C100 engine and get it mounted in the frame.

C'

Garage Organization

This falls under the "not really Salty related" but at least I'm better organized category.



My Pops gave me the red chest of drawers on the left, the bottom section. So I moved my bottom chest to underneath the work bench to house those small odds and ends that always get lost. I also added a bunch of small shelves underneath the center bench to store typical power tools like drills, grinders, and torque wrenches. I had a bunch of wasted space before this. Not really all that pretty, but at least I can find most of my tools now!

C'

Building an Intake Manifold

After getting the Monster Carb in the mail on Friday, I set about building an intake manifold for it. I had sketched up various ideas, and settled on a system design I was hoping I could build at home, without needing to outsource all the fun work.

The concept uses two large washers, one for the flange that connects to the cylinder head, and one for the flange connecting to the carb, connected with a section of curved pipe massaged to fit the proper openings of the head and carb. With washers and pipe in hand (and a cold beer for refreshment,) I got busy.

Washer on left fits cylinder head, washer on right fits to carb. Note that carb mounting holes are slightly off centered "up and down" in relation to the center hole:



Center pipe section is cut from a conduit sweep. I cut four little "pie sections" out of the cylinder head end so the pipe could be made slightly smaller in diameter to fit smaller intake port opening:



Small end of pipe was formed, welded, and ground smooth:



Freshly welded intake, ready for high heat resistant paint, followed by a good wrapping of exhaust header wrap for better thermal properties:



Carb mounted on intake. Intake bolts are threaded into the flange, which was tapped before painting:


Overall, this was a fun project to work on, and is sized to work with several typical small Mikuni carbs, which all have slightly different flange bolt patterns. I also made a second set of flanges, and have enough of the conduit sweep remaining to build a second complete manifold.

C'

Sneak Peak!

Just a quick sneak peak of the bike as it is getting assembled into chassis form. The paint is a little dull and dusty, since it hasn't been rubbed out yet.

Monster Carb

A small package arrived on the front porch this afternoon, while we were off picking up key project items (book shelf, salad bowls, and new shoe baskets) from Ikea. It contained a brand spankin' new Mikuni VM24. That's right, 24mm, or about the size of my big toe.

Compared with the 16mm carb that came on the C110, and the 13mm carb that comes on the C100, this VM24 is indeed a monster.

VM24 uses a 48mm bolt spacing "hot side" flange


A simple hose connection will be used on the inlet side


I've already mocked-up an intake manifold to get the positioning of the carb correct, in relation to the engine and intake connection on the frame. The net step is to actually fabricate the flanges for both ends, and create the center pipe, which will be both tapered and bent in a 70-degree smooth arc.

C'