You work for a car manufacturer, right? So is that in R&D or something where you get the foam and skills to do it? Did you buy some kit to bend the tubing, coz that looks a good effort given there seem no kinks
I work for one of JLR's larger suppliers on New Vehicle Programs but in Project Management and Design Feas - so not 'hands on' at work. Tubing bent with a normal (but heavy duty) Record Pipe Bender - found a method that didn't kink, just minimal distortion which isn't really visible to the eye.
It was, hence the project stalling - bike room now finished so I now have room to swing a tube :Happy:
Performance Bikes are coming tomorrow for the photo shoot, was hoping to get a bit more done to this so I have just fitted the seat unit Do you think they will notice it's not finished :Wideyed: Sorry for the blurry picture - it was wobbling on the polystyrene and wood :Happy:
Loving this. There is a Japanese reference book on the kwak air cooled endurance racers , get it from Home Page | HobbyLink Japan
Got it thanks, it's the only decent reference material available that I know of - I'm using the excellent side views to scale up as well as the kit and cross referencing the two calculations. Some good detail shots in the book too!
This is as close as I can reasonably get to the air shock used back in the day - close enough I think. See picture of original in the background. Arrived today, it's strange, yet yummy all at the same time. Won't need it for ages though :Wideyed:
Awesome, what wheels are you fitting? mix and match ala the ones in the book? or original dymags? Not sure if you are aware that greg hansford and eddie Lawson rode one in 1980 and had different forks, with classic ap Lockheed brakes etc
They tended to mix wheels a lot, I've seen pictures of one Campag and one Dymag fitted. I think the Tamiya Kit looks best so I've gone for period Dymags - sizes are in the book, took a while to find the rear as it wasn't a common width. They are sat on the shelf. The modern running gear version I'm planning on building alongside I will go for 5 spoke gold wheels though. The 1980 one doesn't look as nice and used the first gen Z1 engine too. I think Lawson rode one of the 8 rounds in 1980?
Cool, cant beat the look of dymags, although I am partial to Campag 5 spokes. Yep did the 8 hours, came 3rd or 4th. Looking forward to this build. Good luck
Just bought this on Ebay, was going to make one from scratch but this ones main spars are pretty much cock on for what I need. These old period parts go for silly money, had to pay £225 to win it! It will save some work though! Having paid a lot for what appears to be a sort after item, I now need to chop it up and alter all the bracing and lugs so it looks like this:
The reciprocating saw I bought the other day has paid for itself already - fab tool. Wasn't looking forward to removing all the bracketing around the head stock and have removed it in an hour :Happy: Already have a power file which is fab tool to tidy up afterwards. Still lots to remove though elsewhere but now with less trepidation! Bought an Erbauer saw as the Makita one was £50 more and not in stock at my local ScewFix - pleased so far that I saved the £50. Weak point is the blades - the Erbauer one that came with it was crap - the Bosch ones I bought are better, but will probably try Makita ones next unless anyone has any other suggestions?
The right tool always makes a job easy! I borrowed MADASL ' s slide hammer yesterday and had a bearing shell out in 5 minutes
love the thread mate,, you are a brave boy !!,, could / ( would ) you not have picked up a period Harris frame for that job, they were all the rage back then .. I know I am long way from you but TIG is my game, and free to forum members / nice people
Some one just replicated one with a Moto Martin frame, it's very nice, but all wrong in shape. The bike I'm building had a Kawasaki frame manufactured solely for Endurance Racing. Back then Endurance bikes could be one off factory specials like in Moto GP rules and not based on road bikes (usually about 4 off I guess with 2 bikes racing with spares). There is no frame / tank shape like it - so I have only one option - to reverse Engineer it from the Tamiya Kit and Photographs and make my own. I wanted a Project that didn't just involve altering something extensively as my Z1 was - just wanted to make something from scratch for the hell of it, and the challenge, but mainly for the end result! I need Tig soon, pity you don't live in beautiful North Yorkshire - it's a very generous in your offer where are you based?
