about a week ago I did some casting for a friend look at the nice bunch of parts laying there copy's of Honda CR750 brakepedal, shiftlever and small change arms for the right-foot-shifter conversion.
Still finding it funny to have all these rare parts, usually made from "unobtainium" but these I just made myself.
anyone who has RSC style footpegs that I could copy?
Did some more machining to finish this little sub-project. Turned some stainless pegs for the spring to hook behind
Drilled some holes and started polishing, one at a time, not too bright, it should match the shine of the levers. I like my aluminium to still look like polished aluminium instead of chrome.
Finished product, including specials springs, bolts, castle nuts and splitpins.
mounted to the RSC90, even though I'm planning to make different ones for this bike later on, but for now it's an upgrade. Special chrome adjuster nuts were already on the cables.
And now there done and I should get back to building the C110 racer, so I can ride it this season.
But when I do another day of casting I might just make another set of these to be machined for another bike, or anyone who is interested.
This casting "thing" is getting funny. Copied me a set of the CL72 perches that I now have on my RSC90, but then with solid mirror mounts, so they can be removed without leaving a trace.
making the space for the lever
just enough, it fits
we're getting there, mirror mounts removed and contour shaped to look like the originals that were a bit less rounded. Then drilled the holes for the handlebar.
but still some machining to do before they will be ready for fitting. cutting the opening in the clamp, making the hole for the adjuster, threading it and making a slot for the cable. Making the pegs that the spring hooks behind, probably from stainless, and fitting them. Making the holes for the leverbolts, 7mm on top and 6mm bottom without threads for the special bolts. A lot of work for a couple of perches, but they will be different from all the other ones in the paddock.
Today I had another casting session, and this is the result:
Some of these are for me, some are for sale.
takes a lot of time to replicate existing parts, where it should be made with a two-part mold...officially. Probably triples the amount of work, but still it is nice to look at a bunch of rare new parts that a year ago, I thought I'd never be able to find. And now i'm making them myself.
A little while ago, I changed the rear tire on my SS50 motorcycle and took some pictures.
It now has a 120cc motor, that promisses to be very powerfull, only I haven't really got it up and running yet because of bad weather and ignition problems that should be fixed now. Have been tinkering with the jetting on the CB750 carb, but today I found something in my local Honda moped shop that will change all that again:
Found this in a box of 2stroke carbs, an original cable operated 28mm carb, So as far as I know, this should be a rare CB750K0. Not 100% complete, but I have a lot of newer ones that I can steel some parts from. The other three weren't there sadly. But I just have to put this on my bike now, as I'm crazy about original rare Honda stuff.
Today, I tried casting some more parts in aluminium, a bit more difficult shapes this time.
Method as explained by myfordboy first you fill the "top" and mould the models in.
Then you make the bottom, and scrap the top, as it will not have been formed fully under the models you poked into the sand. Risers in place.
New top made, ready for metal.
One CR110 shift lever and a not fully formed RS125 footpeg.
As the oven was warm and I had some more molten metal, I hurried to make another mold and cast another RS125 footpeg, this one is fully formed and can be used even though the underside isn't that pretty because I made a small mistake.
Time to start experimenting with some new sand I bought and to make more casings for making molds, so next time I will be able to cast more at a time.
I've collected too much stuff for a lot of projects, also some stuff gets replaced, so I have to clean up a little bit. There is an ad on the dutch 4stroke moped board, but why not but it on the blog too. Pictures can be found here of everything that is for sale, parts for many different types like C110, CB50, SS50, SL90.... Help me get rid of some of my old stuff so I can build more cool stuff and put it on the blog. See something you like, give me an e-mail, adress can be found on the right, just under the list of parts I'm still looking for, maybe we can trade.
My newest project, aluminium casting. Because all the cool parts I want on my bikes were made from sandcast alloy back in the days, and now are not, or seldom for sale anymore. Today was the first attempt to create a casting and it turned out pretty well, if I do say so myself. Still have some work to do in the form making department, but this first result makes me want to do more.
Form ready for casting, what do you think it will be:
Just poored:
just pulled the object from the sand:
And machined to fit a (somewhat modified) SS50 ignition cover:
It is a bit higher then standard, but that is to be able to mount a 12v crankshaft. And because I made a simple form for a first casting attempt. Now to refine the process and make a few more covers before I start doing something else, like rearsets, cilinderhead covers and brakeplates.
I compared my new CR31 to the CR29 I was running on my S90. They both seem to be made in the same casting, so lucky for me, I won't have to go looking for another intake rubber that will fit, I can use the type I have and just order some extra. Here are some pics of the carbs side by side: (the 29 is the "dirty" one)
funny how they both have the tickler on the same side, but the cables on opposite sides, probably for some specific purpose.
just arrived from Germany today: a couple of brand new Keihin CR31's
I already had the resin velocity stack, but I put it in the picture anyway, because I took it out to see if it would fit these carbs. Also very odd is the velocity stack with flange to fit an air filter, never seen one of those before. Tomorrow I will compare to my CR29.
Decided on using the replica CR110 brake and shift lever, but the pegs that go with it, are just too wide and would cost me too much ground clearance. Therefor I was looking for some footpegs with a classic look, not the CNC knurled modern stuff. For now I've decided on a set of cast alloy pillion pegs from any modern Honda, but turned on the lathe to remove the hinge part. I know the method too turn them looks bit odd, but it actually worked pretty well.
Okay, they aren't RSC replicas, but it looks a lot more classic then all the CNC milled stuff out there
The RSC90 will receive a CR110 brake pedal, originally the cable attaches to it by means of a pin that goes thru the pedal and the end of the brake cable which is a flat piece of steel with a hole in it, as can be seen in the picture of this original CR110: This is not a standard available cable part, nor is there a similar cable which could be used as a donor. Therefore today I went to play on the lathe and created a few: Still needs some finishing and I want to experiment in making them thinner, but then they will also go to the zinc plater. When they come back, I can finish the new rear brake cable.
How do you mount a big vintage carburetor to an SS50?
Step one; buy a big monkey manifold. Step two; cut it up, weld it back together and turn it on the lathe to fit an original Honda carb boot.
Step three; mount it and add CB750 carb modified to take a normal throttle cable.
Oh, step four; tidy it up, but I still have to do that to the whole 120cc motor. Everything will be glassbeadblasted to match.
And now just keeping my fingers crossed that I can get this carb to work. My dad has used them before on 125cc motors, so luckily I can peek at those for the jetting.
My tank is being painted, thanx dad. We had a big can of red, so that's what color the tank is going to be. Decided to remove the old emblem mountings as they were pretty mangled, probably will look better with a classic set of honda wing stickers and some silver stripes running along the length, just like the old RC tanks.
I'm liking the way this looks, might just put it back on my SS50Z moped, to make it look more like the way it used to, long ago:
Same tank by the way, one or two crashes earlier...
Done a little bit of work for my S90 in between all the other projects. The plan is to build another engine, bored and stroked to 122cc by using ATC110 parts, cylinder, crankshaft and head. Only the ATC110 head has separate valve seats which are pretty thin, which means there is not enough material in them to install a bigger inlet valve. A while ago I recieved a head from someone, probably C90, that had a full cast in combustion chamber, much easier to put a larger valve in there, but this head didn't fit the ATC110 cilinder. I had to machine the space for the top of the cilinder, and also the studbolt hole where the oil comes up, as the ATC110 has a large rubber collar there and the C90 head didn't have a space for it.
ATC head on the left, C90 on the right.
the valve I plan on using compared to the original S90 inlet valve
when made to fit the head, this motor will breathe a little easier.
My dad has been working on one of his Beemers, that will need its tank coated...this got me thinking about an old SS50zk1 tank I had laying around. When coated it would be usable again, if something could be done about the mangled filler opening. And so this project began:
the original opening has been cut out and replaced with an original Honda flip-up cap that was cut out of a CB-motorcycle gas tank. I never really liked the looks of an SS50z tank, but this really makes it a lot better. I might even use this tank for my race project, otherwise it will be a spare, or for sale.
Been busy at work and with a lot of different stuff. My car needed some work, but now I've got brakes again, quite a nice "luxury"
Also took an old CB72 front wheel out of the corner, that before I bought it, had been laying in a field for 40 years. Skimmed the drum surface just a bit, to hear if any rust had come between the lining and the castwork, but it still sounded good. Japanese hubs don't have the problems that european sh!t have, but the rustpits in the brakesurface are so deep that a lot of material will need to be taken out, so only for use in a 50cc or 125cc bike. In a CB72 we overcook these hubs anyway. Narrowed the hub to get rid of some broken edges, but it still needs finishing.
Will probably lace it to an 18" wm00 rim for use in ....... or sell it if somebody is interested.
On the left in the picture a CB750k1-6 carb, 28mm, now prepared for a 1cylinder bike, so I might use it on a 125cc SS50 engine I'd like to build. Also completed a 26mm Cb77 carb for use on an SS50, just out of view as it is now on the 70cc engine in the background that I might convert to 85cc. Just some other stuff I've been working on.
I made 2 different faces for my homemade rev counter, they are based on what I made for my 50 a few years ago. A standard Honda tacho with a homemade CR110 replica face. I cleaned off all but the scale and made something modelled after some RSC tacho's I've seen on the internet: This looked a little plain to me, so I also made something with the actual RSC logo: These are just normal printouts for now, to get an idea of what it would look like, but now I'm not sure what to make. RSC in logo or text....what do you think?
The plan: build a mechanical tacho and tach-drive onto an SS50 engine. terms: do not use kitaco or takegawa bolt on stuff.
I started with a tach drive from a CB175, turned something on the lathe and took the teeth off of an old camshaft sprocket, this should be soldered together with silver and mounted to the camshaft. should look like this when mounted: The housing was cut down to remove unnecessary material and to create a hole for the bolt to go through that will hold everything onto the cylinderhead. A brass plug will be put in there with threads to accept the bolt. One problem, on a CB175 this is on the right side of the camshaft, on the SS50 it will be on the left, so the tachocable will be turning the wrong way.
On the back of the Yamaha 600 guage unit (that I took the tach from for the RSC90) was an angle drive that I could use to reverse the rotation...
Some PVC tubing, a CB50 tach and one Yamaha drive later: Testrun if it all works...NO?... I looked at the angle drive the wrong way, so it doesn't actually reverse the rotation. I will have to make something else to fit onto the modified CB175 drive and use this tacho on another bike when it is finished. Will be painted black, alloy ring to be turned on the lathe and a piece of plexiglass to close it all up, after I've made a new face for it, probably upto 14000 RPM or a bit higher.
