A rather wordy update, the bike was last raced at the Pukekohe 2 day classic meeting in early February and is going to Hampton downs next Sunday for a one day meeting. The outfit has now done 6 hours.
At the meeting it showed flashes of brilliance but didn’t really feature due to fuelling problems and initial under gearing.
Next Sunday will be its last outing until the have a go day sometime later in autumn.
The bike went well but appeared to be having fuel starvation problems on the back straight. We tried up jetting but this made the problem occur earlier down the straight. We think the return from the fuel manifold may be syphoning or that the fuel pump could be too small.
We were given a tip from a local sidecar builder who runs a ball valve in the return line to the fuel tank. On the start line he closes the valve for the race but opens it at other times. We will try this first this weekend.
The clutch worked well the extra 250ml of oil did no harm and oil did not froth out the gearbox breather. The gear box is holding up for now so that’s good.
After pulling the clutch and top end off for checking we found a few problems. The modified pressure plate on the clutch had worn the outer friction plate badly. This was replaced.
As expected the home cut reed valves were worn out, we will now replace these every 5 hours. We are trying some carbon fibre reeds (also home cut) this time.
The biggest worry is the liners have moved in the barrels despite my best efforts at pinning them. They were easily corrected by putting heat in the cylinder and pressing them back. We are now trying to think of a viable fix for this problem.
The new passenger is a star. She has asked if we could add/extend a handle on the platform for her though. One has been bolted on to try. If she gives it the OK then it can be welded in place.
We left the track before prize giving and travelling home we got a message saying we had won a trophy for mechanical excellence. A local sidecar rider brought it home for us and took it to his shop.
We didn’t even know such a trophy existed but felt very gratified that our work was recognised by the judges.
Today I went to town and picked up the trophy, when at home after reading the names of the previous winners I was stunned. Some of the more notable names are Vince Sharpe, George Barber, Dave Cole, Kevin Swantz, Ken McIntosh and John Surtees.
After that I got a lump in my throat, it is such a huge honour to have our names on this trophy.