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Chapter Two 25.03.2003 “CALL THE POLICE…. I’VE BEEN FRAMED”
Following on from the first segment of my tales of daring do’s, I am
beginning to get into this “ note it all down “ lark although I am somewhat
unsure as to IS ANYBODY OUT THERE ?. Therefore your comments would be
greatly received …..but , don’t forget that I am not doing this as a
business, but more as a hobby than any thing else. So keep your really acidic
comments to yourselves , or the CAT In fact , if we do not receive any comments we might just have to rename the project 666 Fant rather than Fant 888, as I believe that this might appeal to a wider, more liberal, even more inquisitive type of audience…………………. We left off at the section where I was thanking my mate “Bones” for all the welding of the frame. This took the form of arc and gas welding : the main frame tubes being 2.2 and 3.0 mm thick mild steel allowed for arc to be used, whereas, the sub frame and holding electrical brackets were all gas welded. From the photographs below you can see the actual modification needed to the frame. These photographs also show the cardboard cut out , as per a true Blue Peter fan , shaped cylinder head as per the 888 engine
Thankfully we ran out of
washing up bottles!!. The next set of photos show Bones in
a good light , namely an arc light , as he suffers from the “Good from afar
syndrome!” It is just unfortunate that up close he is “Far from good !” Items
In this photo The Italsport 916 special, as shown
on this sites homepage, is the bike that I have been referring to in a somewhat
envious way, in chapter 1. And as
you can see there are significant differences between both our projects. Namely
the use of the original engine mounting holes and the bottom frame loop, and
that is without mentioning the very trick forks and wheels etc. On the Italsport
916, the engine seems to be tipped forward and down and this means different
/extended engine mounts, it also does not utilise the aluminum frame running
from the headstock to the swinging arm. This in turn, dictates the use of
different foot pegs, controls and levers not to mention their overall actual
positioning, as well as the aluminum skid plate or bash plate . Whereas the 888 'Fant that is being
reported on and built here, will utilise the full frame and all standard
bodywork albeit with some changes and alterations. In addition to these
differences, and perhaps most important of all ,the Italsport 916 actually
works, and has been photographed in anger, whereas mine has only been
photographed in a garage!! It
is probably best to say that the Italsport bike has more in `tune` with the
Multistrada i.e. dual purpose, quick handling, mainly road biased and a
potentially very rapid motorbike. As opposed to my slightly different route of
utilisation of original parts and styling, moreover, the Italsport will
undoubtedly be more sports orientated that the 888 Fant will ever be. However, I
am happy to say that I get more of a thrill out of the KTM Adventurer than the
new Multistada but as they say…. “Different Horses for Different Courses”
or should that be …. “Different 'Fants for Different
Rants”……………….anyway, back to the story, The 888 engine was taken out of the
frame again, bearing in mind that the swinging arm bushes had yet to be machined
down. As mentioned before the swinging arm bushes are cast into the 888 engines
as indeed they are with all Ducati
engines other than those supplied to Cagiva. This is shown in photos H &
I where you can compare the swinging arm bush detail. The 888 engine therefore had to be
machined down, and it was agreed to do this with a mini-grinder, various cutting
and sanding discs and a machined spindle of different lengths, to show the
correct finished width of the engine. For those of you who don’t know,
and I apologise to those who do, the 'Fant engine bolts to the frame via an aluminum
cradle plate each side of the engine. This cradle carries the bottom suspension
pivot point under the engine and all engine mounting rear bolts pass through
this aluminum cradle. Therefore whatever machining that has to be carried out is
masked or hidden by the cradle. To this end, as long as the grinding of the
bushes was level, square, and at the right depth, the actual witness marks would
be hidden. The machined spindle would act as a guide when grinding commenced and
being mild steel would “feel different” once reached with the grinder. It
was with immense caution that I tightened the cutting disc into the mini grinder
and in slow motion , went through my checks and double checks. Someone once said
to me, back in my apprentice engineering days, “Measure twice ….cut once”.
That must have been approx 25 years ago when I was 17or18 years of age, because
now, at this moment in the garage, all I could think about was “measure
again… don’t cut”. Finally, the first grinding incision was made on the
right hand side of the engine, the cutting through the aluminium was kind of
straight forward, but as soon as the disc hit the needle rollers, smoke,
resistance and fear all leap upwards, and my grip tightened accordingly and I
was beginning to wish that I gave this job to someone else . Once
the cage roller was destroyed the grinder carried on through the rest of the aluminium
casing. When finished, I tapped out the roller bearing debris and changed to
sanding/lap wheel on the mini grinder. The casting was sanded down and then
applying engineering blue I could identify the uneven sections, before re
grinding into a square, level section for the cradle to rest and butt up
against. This photograph Photograph K,
shows the finished item, which is square, level and smooth.
The next two photographs L&M,
show the engine and cradle, finally measuring the correct dimensions and ready
to be framed. It was just a matter of continually grinding and re measuring
until the cradle size was correct. As mentioned before, the 888 engine into this
frame is not an easy fitting exercise and this was compounded by the problems
encountered with the closeness of the rear head inspection cover to the left hand
rear frame tube. But, undaunted, we progress, carry on, and try to keep to the
initial criteria by grinding more of the frame away, in order to established the
right fit. With the engine out, it was time to clean, weld, clean and re-weld
the frame prior to painting the frame. Also the end caps and bracing plates
could be added , welded and reground until they looked right. Rather
than going the stove enameling route I had decided to keep the standard silver
frame finish and use the latest generation of 2-pack paint. A local auto
spraying company sold ready mixed 2-pack in spray cans with a shelf life of 5
days, which necessitated getting the paint mixed and ‘canned’ when we were
ready to spray. Over the course of a ten-day period, the frame was regularly
cleaned, sprayed and lacquered until the desired effect was achieved. During
this phase, the middle engine mounts were re-positioned by this I mean the
auminium struts that run from the bottom top frame tube down into the ‘V’ of
the engine. The struts had to be moved due to the actual size of the heads on
the 888, the heads are simply too big to allow the original M10 welded bosses to
be utilised ,refer to photo N .
The other frame modification involved the rear sub frame top lugs. Due to the repositioning of the rear engine tubes, the sub frame had to shortened accordingly and the old lugs repositioned in order to compensate the photograph O,
shows the “new” rear engine tube with the repositioned top rear sub frame lugs
welded back in place. This photo also shows the now redundant middle mounting
bracket boss for the original engine mount. The rear sub frame bottom or lower lugs were left in the same position, and all that was required was to weld the new lugs onto the now shortened top arms of the sub frame, positioned, and then tacked in place. The photographs P & Q,
show the lugs prior to being re-welded and the incision on the sub frame assembly. In photo Q1
this is
a more completed shot, but identifies the two cuts made in the upper tube
of the rear sub frame, just in line with the battery box position. The rear sub
frame was shortened by the same dimension as that of the new rear engine tube-:
approx 30mm. With all this in place, the priming of the metal could take place,
prior to the base coat and topcoats. The “only” other modification was
“where to bolt the middle engine struts to?” So, again, the mini grinder made an appearance,Photo R
, and the now shortened aluminum struts were positioned in a more,
directly, vertical route. The area where they crossed the down tube was drilled
and re-enforced by a section of 25 x 25 x 3mm mild steel angle iron. This sound
appalling, but in real terms, actually strengthens the bottom tube and
eliminates the possibility of the frame tube collapsing under the squeezing of
the bolt from which the strut hangs. Its actually easier to look at Photograph S,
the 25 x 25 angle is approx 75mm long with a 8mm clearance hole through it the
bolt is a stainless steel type a nylon nut is utilised.
I pondered long and hard over additional bracing and extra struts, but after viewing the actual Ducati 900 P.D. bike on the web , try ; http://members.xoom.virgilio.it/siccobi/motore/img/pag18-19.jpg I
decided it wasn’t necessary, and seemed overkill. The P.D. race winner only
had one rear and one middle frame to engine mount. My 888 would three mounts
plus the additional strength of the 'Fant swinging arm system rather than the
Ducati non-framed swinging arm system. The 900P.D engine was used totally as a
stressed member. If these 900 P.D. bikes can compete and win under Desert race
conditions with that frame arrangement then who am I to question additional
bracing. I mean lets face facts, I am more likely to be experiencing
severe dessert conditions rather than desert ones ! However, I did succumb to a token
gesture of an extra brace as shown in Photo T.
Back
to the 'Fant, with the engine in place and the sub frame now sorted, the bottom
loop of the frame i.e. the aluminium section that holds the pegs and brake assembly not
to mention the oil coolers, could be refitted. It bolted back in place with no
alterations,…..amazing…simply amazing… well not quite. A
spacer had to be placed under the top mounting bolt, just to “kick” out the
tube slightly, and the tube had to be relieved at the point, where tube crossed
the cam cover. Oh, and the middle section joining the two loops together had to
be cut out. Photo R as shown before. This now made the bottom loops, two
independent sections rather than one, but this could be re-addressed later. The
middle section once cut out was then kept for something else, something which
actually looks like it was designed for… the water radiator-mounting bracket. Photograph U please relieve the situation!!
The tube nearly touches the cam cover, this was taken care of by use
of the now trusted sander. Photo V shows the original bottom front engine support.
This section used to bridge the bottom
aluminium loops, that was
before it was made redundant, cut up and re-deployed as the radiator mounting
bracket, it actually looks the part, don’t worry the over long bolt is just a
temporary measure. Photo W shows all that is wasted of the frame after the alterations.
These two
sections of 30 x 30 x 3mm Ali, are all that is left over. Every other section of
the frame has been utilised to support the ‘new’ 888 engine. No wastage…..
just total utilisation of existing components. Next
stop the injection system. As I write this on the 27th of March the bike is now at Pete Gibson of Gibson exhausts, Romford, having the system, as was, on the Lucky modified to fit the 888. See photo X.
This system was well proven
on the 944 Lucky over a 5000km period and will act as a good comparison for the
888. At least we know that this system works!! Moreover, it has the benefit of
being extremely light in weight, being stainless headers and titanium end can.
You might also just be able to spot the tapered headers just before the exhaust
ports and the colour of the can.
This is not a “cosmetic finish” the exhaust regularly resembled a blowtorch
when the bike was ridden hard, with flames coming out the back of the end can!!
The test bed 944 Lucky went back to standard headers mated to a REMUS end can .
At least it keeps the neighbours slightly happier, and doesn’t melt the number
plate!! Just as a little taster……take a
look at photo Y and Y1 here is a side by side shot of the two bikes …… subtle
…..or what !
In Glasgow, when I was growing up in
the 1960’s there wasn’t a lot of money around. Therefore on the estate where
I lived certain cash advances were made to tenants and the weekly installments collected accordingly by debt collectors. These advances were made in general by
the Provident Company often shortened by us youngsters to the “Provy” and
their collectors became the “men from the Provy” hence the analogy of the
last instalment , it has nothing to do with the men from the Provos, they used
to collect something entirely different!! PS. 888 into 900 will go!! Lead on McDuff Next month: The injection system and
the problems with chips , and the first real mistake with all the work done up
to now…how will I cope??
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Send mail to
Paul@elefantriders.com with
questions or comments about this web site.
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Gets
it!!
you can see the benefits of taking the swinging arm off prior to welding , you
can also see the aluminum cradle that bolts to the back of the engine.
