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Re: NGneers NC30 build thread (8 years + in the making)

Posted: Wed Nov 29, 2017 8:05 pm
by ligurt
I'm working on my vf400f racing bike and am planning to lighten the flywheel and generator. Could you please measure the outer diameter of the generator and the inner diameter of the flywheel? Infact I'm wandering if a swap is possible or even fitting the gsxr1000 k5 generator that some mount on their bikes. In addition it would be very helpful to know the flywheel/generator exact weight.
Thanks
Pietro

Re: NGneers NC30 build thread (8 years + in the making)

Posted: Fri Dec 01, 2017 6:16 pm
by NGneer
ligurt wrote:I'm working on my vf400f racing bike and am planning to lighten the flywheel and generator. Could you please measure the outer diameter of the generator and the inner diameter of the flywheel? Infact I'm wandering if a swap is possible or even fitting the gsxr1000 k5 generator that some mount on their bikes. In addition it would be very helpful to know the flywheel/generator exact weight.
Thanks
Pietro
Ligurt - as requested.
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The GSXR conversion is a tried and tested modification but you will need a new flywheel cover from Rick Oliver (http://www.400greybike.com/files/new%20stocklist.doc) and apparently "GSXR rotor weighs 600g vs 1.8kg for the stock NC30 unit and gives greatly improved pickup".

Hope that helps :peace:

Re: NGneers NC30 build thread (8 years + in the making)

Posted: Wed Dec 06, 2017 8:22 pm
by NGneer
Free top tip of the day. Whilst cleaning your Apple keyboard is not a bad thing, getting distracted and allowing Cillit Bang to leak in down the side of the keys is a BAD thing!!! Despite my best efforts at drying out and cleaning – it was buggered! Dohhh!

One quick Amazon moment later and thankfully a replacement has arrived today, hence I am back up and running on line.

Anyway, having spent a couple of weeks being busy taking things apart, I really wanted to feel like I was starting (even in a small way) to put something together for a change. As such I chose on the starter motor and began by errrmm ….taking it apart.

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Having done that the casings were degreased and treated to a good session with the soft wire wheel and then masked up.
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Casings were then given a couple of coats of primer….

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…before getting a couple of coats of paint and clear coat.

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Loosely rebuilt for the photo (new seals coming with my CMSNL order) and it’s not bad.

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Only a little bit – but nice to feel I was “building”, even if it was only for a short while.

Re: NGneers NC30 build thread (8 years + in the making)

Posted: Wed Dec 06, 2017 8:50 pm
by NGneer
Having scratched my ‘build itch’ for a while it was back to component stripping and cleaning. Amongst my spares I had a spare water pump, thermostat and engine water pipes.

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These were acquired when the third bike was the plan, so I thought I would open them up and see what they were looking like with a similar plan for cleaning and spraying. I think it is safe to say these are going to need more than a quick wire brush and blow over with the rattle can!!! :o

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Having seen the state of this set I turned to the ones that had been on the bike when it was stripped and whilst not perfect, they are certainly in better condition.

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A bit of mild cleaning and the second set were (whilst still not perfect) a lot better and looked to have a lot more potential for cleaning up and re-using.

I looked at these bits and also the various engine casings etc I have laying around my garage and realised I was going to have a few sessions with something like a bucket of petrol and set of brushes. However, the next day at work I happened to visit the “Wheel and Tyre bay” and spotted their cleaning setup. A few polite questions later and the management were happy to accommodate the “Crazy Englishman” and were happy to let me loose in there with a ‘few’ bike bits :whistle:

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Mwahahaha! A spirt wash bench with pump and brush, hot spirit bath, wheel wash machine and just out of sight … an ultrasoninc bath you could nearly fit an engine in – result. :peace:

After a bit of scrubbing it was really quite amazing how @25 years of oil reside etc could be shifted. :shock:

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Really nice to have the use of this facility, and I am sure it will get used extensively…but I am still toying with the idea of getting everything soda blasted and repainting the engine, along with other bits as part of the rebuild.

Anyone ‘been there and done that’ got any top tips if I go down that route?

Re: NGneers NC30 build thread (8 years + in the making)

Posted: Thu Dec 07, 2017 4:03 pm
by NGneer
Ok guys/girls, I need guidance from the wise and sage out there with regard to Main Bearing shell selection.

The code on my crank case, behind the clutch (Main bearing housing size) is ABBB and the Crank (Main bearing journal size) are all B2.

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According to the Haynes and the Honda service manual this would suggest I need new shells with the colour codes of Green, Brown, Brown, Brown.

However, having trawled the internet and 400GB for advice etc I managed to stumble across this thread from Ye Olde days suggesting the Haynes and Service manual are wrong: http://retro.400greybike.com/topic.asp? ... C_ID=60762

According to this I should actually be ordering Yellow, Green, Green, Green shells. :?

As this info came from Mike Norman, it has credibility and I can follow his logic with regard to the relationship between crank case hole, crank shaft diameter and corresponding shells to suit. I just wondered if others have followed this revised information with positive results and can confirm my thought process that with the codes I have (ABBB / B2 B2 B2 B2) I should be going for Yellow, Green, Green, Green main bearing shells.

Any thoughts? :pray:

Re: NGneers NC30 build thread (8 years + in the making)

Posted: Thu Dec 07, 2017 6:11 pm
by CMSMJ1
Lovely thread Ian my old china!

As you'll probably have to source your shells from Mike I;d get on and ask him directly.

crack on lad

Re: NGneers NC30 build thread (8 years + in the making)

Posted: Fri Dec 08, 2017 8:16 am
by NGneer
Hello Mark

Hows the familly.....and good old No9 ;)

I was going to drop Mike a line but figured he had his plate full at the moment with his latest round of back surgery plus most of his local area currently going up in flames. I am not in a rush so might catch up with him in due course or tap into Ricks wealth of knowledge.

Good to see you are still around mate. I am thinking about trying to mesh a trip back to the UK next year with one of the Classic Track Days at Cadwell...you potentialy up for it?

Re: NGneers NC30 build thread (8 years + in the making)

Posted: Fri Dec 08, 2017 9:02 am
by CMSMJ1
NGneer wrote:Hello Mark

Hows the familly.....and good old No9 ;)

I was going to drop Mike a line but figured he had his plate full at the moment with his latest round of back surgery plus most of his local area currently going up in flames. I am not in a rush so might catch up with him in due course or tap into Ricks wealth of knowledge.

Good to see you are still around mate. I am thinking about trying to mesh a trip back to the UK next year with one of the Classic Track Days at Cadwell...you potentialy up for it?
All good thanks mate :) Been a while and you should, of course, get back to catch up the Cadwell session. I'm in :)

No9 is doing alright, in a state of stasis as I don;t have any workshop facilities to do anything decent. He is still ready to rock though and is as dependable, sweet handling and generally lovely as ever - a top bike :) Just needs the kind of rebuild you are sharing with us here.

As soona s I move house, again, then the prime feature needed is a huge workshop and then I will be getting into the rebuild as the moto deserves. Saying that, I am not convinced about riding on the roads any more so delivering something that can hold with the rapid bikes on tracks might be the way forwards.

family wise - young Stanley is 5 in January - he likes bikes - recognises most of the motogp/2/3 field

"Look daddy - it's Bastianini on the 33 machine"

I'll be bringing him to Cadwell :) :grin:

Re: NGneers NC30 build thread (8 years + in the making)

Posted: Sun Dec 17, 2017 3:46 pm
by NGneer
Look forward to it Mark ;)

My project hording began back in 2009 when I first went overseas and I spotted a very nice set of fully refurbished brake calipers with polished rear master cylinder up for sale. This was already a job on my “To do” list when I got back, so figured if I got these I could just bolt these on and then tidy up my existing ones slow time. And so the hoard began to grow….

Subsequently I found myself in Germany and at that time (about 2013) without a bike to polish/tinker with. As such I would spend my time surfing the forum / E-bay looking for potential bits to add to my ‘future project’ stash. One day on German E-bay I spotted a decent looking set of forks and decided that even with the very limited workspace I had available, I could at least refurbish those so I had a fully sorted set ready, whenever I finally got around to building, plus I already had some very nice calipers ready to fit.

The forks were bought and did indeed look to be in pretty good condition when they arrived.
Unfortunately no pictures of how they looked at the beginning due to the Photobucket fiasco.

However, regardless of how they looked they would be getting stripped and would (as a minimum) be getting a set of Rick Oliver’s up rated springs and a re-spray if nothing else.

Thankfully forks come apart without too much work, or working space and having been very careful not to spill the old sludge that had previously been fork oil (well at one point in its life anyway) all over the apartment I could give everything a good clean up and inspect the internals to see what else would need to be replaced…

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The fork stanchions and fork tops were polished up removing any marks, the lowers powder-coated and a list of all the other bits I would need was compiled…plus a few Ti bits were also snuck onto the shopping list.
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New Springs from Rick Oliver (Ricks on the right):
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About this time I was glued, like many, to Timons build thread(s) which as well as giving me lots of ideas, also raised the level of “build Threads” to a whole new level. Amongst Tims many ‘new’ ideas was the zinc coating of components both for protection, and a shiny factor. Being stuck overseas I was struggling to source anywhere that would do any such zinc coating for me so after a couple of e-mails, Tim took pity on me and agreed to act as middle man and add my pile of stuff to his next order. As such everything was bagged up and shipped back to him.

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Huge thanks to Tim for helping me out with these bits……plus a few others:
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Having cleaned everything up, replaced what needed to be, added a bit of zinc, the calipers I had acquired previously and some Ti bits, I now had a fresh set of forks awaiting a project.

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The existing upper yolk is not bad, but I have a polished one already fitted to the ‘project bike, which I like. I will see how that one cleans up and maybe swap them over when it comes to fitting.

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Re: NGneers NC30 build thread (8 years + in the making)

Posted: Sun Dec 17, 2017 5:08 pm
by NGneer
Having got myself a set of forks ‘ready to go’ I started to think, “What else could I work on in isolation” and in a very small apartment with no garage. The swing arm seemed like a logical thing to do, so (when I finally started on a project) I could just bolt the swing arm and the (now completed) forks onto my frame giving me a good base, and head start, when building. As such the forum and web were trawled until I managed to find a “Complete” swing arm at the right sort of price. The deal was done and despite the German postman cursing the bloke on the second flood who kept getting heavy parcels…the next piece of the puzzle arrived.

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The swing arm was indeed complete as described, but was properly dirty and in need of some serious attention.

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As always the process started with a full strip down to see what we had to play with and what work would be required.

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Not having access to ….well anywhere really to work, I had to improvise. As such I would go out onto our tiny second floor balcony armed with a pile of bike bits, large plastic tub, some petrol, brushes and anything else I could find to clean them up. Thankfully I managed not to spill anything on the neighbors below and incur their wrath, but I am still sure I must have been breaking about a dozen of the local rules.

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Well much scrubbing later and I could at least see what I had to play with:

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(Yes that is the kitchen table and No the Mrs was not in at the time)

What I did discover under all the dirt and grime was that the hub had been seriously abused throughout its life.

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Simply swapping it out for another would have been the easy option, but as I had time on my hands, I decided to try and resurrect the hub with a bit of hand filing. These were taken about half way through the process, but already the ‘teeth’ are starting to take shape again.

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A bit more filing and blow over with some paint at the end and it certainly looked good enough to use.

As some of the eagle eyed out there might have noticed in my last post, amongst my zinc red cross parcel from Tim, were many bits from my swing arm build. Many zinc coated and some others just blasted ready for paint/powder coat. As such here are just a few gratuitous before and after shots:

Before:

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And after:

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Mmmmm shiny – thanks again Tim, I still owe you a very large beer or two.

A fresh delivery from CMSNL arrived along with a Renthal sprocket and a new rear brake disc, which was sprayed up ready to be added to the re-assembly.

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Having got all my bits back from the UK, new bits (from various places) and finished cleaning and refurbishing the rest….it was time to nail it all back together along with the rear calliper that had come along with the front ones a bit of Carbon fibre and a very liberal use of Ti fastenings.

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Amazing what you manage to do on a balcony / kitchen table

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Swing arm complete and ready to bolt on.

If the cunning plan works out Santa will be delivering a headstock stand about this time next week so then I can start to put together a framework with the frame, forks, swing arm(potentially rolling chassis) to work on whilst the engine work is still in progress.

Happy Christmas to all and standby for more in the New Year.

:rocks: