Old engine out, new engine in...

Amazing how heavy the old GS1000G engine was...
Good thing I installed a crane in the garage a few years ago!
Also the ultimate help in fitting the new engine. Probably 75 kg without flywheel, so nothing you play with!

Original petrol engine had crankshaft across the frame.
New engine is too high for that, and that is fine with me, since the bike is shaft drive anyway.

Engine will probably be fitted with flywheel facing front. Just have to verify with the Yanmar technical guys to make sure you tan take out 100% of engine power on register side (non flywheel side). Good thing to have them on "speed dial" (work related ;-)

Next project is gerabox.
I have given up on all old ideas (hydarulic, GS original gearbox, variator) and purchased an old KLE500 engine.
I will use the internals from the KLE and machine a new ultra compact housing for it.
The new compact gearbox will be positioned where the battery sits on the bike, straight under the seat! Absolutely vital to make it compact in other words...

Primary drive (engine crankshaft -> gearbox) will be done with 2 x A profile (1/2") V-belts. These two belts are also planned to be used for clutch function (belt tensioner).
Simple, cost efficient and proven reliable enough on 100´s of thousands of lawnmowers (and that happens to be part of my day-job, so I may have access to parts, and the matching knowledge ;-)
If the raw endge parts are too grippy, there is always the possibility to work with "non friction" (wrapped) belts.

Secondary drive (gearbox out -> cardan driveshaft) planned to be standard motorbike chain.
Plans for a "scottolier" type lubrication system is obviusly part of the deal...
(oil pump from an electric chainsaw is already availible :-)

Work this weekend:
-Strip down original Suzuki electrical system.

-Engine mounts.
If everything goes according to plan, I will be able to fire up the engine this weekend, just to get a feeling for what the vibrations will be like.
No extended runs since engine cooling system is not even on the drawingboard yet, but just a "fire up and feel" run.

Work next week:
-Get the KLE gerabox housing into the coordinate measuring machine and start work on the CAD files that are needed for the CNC machining of the new gearbox housing.

-Get two sprockets for the new gearbox intermediate shaft.
Original KLE gearbox is "throughput (power input one side, putput other side), but I need a "single sided" gearbox Input and output on the same side since the gerabox will be under the seat (belt-drive in -> chain drive out).
Second shallange is that gearbox "input" normally is CCW (counter-clockwise), and output CW (clockwise) rotation, but I need them both to be CCW to match the shaft drive of the machine...

Biggest challenge is probably to make sure machining of the new housing is good enough to make sure gearbox is working as intended...
Hopefully a coordinate mesuring machine + CNC mill will take care of that, or I have a real problem!
Can you imagine making a gearbox housing in a manual mill? Maybe you can, I can not!

So I hope to have a purpose built 6-speed transmission ready within a few weeks from now!
If it will work, that remains to see!

Pictures as soon as I can find my long lost digital camera...

/D