Dieselhoj

So here we go again

2011-08-23T22:54:00.004+02:00

Long time no update, but well over 20 000 km on various bikes ;-)

Time to restart the Diesel project again.
Just bought a variator from a Burgman 400.
This could be an option for other diesel bikers, I paid 160€ for a complete "swingarm" from the Burgman, complete with crankshaft at one end and output gears at the other!

Only thing that worries me is the fact that the Burgman is only 32 Nm max torque (@6000 rpm) but my Yanmar triple is 64 Nm @2000 rpm...
Have to rev the variator a little higher to make use of the slip clutch as well and hope that the torque does not burn out everything...
Testing is knowing!

Ruler in cm, shafts are approx 260 mm apart, that can be shortened about 90 mm with new housing.

Countless are the times that I have cursed the fact that I am building a shaft drive bike!
It would have been so much easier to use a chaindrive bike!
Next time...

Just have to machine a new housing for the variator since it needs to be shorter and have chain sprocket on the input shaft and a set of gears on the output to reverse rotation.

So now all I need is a milling machine and a few solid pieces of metal and then start machining...

/B

Winter time is here

2010-11-18T21:47:00.002+01:00

So the GSX250 has been sold, and a 4-cylinder 250 cc has taken it's place!

Also the diesel project has been restarted.
Handed over the special gearbox to my local aluminium welder yesterday, hopefully it will be ready next week.

The work continues....

/B

Long distance motorbiking

2010-09-07T21:37:00.006+02:00

This coming weekend I will participate in a rally in Germany.
80 locations, 24 hours to visit them.
Impossible obviously, but still a fun weekend out!
Goal is to plan the ride, and ride the plan.

The bike will be the trusty Gixxer, a 30 year old painfully slow GSX250.

I have driven this bike over 11000 km this year, and it just keeps on rolling.

Slow, but at a steady pace of around 100 km/hr.

So now for some last minute preparations, then off to Germany for the big adventure!

Wish me luck ;-)

Other things to do

2010-09-07T21:18:00.006+02:00

Ok, I admit: Diesel has not been main priority this summer.
I have a new passion as well: IronButt (www.ironbutt.com)...

Funny what you can do on an old slow bike really!
Like driving around the Baltic sea (5000 km) in 3 days...
To do this you need to have some "farkles". Well, not exatly that you need them, but they sure are fun to have!

I started out with a bike for 500€, adding homemade heated handles and a 10 litre aux-tank to make the trip more enjoyable!

So here is how you make your own heated handles, ratbike style:
You need an well matched length of resistive wire. In my case the 20 yera old roll of heatingwire I have is thin so I need 0,8m to give me the well tested 10W / side.
Wrap the wire around the handle, fixing it with electrical tape, making sure there are no short circuits... Any shorts and you will sort of notice that as a burning sensation... So remember to add an inline fuse as well, preferrably close to the battery!
After that I always use a top layer of self-vulcanizing rubber tape, you know the type that has to be stretched and overlapped and only sticks to itself. Provides a nice rubbery and rather grippy surface.
Add an inline fuse and a switch, and you have made yourself a pair of heated grips for a cost of under 5€!

Drive far!
/B

Long time, big progress...

2010-07-02T23:42:00.005+02:00

Long time since last update, but here we go:

Engine has been moved, since the position with "flywheel front" did not give enough ground clearence.

Had to be positioned low because of the starter, so I ditched this idea.

I also had the portunity of trying out a Kubota 1105T engine, a compact little nice turbo-charged unit, but at the price I was asked (3000€...) that was over my budget, so had to bring it back.

Shame really, at 34 hp, and turbocharged, it would have been a perfect match, but hey, I could not afford it...

So back to the old Yamar 3TNV76, 26 hp standard. Major difference in flywheel size on these two engines!

The Yanmar has a massive 21 kg, 30 cm flywheel, where the Kubota is just over 20 cm in diameter and considerably thinner...

Engine well in place now, and starting to look good...

Transmission:
This is what I have been doing all these months.
Evenry now and then, get into the garage and just sit there, thinking about how to solve the transmission issue!

I have thought about:
1: Manual 6 speed gearbox, contents from Kawasaki KLE500, machine my own housing.
Did not happen because I lack machining competence (needs precision) and I also lack sufficient CAD skills to present a good enough drawing to someone that actually HAS the precision...

2: Other gearbox.
Did not happen because I could not find a small enough gearbox anywhere.
Remind you, the macine is originally japanese 1000cc inline-4, shaft drive...

3: Convert to Chain drive and mount engine in different direction:
No way!

4: Centrifugal clutch, single speed.
Nope, not after what I read on a forum about eating clutches...

5: Converter from automatic transmission (car).
NOW we are talking!
But turned out to be too complex, maybe for next project, but on this project simplicity is KING, so no converter.

6: Out of ideas...

And then:
Take the existing KLE crankcase, cut away everything I do not need and weld plates covering up the holes, making it into a stand-alone gearbox!
Not as sweet as making a new housing, but possible!
So this is what I am working on now.

Clutch:
Will use 2 A-profile V-belts (1/2") with tensioner, just like a lawnmower...

Flywheel:
Shaved off 3 kg today, not so much for the weight, as for the 8mm I could save!
It is COMPACT in that frame, since I will not change the basic structure of the frame...

So yes, I am making progress!

Now I just need to learn how to weld aluminium, since my local company with that specific competence have a massive 8 weeks(!!) waiting list...

More to come

Drive safely
/B

The woman behind everything

2010-02-02T20:00:00.005+01:00

Winter. -10 degrees C and 50cm of snow...

Not really my favorite weather, so I try to stay indoors most of the time.

Had to do check some dimensions on the engine block for the CAD drawing, and asked my beloved wife if I could take the engine parts inside, since the garage is kept just above freezing.

"-Sure, just don't make a mess in the kitchen."

No, I will not, since I think that attitude is hard to find these days.

Not that it was so easy 12 years ago when I put a crankshaft in the freezer and a ballbearing in the oven...

I guess that is called evolution, or is it simply a matter of getting used to the irritating habits of oneandother?

Cad, cad, cad...

2010-02-02T00:18:00.006+01:00

I have decided to make my own gearbox.
Or at least try to.

Internal parts from KLE500. Housing of own design.
Drawings starting to look ok, but still a long way to go before the CNC mill can start working...

Top picture is gearshifter side.
Will use the original shifter and cover (hence the blue lines).
Also have to introduce a third shaft for input power, but still two sprockets missing before I can start drawing that part.

/D

Weekend result: Success!

2010-01-24T20:04:00.009+01:00

Suzuki original wiring is now gone.

The Yanmar engine is in place, still some work to do on the engine mounts.

Also cut away a few kilo metal from the plate under the flywheel.
Starter is moved to the new position under the frame.
Makes the engine ride a bit too low in the frame, hopefully it will work. I guess time (and a few sharp turns) will tell...

After

Starter motor holder including front engine mount.

Fired up the engine a few seconds and yes, vibrations will be a challenge.

Only had the engine on low idle today, and these engines are known to be vibrating a lot at idle, so I hope it will be better at higher rpm.

Currenlty I have only 4 engine mounts (2 x rear, 2 x top front). Probably I will make a top support as well, just to be on the safe side.

Tomorrow work starts on the gearbox.
And that will for sure be a bigger challenge...

/D

Old engine out, new engine in...

2010-01-22T20:50:00.003+01:00

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

Real project start?

2010-01-17T22:55:00.002+01:00

Finally, the garage is completed. Wiring in place, shelves and light.
Most of the stuff I need (tools etc.) also in place.

So I decide to start the YanZuki project for real.
Since the last update I have completed a SS2000K on the bike!2000km in less than 24 hours.

I am sunned by the ergonomics of this 28 year old bike!
Not a sore behind after 2000km and 22 hours in the saddle!

Anyway, this blog is about the project.
Done today:
Drained and removed fuel tank.
Removed seat.
Removed part of the fairings.
Removed part of the exhaust system.

To do next: Start labelling the electrical system prior to removal.
I have done mistakes before concerning this, and I do not intend to do it again. "I will remember where this cable was hooked up..."Yeah, right...

Step 1 is to get the original engine out of the frame.
Step 2 is to place the Yanmar in the frame, just to see.

I just purchased a kawazaki KLE500 engine (in trays, boxes and bags...) for 50€ last friday. A nice 6 speed gearbox in that one, considerably smaller than the original GS.
Also the KLE primary transmission is chain, not gears, and I hope to be able to take advantage of that.
As far as transmission goes, the plan is now to use the KLE transmission, after machining away everything that is not needed, basically to create a stand alone 6 speed gearbox with wet clutch.

Will not start that part of the project until I see how much space is actually availible in the frame once the engine is there.

I guess time will tell...

Mechanic, hydraulic or belt??

2009-09-06T21:31:00.002+02:00

Ok, the old faithful Suzuki has one downside: Oil consumption....
Burning oil at a rate of 4% of fuel consumption...
Better watch out, or things will go pear-shaped after just a few tanks of fuel...

Well, the project has started, but the work is still very, very slow...
Made some work on the front brakes today, but that was about all so far.
Apart from the new sealing set for the rear brake cylinder.
Amazing how important a rear brake is on a heavy beast like this, at least for direction control under braking.
Since, the front brakes are not in mint condition, real "racing braking" is unfortunately out of the question, but I am working to improve that.

Transmission:
This is clearly the biggest challenge in the entire project.
Machine is shaft drive, and that is something I do not plan to change...

I have three main options for the gearbox:

1: Standard GS1000 gearbox.
Simply machine the existing engine block and leave only the gearbox in place.
Main challenge: Space and primary drive into the clutch.
Advantage: Efficiency, cost, durability.
Disadvantage: Space.

2: Variator:
Simple, belt drive.
Challange: Tuning. To get it to work properly may be a challange, and I have never worked on variators before. Uncertain about space required.
Advantage: Simple and robust.
Disadvantage: Cost.

3: Hydraulic drive:
Variable displacement pump, fixed motor.
Challenge: Oil tank, oil cooling.
Advantage: I have the knowledge, and easy access to well priced components.
Disadvantage: Power loss. Weight. Driving will be interesting with both throttle and transmission beeing "stepless".

I will see how things eveolve, but right now I am seriously considering the hydraulic drive version.
Maybe will change when I have the engine in the frame, but that is something that will not happen for at least another few weeks.
First have to finish the electrical installations in the garage.
One thing at the time.

Cheers

/D

Petrol testing

2009-08-30T00:24:00.003+02:00

Since the GS1000 is in running condition, I decided to give it a good spin and check out the fuel consumption this evening.

The old faithuful needed approx 7 litres per 100 km, giving a range of approx 280 km per tankful of petrol.
The above at an average speed of 116 km/hr, and at the cost of white fingers...
Makes me think about how it will be when the Yanmar is in place. Wibrations are not necessarily lower compared to the inline4 Suzuki...

Cheers
/D

Official project start...

2009-08-28T18:26:00.006+02:00

Ok, so here we go.

An old crazy dream about a "dieselised" motorbike is about to come true.

Or, so I hope...
Still a few things to sort out, but anyway, here we go.
The main components are all here, but I am not sure, really....

Bike: Suzuki GS1000G. 1980.

One of the really old dinosaurs... Shaft drive. 90 hp, inline 4. Bike condition: Running, burning oil, unknown mileage. Looking rather good for a 750€ bike anyway ;-)

Engine: Yanmar 3TNV76. Plan to rev it to a max of 4000 rpm, shold be able to put out about 30 hp at those revs. built for a 6000 hour life in a generator application (or in my case, a professional lawn-mower...). Engine condition: Used 17 hours...

Other:
A second frame availible. Plan to use as fixture for various fitting and welding jobs.

A second engine block availible. Plan to machine it to make use of the gearbox. This will be a REAL challange, since the new engine is not only slightly larger (read "thicker") than the original one...
But why make life easy. Since the bike is shaft drive, I do not have much of an option anyway...

Time frame: 1-5 years ;-)

Wish me luck (I will need it...).

/D