catastrophic clutch failure

Catastrophic clutch failure

         Well I have had an interesting time in the garage the last 8 nights and days sorting out a potential catastrophic clutch failure.

The clutch in my bike has only been running on the dyno a little track time and the clutch is ready to explode.    When I say the clutch,  it is the lockup devise I made of the wrong materials as there are signs of fatigue cracks in the lockup clutch part.

I telephoned a friend in the U.K.  to advise me on the problem and this man is fantastic on what metal is best for the job.

So we now have two new clutches, one for the race engine and one for the spare engine. This will not explode at the side of your leg under all that power being created.

shiny new 'fit for purpose' clutch part.

bike section showing intercooler pump

This photo shows the  intercooler pump at the base of the bike. This pump pumps iced water through the intercooler and also through a fuel cooler and all this cooling keeps the air and fuel for the engine a lot more dense to give a better charge in the cylinders in the Bonneville heat.

some of the team

This week I have installed the turbo waste gate actuator and then I started to hybrid the Turbo on the lathe. A considerable incise on the intake side to get as much air in as possible.

The air will be thin at Bonneville as we will be at 4500 Ft. the turbo is all ready to fit to the spear Engine.

We have a good team of men to cover all potential problems.

Dr Pete Moran will sow on any arms or legs if one should come off in a crash.

Ralf Mitchell embalmer will stuff me if shit hits the fan

John Boyed funeral services will dispose of the rest

So what is there to worry about on the salt at 225mph      

                                                Turbo waste gate actuator

Tonight I adapted the turbo waste gate actuator to the exhaust system.

Another job fitting it in to the space available by extending the arm with a left and right hand threaded 8mm stainless steel bar and rose joint for a better action.

It is a pain in the bum all this stainless steel but the corrosion from the salt will be bad and if we can eliminate some it can only help on our return from Bonneville.      

 Three good friends testing Ralf Mitchell’s methanol Royal Enfield 250

The test went very well with a strong pulling Engine just a bit too strong for the clutch. But with a bit of adjustment at Ron’s house we will be up and running again.

             Ralf will have 2 Engines at Bonneville a methanol  and a turbo gas.   

swing arm

          Hi this is my swing arm from the Suzuki Hayabusa . This swing arm is not what it looks like it is full of lead and the total weight is 68KG I weigh 71KG just to put it in perspective. The purpose of all the lead is for traction on the salt. The salt has 40% les grip than tarmac and the wheel will spin in top gear no problem. In 2012 when my crew chief Richard Barks was on the salt breaking 2 land speed records the rear wheel was spinning at 180mph. have a look at you tube Richard barks Bonneville 2012 and listen to the revving engine indicating wheel spin also look at the track to see how ruff it is it’s not a smooth surface by any means. Any way back to the swing arm drill 2 holes under the back end of the arm tip it on end get an old copper kettle fill it full of lead, melt it very carefully as this is extremely dangerous,     and pour it in through the 2 holes,   this will take all day but at the end of the day you should have a 68KG arm.    Last thing is to look for cracks and heat distortion issues.    

Right side of Bike

                                                       Right side of the Bike to date