Stray

Did valve clearances on my 10,500 mile 5th gen engine and one of them was on the very edge of spec. If I’d waited for 16,000 miles it would have been out of spec for sure. Of course it would still run OK but wouldn’t be ideal. Maybe I’m too anal to leave internal maintenance for long but this sort of thing keeps me up at night!

Thanks for getting back, Duc2V4. Shame to miss out but not the end of the world. Always wanted an 8th gen version but my financial position recovered just too late.

Why not epoxy the hole with the bolt in? The bolt should be lubed first and the epoxy won’t stick. When epoxy cures then bolt gets backed out and voila - new threads. Lots of YouTube tutorials. If it was mine I’d build the hole up with alumiweld rods and drill/tap. You can also do this with the bolt in place as above (alumiwekd won’t stick to steel so the threads will be perfect). These are low temp solder-like rods that can be melted with a torch. Repaired a few things with them in the past. Best, Stray

So I’ve done some reading on solid state relay (first stop - what the heck is one of those?). Turns out most of these work from 3v-upwards. They require around 1.6v to saturate/actuate the switch. This means a motor with current draw of, say 6v, only has about 4.4v to operate. Loads of forums say how motors drawing around 3-5v don’t work properly with solid state relays. They only seem to run at half power. Electric motors are best at fully on or fully off. Partly on creates resistance/heat and burns out the motor faster. That’s why Davies Craig use Pulse Width Mo

Post up a sound clip (with and without) when you get it!

Thanks for chiming in, Mohawk - I was hoping you’d join the party! Like you, I don’t understand how Davies Craig's booster pumps are too small to register on their controller. Unfortunately I don’t have the skill/knowledge to figure it out myself. Was hoping someone would have a solution but no one appears interested. Even spoke to a few auto electricians locally who just blink at me with a vacant look. Should I be talking to programmers instead? Here’s the email response I got from Davies Craig about how to control their EBP40 (I also asked if their older control

I vote for the replica too! RCs are getting on for 30 years old now. If you use decent components and get the styling close enough your replica would probably be a better bike than the originals when finished. At a fraction of the cost and with pride in your achievement. A newer machine with modern brakes, suspension, fuel commanders etc would likely ride rings around an original one. Loads of RC30/45 fairings available and all they need is some brackets. Have at it!

You‘ve done a great job on that 6th gen - really good looking bike!

Good question, Danno. I guess if the bike runs at optimum temperature (at speed or at idle) and warms up properly it can be deemed to work. You can say the stock system achieves all that already but it relies on the thermostat to regulate the arbitrary RPM-based water pump. If I get some extra MPG and a smidge of power that’s a bonus. Ability to run pump after shut down to avoid heat soak is also good. I’d like to improve coolant pumping and eliminate the thermostat for smoother flow. Will improve cooling in traffic and the odd track day. Most c

Appreciate your reservations, chaps. Honest feedback always welcome. Few points to note: 1. Existing system isn’t great as it’s a compromise. It has to turn the water pump enough at idle to cool the bike at the lights. But does it do so? If you idled you’re bike for 30 minutes would it run nice and cool? Mine wouldn’t! Conversely, if it cools enough at idle imagine how fast the coolant is flowing at 10,000rpm with air rushing through the radiator at 100mph! Existing system goes from feast to famine whereas electric only pumps what’s needed all the time. Much more elegant.

Marooncobra, it’s only 4.6A at full tilt. That’s less than the fan! Also, the stator pumps out full amps all the time. Any extra is shunted to the regulator and dissipated. This won’t tax the electrical system - simply using up power that would otherwise be scrapped. Sorry if I wasn’t clear. It’s the pump that doesn’t like a full head of pressure and might fail sooner. Thermostat doesn’t care about that but causing it to open-close-open constantly might also compromise the thermostat. Is your Davies Craig controller reliable? I believe Mohawk and the Phantom have ele

Depends on the concentration but phosphoric acid isn’t one of those nasty ones that burn through flesh and cause land to be contaminated forever. It’s a reasonably gentle acid (we drink it in Coca Cola!). Dilute about 1/10 and dab it until rust turns black. If it doesn’t react add more acid. Mix a small batch - you won’t need much. Then rinse well to stop it reacting. I’m told baking soda and water helps with that but I just rinsed with lots of water. You can buy rust converter which is 99% based on phosphoric acid. Or just use Diet Coke (takes much longer but does work).

Correct! Good thinking Danno but it’s not that simple. Pump needs to circulate coolant even when cold or I could end up with hotspots around the cylinders. And simply turning the pump on at X degrees is a bit crude. Needs PWM to ramp up circulation gradually as it’s needed. No point running a pump full throttle if the temp is only just coming to operational levels. Or having it completely off when temps are just below X. Also, the controller would allow me to fine tune the pump and run it after shutdown. A simple switch wouldn’t cut it.

Hello All, I’ve been dreaming of an electric water pump for years. No real reason other than I like the idea and want one. The existing mechanical piece does a fair job but the electric ones have several advantages: 1. Can run them after shutdown to avoid heat soak 2. They can be configured run at an optimal speed and aren’t forced to run at engine speed. This means they don’t cavitate at high revs and aren’t hopeless at idle 3. Electric pumps can improve MPG and apparently release some (very little!) extra power as they’re not run by the engine

My opinion - go cheap and see if you can salvage them first. Doesn’t look like the rust has penetrated deep, as others have observed. My method is to rub with aluminium foil and phosphoric acid (or Coca Cola if you can’t get some - use diet to avoid stickiness). The Phosphoric converts rust into a honeycomb phosphate coating - this stuff is TOUGH. The tinfoil breaks off into microscopic bits that embed in the phosphate layer. Scrape any big rust lumps off with razor blade. Make sure all rusty spots are blackened by phosphoric acid. If not, wash it with phosphoric acid (or C