phaedrusman

At a guess I would think it should be a non-issue. Plenty of people out there have run water injection on engines. Makes no difference (corrosion/wear wise). If anything running water injection helps get rid of carbon build-up in the combustion chamber and exhaust valves. Think of steam cleaning something. Appearently on the tear down of water injected engines, the combustion chambers are as clean as a whistle. Now, granted, this isn't a water injection setup. The Oxygen and the Hydrogen are seperated at the begining, but they are being recombined into water, so I should think the end product is similar. If anything I wonder if that is where the cylinder cooling claim is coming from, possibly. Water has a fairly high thermal mass, so it suckes up alot of the heat from the combustion process, flashes to steam (which if I remember correctly has expansion rate of like 1600 times - say you had one cubic inch of water and flashed it to steam, it would now occupy 1600 cubic inches) which in turn helps push the piston. Or I could be completely wrong, because I have no idea how the extra O's and H's are going to react to the rest of the combustion process. Chemistry was never my strong suit but, I would like to see a bit more detailed explanation of what is actually happening in the combustion chamber. I guess my problem is with this statement: "Adding a moderate amount of Hydroxy gas to a gasoline or diesel engine, can radically change the rate of combustion in the cylinder. It accelerates the rate of combustion of the primary hydrocarbon fuel (Gas, Diesel, Ethanol, etc). This leads to more pressure on the piston on the power stroke so there is more torque, less heating of the block, and less unburned hydrocarbon fuel going out the exhaust port." No offense, but last I checked, we really don't want to speed up the combustion process because that is what happens in detonation. A proper air/fuel ratio in a combustion chamber at the proper temperature *burns* rapidly and smoothly pushing down nicely on the piston. When it gets too hot (either through compression or a hot spot in the combustion chamber) or the A/F ratio goes too lean, the mixture detonates and literally explodes which is too sudden of a shock for the piston and rotating assembly. This is why we have higher octane fuels. To raise the ignition point of the fuel when need be. Also it would seem by your statement that somehow by adding this extra fuel to the combustion process raises the pressure of the combustion event, but does not raise the overall temperature. That would seem to be a direct violation of Charles's Law. For a given volume, if pressure goes up, the temperature goes up. Simple as that. Heck, that's how a diesel engine works. Compress the snot out of A/F mix until it heats up to a point where it ignites on its own. No spark needed. However. In the case of the water injection, volume goes up, pressure goes up, but the water is being used to absorb the heat - since it is not actually being combusted, less heat is transfered to the cylinder and combustion chamber. Walks like a duck, quacks like a duck. I'm thinking its a glorified water injection system, but I could be wrong. As is frequently the case. As to Lee's comment about added system ineffiency - Maybe I misread it, but during one of the discussions a while back on the operation of the electrical supply system, basically it generates full power all the time, and sends left over to the R/R to be turned into waste heat anyways. If that is right, he would just be using potentially wasted energy anyways. Kind of like running a turbocharger as opposed to a supercharger.

Hey Miguel, Something that might be worth trying (if you can with the paint you're using), maybe trying adding a little more thinner. One day I was shooting some paint at work - nothing as fancy as what you're doing - and I ended up with orange peel. One of the sheetmetal guys suggested adding a bit of thinner (the stuff I was using is actually a 2 part polyurethane paint system that comes premeasured in 1oz containers). To me it makes sense because more thinner should help the paint "flow" once on the part. Or I could be completely wrong. But It may be worth trying to avoid having to spend more time wet sanding. Just a thought. Keep up the good work and good luck. She's looking real good.

Where did you pick your boots up from? I ask because a member of another message board that I frequent, ordered a pair of Sidi Mega Somethings from NE. He had the same problem - one side was just right, the other was "off". Talked to NE and they appearently sent out a new pair with a return label for the first pair. He was satisfied with the fit of the second pair, kept them, and sent the first pair back. Something to look into maybe if its not too late.

Not bad...It looks more "right" (for lack of a better word) with the side bags on. But I can't seem to shake the notion that once you paint the exhaust black, and if you had a Torocharger installed, it would be the bike that Mad Max would ride... Actually I just realized how fitting that would be considering the name of the bike, the gloss black color, and Timmy's profession. :fing02:

I don't know. I'm thinking there is something else at play here. I've sat in traffic (Warner Robins, GA...one of the worst traffic problems for a small city that I've ever seen) with ambient temps over 100F several times and never a problem. Temp hits 220, fan kicks on, hauls temp down to 212, fan kicks off. Repeat. As for the design on the cooling system, really it makes sense to me. When the fan is running while the bike is moving, air is still dumping over the right side rad. I've made use of that very fact while my t-stat was messed up and ambient was too cool. I put a chunk of a license plate (what can I say, it was laying around and was a dead perfect fit) over the right side rad. Blocked enough air flow to keep the bike a bit warmer so I didn't have to run in a lower gear constantly, and I still didn't have to worry about overheating because the fan on the left rad. Perhaps you guys are having issues with the right side radiator? Also, if you guys have changed your coolant, what did you use for a water source? Make sure you use distilled water. Pure H2O. Tap water and the like still have trace amounts of God knows what else in them...causing deposits and corrosion on the inside of the cooling system (and water jackets of the engine), decreasing the efficency of said cooling system. Personally I would have tried just switching the polarity of the fan. I haven't looked at the wiring, but ASSume it is just 2 wires. I'm pretty sure it is a DC motor. It doesn't really care too much which way its spinning. Now, granted the fan blades may not be the most optimal shape for pushing air, but hey, you get what you pay for. Just my $.02.

Maybe I'm just missing something here (distinct possiblity), but what about a tensioner on the bottom side of the swingarm inside of the belt. I couldn't really find a close up of a rc45 swingarm, but from what i could see the exhaust gets real close to the bottom side ( granted that was on a standard rc45, and from what I understand, your's is rather extensively modified so it could well be different ). Go with the mount of the tensioner closer to the pivot point of the swingarm, and the tensioner pulley closer to the rear pulley. Granted I have no answers for how to mount the tensioner. Not sure how keen I would be on drilling mount holes through the swingarm (especially on a rc45...imagine those aren't cheap...) or doing any other type of permanant mounting solution. *shrugs* Just a thought. Oh yeah, fantastic work on the rear pulley. God that's beautiful. Made me drool.