BAGNELL & CHENOWTH 2012 Bonneville Speedweek CX500tc TURBO

[bigdaddyusmc]

Jacob has the brakes finished , the stock bracket on the rear brake reservoir looked like hell so Jacob fabed up a new one


We also have started to fabricate the pit stand

[bigdaddyusmc]

The custom aluminum radiator is almost done, It is being made in New York. We needed to fab some brackets for it so we zip-tied the stock radiator on the bike & used it to make the brackets. The stock radiator is wide as a bill-board. The new radiator is will be 4 to 5 inches narrower
on both sides.

[bigdaddyusmc]

Larry Storch at ZOOM-FACTOR called & said he was ready for the bike.
So we loaded it up & off to Santee we go.


Larry is going to build the fuel tank , front fender , seat & rear fender.
Here is jocob telling Larry what we want & what the rule book will allow for the class we are running in.

[bigdaddyusmc]

With the bike at VOOM FACTOR getting the tank & fenders made,There isn't much to report on the bike. Tomorrow Jacob & I are going to take some parts to Larry & check on his progress.

Today I made a run up to JACK'S GARAGE in Fountain Valley CA to see my friend Jack Underwood. For those of you that don't know about JACK'S GARAGE ... your missing out.... Jack opens his garage door every morning at 7am (Except Holiday's) He pushes out his old street roadster & his old dry lakes roadster. For the next 3 hours Hot Rodders & Racers show up to  drink coffee, eat donuts , do a little bench racing & tell jokes. You never know who will be there , sometime some of the BIG names of racing will show up. If you have a question about racing Jack can most of the time get you an answer or someone there will help you out.




Jack sometimes has t-shirt you can buy,  but everytime I have been there, he has been out of shirts or he doesn't have one in my size. This morning was no different. NO T-SHIRTS. But I did luck out... He had cast aluminum car plaques shapped like the head of a flathead ford that say JACK'S GARAGE F.V., This is a rough casting, with a little machine work & some paint. This plaque will become a prized posession in my collection

[bigdaddyusmc]

Jacob found a bitchen fuel cap. It is a VERTX V-3  vented cap with a vibration lock


Jacob machined a aluminum receiver & delivered it to Larry so he could install it on the fuel tank

[bigdaddyusmc]

Bit by bit we are getting stuff done while the bike is in  having the tank , fender & body made
Jacob has the pit stand pretty much done , we took it to  ZOOM FACTOR to see how it works before we button up the welding & send it for powder coat.

[maj]

Are you going to be somewhat limited by the gearing ?? is there alternate model shaft drives you could use like the 3 cyl yamaha 750 or later Honda cruisers
or do what the drag V maxes did and convert to chain drive ??

[Jonny Hotnuts]

or do what the drag V maxes did and convert to chain drive ??

I would see that as a problem due to the orientation of the crank. Unlike the VMax the crank in this bike is turning the same direction as the shaft. It is possible but makes the process more problematic and further increase the inherent loss in a drive line system where the energy is transferred from one rotational direction to another. (<this might be duke as I am just thinking out loud and writing it down.....)

Depending on desired speed gearing may be an issue....unless Robinson is willing to pop out some high ratios....or maybe some really big OD tires!

That being said, I really like this bike and always wanted a CT500. Keep up the awesome work!~

~JH

[1212FBGS]

our first "M" cx500 we used a right angle drive to convert to chain drive.... for the "A" chassis we just turned the darn motor sideways
kent

[edinlr]

What kind of right drive did you use that could handle the horsepower and rpm?

[bigdaddyusmc]

Honda built the CX500TC as a street bike / highway cruiser , They never intended for it to be a race bike. Weather they did it on purpose or not . They built in a lot of road blocks in making this bike run  FAST!!!!. The gearing is just one of the issue….. We are aware of that, but being a new build that is something we are going to address down the road (or should I say SALT).  

Being our first year ( or should I say 6 months) to build a salt bike , I think it would be pretty arrogant to think that 3 salt bike newbe's could solve all the inherent issues of making a CX500TC run FAST & set a record on our first trip to the salt.  Don’t get me wrong….. A record in our class would be nice , but we are in this to built a bitchen salt bike , see how fast this bike will go & have FUN.

The belly tank & car owner ( I will not use his name out of respect …), That we went to speedweek 2011 with was one headache after another. Not being the car owner , we had little to say about what or how things got done.  I had a great time being at Bonneville 2011 even with all the problems we had. It was cool watching the other cars run & I got to know a lot of cool folks. BUT…. It was almost embarrassing to be in the pits working on that car & have the car owner freak out at us on a daily basis over stupid stuff that was his fault in the first place. We would solve a problem, Tow 8+ miles to the starting line & have something  else go wrong. The crew finally decided to pull the plug because it became a safety issue. The car owner didn’t agree with us & has been talking smack about us for almost a year….That is why Jacob & I walked away from that project.....

For 2012 Speedweek we want to go to Bonneville , have a good time & hopefully gain the respect of the other racers.…. Our first objective was to build a quality race machine. Once it is done, we are going to Bonneville to shake down this bike. See what it does & then address the issues as they come up.  

Sure there are a lot of things we would like to try. But with limited time & money , there is only so much we can do before Speedweek.

 

[bigdaddyusmc]

I stopped by to see how larry was doing on the bike. He was working on the front fender

[Tman]

Randy, after reading your reply #100 I have to say I am sorry how things turned out with the lakester last year. I went back to your rebuilt thread on the garage journal and looked again at all the effort you guys put into it. Bummer.

[Koncretekid]

One thing is for sure about building a land speed racer - - you either pay the big bucks, or you have to have a great deal of talent and resources on your team.  From what I've seen of your build, you have the talent and the resources.  You're building a first class machine here.  Unfortunately, you may find that the parts you will need to go further will start costing serious money (as I have)!  Have fun and I hope to see you there, although I will only be at Loring and BUB.

Tom

[bigdaddyusmc]

Stopped in to see how the body work was going , Larry has the front fender almost done.









While I was there Gary Brady showed up with the gas tank. We had talked about a LOW curved coffin style tank. I was totally blown away when I saw the tank. It still needs the mounting tabs & petcocks ,But this will give you a basic idea of what it will look like when it is done