Author Topic: Team Go Dog, Go! Modified Partial Streamliners  (Read 1437891 times)

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Offline Cereal KLR

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Re: Team Go Dog, Go! Modified Partial Streamliners
« Reply #1185 on: May 09, 2013, 05:46:26 PM »
As these things collect miles, more of these remedies will be sought. I noticed mine has some journal wear on the left side front cam post which I suspect is the last one that gets the oil supply. The cams are straight cut gear driven, and as the spring tension lifts the cams away from the drive gear they will be singing loud and clear.
I thought I would die young, but now its too late.

Offline wobblywalrus

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Re: Team Go Dog, Go! Modified Partial Streamliners
« Reply #1186 on: May 09, 2013, 11:49:13 PM »
Pete and Cereal, the wear is not that bad right now.  I just need to be aware of it when I set the valve clearances, according to Kibblewhite.

The 813 cams are the mildest performance cams and there are two more radical grinds.  Either of them will require larger valves.  The line boring is planned for the future when I go to the real hot cams.

The cam gears sing and clatter at low rpm.  I took out the silencer gears.  It is a sound I like.

Right now I am trying to figure out how to keep racing as a pensioner.  That will be a trick, for sure.   

Offline wobblywalrus

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Re: Team Go Dog, Go! Modified Partial Streamliners
« Reply #1187 on: May 13, 2013, 01:27:03 AM »
Some basic stuff on tires.  This has been a topic lately.

Usually a couple of rim widths are suitable for any size tire and this is discussed in the tire manufacturer's literature.  The widest contact patch occurs when the tire is used with the wider of the appropriate rims.

There are many aspects to tire performance and it is not possible to satisfy them all with a single tire.  ZR tires are designed to run cool at high speeds.  One way to do this is to reduce tire flexure and use rubber compounds that produce less heat when flexed.  Sometimes a tire with a slower rating, say an H, will flex a bit more heat up faster.  This can be an advantage for normal street use.  Usually I run quality tires with the lowest speed rating for the bike.  "H" rated would be my choice for the Triumph if land speed racing was not done.  The H rating is 130 mph maximum.

Race and some track day tires do not heat up and grip until they are ridden for awhile.  This is awfully dangerous for a street bike and especially one that is used for short trips in cold and wet weather.

Tires designed to work together tend to.  It is a good idea to spend a little extra to get a matching set.  The battleaxes are front and rear of the same model.     

Air leaks faster from tubed and spoked wheels.  A rip in the tube and leakage through the spoke holes allow this.  The tube adds weight to a spinning mass and this is not good.  Tubed tires run a bit hotter, too.  The spoked wheels and tubed tires on this Triumph are good for the 150 to 160 mph maximum speeds I will be going in the near future.  One piece "Mag" type wheels with tubeless skins would be used for anything faster.

Modern tires fit tighter to modern rims and it can be hard to change them.  Lots of tire lubricant is a trick.  It must be compatible with rubber.  This gallon size jug of Ruglide is from NAPA auto.  Baby powder should be used inside the tire and on the outside of the tube.  The talc powder works best rather than the cornstarch type.

Little pieces of leather are used between the tire levers and the rims.  Often I use three tire levers.  One is to hold one side of the bead and the other two are used to walk the other side of the bead onto the rim.  It takes a helper to do this.  They hold the single tire lever while I walk the other two.

I do not remember where I got these aluminum tire levers.  They are gentle on the tire and rim and I puncture fewer tubes when I use them.


Offline wobblywalrus

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Re: Team Go Dog, Go! Modified Partial Streamliners
« Reply #1188 on: May 13, 2013, 01:43:52 AM »
I got my pictures mixed up.  This one shows the aluminum tire levers.

A picture in the previous post shows an almost new tire, a one-foot long steel ruler laying atop it, and clap board siding on a house wall in the background.  The grooves on the wall are perpendicular with the center line of the tire.  Note how the ruler is tilted slightly.  This is typical wear and it is due to the crown on our roads.  The highest part of the road is at the center to our left and the lowest part is the outside edge to our right.

This biased wear makes the right side of the tire wider and the bike wants to fall to the left when it is run on a flat surface like the salt.  One way to correct this is to drive up onto a concrete sidewalk, grab the front brake and let out the clutch.  Lean the bike to the right during the ensuing burnout and scrub down the right side of the tire.  A few minutes of this will grind the tire back in to a nice symmetrical shape.

Offline wobblywalrus

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Re: Team Go Dog, Go! Modified Partial Streamliners
« Reply #1189 on: May 13, 2013, 10:50:13 PM »
Some more about tires.

It is important to true the rim and it does not pay to be obsessive about it.  The tire itself is not made that accurate.  Usually a rim true to 0.5 mm is OK.  Little bumps and dips where the rim is welded together are acceptable.  The wheel should be remounted in the jig to check its balance.  The typical static balance is OK for most narrower tires.  Wide ones can have heavy spots on a side and dynamic balancing is needed.  This is the time to check the tires shape.  It should not have bumps and lumps.  Occasionally a tire is made poorly and it should be rejected.  Distortion can also indicate it is mounted wrong or the tube is kinked inside of the tire.

It is common practice to use a whole lotta air pressure to seat tires on their rims. Excess air pressure is dangerous and it can hurt the wheel or tire.  About 40 psi should be all that is needed.  The trick is to brush some tire lube in the gap between the rim and the tire. Inflate it to 40 psi and leave it there for about ten minutes.  It takes time to pop some of them onto the rims.  Deflate, lube, and reinflate as needed.

Tubes in tubeless tires on spoked wheels is done as OEM practice on Triumph Bonnevilles.  It is also common for adventure bikes and we are starting to use radial tires on dirt bikes.  One thing to do if possible is to use a tube for a radial.  This one is made by Bridgestone.  They are tough.

It is hard to reach into a tubeless tire to grab the valve stem and to stuff it down through the hole in the rim.  The tires are stiff and there is not much room for fingers.  I take the valve core out and stick half of a chopstick up through the hole.  Then, I push the valve stem onto the chopstick, twist it a few times to engage the threads, and pull the valve stem down through the hole.

Tubeless tires often have little ridges on the inside and they will make wear patterns on tubes.  Sometimes I cannot get a radial tire tube so I use heavy duty IRC tubes.  The ridges will not wear through these thicker tubes.       

Offline wobblywalrus

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Re: Team Go Dog, Go! Modified Partial Streamliners
« Reply #1190 on: May 15, 2013, 08:47:06 PM »
The cylinder head came in this afternoon.  These modifications can be ordered from Triumph Performance.  Kibblewhite did this one.  I had some custom work done and it was best if I could talk directly with the machinist.

It is ported with a multi angle valve job.  This is essential for these bikes and a person is wasting time and money if this is not done.  The intake valves are custom made and 2mm larger than standard.  This prevents choke with the 994 kit at high rpm.  The big valves are not needed, otherwise.

Racing cams were used.  I used them with the standard valve springs and they buckled under the load.  This pushed the cam followers sideways and it wore the follower bores.  Any time a performance cam is used the racing springs should be installed.  The shim under bucket kit is a good idea and it is installed.

The springs can be shimmed for race and unshimmed for street.  This is something special Kibblewhite did for me.  No shims are needed with the standard cams and this will reduce the seat pressure and valve train wear.  The shims are installed for racing.

Basically, If I spent the time and money I do on racing for the other aspects of my life, I would have a lot less problems.       

Offline Koncretekid

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Re: Team Go Dog, Go! Modified Partial Streamliners
« Reply #1191 on: May 15, 2013, 09:53:43 PM »
Bo, you are a wealth of information.  I thought I knew a lot, but I learn something new every time I read your posts! Thanks.


Basically, If I spent the time and money I do on racing for the other aspects of my life, I would have a lot less problems.       

If you spent the time and money on other aspects of life that you do on racing, you wouldn't have the time or the money to race. :-D
Tom
We get too soon oldt, and too late schmart!
Life's uncertain - eat dessert first!

Offline Cereal KLR

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Re: Team Go Dog, Go! Modified Partial Streamliners
« Reply #1192 on: May 15, 2013, 10:50:15 PM »
Nice work, it should really breath now. Did you get the newer cam tower bolts? I swear they are made from a different material. My motor is an 04, not sure if upgraded later on.
I thought I would die young, but now its too late.

Offline wobblywalrus

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Re: Team Go Dog, Go! Modified Partial Streamliners
« Reply #1193 on: May 16, 2013, 01:27:19 AM »
Cereal, some are the newer type.  They are silver instead of black and they are stronger.  As a Thruxton owner, you might be interested.  Jeff Brooks got third place on his Triumph Thruxton in the opening round of the Oregon Road Racing Association opening round.  The first time a Thruxton has been on the podium.  They raced at Sears Point in early May at a National.   I am not sure how they did.  Jeff is a member of our local Triumph club.

Tom, motors are to me like the white whale was to Ahab.  My plan always is to open them up no more frequently than every five years.  This way, folks and me, too, have forgotten what it was like the last time.   

Offline wobblywalrus

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Re: Team Go Dog, Go! Modified Partial Streamliners
« Reply #1194 on: May 18, 2013, 07:03:59 PM »
This engine is built with the intent of changing the compression ratio as needed form street to race.  Experience with the cams and advance curve I am using shows it will run well on pump gas with a 10.5 to 1 compression ratio.  The big question I has was, how much change can I get by increasing the head gasket thickness?  I wanted to order pistons with a higher compression ratio that I could reduce when needed by using a thicker gasket.

My favorite gasket material for race engines is copper and I use it for both the base and head gaskets.  My feeling is it is good to conduct heat away from hot spots.  The standard head gasket is 0.043 inches thick.  Thicker gasket copper is available in 0.063 inches and 0.080 inches thicknesses.  The calculation sheet shows I can get a 10.7 to 1 static compression ratio with a 0.063 gasket.  Calculations not shown say I can use a 0.080 thick gasket to drop the compression ratio to 10.2 to 1.

A lot of things attach to the cylinder head.  I put the head on with 0.080 thick washers between it and the cylinder and check the fits of the carb manifolds, header pipes, oil lines, and the cam chain.  The 0.080 thick gasket will not work with the cam chain.  It is too short.  The cam chain has enough length to allow the 0.063 gasket to fit.

Another thing I look at is cam timing.  In general, raising the cylinder head on an overhead cam engine with chain drive advances the cam timing.  Usually is is only a degree or two and I ignore it.  On occasion I have put on slotted cam sprockets to get the cams back to the specified timing.  There is no provision on the Triumph for slotted sprockets.  As seen from the fuzzy photo, the cam marks line up really close with the 0.063 thick shims.  Cam timing should not be a problem.

I order a couple of 0.063 inch thick gaskets from Cometic.  The 10.7 to 1 ratio should be OK with pump gas.  I am not out of the woods on this little project.  There are the o-rings and that will be in tomorrow's post.

 

Offline wobblywalrus

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Re: Team Go Dog, Go! Modified Partial Streamliners
« Reply #1195 on: May 21, 2013, 01:34:07 AM »
The new head gasket is thicker and I need to seal the oil passages.  The photo shows them and the sketch lists the dimensions of the groove where the o-ring fits.  This first drawing is of the setup as shipped from Triumph Performance with the 0.043 inch thick head gasket.  This o-ring has a static axial load and the Parker o-ring book says it should have a minimum squeeze of 0.007 inches and a maximum squeeze of 30 percent of its diameter.

There are tolerances for o-rings and the narrowest one that is within tolerance is 0.100 inches thick.  It is squeezed 0.020 so it is OK.  The fattest one within tolerance is 0.106.  It is squeezed 24% so it is OK.

The groove where the o-ring goes is a "gland" in o-ring talk.  The squeezed o-ring should occupy 60 to 80% of the gland area when it is squeezed.  The smaller O-ring occupies 88% of the area and the larger one fills 98%.  This is a bit high, but OK.

Offline wobblywalrus

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Re: Team Go Dog, Go! Modified Partial Streamliners
« Reply #1196 on: May 21, 2013, 01:44:36 AM »
Now I draw up the gland with the thicker head gasket.  The original 3/32 inch thick o-ring can be 0.100 inches thick and the gland is .100 inches tall.  The o-ring will not seal.  A bigger one is needed.  The next larger size is 1/8 diameter.  Thickness tolerances are 0.135 to 0.143 inches as shown on the drawing.  The 30% squeeze for the fattest o-ring is OK.  It is at the edge of the recommended value.  The gland fill percentage is 126 to 142%.  This is far too much.  The o-ring will be bulging out of its groove.  This o-ring size cannot be used. 

Offline wobblywalrus

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Re: Team Go Dog, Go! Modified Partial Streamliners
« Reply #1197 on: May 21, 2013, 01:53:51 AM »
A 3mm x 13mm o-ring is tried next.  It is between the 3/32 inch and 1/8 inch o-rings in size.  The squeeze is OK and the gland fill percentage is high and similar to the original 3/32 o-ring.  I will use this size.

The o-ring needs to withstand hot engine temperatures and withstand hot oil under pressure.  Lots of tables and other info is in the manufacturer's literature.  The Viton material seems well suited.

Some are on order from Rocket Seals.  The little buggers are expensive and they are not in stock.  They are on order from the manufacturer. 

Offline wobblywalrus

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Re: Team Go Dog, Go! Modified Partial Streamliners
« Reply #1198 on: May 22, 2013, 01:12:24 AM »
The new valve train set up uses 9.5 mm diameter shims.  All four Japanese makers and Triumph use them for something.  They are easy to get.

The seat force is 45# with standard Triumph valve springs.  I had no valve float problems at the 8,400 rpm red line with the hotter #813 cams and the Triumph springs.  The new valve train has 52# seat force with no 0.030 spacers under the springs and a 60# seat force with the spacers.  The 52# seat force should be more than enough for anything I do.  I pulled out the spacers and I am saving them for later when I have a more radical cam or higher red line.

Advice from Kibblewhite is "There is enough clearance in the housing bore to allow the cam to tilt a bit, so if you check it with both sets of valves closed you get a different reading than if you have one set of valves open.  Also, the timing chain will exert some downward force on the cam as well, and this will affect the measurement.  You'll have to make the call as to what is the closest setup to running conditions is, and check it there, and make sure you always check it in the same position so you're always comparing apples to apples."

The cam chain runs on an idler gear so I put that in the head along with both cams.  They are timed correctly.  Then, I put the head on top of an old pair of cylinders.  Now I can turn the cams without bending the valves and this simulates the valve train in use.  The valves are reshimmed for the standard cams.  I needed a couple of shims so I went down to the Honda shop and asked for some for a 996cc Super Hawk.  They had the ones I needed.

Offline wobblywalrus

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Re: Team Go Dog, Go! Modified Partial Streamliners
« Reply #1199 on: May 22, 2013, 01:33:15 AM »