Author Topic: Team Go Dog, Go! Modified Partial Streamliners  (Read 1438117 times)

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Offline wobblywalrus

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Re: Team Go Dog, Go! Modified Partial Streamliners
« Reply #1275 on: July 13, 2013, 06:13:09 PM »
Tomorrow morning I leave for California.  Rose is giving her 250 Honda Rebel to the boys in Camp Pendleton.  Gas is expensive down there and 80 mpg will do them some good.  Taking the bike there will involve going down and back the entire length of Calif.  The big question.

Does anyone know of some used machine and tooling places?  Also, I want to buy some titanium bits and pieces for projects.  My problem is, I need to know the alloy I am working with.  Basic unalloyed ti is to close to high strength aluminum to be worth the extra cost.  Ti alloys can be worth the cost as a substitute for steel.  Does any one know of a source?   

Offline manta22

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Re: Team Go Dog, Go! Modified Partial Streamliners
« Reply #1276 on: July 13, 2013, 08:11:55 PM »
I can't recommend any particular source for titanium other than eBay. Look for an alloy called "6Al4V"-- it is the most common structural titanium alloy.

Regards, Neil  Tucson, AZ
Regards, Neil  Tucson, AZ

Offline wobblywalrus

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Re: Team Go Dog, Go! Modified Partial Streamliners
« Reply #1277 on: July 14, 2013, 01:07:35 AM »
Thanks, Neil, I will do that.

The FIM paperwork went out yesterday to the AMA and some was scanned and sent in today.  One thing they ask for are pictures of the bike with and without streamlining.   I knew about this and planned ahead.  All cosmetic stuff was done last year before 2013 BUB and I took the photos.  This winter I concentrated on the other things like working on the engine.  This way, the 2013 pictures will represent what I will be running this year.

The record in my class is just under 160 mph and it was set by a 1000cc Aprilia.  I think it was a Tuono.  My best speed in 2013 was just over 130 mph on a 3-mile course.  This year I should have 10 more horsepower.  I can see through the new professionally made front windshield so I can tuck down.  Also, I worked on the fairing shape in the lower front to reduce the "scoop" effect of the hole in front of the engine.  These changes will reduce the frontal area and the drag coefficient.  The ZR rated tires will help a little, too.  All these little changes and running on a five mile course will get me into the lower 150's if conditions are good, everything works, and I do not screw up.

That is the big plan.  150 mph and no crash and burn.  I will be happy with that, for sure.  However, just in case miracles happen, I am putting on a teensy rear sprocket.  That way, if the improbable occurs, like a tailwind in both directions, the engine will turn 8,000 rpm at 160 mph and it wont blow apart.       

Offline wobblywalrus

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Re: Team Go Dog, Go! Modified Partial Streamliners
« Reply #1278 on: July 14, 2013, 01:50:00 PM »
These three places are in the i-net:  Grandis Titanium on 30422 Esperanza Rancho Station in Santa Margarita, International Metal Trading on 15330 Minnesota Ave in Paramount, and Letvin Scrap Metal on 13210 Figueroa Street in Los Angeles.  I've been to LA a few times.  I've been to the moon more times than to Paramount or Santa Margarita.  This afternoon I will make a list of what I need and the alloy properties.

Ti is a very noble metal in comparison to everything else on the jalopy.  Some thought will be needed about galvanic reaction.

Offline wobblywalrus

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Re: Team Go Dog, Go! Modified Partial Streamliners
« Reply #1279 on: July 24, 2013, 12:43:45 PM »
We are on the road in California.

The alloy Neil recommends is ti with 6% aluminum and 4% vanadium.  It is readily available as new and scrap stock and it is in the Grade 5 alloy classification.  It has almost twice the strength of Grade 2.  It is essential to know your alloys when buying ti.  They have vastly different properties and some are very, very, hard to machine.  All round stock in the photo is ti 6-4.

The folks at Grandis Titanium and International Metal Trading gave me good service and sold me all I could afford.  I was given this address:  Titanium Metal Supply, Poway, California, (858) 748-8510.  The list I gave them had fractional and metric sizes.  This helped.  About half is metric.  One of the rednecks down here in socal calls the metric system "communist measurements."   

The bike reminds me of how we built them back "in the day."  There are parts from at last two Hondas here and all sorts of other stuff.   Lots of fun then and now.

Offline Koncretekid

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Re: Team Go Dog, Go! Modified Partial Streamliners
« Reply #1280 on: July 24, 2013, 05:13:29 PM »
Bo,
You gotta love the old Honda 350's!  I've got a couple of them plus a few too many spare parts. That one is just the thing for bringing home the groceries.

Good luck on your endeavor and I will see you at BUB's.
Tom
We get too soon oldt, and too late schmart!
Life's uncertain - eat dessert first!

Offline wobblywalrus

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Re: Team Go Dog, Go! Modified Partial Streamliners
« Reply #1281 on: July 28, 2013, 11:35:57 PM »
We will see you there, Tom.

Still in California.  Today we went to San Francisco, walked around China Town, climbed up the Coit Tower, and went down to the Embarkadero.  I am not sure of the spelling.  There are all sorts of things there about the America Cup boat race there.  Those things do not use sails or airfoils to catch the wind.  They use big tall fins with what we call the ideal streamlining shape - a blunter nose tapering back in a streamlined teardrop shape.  The shape is the same on either side of the fin.  They orient the fin to the wind so there is laminar flow on one side and detached flow on the other.  The air pressure differential between the two fin sides pushes the fin toward the low pressure side.  This drives the boat along.  The boats can travel over three times the speed of the wind that hits the fin.

There are four boats running with entries from NZ, Italy, US, and Sweden.  All are hidden away so no one can see their secrets.  There is this Louis Vuitton shop there.  They have a bunch of purses and this nice looking Americas Cup windbreaker.  Nothing fancy.  There are ones with the same quality for $29.95 at K-mart.  The price is $2,300 USD.

Our little land speed racing world is looking good.  Hopefully the rich and famous will not discover it.  They can inflate the costs of everything to levels we can not afford.

Offline wobblywalrus

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Re: Team Go Dog, Go! Modified Partial Streamliners
« Reply #1282 on: August 01, 2013, 12:57:25 AM »
A visit to El Mirage was in order.  We entered the lake on the entrance near the BLM building.  We were directed to go to the other end of the lake to find the SCTA course after lots of asking around.  The first photo shows what I think is the course, looking from the far end, toward the start at Callahans.  The surface is shown in the second photo and it looks good and there should be no problem racing on it with the Triumph.  In my desert racing days we called this "caliche." 

There was all sorts of junk on the surface as shown in the third photo.  This is the stuff in the path I walked.  There is a lot more out there.  The bent nails are sorta unusual.  What is the story behind these?

The mirages are spectacular.  The lake appeared to be full from edge to edge with turquoise water when we looked at it from Callahans.  The lake was completely dry.   

Offline Koncretekid

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Re: Team Go Dog, Go! Modified Partial Streamliners
« Reply #1283 on: August 01, 2013, 09:06:17 AM »
Interesting collection of junk.  I'm surprised the metal salvagers didn't beat you to it.  The nails are clinched over, as when attaching thin plywood using nails that are too long.  I'm thinking maybe Ed Whizbang"s "Flying Credenza" must have exploded there.
We get too soon oldt, and too late schmart!
Life's uncertain - eat dessert first!

Offline wobblywalrus

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Re: Team Go Dog, Go! Modified Partial Streamliners
« Reply #1284 on: August 03, 2013, 01:47:56 AM »
The better items went into the official team Go Dog Go nut and bolt bins.

Some more pix from Calif.  The 37 1/2 mph speed limit was official and not a prank.  The sign on the side of the road said it, too.  Marine Corps motorcycles.  They are diesel and similar to the ones that Hayes races at BUB.  Gas prices.  This might not seem like a lot to our British and European cousins.  Things are far apart here and a hike in gas prices is a big deal.     

Offline wobblywalrus

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Re: Team Go Dog, Go! Modified Partial Streamliners
« Reply #1285 on: August 04, 2013, 02:57:13 PM »
There are a couple of weeks to get everything done, I know where I am, and I can see as far as I will go.  The engine is broken in and this evening I will switch to the racing cams, carbs, and mufflers.  The dyno session is on the morning of the 8th.  The motor will be finished except for a pair of hotter cams.  I will be using the old 813 grind ones.  The record I am running against is 159 mph and I need those knockers to get the power to reach 160.  There is no time or money to put them in this year.  They will go in when I get back from AUS in 2015.

Meanwhile, I need to make sure what I have is running at top form and safe.  This side cover is from a wrecked bike and it was scratched.  Normally I would polish it up and along with everything else I am making.  Not much time is left.  It will go on the bike with a rough sanded finish and all sorts of other parts will be fitted as machined.  Looks are secondary importance and the decision is to build for speed and safety.

Folks looking at this thing do not know this, of course.  They will look at the fit and finish and assume I am some sort of retarded hillbilly with an attitude.  The plan is to put the name "Leroy" on the fairing.  When people talk to me about the bike I will say it was built by my "challenged" twin brother, he has the flu, and I am doing him a favor by riding it.  A stroke of genius this is!  I should have been a politician.

Offline Koncretekid

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Re: Team Go Dog, Go! Modified Partial Streamliners
« Reply #1286 on: August 04, 2013, 04:54:36 PM »
You put "Leroy" on yours and I'll put "Junk Yard Dog" on mine, to go along with my Pit Mate, Junk Yard Husky!   If I even had a side cover as nice as that, I'd call it a show bike.
We get too soon oldt, and too late schmart!
Life's uncertain - eat dessert first!

Offline wobblywalrus

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Re: Team Go Dog, Go! Modified Partial Streamliners
« Reply #1287 on: August 05, 2013, 02:07:03 AM »
That breather has the Leroy touch.  The guy gets around.

Today I spent hours on the lathe and mill making a special fitting.  The last operation was cutting some male threads.  My lathe cuts american threads and I needed a metric one.  No one around here has metric dies so I ordered one from Fastenal.  14 mm x 1.25 mm.  It took a week to get here.

The threads were sorta hard to cut considering this was a brand new die.  I went to screw the fitting into the female threads in the other part.  The threads were so loose the male part slid, rather than screwed, into the female piece.  The jackass that ground the die made it undersize.  It was closer to a 13 mm x 1.25 mm one than a 14 mm x 1.25 die.  There was no brand name on the die.  It said "Made in China."  This die wrecked the part and Dyno Day is Thursday.  This is costing me valuable time.  I am a mad puppy.

Does McMaster Carr sell this low grade Chinese carp?  I am trying to avoid it if I can.  It does not bother me to pay more for something that works.  I need to find a new source for tools and supplies.   

Offline Koncretekid

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Re: Team Go Dog, Go! Modified Partial Streamliners
« Reply #1288 on: August 05, 2013, 01:53:32 PM »
 I don't suppose 20 tpi would be close enough.  I've bastardized a few fittings, in a pinch you know.
We get too soon oldt, and too late schmart!
Life's uncertain - eat dessert first!

Offline Old Scrambler

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Re: Team Go Dog, Go! Modified Partial Streamliners
« Reply #1289 on: August 05, 2013, 03:48:07 PM »
13 vs 14 = CLOSE Enough to some people :-o :-o

I try to specify the country of origin for any particular brand.  We are at a point where brand-loyalty says something about our age :roll:
2011 AMA Record - 250cc M-PG TRIUMPH Tiger Cub - 82.5 mph
2013 AMA Record - 250cc MPS-PG TRIUMPH Tiger Cub - 88.7 mph
2018 AMA Record - 750cc M-CG HONDA CB750 sohc - 136.6 mph
2018 AMA Record - 750cc MPS-CG HONDA CB750 sohc - 143.005 mph
2018 AMA Record - 750cc M-CF HONDA CB750 sohc - 139.85 mph
2018 AMA Record - 750cc MPS-CF HONDA CB750 sohc - 144.2025 mph

Chassis Builder / Tuner: Dave Murre