Sunday Superbike Stuff

Photo From Here

Graeme Crosby's Suzuki Superbike from the early days. Man I love these old things. They'd go like stink but they were really cobbled together. Check out the muffler! Guys like Pops Yoshimura could get 140 horse out of them but making them handle well enough to run with the lighter and more nimble BMW's, Ducati's and Moto Guzzi's was a real trick. I'm going to have to get an oil cooler for my 900 if I'm going to go Superbike replica. My original idea was more cafe than Superbike but I'm leaning more towards a Superbike/hooligan mash-up now. We'll see how it progresses.

Photo From Here

Here's the point's cover off the Vetter Kawasaki ridden by Reggie Pridmore. You can see how they shortened the inner piece to gain additional cornering clearance. This would require moving the condensers outside the cover or as they did later, cut the bottom of the cover completely off and go to an electronic ignition. 

Here's a couple of beat up points covers I had laying around. Both of them have hit the ground as you can tell from the bottom photo. One of the covers is much heavier, as can be seen from the inside view in the top photo. They are both Kawasaki parts but I have no idea when they made the switch or if the heavier one was a special duty part number. They did make a different one for the police model. The height was a little shorter over all but it had a bump out in the center of the cover to clear the bolt holding the points cam on. If I decide to make a race type cover, I can alter one of these or use them to practice/prototype with.

If I wanted to run without an alternator I could use the cover on the left. When I was drag racing I used a total loss ignition system and just ran it off the battery. That's what this one was for. Probably not the best thing for a street bike, however. The sandcast clutch cover is going to go on the bike. It's a little dirty now from laying around but it'll fit right in with the look of the early Superbikes.

This is the part that goes behind the countershaft sprocket. You can see the missing piece on the left hand side. This won't be too hard to fix. In addition to the missing piece, one of the threaded holes is stripped so I'll need to Heli-Coil that too. I'm going to try and get this piece done today.

Here's the right rear view of the bike. I got the swingarm bridge tacked on and I've got the exhaust mostly done. I made a bracket to hold the rear of the header in place and got that tacked on. It bolts to a frame bracket I added when I was running the sidecar. It has a 1/2" hole in it so I made a bushing to put in the hole for a 6mm bolt.  After I finish up the rear brake I'll finish the exhaust pipe. I want to shorten up the pipe right behind where it's bell mouthed to fit over the collector but I don't know how much room I need for the brake line and fittings coming off the master cylinder. I'll probably be able to take an 1-1/2" out but I'll wait on that so I don't screw it up. I might take a little off the back as well. As it is it clears the axle nut and the shock bolt so it'll work as is, but it'll look a little more tucked in and tidy if I shorten things up a bit. After I get that done I'll make another bracket and a hanger to support the back end of the pipe a little bit better. Regardless of what I do, it already looks better than the pipe on the Suzuki up there.

Got a lot more done than I figured I'd be able to the past two days. If I get the countershaft situation taken care of today, that means that the clutch release plate will be good to go also. Things are taking shape here. I get this one done it will probably be my regular ride and I'll sell the SV650. Need to thin the herd.