The engine!

     Today is the day the engine arrived.  How do I know, because the dog always looks this smug after trying to eat the Fex Ex lady.

     But of course the sight of the box made Jason quite happy, if not a bit derp and speechless as you can see.

     Enough of all this, how bout we just get down to the good stuff.  Like the box, and the engine it's self.

     Now I have to tell you what it is.  Well it is a Lifan 125cc with a full blown 4 speed gearbox in the traditional 1 down 3 up configuration.  Full real clutch, no automatic clutch here.  Of course we had to test fit things.

     Now she looks mean huh.  But the thing is, I am having problems getting EPA/CARB certs for this engine, even though it is used in other bikes that happen to be sold in the US and even in California.  But I am sure we will persevere, because once I have those documents it can be registered.  Not sure how we are going to do that, but it is on the list.

     I have done some calculations as for gear ratios, with the sprockets we have now the thing will do 38.2 MPH at 7500 RPM's.  But that is boring, I want these ratios.

17 tooth front, 26 tooth rear ..

Calcs. 

7500 RPM's  to primary gears  2015 RPM's

2015 RPM's  to final drive.   Sprocket speed is  2103

1.529  sprocket ratio  really  ... remember it is not over drive...

1375 RPM's at the wheel.  one rotation of tire is 4 feet....

5500 feet per minute.. =   62.4 MPH...

1st gear..

2015 to primary 

1st gear is 2.833 = 711 RPM at front sprocket

465 RPM's at rear wheel

1860 feet per minute  = 21 MPH

2nd

1.706 ratio..  =  1181 RPM front sprocket

772 real wheel RPM's 

3088 feet per minute = 35 MPH

3rd gear

1.238 ratio = 1627 at front sprocket

1064 rear wheel RPM's

4256 feet per second =  48 mph

     Enough said on that right.  And really the thing will wind out to about 9000 RPM's so I have heard on the net.  So that is just that much faster.  Right now the decision has been made to stick with our old sprockets since we happen to have them on hand and we really do not want to order more.

     Cash for us both is getting a touch tight, I mean I dropped cash on getting real Internet here.  (But I have a 15 gig a month cap, bastards)  And we happen to both be out of work as well.  So we are on a no cash budget, but not like that has stopped us so far.  Just made things a bit slow.  If you want to see my Resume, please just leave a comment.  I could use the work.   Ok that is it for this week, see you all next week.

Global warming, and filler...with things to come.

You know, we have not had a winter here in Benton.  I mean there should be lots of snow on the Whites right now.  And there is basically nothing, and there has not been anything all winter long.  Therefore who ever says global warming is a myth needs to be drug behind my SP-500 all the way up the rockiest trail there is here!

     There is a good thing about all of this however.  We have acquired some things, and I have acquired some things.  Now I am not going to let the cat out of the bag, but I will give some hints.

     I bet you all are chomping at the bit now.   Lets just say that is going to be one hell of a set of posts, and they are coming soon.

     In other news, the seals are here for the Kodiak.  But I have been a bit busy to get it buttoned up, so perhaps next week on that.  The pot belly has been stalled as well.  But to keep you all on the edge of your seat.  The engine HAS BEEN CHOSEN.  But I am not going to tell you what just yet!   In other news the SP-500 has eaten it's swing arm bearings, so I have to get to that too.  Great things are coming, check this space next week!

The blasted Kodiak...

     Well I have been pulled aside again because of the Kodiak.  You know that quad is just a pain in my rear.  Well lets get some background here first.  I am dealing with a 2001 YMF400 Kodiak quad, and it has been just a problem child.   It was running fine and then one day it would just not start.  That is why it got dropped off to me.  So I started looking into it, and first thing is first.  No spark, well that can be pretty bad with these more modern quads.  So I started testing components, first the coil was way way out of spec and basically shorted out so that got changed.

     We still had no spark after that, so I tested everything else and it was all with in spec.  Well with some of these machines that means a hill of beans ya know.  So I changed out the CDI unit because that is what the trouble tree in the factory service manual said to do.  STILL no spark.  By now I am getting cranky, so I stripped it down to nothing and checked every wire in the harness.  Things tested well, so on a lark I hit the magic button and the blasted thing started.

     I warmed it up a bit and suddenly out of the blue, it dies.  So I check the stator and the pick up coil.  Out of spec, but to be sure I let it cool down and things were within spec again.  And she fired right up.  But this time with AC voltage going to the battery.  Oh joy, the can of worms.   So I tore into the side case to get things ripped out, and to check the woodruff key since those have been known to shear.

 
      Really have to dig in there to get at the blasted stator and pick up coil huh.

 It did clean up nice and all, and I did a nice job of re wrapping the wiring loom.

 
     And there is all the parts replaced so far.  The Stator with the pick up coil, the CDI unit and the Rectifier.  I do hope this gets the blasted thing going.  I will know here soon, waiting on some seals.  You guys will know when it is running, there will be a sudden post, with pictures of me riding it the way it should be.  Hard and dirty!   Then I will send it back to it's owner after I see if my mom can ride it.  More on that latter....

     See you all next Monday.