Initial work on sorting out when it goes "Bang"

 

And so the saga starts!

So first things first...how do spin the engine over on the stand so I could work out the firing timing? Roll up.. grandad's scooter...classic starter that has performed admirably for the whole project!

Now...ECU

Neil Sands a contact of Chris Wilsons in the UK had given the project some thought and we went backwards and forwards (before I knew I was going to end up with the project) and had started grafting a Motec M400 and integrating into the existing wiring loom.

Assisted by a wiring diagram from the exact bike that I managed to obtain from one of my old colleagues.

Started with a Motec M400... a bit of a hack...(a lot of a hack).. to get it to fire at the right time.. but first.. work out what it should be!.. out with the old dial guage and TDC all cylinders.. and work out the timing of the crankshaft. Back to basics.

Odd-fire settings in the Motec world... have to calculate the firing splits... based on the missing tooth trigger.. how many degrees away from the missing tooth on the rising side of the tooth / signal....

Grandad's scooter... spin the engine...timing light...etc...not exactly factory stuff but needs must..back to basics..

Now Tom O'Kane one of the engineers at Team Roberts now Suzuki MotoGP.. and a Dr in Engineering with a thesis in motorcycle chassis design!.. yep started with us at Team Roberts!...  Designed the firing order and balancing calcs for the triple.. there were a few designs but this was brilliant.. had a balance shaft (which I will show you later) but more big bang.. yet able to be balanced.. a very tricky problem that worked beautifully! Well done Tom! I had never seen the finished result but very impressive!

Certainly had my head spinning to get ensure it fired at the right time and based on the numbers below. 

More electronics!

All very well to get it to fire at the right time...interesting that Motec have "offsets" and "warm up" timing modes etc.. designed for four strokes that influence the final timing point it actually selects.. had to nut out all the self learning features and turn them all off so I could get to basic firing first.

Exhaust valve servo, power jets, throttle position and gear position inputs:

Once we have a basic ignition map based on engine RPM and per cylinder firing... the engine will start.. supposedly!..

We got it to start after cleaning carbs etc.. no chokes by the way so all a bit lean to start... sounded flat and like the timing was not right... plenty of strobe light and degrees on the trigger plate calculations...

Neils hacks to make the Motec operate were "creative!" Programming the Manifold Pressure sensor input to replicate throttle position sensor.. so had to program the MAP map against RPM to set the timing for the correct RPM against throttle.... messy and hard to keep your head straight around what you are trying to achieve.

Quote from Neil: "I had to be a bit creative as the m400 wont drive the servo valve so I used the drive by wire function to do this. Throttle position is actually put in as the map sensor 0kpa is 0% throttle 100kpa is 100% throttle. I have had to limit some of the break point due to limitations in the software"

I got it all to work but was pretty ugly.. and it didn't drive the exhaust valve into the right positions smoothly well... not at all really..

Got it good enough where I thought we should run it somewhere...so I went up and down the road a few times with no fairing .. yikes.. well dodgy!

By this time I had Ashley, Veggie and Sam on board for the madness so they helped start it hold it... shake their head saying "ummm PT that doesn't sound right!" Great fun!

Ashley!

                                                                    Sam and Veggie!

So thought I would head to the local racetrack to do some laps to see if I was somewhere near. Arranged to take a local rider Jay Lawrence to ride it but also thought I would ride it initially to check what was going on with it and be the first "guinea pig" - Pic below in the "rustic" facilities at Manfield!

Well it ran kind of OK... but not much power a bit flat...and it wouldn't run more than a couple of laps without overheating..and boiling... I should have given up then!

Opening large can of worms comes to mind!

Back in the workshop

So not only was it overheating but it was filling up the crankcases with water!...remember it came to me for an electronics issue!

All of the water galleries had corroded and some nice frenchman had filled them with Devcon... a filler we all used in the day... but so much it blocked the galleries almost completely...

Complete engine strip down to the crankcases.. again should have known better.. I was going to get good at this!