Ethanol/Methanol/E85 Carb Conversion

[Koncretekid]

Too much gear (and a 4 speed transmission with huge jumps between gears) and not enough motor kept rpms to 6500 more or less in 4th thru the 2 and 3 mile.  i'd like to be able to pull 7000 plus with the current gearing earlier in the run.  and if not, they make all kinds of sized sprockets.

For sure, for our direct drive transmissions, the biggest draw back for land speed racing is the wide ratio between 3rd and 4th with few choices out there.  I was lucky to find a Quaiffe/CCM close ratio 4 speed for my B50 with only 11% drop from 3rd to 4th.  Unfortunately, 1st gear is only about 1:2, so I have a 75 mph 1st gear in order to get 150 mph in 4th.  We can now rebuild a clutch in about an hour!

As far a your fuel choice, I understand the attraction of alcohol and possibly water injection especially with an air cooled motor.  For my single cylinder, turbo charging may be out, but supercharging may be a  possibility but with the same problems you have.  I have thought about first converting to fuel injection and then using blow thru, but it's the learning curve combined with the time and resources to get there.  If only I knew then what I know now ..........maybe should have started a bit earlier in life.

Tom, I believe Ross is looking at both fuels.... and planning to go with the one that does best on the dyno.... I just missed a  Raptor 700 swingarm and axle on ebay... I'm looking at those to make a bike adapter for my dyno

Stainless, how will you use a Raptor swingarm to make the bike adapter for your dyno?

Tom

[mc2032]

Tom, attached is a picture of an axle hub dyno.  Drive in, jack up, remove wheels and tires, add dyno, drop and make a pull.  No rollers, no tie downs.  So to run a bike you need to make it a trike first hense the raptor swingarm and axle/hub assembly.

[Stainless1]

My friend Don Jackson (Salt27) has a rear end out of a 87 Suzuki LT500R Quadracer that looks promising.... I an hoping it will stand up to 250 HP.... No probably not from Ross's Harley  :| but maybe from my 1630 Busa motor....   
The fun will continue 

[mc2032]

Okay, this is not the start of a build diary, but more of a disassembly diary.  Stainless got a couple of beers in the mail the other day with this swingarm taped to them.  A chocolate stout (ask Don Salt27 for the particulars) good enough to need dial calipers to open.  Anyway, after using two torches, a rattle gun and a six foot cheater we broke the swingarm down to this (see below).  Plan is to hybridize the quadracer swingarm with the sportster swingarm, bolt them/it to the bike then make noise on the dyno till something works or breaks.  As things progress I will start a real build diary, just wanted to thank Don for the assembly lube as well as the lakester/belly tank parts.

[mc2032]

Some assembly lube required.  This started out today as a really nice swingarm.

[salt27]

I'm pleased that the swingarm is being used instead of hanging on my wall for eternity.

As far as the Porter goes, well I sorta ran out of bubble wrap and had to use cans.
Do you have any idea how hard it is to find anything but an IPA in Oregon? Enjoy   

[Stainless1]

Don, we got it apart and it looks stout... or maybe porter  the packing materials are excellent... a great choice.  I think we have a plan for the Harley that will also work for the Busa.
Thanks my friend, I owe you 

[mc2032]

If you don't own a mill or your garage/shop is too small to house one, make friends with someone who does.  Chucked the Salt27 swingarm in Stainless' mill and narrowed the front end.  The plan is to mount the aluminum arm inside the sportster arm, shim to line up the chain run from drive to driven sprocket.  Stainless sourced new 1/2 x 20 studs to replace the stockers in the hubs (will allow bolting the hubs to the dyno adapters).  I have bearings and seals on order (receipt soon pending diversion by porch pirate, seems to be common this time of year). A few more bits and pieces to get, a few bushings to fab, some cleaning/degreasing, reassembly and I think it will be go time.  More pictures to follow.

[Stainless1]

I've been doing a little welding the last couple of days, so while things were cooling I popped a couple of holes in the swingarms... and then mated them together.  We will make some spacers when we get the sprocket... Ross found a place that has them in 530 which matches the Harley and Suzuki.  Also made a few bushings so it all fits together....
so far.... 

[Sporty Dan]

Ross, any updates on the dyno conversion?

[mc2032]

Other than new bearings and seals not much to report.  Here is a picture of the assembly as of yesterday. The idea is to have enough lateral movement to line up the sprockets then make spacers to lock it down.  Hubs still need to be drilled for the bigger studs for the dyno adapters.  So other than me finding second gear not a whole lot else needs to be done.   Bob has soooo much to do on the Bockscar lakester I have put off leaning on him too much till spring.  Plus the other side of the shop is not heated or cooled so waiting for better weather is okay by me.   Carb mods are done, I have a stash of small main jets to drill bigger as required for methanol.  Fuel line/routing is on tap for this week.  I need to get the lines away from hot stuff.

[ggl205]

"Carb mods are done, I have a stash of small main jets to drill bigger as required for methanol."

Ross, If you do not have them, get some small tapered reamers to resize your jets. Tapered vs. drilled holes in jets do make a difference. Just make sure you ream them from the correct end (lol).

John

[Sporty Dan]

Have been able play with the dyno yet? Interested to see what kind of hp increase you see. Do you have a way to measure intake temps to see if there is a difference between the E85 and gas?

[mc2032]

Have not spent much time on the project but now that the weather is warmer will get busy!  Will have to ask Stainless if/how we can measure intake temps behind the turbo.  Might be a challenge as this setup has almost no plenum volume or length to access or install a temp probe. 

[Stainless1]

The dyno work has been waiting on better weather and machine time.... someone involved with this project has been too busy building a car to get the last of the mill work started... We need to re-drill the bolt circle in the hubs to move them in a little.  We do have some ideas on how to build a fixture to hold the oddly shaped hub... it just takes a little time