Copper Head Gasket

[redax5]

we have relieved the area above the lower rear engine mount so there is no step there any more
that made getting the engines in and out a lot easier but after this weekend I can see I need to do a bit more relieving in that same area

I never considered machining off the head fins, have to look at that, especially when we start designing the billet head next year

Chris, thanks for the gasket link, I did not know about them but they seem to be more industrial then automotive
will contact them anyway
I was intending to use a specialist mob in the USA to make the MLS head gaskets, have seen their MLS Harley head gaskets at my mates workshop, very impressive pieces of kit

am home now, just arrived, off to the workshop to accurately clock up a Laverda head on my Milling machine using the DRO so I can draw up the head gasket design that I want and send off for pricing

Greg, 1200 and 1000 barrels are slightly different due to the 1000's having a spigoted barrel liner while the 1200 is flat
there is no difference in the head design between the two

 

[morison]

Red,

Sorry, bum steer - I checked with me mate and it's ACL gaskets

http://www.acl.com.au/


Is it worth Bimota-ising sections of the frame?

 

[bob]

No need to Bimota ise the frame , whatever that means , it works perfectly well as it is. Unless of course you want a Bimota, in which case there's a very simple answer!

Red, regarding the finning, there is no need to machine anything, a large Dremel type thing with a 40mm flapwheel works perfectly well. Dress it off carefully afterwards and nobody's any the wiser.

 

[morison]

Remember this trick?

 

[sfcpiet]

I've never found head-scratching very helpfull........  

piet

 

[Grant]

He's removing his brain...

 

[bob]

I didn't know Bimotas did that! Knowing Bimota they'll have used an aircraft spec tube-junction but I still don't like the idea of compromising the strength of a tube. It all adds weight as well. I think it's safer to stick with a Dremel!

 

[Romeo.D]

KB1 have two braking points 1. wheels 2. frame in area of stering bearings . laverda frames dont brake , or i never herd of one .

 

[sfcpiet]

KB1 have two braking points 1. wheels 2. frame in area of stering bearings .   laverda frames dont brake , or i never herd of one .

Ha, ha, Romeo.

Seen enough to make you sick.....  Doesn't matter if 180 or 120 triple, sooner or later the front down tubes will give up, especially on hard-worked bikes.  Needed to weld the RGS just prior to my Croatia vacation, remember?

Also been proven that the stock cast wheels also have their limits, as Doug Home nicely illustrated a few years back.

500s and 750s are different.  Only damage I've seen to either is crash or vibration induced due to loose engine mounts(750 only).

piet

 

[redax5]

was an interesting weekend Bob, but have no doubt you have been there before
purposely built two engines so we had a back up if something went wrong with the Black engine but when we tried the Silver engine it only lasted 3 laps before we had the oiling issue through the head gasket
I was actually expecting crank problems on the Black engine but truthfully it ran fine, was very pleased with the crank
engine certainly seems to want to rev a bit faster and the vibrations were pretty damn smooth so am very pleased with that

gearbox worked very well except for one race where Blair had trouble shifting but I think we had overtightened the shifter bolt on the lever
after checking shifting mechanism and finding nothing wrong with it just reassembled and all was great again
when we had it apart we could shift through the 5 gears just by turning the selector cog on the end of the selector drum by hand, is quite impressive actually
Blair is very happy with how smooth the box shifts

so believe we are going okay on the bottom end at the moment
am undecided how the thermal coatings rate, I feel the engine cools down faster but we really need to start recording engine oil temp and a couple of other parameters to see if that is worth pursuing on the other engine, was not cheap by any means

at the end of the weekend, we made most of the races but missed a lot of practice
simple error of turning the fuel taps off means we did not complete the first lap of the Barry Sheen race, had only finished buttoning the engine back up 3 minutes earlier

have finished clocking up a Laverda head gasket area and will draw it up in next few days and send off for a quote
probably get a number of different sizes made to cover all engine sizes for the triples

had one DMC unit fail on one bike but owner still made the meet by flying in
Horny threw his bike away on consecutive days finally breaking his leg
all in all, a great weekend

 

[Rufustbear]

Laverda only raced the space frame for one and a half seasons,  they are there fine for road use and infact very nice for long distance road work,what is happening now is that the people who are racing them are carying on the development work that Laverda never did,Red much faster than any one else,i wish i had Red to hand over in England then perhaps with our combined knowage Team Rufus Racing might finish a race ,we are concentrating on lasting for 4 hours through the night so we are keeping the engine standard as much as possible, even then 4 hours flat out takes it toll on a 30 year old design,we only try to make one improvement at a time,at the moment we are trying to sort out a slight weave at the front which is coming in at about 150/155 miles per hour, this way we can monitor the result,taking the engine out is no promlbe it can be done by one man quite easily;use a hand grinder to the Cly head fins.Me and Mike starr are looking to be able to swap a full engine in the pitts within 15 mins this means carbs exhaust etc are on the other engine,this is quite reasoalbe in an endurance race as many pitt stops (not just Laverdas) can some times last up to 20 mins, hope fully team Rufus will again be have a meal with Red and his lady at Spa this year only this time we will be celebrating with Champagne,keep up the good work Red your way out in front of the rest of us,see you at Spa ?

 

[bob]

Ray,
You want to watch out doing those rapid pit stops, bad things can happen , see pic.
Anyway, if you can change an engine in 15 minutes why has your bike still got its cam cover off two months after you removed it.

 

[Grant]

Front end wobble at 155mph? Must be the aerodynamics as it is falling off that cliff... 

 

[julian]

Removing Brain!

Yes, Apparently, If you grind these side fins off of the head first it drops out easier!

Julian 

 

[bob]

Arr Jim Lad, wher's me buccaneers? On your buckin' head....

 

[Jotally]

I am more intrigued by the use of a naked flame gas heater in a workshop....

Ally

 

[padlock]

Once more a complete education, didn't understand a word. Squish what??? On a more serious note the level of skill and ingenuity on this site never ceases to amaze me. Brilliant.

 

[Jotaman]

Hey Red,
Given they re-ran the Barry Sheene, i thought that 'episode' was washed from the collective psyche and would be only used as an example of why fluorescent paint should be used on 'stuff'.

Great weekend all up, as Red said we only missed one race (choose to walk away as it was not a points event) due to the dedication and collective efforts of those there - more-so on this front for the 'Boss' himself.
It was great to be there and to share the experience, like all aspects of racing though there is always room for improvement (crap copper head gaskets nothwihstanding - 5 engine changes on Saturday gave me a 'bo bo'), for even Steve B and the SFC crew could do with some new Millennium Banana Lounges for enhanced comfort and style as they continue forth on their staunch 2012 season.